07/16 Shmee AMPS 96

Previous condo

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I've posted I have been so busy, time flies. I also have an interview for a second job (also work at home) Tuesday... what am I thinking! Oh yeah I know, trying to pay for the black cat love of my life!!!

I've joined the acro group on Facebook, and I've seen a SS mentioned that tracks their treatments, but I could not find it. I think it might just be the same autotracker we have here, so I put out a new post asking them to update it so we can try to get everyone's data in the same place.

Shmee got down to 49 today (update - this was yesterday, I wrote this at 1am), but I did not reduce him at his PM shot because I was unsure if I should... I woke up today so he ate/was shot 45 minutes late, so I think that made him dive a little low. Since it wasn't a "natural" lime green, I thought I should keep the 5.5 dose for now. I am struggling with my sleep but I know I need to kick it into gear and make sure I wake up tonight for these PM tests. At the time of posting he just got the 100, so I will see how it goes tonight.

I am curious of your opinions - do you think I should I have reduced him?

Also, even though I need to start worrying about one thing at a time.... I have been thinking about his future diet since acros need as much protein as possible, and possibly switching him to raw/EZ Complete. I would love to hear peoples opinions on it, and what meat you personally mix with your kitties (raw, cooked, what kinds of meat).

Vines to all those in need of a hug

 

I would have reduced, but then, I liked my sleep. Dealing with an overfull larger depot can be more exciting than I like. A 45 minute delay dooesn't make it an unnatural reduction. It's safer to reduce. To me his SS had looked like he was flirting with a reduction anyway. There is no value in keeping Shmee in solid green, it's not healing for an acrocat. A good goal is under renal threshold as much as possible.

I don't know why you said acros need as much protein as possible, a good quality protein is good for any cat. I fed Neko raw. Initially manufactured raw only, and when she got diagnosed with CKD, I added some home made raw into the picture to lower the phosphorus. Many manufactured raw products have bone in them, so higher phosphorus than I wanted to give. EZ complete is not the cheapest product out there, but very easy to make. I did chicken, turkey, buffalo, elk, but that's mostly bcause that's what I could easily get. I did feed other proteins with manufactured raw too.

I am pretty sure the SS you heard about elsewhere is the same thing. It was originally created (I seem to remember hearing), as a tool for some of the acro researchers. Of course it was a useful tool for others as well,

 

I probably wouldn't keep a kitteh in the solid greens either - too close to the hypo range. But Schmee takes to regulation quite well. With Leo, he bounces around.

Leo gets mostly Fancy Feast, and some occasional cooked chicken or fish. He has maintained weight pretty well, although he has lost some of the muscle and fat along his backbone.

 

Thank you! After setting an alarm for a +8 and talking about making sure I wake up and making sure to place my phone across the room so I have to get up when I hear the alarm.... I woke up to Shmee meowing at +11.5.... my phone died. I was so preoccupied with its placement I didn't even realize it needed to be charged. Ugh I cannot catch a break. Since he was 79 this morning I am going to follow the advice above and reduce since it is safer. I can only imagine how low he went last night....

 

I could have swore I remembered reading that from one of my threads... I went back to look and couldn't find it. Information overload....

 

I feel so confused and saddened about these statements still. So because he has the tumor, his pancreas cannot heal...? Why does he keep earning reductions then? I understand the insulin doesn't help with the tumor but don't I still also want to heal the pancreas?

 

Someone else can probably explain this in more detail, but most acros have a working pancreas. So it doesn’t need to heal. The reductions (I’m assuming) are more related to the tumor pulsing on and off. Acros aren’t really “diabetic”, but more the acro tumor mimics diabetes.

 

@Beenie (GA) thank you so much for adding your info to the autotracker You did not mention Beenie's treatment and update though. She was on Cabergoline correct? Wendy said her insulin amount was reduced as well. Can this information be added please? This is why we have the autotracker, to get all the treatment history and how the treatment affected the cats all in one place. Thank you!

Ugh.. I thought I was dealing with both issues. Thanks for the response, the more I read about this the more confused I seem to become. I wish I had more time to really study everything, it is so much information!!

 

Nice amps!

 

Found it - it was from that old thread by MJW where he talked to Chris from RVC, I am going to try and email him today to get his latest info out of curiosity.

I do understand high protein is good for all cats, this info just stood out to me so its been in the back of my mind on top of trying to figure out his treatment.​

 

I find acro confusing. There are so many reports, studies that are to technical for me to understand. Some that are contradicting with others.

So my take is that it's highly possible if acro wasn't present kitty would not be diabetic (unless it's another cause). I also have observed or can tell when Olive's is having a spurt of activity if you will. It seems her bg is wacky for no reason, her appetite is ravenous, the biggest sign for me is the back leg, she starts limping and can't make one back leg do what it's suppose to (walk, tuck under her etc), looks miserable, and in pain. I'm assuming this is the soft tissue and bone growth action of the tumor output.

 

I can't remember what you all know. Here is an Acro summary.

Insulin is produced by the pancreas. At the cellular level, an insulin molecule enables the cell to absorb glucose - within the whole body (of a cat or human). When it works, the cat eats and glucose is absorbed naturally. In a diabetic, the pancreas reduces the amount of insulin produced. As a result, at the cell level there is not enough insulin to enable all cells to absorb sufficient glucose. Since glucose provides energy, the body tries to absorb energy first from fat, then from muscles.

In a wild, untreated diabetic cat, the cat will starve to death because there is not enough insulin to allow the cat to support its cells. For a cat treated with insulin injections, the supplemental insulin allows the natural cycle to occur. Glucose is provided through food. The body absorbs it at the cellular level as glucose. Life is good.

In an Acro-cat (or human), the IGF-1 molecule mimics the insulin molecule. Excess IGF-1 is released. It displaces insulin at the cellular level. As a result, the condition appears as diabetes. One way to overcome this situation is to provide insulin injections. The additional insulin displaces the IGF-1 by volume. As a result, the cat now gets sufficient insulin to allow the natural process of glucose absorption to occur. This is a race-condition if the pituitary (acro) tumor grows. As IGF-1 increases daily, so must the insulin dose. In acrocats, we see fluctuations in the pituitary tumor. This produces a requirement to vary the amount of insulin based on the fluctuating amount of IGF-1 in the body.

The IGF-1 will eventually cause abnormal growths. We have seen human instances of this. The human "Andre the Giant" was an example of runaway growth hormone. He probably had Acromegaly.

Protein is not really a factor in Acromegaly. The cat should just get the normal protein required.

 

Acrocats could have a damaged pancreas, it's possible to have that in addition to the pituitary tumour. I do know that Neko had a pancreas that worked pretty well. Every once in a while she'd surprise me with a number going down after eating, when I expected the injected insulin action to be over or at least waning.

As far as Chris referring to "high protein", he's probably meaning low carb/higher protein. The ratio of nutrients in foods is primarily from fat/carbs/protein. Lowering the carbs usually means raising the protein level.