3/28-Nova-PMPS=83,+1=76,+2=56,+2.5=52,+3=49,+3.5=52,+4=56

yesterday's condo

Well Nova Nova Beautiful Princess.. I don't know what to make of you.. pretty anti-climatic follow-up last night to a couple of weird cycles.. wish I knew what your body was trying to tell me.

She's in a decent mood this morning.. she had her water soaking + brushes.. so she's all soft and adorable looking.. didn't fuss over her needle.. that has worked for a couple of days now.. going up to the bathroom, locking the boy kitties out, and just having some one on one mommy mushing over Nova time pre-test/shot.. and she gives me little to no grief again..

She doesn't care where she gets tested.. but apparently has a strong opinion about where shots should be given.. what Nova wants.. as soon as I can figure out what the heck it is.. Nova gets.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112

not a bad amps number for you guys ... sometimes you just have to kick the boys out and have it be girls time!

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112

What's up w/ no food spike?
Cute WCR. Hope y'all had a nice day.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112

Sounds like a very nice day for you two....hope Nova can let you know what pleases her soon as far as the shot locations. Oh well....you are doing a great job Dawn! :thumbup

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79

I'm putting my tubby diabetic cat on a diet. I had hoped that when she became regulated her appetite would decrease.. no go! She's been gaining weight at the same rapid rate since switching her off of dry food completely 4ish months ago. With 2 weeks in the greens/blues, I see no slow down at all on her trying to achieve sumo-wrestler status. She's currently about 3.5 or 4 pounds overweight (all gained from nummy low carb wet food hehehe).

So.. a dieting we will go.. going to replace some of the FF with a prescription reducing food (that she just happens to HATE of course, this is going to be so fun! ) available in Canada that's 48% protein, 48% fat and 4% carbs. My current estimate is that it will take approx 5 months to get her back to normal weight.

The impending food wars will likely result in me having to be slightly less aggressive with her FD.. I'm not going to let her fry her liver.. I'll make sure she eats enough each day and do my best to keep her out of the yellows FD wise.. but I'm not going to play so much musical flavours when she gets fussy and may need to reduce her dose slightly so she doesn't dip too low when she doesn't eat when she should.

I had hoped that we could get to remission and then work on her weight.. but Nova isn't exactly one of those sprint to the falls sort of cats I guess.. I can't figure anything else to do to get her there before her weight becomes an even more serious health risk.. and I realised that I would rather give insulin shots for the rest of her hopefully long life... than have her at the falls for potentially a much shorter amount of a time.

Edited - had to change overweight numbers, missed a pound somehow!

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79

Hey Dawn
So how much does Nova weigh and what food can you get that is 4% carbs.
Max has not lost anything either and certainly he could stand to lose as well.
Nova's numbers are terrific today.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79

Nova currently weighs 7kg (15.4 pounds).

Going with Royal Canin MediCal Reducing Wet:
Water Sufficient for Processing, Chicken Liver, Pork By-Products, Mackerel, Shrimp, Rice Flour, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Flax Meal, Natural Flavour, Tricalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulphate, Vitamins (DL-Alpha-Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E], Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Niacin Supplement, Biotin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid and Vitamin D3 Supplement), Trace Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Iron Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite and Calcium Iodate), Potassium Citrate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Brewer’s Dried Yeast, Vegetable Oil, Inulin (Source of Fructo-Oligosaccharides), Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Taurine and L-Carnitine.

Canned: 113 kcal/can (5.82 oz).

4% carbs according to the non-US Janet and Binky's food list.. though the calories per can listed there is 111/can (instead of 113 listed on royal canin's website).. so the list may be slightly outdated.. but the ingredients aren't that bad.. rice flour is about 80% carbs.. but it's also 5th down the ingredient list and right next to the "misc" stuff found in most wet cat food.. so here's hoping that 4% is still about right .. at about 60% the cals per oz.. . with the amount of information out there about obesity effecting insulin resistance.. I think it's a decent trade-off.

My cats all seriously hate it.. but my efforts to sneak calories away (and still fill up tummies) from FF by adding water have been very unsuccessful .

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79

Thanks Dawn.
Now that was very thorough!!!!
Appreciate the info.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79

No problem.. I've spent the last like 4 hours going over various nutritional info, weight calculations, calories and blah blah blah.. haha. Had all the ingredients and numbers and stuff handy

Of course Nova's just screwing with me tonight...

A - she ate the reducing just fine.. little bugger ate about 1.25 oz of it happily.. all the other times I've tried it I was "the worst mommy on earth (tm)".. lets see if she ever eats it again hahaha.

B - PMPS of 83, what?

C - Yes, I'll get a +1 and +2

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79, PMPS=83

Dawn this is interesting. Did she gain the weight recently or has she been overweight awhile? do you think the diabetes makes her hungry?

By the time i figured out something was askew with Hank right before his diagnosis, he was really pretty sick and not eating much at all. Never had the voracious appetite i read about that can signal FD. However, I noticed his weight back in fall...he was huge and sleeping all the time. i wrote it off as middle age. He never really ate that much...just was sedintary and didn't move around enough or get enough excercise. My other kitty ate the same as him but is lean. They are both just big boys. I think Hank may have weighed 21-22 lbs in the fall...when he was diganosed, just under 20lbs. Then lost to below 18 1/2 lbs in like 1 1/2 weeks..way too fast. He has maintained right around 19lbs since he's been feeling better.
before he was free fedding on dry and also eating wellness canned. I have switched him to all wet low carb except a teaspoon here and there of evo dry. But he eats very little for his size..I don't think even a full 5.5oz can per day. he just grazes taking bites probably less than an ounce at a time...maybe 4 times a day.

I know it is not good for them to be overweight for the FD or many other reasons for that matter. But I was told how very important it is that they eat to avoid fatty lipidosis, . So confusing trying to figure out to eat, not to eat, what to feed. i feel like feeding these micro meals and coaxing him him to eat throughout the day has contributed to his getting better. When they aren't eating alot already, but still weighty, what do you do?

Do you worry if she gets too low that she will overeat? If you feed just small spoonfuls several times a day wouldn't it keep her metabolism going? that's personally how I lost weight ...small mini meals. The 3 Wellness i feed are all 4% carb (turkey, chicken & beef/chicken). My hope was the food transition would not only be good for his BG, but also his weight. But that doesn't sound like your story.

I'm going to keep an eye on ya'll with this. Now that Hankie is feeling better, he could stand to get some weight off too. My quandary is, he doesn't eat that much now. i read all these little cats eating 2-3 cans a day..and he doesn't eat even a full 1.
I figured once i got the free feeding dry out of the picture, some of that would take care of itself. but now that he is levelled out, not so much. And while the vets comment that he's overweight, they also caution about making sure he eats. which one is it.

I need to read back more to get a better feel for Novas story. I wish you all the luck with this..I'm going to keep an eye out to see how she's doing. Maybe you can inspire us.

Her numbers have been gorgeous lately BTW. And I still love, love the dancing cat video. Makes me LOL..hysterical.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, +3=112, +5=79, PMPS=83

Nova wasn't always huge.. but she has always had a weight problem.. it's always been a concern with her..since she was dangerously underweight when i rescued her, we had to put weight on her fast.. but she had just had babies.. and I've read post pregnancy is a metabolism retraining phase.. rushing to put food ON her.. pretty much borked that all up..

But I think she's more emotionally a porker.. baggage, post tramatic stress disorder, I don't know.. but not having food available, or feeling hungry makes her panic.. and go on hunger strikes.. I wish I understood how to help her get over the emotional problems from all the awful stuff she went through before me.. best I can figure to do is love her to pieces.

Anyways.. so she was really underweight.. got her to put on weight fast..and it just wouldn't stop. At the time she had so much food problems because her insides were messed up from the pregnancy.. it was either let her eat lots crap (the 1 food out of literally 50+ i tried that she could handle).. or have her starve.. so she got huge... 18 pounds I believe.

At that point we got really aggressive about her diet.. not like crash diet or anything..but FINALLY found a diet type food that she would eat enough of, but not panic at the volume limitation.. it was a combination of prescription dry for grazing but primarily she ate prescription some kind of meat in some sort of watered down gravy moosh (yeah, not the greatest, but if I had to guess.. I'd say 15-18% carb.. it wasn't THAT bad ).

What's bizarre about Nova.. we carefully monitored her the entire 2 years.. she had vet visits every 3 months.. we did blood work very often.. no sign of diabetes at all until the very last visit at the end of her diet.. when she was the proper weight. I hadn't noticed any "signs" (and I'm the one who rushed her to the vet when she had GAS ).. her weight loss had only slightly spiked, but still within the "acceptable range" (which was far less aggressive then the 2% I see mentioned).. her BG was loooow 300s.. and her fruco-whatever the heck showed she was very newly diabetic.

Her weight stayed ok during the next 2 months while I worked on switching her diet.. but by the time she was switched completely.. she's been gaining 0.2 pounds every week...

As for why she's over-eating.. after 2 years on a low cal diet.. it's like getting used to being full on salads, and then switching to the same volume of mcdonalds.. optimally, reducing her portion size at the same time would have been best.. but simply not an option on an unregulated cat.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - AMPS=112, PMPS=83, +1=76, +2=56

WHAT THE HECK..

It's certainly awesome that I tried like 923923 combinations of food to try to get her surfing.. and she's not interested in eating anything.. because she just ate under 2 hours ago.. all this diet stuff and she's turning her nose up at EVERYTHING.. "sorry.. I'm full".. SINCE WHEN IS THIS CAT FULL.

Ok.. I gave her a little drop (very little ) of corn syrup @ +2.5.. which got her interested in 1 tablespoon of MC and she polished that off.

 

Re: 3/28 - Nova - PMPS=83, +1=76, +2=56, +2.5=52, +3=49, +3.5=52

Well! I do say.. pretty quiet and lonely around LL tonight.. only hear the crickets.. also, I solved the puzzle of what happens when 3 of the last 4 cycles are weirdly a teeny bit high and flat .

Feeding her through it.. doing a pretty bang up job so far too if I don't say so myself! . So yeah, know that while you were all snuggled in your blankees.. dreaming of rainbows and unicorns.. I was freaking out!

It's all good though, because of what you all have taught me (directly or indirectly ).. we're in good shape.. surfing like pros!