Velcro 7/22 AMPS = 143; no shot PMPS = 268; +2 247

Yesterday

 

Hi!

150 is the no shoot number for beginners, but what you can do is: don’t feed, test in about 20 mins and see if Velcro goes above the 150 and then shoot. It’s important not to feed because you want to have numbers that aren’t influenced by food

If you can be home to test though, you can shoot a 150.

Are you able to monitor through the day?

 

I’m a beginner - not even a week treating a diabetic cat yet! I had to feed him. He nosed the lid off the food container because he was ready to eat and started going at it before I could even get the BG number recorded. I can’t be around the full 7-9 hours it seems for his blood sugar to bottom out today.

 

Also I should add, he didn’t eat as much as I would have liked him to pre-shot. I think it’s because he ate later into to the night than usually yesterday due to falling BG. We are establishing some good data points for him, but he’s still so new and this is my only experience with diabetes (human or otherwise).

 

For sure, if you aren’t comfortable it is always better to be safe than sorry, it might be better this time to skip the shot, especially since Velcro has been getting some beautiful greens on this dose at higher AMPS values, we definitely don’t want to risk him going any lower when you aren’t going to be home to monitor

Another option to consider in the future is shooting a reduced shot. Take another look at the SLGS sticky for when this is advisable

Great job taking care of Velcro

 

That's happened to me, too. Hungry kitties wanna eat! We humans do the best we can, but it's still on the cat's terms.

 

if I don't get the food out quickly enough (not a morning person, Catcat *is* a morning cat) -- he goes outside, catches a shrew, and brings it in, drops it on the floor

and gives me "THAT LOOK" -- paws madly at the cabinet below the one which holds the food

 

We humans really are all just minions for our cats lol.

 

Yup - every day. 3 cats here, and 3 different terms lol.

 

+2 = 148. Curious considering no insulin. He had a little smaller meal than I’d have liked this morning.

 

remember, Lantus is a "depot" insulin -- what you are probably seeing is the depot contributing insulin to the blood, it redissolves over a period of hours, your injections just "fill it up" again

 

This is definitely a game of patience and watchfulness. If Luci eats anything at all, I proceed with her shot - however, I'm home to watch. For whatever reason Luci likes to play the game of 'mama I don't want this' and then 10 minutes later she's in there eating it...don't even ask what that is all about - but she free feeds...this business of feeding her on a schedule (like many vets advise) had to go - Luci will only eat on her own terms - if I leave the food and say, eat it or not, I don't care...every single time I find that dish emptied right out. I also found that she apparently doesn't like her whiskers to touch the side of a bowl - so I use the flat carry out pans you get from the restaurants - she always clean her 'plate' ... I think she likes to feel like she's in charge (don't tell her I'm watching, it'll blow my cover)

 

Velcro also prefers his whiskers to remain unimpeded while feasting. We use little appetizer plates. On a towel because he is messy. Prior to these health issues, he ate 6 small meals a day. When he was an only kitty, he free fed but the other cats will eat all his food so we adopted the 6 small meal approach.

 

Yup, so I’m interpreting that he needs a lower dose in order to dose 2 times a day. Last night I lowered his dose from 1 to 0.75, and he also went down to 56 before I got nervous and brought it up.

 

I have a large round bowl with the sides sloping inwards a bit at the top, think it was intended either as a shallow fish bowl, or a centerpiece for flowers floating

because of Catcat's wonky tongue (cannot curl backwards, only a little forwards), he splashes his food forwards, up the sides of a conventional dish, sometimes right over the top of even a deep dish

doesn't seem to mind getting whiskers in or on the dish, he has remarkably long ones, I have to clean off the ends at times -- the only way I could use "go" cartons, would be if the lid were still attached and propped up vertically -- laughing at the mental picture

 

Like a backboard for his food lol

 

Velcro must be feeling better - he’s been segregated from the rest of the house since he came home Thursday, downstairs (finished basement, walkout with plenty of squirrels and birds to watch). Partially because of his still being sick and neuropathy, and partially to keep the other cats from bothering him. Between my husband and I, we’ve taken turns being with him for all but a few hours a day, even sleeping in the guest bed with him. Occasionally I’d find him halfway up the stairs waiting for me to come back down. Last night we watched Netflix and left the door open for the other cats to come down as they pleased, and we all existed peacefully on the couch together. This morning I again left the basement door open as I was getting things together for the afternoon and all the sudden I couldn’t find Velcro. He had wandered all the way upstairs on his own, and was attempting to eat the other cats’ hard food. Not for you Velcro!

 

So great to hear that everything is going well, it must be a relief for you!

I ended up transitioning my civvie cat Nyx to wet food as well because I know Mowgli would find a way to get into the kibble

 

Ya this is a possibility. One of them will be fine with the change, but the other one won’t even smell it. The other option is to not free feed the others - they used to be on a schedule, so we could put them back on.

 

I hear ya! Luckily for me, Nyx took a natural curiosity to wet food, and the transition happened easier than I thought... I thought there would be NO way that she would switch. Currently, Mowgli is unable to jump up high so before Nyx's switch, I kept her kibble up where she was able to access but Mowgli couldn't get to, could this work for you?

 

We put our other cat on a LC wet diet as soon as we got Perry's diagnosis so it wouldn't matter if he ate her food. But that's now always an option. ECID!

 

Yup, possibly, Velcro can’t jump too high right now.

 

How bad is Velcro's neuropathy? Perry had a very mild case of it, but it seems to have cleared up. He never had trouble jumping up on the counter, but his rear feed would sometimes skid out a little underneath him when he landed.

 

I don’t know how to measure it really, but when he was in the hospital he could barely stand at first. When we started morning around some, his haunches were just hovering over the ground. But he’s been gaining strength and balance since being home. He can jump up on the couch most of the time, and he climbed the stairs a couple times today. He was eyeing the counter (because he wants the other catss’) food, but i didn’t let him try. He wouldn’t have made it.

 

Wow, Velcro has some great numbers for a new sugar kitty!

Roo is the same way with food and to make him chill out a bit, I usually test in the living room and then feed and shoot in the kitchen, that way he knows he has to come to a different area for his test, and then only then will he get his food after. If I'm stalling I just stay in the living room for the next couple of tests until I make a shoot or no shoot decision, then go in to the kitchen when that's done and he gets his meal. He's still learning but I think its helping with his boundaries!

 

Poor buddy. That had to be upsetting to see him hauching about. Great to hear that he's improving, though. I hope it continues.

 

+8.5=246... darn picked wrong again. I guess I should have gone ahead with the lower dose this morning. I just couldn’t test every hour. Now the poor guy has to wait for his insulin. He’s clearly felt better the last couple days when it’s been down.

 

Don't beat yourself up. My vet gave me advice when Leo was diagnosed in 2015 "Keep Leo safe".

That is your goal - to keep your kitteh safe. The numbers from today are not horrible. It is good to be conservative at first and get a feel for this complicated disease.

 

Other folks told me not to beat myself up the second day I posted here, and they were right, so I'll pass along that bit of wisdom: Don't beat yourself up! You're doing such a good job already and you just started. You deserve a pat on the back, my friend.

 

Thank you. This literally is what I needed to hear.

 

So his PMPS was 268. Not terrible after all!

 

Indeed, not terrible!

We are in the same boat as you tonight, by the way. Low PMPS numbers, so we reduced his evening dose from 2u to 1u. We'll see what happens here.

 

Hope it all evens out for you guys!

 

Slow to go down tonight.

 

Sounds like a nice restful night for the family then! Velcro is doing good tonight.

 

Yes - and good thing too. It was a busy day (even without BG obsessing) and we fell asleep snuggling on the couch. Heading to bed after Velcro finishes a between nap drink.