03/01 Frankie AMBG 243; 349 +3

Re: 02/28 Frankie AMBG 314 PMBG 250; 316 +1; 299 +3; 270 +5

Hiya Dan, how's Frankie this morning? cat_pet_icon

Trying to catch her in the LB huh? ;-) This is what I have found, since I started having to sneak up on Lucian:

The easiest time to get him, is when I have awakened him for a test and to eat. He seems to be like a child, has to go potty very soon after getting up.
So I wake him for a BG test, test him and give him something to eat and when he's done eating or sometimes in the middle of eating, he heads to the LB. :thumbup
Meal time seems to work best, since he has been asleep for 4-5 hrs. ( he eats every 4-5 hrs too) So I just stand back and listen.
As soon as I 'hear' him going, I sneak up behind and stick the strip under him, into the urine stream. Wave it around a bit and viola!
You can tell when you're hitting the stream by hearing it interrupt the process. After knowing I hit the stream 3-4 times, I check to make sure the colored pad on the end is wet and then start counting the 15 seconds and compare it to the chart on the vial.
By trial and error, I found I HAVE to wait until I hear him going or he'll jump out of the box and it'll be 30 min before I can try again. ohmygod_smile The fact that he can't stop mid-stream helps a lot! :lol:
Actually getting the test is easy, the hard part is figuring out WHEN she's gonna go to the box. @-)

Good luck with the test!

 

Re: 02/28 Frankie AMBG 314 PMBG 250; 316 +1; 299 +3; 270 +5

Frankie is doing great. I have noticed her coat is much less matted, much more shiny and less dandruff. She seem bright eyed and bushy tailed....Also I don't have to dig her out from under the bed to test any more... she comes when I call. She knows shes getting poked and still squirms in the town, but I've got it down once I get her in a lock, she calms down because she can't do anything about it anyway. She gets love and a treat afterward which is what keeps her coming back IMO.

 

Yup, 'Kitty Burrito' to the rescue! :lol: Some cats do very well with it, like Lucian and some cats 'bout have a stroke if they are restricted in any way. Whatever works, in my book. I used a towel for about 6 weeks and slowly have been able to bypass it. Rarely do I need it now. Which I never thought would happen.

Once you find a treat that they really love, you can do about anything to them. ;-) Lucian's 'kitty crack' is the freeze dried liver treats. When I found those, I was sure I could probably teach him to moonwalk with them as a reward. :lol:

Glad to hear Frankie is doing better. I keep brushing Lucian and although he seems a tad shinier, he's still pretty flakey. :sad: But he is still very much unregulated and hopefully that will improve as his numbers do.

To healthy and happy kitties! drinking24

 

To help with the coat issue - if matting is bad, a mat rake/cutter, which looks like a comb that has blades on one side of the teeth - may be used to work through the mats. Keep your finger between the skin and the rake, and starting at the outer edge, work your way through the mat.

A seam ripper works too, on smaller mats.

To reduce dandruff and help distribute the oils in the coat, use a boar bristle brush when brushing.

 

I've never heard of a mat rake/cutter, but I need one badly for my old feral, she is awful and refuses to let you touch her below the shoulders and her hips are matted.

Thank you for that info! :YMHUG:

 

I think the first thing I noticed when I changed everyone's diet over to a low carb/high protein diet was the change in everyone's coats. They were so much softer, sleeker and shinier. And my two tux twins have never had so much as a mouthful of dry food, they went from milk to canned food. Their coats are stunning they have that rainbow effect when the sun hits them like you see off a blackbird or raven's feathers. And so silky that they feel like satin.

I have to watch myself when picking up cat food and litter not to become the crazy cat lady when I see someone buying big bags of dry food. @-) Every now and then DH has to drag me away before I started becoming the Johnny Appleseed of Canned Diet for Cats... haha_smiley

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

:lol: Every time I'm in the pet dept at Walmart, I see someone grabbing a bag of dry food and my brain starts screaming "Don't you know what that is doing to your cat?!?!"

It takes a conscious effort NOT to say anything. ohmygod_smile

 

Hey all... Just checking in.... she just tested at 342... seems to be a bit higher than yesterday, but similar to the day before.. I really don't think I have enough data to see any trends at this point...

Mollie is being a b**ch.. growling and hissing at Frankie all time time... I know she is jealous of the attention Frankie is getting... but she is getting much more attention that before all this, because I don't want her being mad... she gets treats when Frankie gets treats... she gets love when Frankie gets love....I keep telling her she doesn't want the "extra" attention i'm giving Frankie... thinking about putting her in a burrito and poking her too just to show her it ain't all the it's cracked up to be... :lol:

 

Just noticed you two both have 666 in your post numbers... mark of the beast :twisted: ... don't know if I can trust you anymore :shock:

 

LOL Nah mine is 668, I'm the neighbor of the Beast... :lol:

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

Well it was 6686 I guess you've redeemed your trustworthyness by posting again :razz:

 

haha_smiley

That's too funny! Maybe it wasn't my 'brain' I heard screaming in Walmart!?!? :twisted: (Cue Twilight Zone theme)

I think I'll hold off posting for a couple days and just lurk around and reply to people and see who notices. :twisted:

haha_smiley

Aw poo! Now it's 667 :-x

 

flip_cat Woohoo I'm so happy I've redeemed your trust. dancing_cat

Sorry haven't been around much today, I woke up with a splitting migraine and pretty much tested fed and shot then went back to bed.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

No worries, I had to slam out a bunch of work and got a bunch of new ones in that I scheduled for Sunday... gotta look at 5 on Sunday... so much for rest on the sabbath?

 

Yes. post count includes relies to other posts :lol:

 

Frankie came up to me a few minutes ago when I was talking to my mom on the phone and was nudging and purring... Mollie came up and head butted her and then growled and hissed at her... she really needs to get over herself, or she's gonna find herself in a kitty burrito with a lancette in her ear!! cat(2)_steam

I'm headed to bed... be around in the morning

 

I actually did that to one of my civies.. She was being a pest and thought that after I tested Autumn that she could stalk her and beat her up (This was back when Autumn was still very sick). So I grabbed her one day and not only did I test her....I ran a curve on her..lol

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

Did it work?? LMAO!!

Anyways... I really wish I was going to be around today... she seems to be trending up Tested this morning at 321.. :? :? I tested an hour later, because I really needed to sleep in... would that have anything to do with it?

 

Actually if you allow for the meter variance of +/- 20% those are pretty much the same number.

243 + 20% = 291.6
349 - 20% = 279.2

So she really didn't raise that much so she is staying pretty flat so its pretty much a given that you are going to need her to start on insulin on Monday..that's the bad news The good news is for the most part she is already staying below the renal threshhold so I don't think she will be on it forever!

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

Thank you for the encouragement. I've got to hop in the rain box and get this day goin... I'll check her before I take off.

 

Hey Dan? If you look at Lucian's SS, you'll see that he has run much higher than Frankie , ON INSULIN, for 90% of the time since he was dx'd 1/04/13.

She is starting out at much lower numbers, he came home from the vet with 700+ so it's been a battle. :sad:

Frankie, I'd bet, will have a much easier time with it and would probably go OTJ long before Lucian ever thinks about it. ohmygod_smile

Of course that is always the dream of us sugarbaby caregivers, but IMO I think you have a much better chance with Frankie, than I do Lucian. :? I don't even entertain that idea, I just want him regulated and healthy. If he, at some point, goes OTJ, that would be icing on the cake. oooops! better find something NOT made of sugar! :lol:

So hang in there and don't worry so much about her numbers right now, you're just gathering data at this time and trust me, when you think you see a trend, you don't. :lol: They'll throw you a curve ball every time! :lol:

 

According to Tilly's Diabetes Home page (Tilly's mom, Kirsten Roomp is one of the author's of the Roomp/Rand TR protocol we follow in the Lantus TR ISG):

Frankie is not spending time below renal threshold which means she is spilling glucose into her urine. Renal threshold does vary from cat to cat and some cats have been shown to have a lower renal threshold (less than 200 mg/dl). The factor which will dictate how long she is on insulin is how long she stays in healing numbers of 50-120 mg/dl. If her BG is above 120 mg/dl but below renal threshold, her pancreas is not healing. The main advantage to staying below renal threshold is keeping glucose out of the urine and preventing possible urinary tract infections.

While we hope that once she is started on insulin, she becomes quickly regulated, there are some tightly regulated cats that are still on insulin. It's very difficult to predict who will go into remission and when they will do it. But we will hope that Frankie will be one of those that will kick the juice quickly

 

Unfortunately, Frankie is well above renal threshold. Please see the American Animal Hospital Assn Guidelines for treating diabetes. On page 205, the Guidelines note that in cats, glucose spills into the urine (glycosuria) when BG exceeds 250 mg/dL. While renal threshold can vary for each cat, 220 - 250 is the typical range we identify as exceeding renal threshold. Further, there is no correlation between renal threshold and remission. There are many cats that are tightly regulated (i.e., are in normal BG range of 50 - 120) and still require insulin to stay in normal numbers.

The longer Frankie stays in this elevated range, the greater the probability that glucose toxicity is developing. Glucose toxicity makes it much more difficult to bring numbers back into a better range since these high numbers essentially become your cat's new "normal" BG range.

 

Lovely... so glad to come home to this.... maybe she would be better off with someone who doesn't have such a busy schedule....obviously because I have a full day of work tomorrow, my cat in now going to suffer until Monday when I can monitor her. The only thing that I see positive is that she DOES look 100% better than she did when this all started. I hope that that is enough until Monday because it will have to be...I can't dose the cat without being around to monitor and I can't not work...so heres to a lovely nights sleep :sad:

 

Dan

It wasn't our point that you should shoot tonight or tomorrow. We understand your schedule is difficult tomorrow.

Our goal was to give you correct information.

"Normally" when you start a cat on lantus,it takes a few days to start seeing any effect on numbers but no one can predict how Frankie will react to her first few shots. She might stay right where she is...which is what we would expect. But there are no guarantees and if you can't be there to check her, waiting one more day to start is safer.

 

Dan,

Frankie will be fine until Monday.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

Hi Dan, just popping in to wish you the best of luck tomorrow! I hope Frankie has a good cycle with her first dose.

 

Okay, Another day another dollar... dosing starts tomorrow AM.. The is running in the mid 300s to mid 400s right now, should we start with .5, or .25?

 

Since you are going to be around to monitor tomorrow I would go ahead and start her at .5u. If you were to have started during the weekend where you were going to be in and out then I would have said a lower dose just to make sure she was safe but since you will be there all day go ahead with the .5u.

I'll be keeping an eye out for you this week, as I've pretty much cleaned my schedule as well. Fingers crossed that Frankie does very well and is only on insulin a short period of time.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

 

Hey ya'll!

Don't forget the time change this coming weekend, shot times will have to change also. :smile:

 

I'm in Az.... we dont dig on DST... lol

 

I forgot everyone doesn't do that! ohmygod_smile

Lucky You!

 

Thank you, I will be giving the shot at 6:00am, so I will update how it goes. Test, feed Shoot (while eating) right?

Thanks all!!

 

Actually, given that Frankie is so tiny and I'm going to presume underweight, the initial dose of Lantus is recommended to be 0.25 x actual weight in kilograms. This would put Frankie's initial dose at slightly less than 0.5u. IMHO, it's a little easier on the caregiver's nerves to round the numbers down vs. up since it's easier if you're slightly under a good starting dose. While a littler harder to measure, if Frankie were my cat, I'd start at 0.25u.

 

Daylight Savings time is NEXT weekend!

 

Hey Dan,
Might want to start a new thread this morning.

 

Thanks Good call