12/31 Webster AMPS=524

Yesterday's condo

Yet another dip into the 30's, another reduction, and another bounce.

Despite going back to his usual feeding schedule, Webster fell hard once again last night.

Because of his history of failed reductions, I'm still trying to see "earning" a reduction as an achievement rather than an failure.

While I'm hopeful that these two reductions will stick, I once again have my doubts.

 

I really wanted to shave his dose this morning decided to err on the side of caution after seeing that 30 last night.

Maybe I'll give this a try next time when his drop isn't so dramatic.

 

I wasn't suggesting that you shave his dose. Just saying that I empathize with the failed reductions. I'd follow the advice of the dosing advisors. They know best. Don't forget Max has been diabetic for a year now. You are early on and need to be super cautious.

 

I understand but thanks for clarifying.

 

Actually, disregarding the earlier days when you were dealing with a sick cat who wasn't eating well, I'm not seeing a single failed reduction starting on 12/1. So I don't think it's time to start shaving yet or doing the three times between 40-50 to earn a reduction. My goal would be to work to prevent the drops and the low numbers so he doesn't earn a reduction. That way, he might decide to start having longer green cycles instead of booming down and booming back up.....do you hear me, Webster, buddy?

I know that's easy for me to say but Gracie's SS in the early days looks like Webster's. There is such a steep learning curve and it does take time to really figure out their cycles and how to manage them better. Lots of time. We can make suggestions but you are the one that gets to do the experiments and I know that can be a challenge, to say the least. One of the toughest things, for me, about FD is patience. It's hard to do in light of the high bounces....we get it.

I know you are busy and also are spending a lot of time trying to figure your guy out and what's best. But when you do have time, look around at other SSs. Max's is a good one because Elise really has shown some amazing patience in holding his doses and preventing reductions. The longer you can safely hold him at a dose (and I don't mean by feeding HC all the time ), then the more normal numbers he should start chugging out and the longer he's in normal numbers, the less bouncing (in theory but none of the cats have read the FD Manual).

 

Thanks Marje.

I'm really confused at the moment when it comes to feeding. As others have mentioned, maybe now is not a good time to experiment with his food.

However, once again, I'm concerned about him going hypo tonight as this bounce clears.

I want to spread out his food to help prevent him from dropping so low. If I don't spread his food, I will be up all night once again feeding him HC food trying to get him out of hypo mode. Then again, I might be feeding him food all night either way.

I just don't know what to do.

 

I know I've missed some condos, but I thought we had a plan back a few weeks ago where you were feeding him certain amounts at certain times to slow the drop and keep the numbers up. I'm sorry to ask you to refresh me on what happened?

I've also found that when numbers are dropping, it helps to feed a little more than the usual amount and in higher carbs.

 

Sorry Marje, I have confused you as well as myself and probably several others on here.

Here's a quick recap of the past few weeks.

A few weeks back he was dropping fast so I started playing with his feeding schedule and came up with the following which seemed to work well for several days:

1.5 oz @ PS
1.5 oz @ +1
0.5 oz@ +2
0.5 oz @ +3

His numbers were high and he started throwing ketones. We quickly upped his does to drive down his BG's and it worked.

With his numbers in the blues and greens, I noticed that his eating habits transitioned from eating everything that I put in front of him immediately to eventually eating all of his food but grazing very slowly. After speaking with you guys, it occurred to me that since he was getting enough insulin, his body was able to process the sugars and use them. Because the sugars were being processed, he wasn't insanely hungry all of the time and ate slower.

This was great... except for the fact that my 5 compartment feededer http://store.petsafe.net/5-meal-timed-pet-feeder would advance and take away any food portions that were not being eaten in time. Something had to change.

At this point I started playing with his portions to figure out a new schedule and eventually ended up giving him the entire serving at once and allowing him to graze. This worked okay until he bounced on 12/30. I gave him the entire 4 ounce portion when his preshot number was at 574 and he inhaled it all within 1.5 hours. Well... now with his numbers being high once again, I thought it would be a good idea to go back to a controlled feeding schedule so that he doesn't eat all of his food at once. So, this is exactly what I did.

Now, I'm back to square one, trying to stop his free falls with a reduced insulin dose along with the old 1.5,1.5,0.5,0.5 feeding schedule which is no longer working.

His insulin has been reduced and as this evening I put a heavier emphasis on the +2 feeding, hopefully to stop his these falls.

I really do not want to play with his food at such a critical time but don't know how many more night I am able to stay up feeding his crash and testing every 1/2 hour to hour.

I hope that cleared things up and didn't confuse you guys even more..

 

The first thing I would suggest is to get back to getting a +2 every single cycle that you possibly can. And while we normally do not recommend using HC/karo unless they are below 50, you have to get him slowed down and flattened out. Sienne uses honey on LC food to slow Gabby's drops and I will also use karo with a LC or MC to slow Gracie's because the bounces from the dives are hard. Be consistent with front loading his cycles but when he starts to take those big drops, up the ante and try to get him flattened out even if you have to use a drop or two of karo in his LC food.

 

Just stopping by to offer you a little moral support Mike. I know it's hard. I hope tomorrow is easier.