+5 78, going back up slowly, Feb. 13, 2016

AMPS 345

 

You are going to be home? If so, you could give the 0.25 and test to catch a drop if there is one. It looks like her pancreas wasn't joining the party last night.

The tricky part here, Cathie, is that you don't know when the pancreas will wake up and take the levels lower. But to get it working again, it likely helps for her to be in healing ranges. If you will be home to test, you could shoot 0.25 and catch an early number and then the nadir and a number around 10.

@Marje and Gracie I am going to be out most of the day. Will you be around?

 

okay. so I just gave her

0.25 u , I will get a +2 and +3, +4, and a +9, if that could work,

@Sue and Oliver (GA)

@Marje and Gracie

 

@Sue and Oliver (GA) and Cathie...I'll be here most of the day. We will probsbly sneak in a one hour hike later today after Shaak's insulin duration is out.

 

➕ 2.25 203

 

+3 132

 

+4 69 I have given her one tea of gravy from gravy lovers and will retest in 30 minutes.

I am still trying to learn what is and isn't an emergency

 

+4.5 53, 2 tea gravy

 

Which meter are you using, Cathie?


I see you're using a Relion Micro human meter. The lower limit of the normal range is 50 on a human meter.

Test again as soon as you get this message. You need to keep Shaak above 50. Keep testing every 20-30 minutes and follow hypo guide for what to feed.

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@Marje and Gracie - are you online? I'm not able to stay with Cathie on this one. (Very little energy and need to use it to tend to Saoirse.)

 

Cathie -

Go to top of screen and find Thread Tools. Click on it to Edit Title and add "HELP NEEDED - LOW NUMBERS" to the title. It will get more eyes on your thread. (I'm so sorry I'm not able to sit with you. )


Mogs
.

 

@Squalliesmom - Lucy, if you're online would you be able to help Cathie, please?

.

 

If still low I'd give more gravy and some higher carb dry. The gravy will work short term and the dry (treats or kibble) will work longer. Kind of like givng sugar to a human followed by a sandwich.

 

+5 78 2 tea gravy

she is headed back up. I want her to go slowly though right? she climbed with 2 tea gravy in the last 30 minutes so I gave her the same thing again. and at +5 the Novolin N is hopefully starting to wear off as well,

I will put help needed on my thread anyway. Thank you Mogs for your help and Ferndoc.

 

@Ferndoc - Jane, very glad to see you here. Are you able to sit with Cathie?

 

Yes, Cathie good to see she's rising keep checking. If she is still going up at the next time I think she should be over the crisis.

 

Thank you so much.

 

That's great, Jane.

 

So Shaak is a little sneaky thing. Making us think that 132 meant a nice little low and then lets give another drop.

 

yes, the other day she went from 184 to 63 even.

 

Good job with the HC, Cathie

How long since the last test? Looks like about 25 minutes?

 

yep.

 

She just got her off dry food. There is absolutely no reason to give dry food if she’s got gravy, HC wet, and karo and Shaak will eat them. Dry in this situation would have not been a good thing to do. I would not use dry food to bring a cat up from lower numbers unless the cat wouldn’t eat anything else or I had nothing else to give.

Just for general info: once the numbers have stopped dropping and it’s this late in the cycle, then it’s best to back off the food and go for LC.

If you look at the drop from +3 to +4, the tsp of gravy at +4 really slowed her down plus with Novolin N, she’s more than halfway through her cycle. It was ok to give a tsp or two of gravy (a tsp probably would have gotten her on her surfboard) at the 53. Once she got to 78, I’d have given LC.
Remember that it’s important to look at where the low numbers are in the cycle and how fast the drop is. As an example, a 49 at +2 would get my attention a whole more than a 49 at +6. At +6, I’d probably let it ride or maybe give a tsp of LC. This suggestions are for Novolin N, not lantus or levemir. With a depot insulin, you could use the same philosophy but you have to be a lot more aware of the depot and the fact that if it is full, low numbers could continue past nadir. Even then, unless numbers were really low, I’d use a lighter hand on the carbs.

My basic philosophy is to use the least number of carbs needed to get the job done (i.e. keep kitty safe). The challenge is knowing your cat and his/her patterns enough to know what that is.

PS: Cathie...could you pls take the 911 down. Everything’s good now. Thank you!!

 

I should have said if he was still dropping. I stand by my statement of mixing longer acting with shorter acting carbs. But I admit, my advise come from working with humans who will rebound back to hypoglycemic states if they are just given carbs.

 

+6 113 all is great I was thinking at this point I might give her a 2 hour break from being poked.

 

Like the easy on the way up.

 

me too

 

Cats aren't humans. Shaak was nowhere near hypoglycemia and even if she was still dropping, I would not have advised dry food. Even though my own cat was in the 30s and occasionally 20s, I never gave her dry food.

If a cat will eat canned food and is responding to it, once the drop is stopped, low carb food will often work just fine to keep the cat in safe numbers especially if it's later in the cycle. Certainly a little more gravy generally does the trick especially with a cat on a shorter duration insulin.

When managing a curve, the goal is to keep them safe and keep them in normal numbers for as long as possible to let the pancreas heal. There is no reason to overreact, overcarb, and send them skyrocketing by giving them dry food that will take a cycle to wear off.

Cathie....you can easily give her a couple hours off.

 

Cathie you are doing so good at keeping a very good watch on Shaak. I am very impressed. Still waiting to hear if you want to switch/can switch to Lantus, though Shaak's spreadsheet looks pretty darn good right now!

 

+8 254

 

@Sparkle I am hoping to talk to the vet on monday

 

Shaak is obviously feeling really good today, she has been playing, chasing my pen when I am writing and rubbing on the bed on her back.

 

I'm glad she's doing so well!!!

 

Sorry to see she has gone back up tonight. Hopefully, she will come back down soon.