Have you read my post on
Testing and Shooting Tips? There might be something in there that will help you with your shooting technique. It's really important that the bevel is up. I preferred the roll method instead of the tent method.
If you look on Gracie's SS, you'll see I rotated shot sites and kept track of them (see Units column). Some cats will only allow scruff shots and if he's one, just try to rotate around the scruff as much as you can. Think of a box around his shoulders and make a pattern that you keep. For example, left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom.
If you think the syringes are not sharp enough, you might also think about changing syringes. I wasn't crazy about the Walmart syringes but a lot of people use them.
If you look on Gracie's SS, you will see a tab where I also kept comparisons of AT/Micro numbers, if you are interested. It's important to note that one cannot extrapolate my data to other meters. This comparison was valid for the two meters I was using and that's it. The value of the data is that it shows the difference between the two is not always the same.
I also posted on one of your condos and suggested you stop feeding at +9 as that is a technique just used for cats about to go into remission and whose pancreas is already working. It takes about three or so hours for the endogenous insulin produced by the pancreas to bring down the BG. By feeding a +9 snack to a kitty where the pancreas is working, then the PS is lower. Because the AMPS is often the last number to come down as a kitty progresses towards remission, feeding at +9 can help that issue.
When the beta cells of the pancreas are damaged or destroyed, they cannot produce insulin. You can feed a cat every three hours and if the beta cells aren't working, it isn't going to stimulate them. What allows the pancreas and the beta cells to heal is time spent in normal numbers. Even as the healing starts, the beta cells are still fragile and can be easily damaged.
For nondiabetic cats (and humans), small meals throughout the day is a good thing for the pancreas because it's much easier for it to regulate the BG with smaller meals than with a huge meal. If you took your BG immediately after eating an enormous meal, you might find it is higher than usual so that is more work for the pancreas to do to bring it back down. After a while (sometimes a very long while, sometimes not) if large, high carb meals continue, it stresses the pancreas to the point where diabetes develops.
In a diabetic cat that is not near remission and whose pancreas is not working, it's the exogenous insulin that is dropping the numbers. With Lantus, after the peak action of the insulin (nadir), the effects of the insulin start to wane. More carbs use more of the insulin and so it can impact duration.
Think of it like your car approaching a stop sign. If you are 100 feet away from the stop sign and you slam on the brakes, you aren't going to make it to the stop sign but if you take your foot off the accelerator, you'll glide to the stop sign.
On active cycles and especially bounce clearing cycles, we sometimes have to feed after mid cycle to keep the numbers from dropping. Because you want to minimize the impact on duration, it can be wise to just use LC food and see if that will keep the numbers up
if feeding is absolutely necessary.
I will admit that one of the mistakes we made with Gracie early on is we didn't let her liver learn to surf the greens. We were afraid she would drop and so we would feed more, albeit LC, than we probably needed to. In hindsight,
for her, it would have been better if I had pulled the food after mid cycle and when she had
flattened out and stopped dropping so her liver learned to surf. It can be a
thing to do especially with a cat, like Gracie, who thought nothing of dropping into the 20s out of nowhere. Thankfully, we were testaholics
Does that help with the confusion? A peer review forum is excellent so you get lots of opinions but sometimes those opinions are urban legends....like feeding a +9 snack to cat that is nowhere near remission. It won't help.
this is the 3rd time I've brought him to work, and he has refused to eat every time. Happy to know that lower numbers might spark his appetite...that's a relief! Thanks so much for checking on us.
