10/9 Jai Jai - AMPS: 412; PMPS: 301, +2: 205, +4: 58, +4.25: 40, +4.8: 41, +5: 49, +5.25: 41

Yesterday's Condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dose-advice-9-9-jai-jai-amps-423-pmps-475-3-427.144038/

Repost Yesterday's message:

There was a discussion about increasing Jai Jai's dose from 1.0 to 1.25 because most of the tested figures in his previous 8 cycles were on the high side, please see http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/8-9-jai-jai-amps-hi-pmps-533-2-446-5-355.143995/

Because of my work schedule and Jai Jai's previous hypo incidents, I am less comfortable with increasing the dose on weekdays. But, if most of you think that it is appropriate to increase again within these 1-2 cycles, I'll try my very best to ask for a day-off and monitor the increase.

Please do let me know your views and comments. I wish you all have a nice day.

 

Hi. I understand your fear of another hypo but he seems to be staying high and I think it would be safe to increase. I hate to see you take time off from work so if you need to wait another day I guess you could. See what the other experts say. I see Sienne thinks you should increase.

 

I agree with Sienne's comments from yesterday. I think you can increase.

 

It is likely that I can see how 1.0 takes Jai Jai as his PMPS +2 is 200-ish. I think I may see another blue tonight.

I did not oppose to increase the dose, but I only feel unsafe when I am not able to monitor him. That was a real struggle between seeing high numbers and fear of hypo. I do not know how to strike the balance between the two.

 

If he is not prone to ketones, then a little high is better than too low. Can you set an alarm to test at night? I was up at midnight testing last night

 

Hi, Anne. I definitely need to do so as Jai Jai's PM+4 is 58!!!!!

I am feeding him some food to see if he can surf tonight!

 

I did not adjust Jai Jai's dose, he is still on 1.0 u.

We did not give subQ tonight as well, but Jai Jai's BG is 40!!! I have fed him more food and I am going to test him again 20 min later.

 

Did you feed high carb? C'mon Jai Jai - swim in just a little deeper water please.

 

No, I have just got him some low carb food.........well, I am going to feed him some kibbles right now.

 

Unfortunately I'm not able to stick around...but do you have any karo or high carbed canned on hand? Kibbles are a little slow to enter the bloodstream and that 40 is nothing to mess around with. I would give him something faster acting.

And, that 40 earns him a reduction!

 

At a BG of 40, you should be feeding HC. Knowing Jai Jai, at 58 you probably should have given him a small amount of HC.

Please do not use dry food. It takes too long to be metabolized and can be too filling. This is why we suggest using the "gravy" from HC canned food. Alternatively, you can add a few drops of corn syrup, honey, etc. to his LC canned food. This has the same effect as feeding a gravy based canned food.

Please read over the sticky note on Shooting & Handling Low Numbers.

 

I would skip the kibble and put honey or kara syrup on his gums. The kibble will stay in his system too long.
Liz

 

I do not have any gravy type food. I have given him 6 pcs of Evo Dry......hope that they do not do much harm.

I gave him some honey just now. Will test him 20 mins later.

 

BTW, he is now 41.

 

Jai Jai's BG is rising, he is now 49. Will test again 20 mins later.

 

Did you give a little more food?

 

I gave 40g of food (low carb, sorry for that), 6 EVO dry, and some honey. I see his BG rising right now, so I stop giving more food.

 

I usually keep feeding a little until into the 50's unless it's late in the cycle. Others might do differently though.

 

How many do you feed?

 

Just a spoonfuls for normal food to keep him surfing. Once I'm sure he won't drop I stop and keep testing hourly for two tests. When he earns a reduction I don't worry about a bounce after because I know it will happen. Others might disagree.

There you go. He dropped a little. That's why I keep feeding small amounts.

 

It's a good idea to always have high carb gravy food on hand, especially since Jai Jai likes to drop dangerously. Honey and karo work, too, but gravy food is almost enticing to a kitty.

 

Yes, will give Jai Jai 0.75 tomorrow......Jai Jai eats only 2/3 of his normal portion in the mornings recently. Is it a reason for his drop?

 

Hi, Amy. Will get some high carb food soon. But I do not know which one is HC (is Sheba one of them?)...have to take a look

 

Any flavor that lists "with gravy" will be high carb.

 

Any wet food with gravy should be high carb.

I just was reading through the thread and wanted to note that EVO dry, if it is Cat & Kitten, is not high carb. Hi might not come up a lot from that. Hopefully the honey does the trick.

 

I'll try to find one that has gravy, actually I have a pouch of Royal Canin Diabetes Formula, and I think it might be the HC food.

The EVO dry is chicken and turkey formula, read somewhere that it now contains 13% carb.

 

There's a food list at cat info.org

 

13% carb is medium carb. You want to feed HIGH carb -- over 15%.

Jai Jai has been in the 40s for over an hour. Please, give your cat a small amount of LC food and add about 1/4 teaspoon of honey. Re-test in 15 min. If numbers are still in the 40s, do the same thing.

A rise in numbers is over 50 and your cat stays in that range.

Please follow these directions:
If your cat is testing in low numbers and you are not getting a quick response to your post, there are several things you need to do. (Low numbers are under 50mg/dL or 2.8 mmol/L.)

• Depending on how carbohydrate sensitive your cat is, feed approximately a teaspoon or less of gravy from high carb food or high carb food only.
  (If you have a cat with GI issues, using a couple of drops of syrup plus low carb food is an alternative.)
• Test again in 15 – 20 min. Depending on the numbers, give more HC food.
• Repeat the above steps every 15 – 20 min. until your cat tests in the 50 mg/dL (2.8 mmol/L) or above range for 2 consecutive tests. Continue to feed in small amounts to keep numbers in a safe range.
• Test in 30 - 40 min. and repeat the test and feed process until there are 2 consecutive tests where numbers are stable or rising.
• Test in an hour and follow the same steps.

DO NOT become complacent. If number have risen after one or two tests, it’s important to continue testing. Numbers may bobble up and down as the HC food and/or Karo wear off. DO NOT get one test where your cat has risen from low numbers into the 50s and go to sleep or leave the house. You are putting your cat in a risky situation. When in doubt, leave HC food out.

 

Hi, all. Jai Jai is finally back to the safe zone.

I am going to sleep now, but I think Jai Jai needs sometime to adapt to the dose, and it takes at least 4-5 days to reflect how the dose is performing. Just a sharing an we can discuss it further tomorrow.

Thank you all for your support and guidance. Love you all and please have a nice day.

 

Relieved to hear this news.

Just a reminder if you are still online - you should take the 911 out of your subject line since he is trending upwards.

 

You might want to leave some food out for him, in case he drops some more. It's still early enough in the cycle that this is possible.

 

Roughly 40 min. between your +6 of 41 and a +6.7 of 71 is not in the safe zone. High carb food wears off and numbers can drop back down. To repeat myself:

• Test in 30 - 40 min. and repeat the test and feed process until there are 2 consecutive tests where numbers are stable or rising.
• Test in an hour and follow the same steps.

DO NOT become complacent. If number have risen after one or two tests, it’s important to continue testing. Numbers may bobble up and down as the HC food and/or Karo wear off. DO NOT get one test where your cat has risen from low numbers into the 50s and go to sleep or leave the house. You are putting your cat in a risky situation. When in doubt, leave HC food out.

 

You are right in that it can take a few days for a cat to settle in to a dose, but Jai Jai's romp in the 40s indicates that 1.00U is too much for him, so he did earn a reduction today.

The information Sienne posted is very, very important. One test in the safe zone doesn't guarantee safety. When high carb food or honey/syrup is used to bring numbers up, the result is often temporary and the numbers can quickly drop into a dangerous level again. It is important to get several non-food-influenced tests in a row before assuming a safe zone has been reached.

I hope Jai Jai stayed safe....

 

Hi, all. Got the information you told. Will get more prepared next time, though I do not want it to happen.

 

Congratulations on the reduction - sometimes all you need to do is threaten them with an increase

 

What's Jai Jai's BG now?

Low numbers are scary, but they usually can be "steered" with food. If you see Jai Jai starting to drop very quickly as he did today, post here and follow the guidance of the group. In case no one is around to help, which can happen sometimes since this is a group of volunteers/peers, print out the information that Sienne provided and hang it on your fridge so it is at your fingertips as a reference for what to do. Always have gravy-based high carb food on-hand - this is an important part of the feline diabetes "tool kit".

 

Hi, Amy. Jai Jai is now 482. Here at my time is already the next day, and we did the AM shot.

I did not buy any gravy type food as we do not have the brands people mention here in the forum.

I do not know why he is dropping so quickly. Does it mean that Jai Jai is hard to regulate?

 

Some cats dive and bounce - some eventually settle down, and some just always do it. It can be part of the process in finding the right dose.

Here is a link to a food chart that tells you what the carbs are in a lot of different foods...maybe some of them are available there:

Dr Lisa's Cat Food Chart

If the foods you have available to you aren't on the chart, maybe let us know what your options are and we can try to figure out what would work best as a high carb food for Jai Jai.

 

You can always add corn syrup, honey, etc. to low carb food as a means of increasing the carbohydrates.