4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58, +8=77

Friday's condo: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10876

Well it was a fairly easy weekend at our house. Did the curve on Saturday and he stayed pretty flat, which is good, right? Of course then he threw me a 56 pmps +4. Why does he always have to do this at night, right when I'm going to go to bed? So I stayed up a while to see where he'd go, and he pulled back up to a 70 all on his own. I definitely didn't expect that.

Sunday went well. Had a high pmps, but I'm sure that's because we had a house full of people and my nephew was screaming most of the time he was at our house. Once everyone left he settled back down, and both cats zonked out. Again, he decided to go a bit low and was at 60 at pmps +4.5. DH put out some more LC and went to bed. Looks like he stayed pretty flat from that point on because he was still in the 60s at +9.5 when I was up with DS.

So then he was low for him at amps today. Didn't rise much by +1. I did give the full .5U because DH would be home for a bit, and I told him he needs to test before he leaves. He's on spring break this week, so can keep an eye on him.

So here are my questions:
The FDMB protocol only says to reduce dose if he stays under 100 for 7 days, or if he drops below 50 once. We've never seen him drop below 50, but usually when he's heading in that direction, we either can't be home, or can't stay awake, so we feed before he could get there (like last night)--so how do we apply this rule? As for the 7 day rule, does last night's higher pmps still count because it was probably circumstantial?

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

Going to look at SS -- BRB.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

DH just called and Max was at 66 when he left, about 30 minutes ago. Now I'm wondering if Max is really going to drop this morning, or if he'll level off. DH may be home again shortly, or may be gone for hours--was going to run some errands and try to get into the chiropractor.

ETA: DH said Max was finishing off the breakfast that was still in the bowl when he left, so he shouldn't drop all that far, right?

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

Not sure I'd call BG 111 a higher ps -- higher than the last few days but not really high.
Your doing a fantastic job of testing.
For me, the protocol is our road map ALONG with the cat. Meaning I like to consider each cat with the protocol.
Max's ss is beautiful. Glad you shot the 0.5u this AM -- let's see what Max does today and then talk about the next step/cycle.
Good job on using LC rather than intervening.

ETA: just saw DH update info -- what + hour is the BG 66?

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

66 was +2.25 I think.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

I bet he cruises beautifully through the day.
Look forward to the next dosecrease -- great things are happening to Max.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72--dose/protocol questions

Nice job Mindy!!! Max is doing so well!! Love it!! :thumbup

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

So what do I do now? He's at 59 at only +3.5 and DH has to leave very shortly. Do we just give some more LC, or do we go to MC or HC?

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

bump nailbite_smile

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

If you were going to be home, I'd say LC. But since DH has to leave soon - I'd go for safety and leave out MC.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

try this - take one or 2 tablespoons of mc gravy and put on top of LC - if it's not gravy - then take 1 tablespoon of mc and mix it with LC and leave that out -

while you don't want him to drop too much, you also don't want to give to many higher carbs as that may cause him to bounce too high - so it's a balancing game and finding the right amount of carb level to help him surf and not bounce is what you're going to work on.

hope this helps

and Love how well he's doing in such a short time!

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

Just to expand on my previous post...

Max will probably surf all day, but you never know about these kitties and he has been doing very well on this dose. Getting close to thinking about a decrease and that's why I would go for the conservative route if no one is home.

Give the MC and then leave plenty of regular LC for Max to eat if he needs to later.

I like Hillary's suggestion for the gravy on top of LC and she points out trying to avoid a big bounce.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +3.5=59--HELP!

Okay, so DH called and at +4.5 he was at 58. I told him to leave out half a can of MC Friskies. I think it's about 12% carbs. DH wasn't sure how long he'd be gone, but he'll be gone for at least 2 hours.

In the past he's not bounced too hard from MC. I'm sure Truman will help him eat it, which is why we left out so much.

Darn it, I really wish DH could stay home and watch him--I'm curious to see if he'd surf the upper 50s/low 60s on his own, or if he'd continue to drop.

And what do you mean by "gravy"? Is this something I should make, or something I'm supposed to get out of a can of HC? Cuz the cans of HC I have don't have that much gravy in them, tho they do say "gravy" on the label.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

Yes, we meant the gravy from a can of HC. Some people smoosh the stuff to get more of the gravy out. The gravy has the most carbs in it and will not cause the kitty to get too full... in case the kitty needs to eat more later. If the kitty ate the all the solids too he might refuse to eat later if/when the BG's went too low again. Make sense?

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

what CD said - when people are looking for higher carb foods they typically get ones that are marinated or grilled flavors (FF terms) and those have pieces of meat and gravy. I'm sure other brands have same concept.

What I meant was if you have these types of foods - then spoon out the gravy (leave the pieces) and mix that with LC food or put on top.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

Yes, that makes sense CD. Thanks for the explanation. The MC stuff I have (Friskies) is pretty gravy-ish/runny. I need to look at the list again and find some Friskies that is HC as I think that comes with more gravy than Fancy Feast. I bought the Fancy Feast because at the tiny grocery store we have in town, it was the only one listed with "gravy" in the name--turned out to be 18% when I could check the list (and yes, it is "grilled" Hillary :smile: ).

Since the food Max gets is usually in the 7-9% range, the 12% I have for MC doesn't usually shoot him up too high...just gives him a little extra to surf on. I don't think he'll need more food than that, but we'll see where he is when DH gets home. And I'll have to watch Max closely tonight. With the extra food now, he may not eat his dinner too well, so he could drop low again after the pm shot. Or maybe I'll get lucky and he'll stay on the higher side so I can sleep!

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

Just checking in on you and Max, Mindy. You are both doing fabulous and I am glad that DH is being such a great help. Maybe, in a few more weeks....(antijinx).

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

THanks Venita! I feel like maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this. Well, at least Max has held this dose well for a few days without scaring me. :lol: And now that I've said that, he'll nose dive again or something crazy to make me hyperventilate again!

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

Pardon me??? Maybe you are getting the hang of it???
Sorry Mindy but YOU ARE getting the hang of it, no maybes.

You are doing great, Max is doing great, and with limited internet access at home.

Here is what I did with the gravy so I knew I was always prepared.
I would take a can of the HC (grilled/marinated..whatever that says "gravy") we use FF
and I would dump it into a little tiny strainer over a small glass bowl. I would
coax it by pouring a touch of water then setting the can on top of it and then another huge can on top of that so all the gravy strains out.
I would let it sit for a while, then I would put it in a small plastic container and
keep it in the frdige, just like that. You can feed Truman the leftover food that you strained.
This way when you need to make MC - pour gravy on the LC, or need the pure gravy, it is ready and easy to use.

Hope some of my tricks will help. Can't give dose advice but I try and share some of the
other stuff I have learned here. Pay it forward.

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

(((Mindy & Max))) :thumbup
Looking great!! Sooooo proud of all of you!! Way to go... glad DH was there to help Max man along ;-)

 

Re: 4/5 Max amps 72, +4.5=58

:lol: :lol: :lol: See, every time I think things are finally settling down to a nice sloooow pace where I know what I'm doing and what to expect, he does something crazy (like dropping right before DH needs to leave today, or right when I need to go to sleep on a night when I really need to actually sleep) and gets me all worked up about it. When I'm prepared for him to drop his numbers, like I was this weekend, he won't. And then when I need him to hold steady, because it's during the week and I'm not home, he drops. And then I feel like I'm flailing my arms all over the place again, trying to figure out what to do.

I really do hope he slows down and holds steady tho--I'm going to be out of town Friday through Sunday...and I don't know that DH will be mentally equipped to handle any big changes! I think we're going to have to do some practice with measuring a .25U dose before I leave, just so he knows what to do if it happens. He's already looking at me like I'm crazy for suggesting that it will be necessary to give such a tiny dose!

Thanks Nicole! :mrgreen: Looks like you and Baby are doing pretty well yourself!

 

DH just reported that Max is sitting at a nice comfortable 77 now. I'm interested to see if he bounces from the MC or not...I'm thinking if he does, it won't be much if he's only at 77 right now. But that's good. And now I'm hitting my afternoon slump, and getting very sleepy. It was not a restful night last night. I really hope Max doesn't try to dive tonight too! Or tomorrow for that matter as DH won't be home most of the day. Wednesday would be good for earning a dosecrease...is there a way to put in an order for a date on one of those?!? :lol: :lol: :lol: