I really don’t want to be a Debbie Downer but, even with the green today, and the other sporadic greens, I’d call this a failed trial.
Jerry was in the trial by a couple days when it was brought to my attention one was started. While I have felt all along that his SS did not look like a cat ready for remission and i wouldn’t have recommended a trial be started, there was not alot of harm in just seeing if he could bring himself down to almost all green numbers. I have occasionally seen that happen. But he should have done it by now. A cat on a trial shouldn’t see yellow numbers unless he got into contraband; there are no notes on his SS but you said he hadn’t gotten into anything in today’s condo.
When a kitty is on a very low dose and the next reduction would typically mean “no insulin” but the SS just doesn’t look like he’s ready for a trial, there are other things to try before stopping insulin. Some of these include:
- feeding a higher LC food such as 10% to allow the CG to continue to get that small dose of insulin safely into the kitty
- shooting the small dose once a day
- and in some cases, shooting a small dose only when necessary; while there haven’t been many we’ve done this way, there have been a few but they’ve been closer to looking like a cat close to remission than Jerry does.
If he were mine, I’d try putting him back on a drop of insulin, feed him a higher LC food, manage the curve with food (if you aren’t), and make sure you are testing enough to catch the lows. As an example, on the day he earned a reduction from 0.1u to a drop, 5/13, when I got the 81 at +2, down from 174, I’d have been feeding that curve to prevent him from dropping any further. Yes, he was already below 90 and would have earned a reduction (he actually did earn one on 5/11) anyway but it would have kept him from going so low.
If you do the above and he still drops below 90, then we should try shooting a drop once a day and also try feeding him a small +9 meal to see if he can bring his PS down on his own.
That’s just my opinion; of course, you are free to complete the trial but we already know that even when kitties go into remission with a SS that is pretty much all green, there is still a chance of returning from the Falls. The goal here is to have him well regulated and in green so he can have a strong remission. Even for a cat on SLGS, once insulin is stopped, the goal is for the kitty’s BG to be between 50-90.
