6/17 A2 Gizmo amps 95-104, NS, +1 94, +2 112, +5 350, +7 380, +11 389, PMPS 346, +3 232

Last convo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/5-21-a2-gizmo-birthday-amps-246-pmps-282-3-5-236.195923/ (it's been a bit)

Sorry I haven't been more active. To be frank, my depression has reared up a bit so I've been pretty antisocial as of late. I've got a good support network and Josh (BF) has been great helping with Gizmo.

This is the second time in just a few days hes had much lower than normal PS values. The last one, which was 120, we had a reservation at 7:15 and couldn't wait it out so we skipped a dose. His numbers went high around the nadir when we got home, and then started coming down by the next PS.

I'm at a loss what to. We should be home most of today but I'm not sure of I should skip entirely or not, and if I should feed. I mean, hes making his opinion known quite well as he is currently working on clearing off every surface in this house to remind me its breakfast time.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I was going to move his shot by 15 mins later since we are planning a trip to the zoo and wanted to creep his shot time later to account for traffic on the way home to make sure, so I was expecting to see higher numbers, not green.

His numbers have been so bouncy so I have just been trying to stay the course and give him time to settle down, but its seems to long at this point.

 

Stall for 15 minutes and retest without feeding him. That will tell you if his numbers are heading up or still dropping. Also things to consider do you have lots of strips high carb food and honey or karo in hand if needed to bring him up.

 

I just tested him at +.5 (30 mins) and hes at 109. Per the SLGS sticky, it says not to shoot under 150 but I'm confused since if I never shoot under 150 (and give lower doses between 150 and 200, which to be honest I've never done, I just give him his normal dose of it's over 150) then how is he ever going to get lower numbers?

Since he is on the rise should I just give him his normal dose and test every hour?

Edit to add, I have not fed yet either, if I shoot, then I feed for certain

I have some higher carb food on hand that he loves, I will double check the %

 

Oh. And I just opened a fresh 50 pack of strips and have an unopened one in the cupboard too

 

95 and 109 are basically the same number. I’m not as familiar with SLGS method, but I believe that no shoot number is a guideline and then you gradually work your way lower. I won’t be able to stay and help you today so I don’t want to tell you to give insulin and then leave you on your own.

 

Mmkay. Gonna give it another 15 mins and see where he is going

 

Sounds like a plan. Hopefully someone else will come along by then.

 

Another thing to consider ... if you stall will you still be alright for your birthday trip tomorrow?
Happy birthday by the way!

Yes if you decide to give insulin, you need to feed him his normal breakfast and then check him often (I usually did every 2 hours unless I caught a low number). But I knew my Gizmo didn’t start to drop right away.

Does Gizmo respond to honey or hc food quickly? My Gizmo did so I usually felt pretty confident I could get his numbers to rise back up quickly. Just something else to consider.

 

The only time I had to use HC food was 5/19/18, and it seemed to take a bit. The wet HC food was his leftover prescription food which he disliked and so I ended up crushing some temptation treats to mix in to entice him. That episode prompted me to pick some some Fancy Feast gravy lovers (20%) and marinated morsels (13%) to have better options that he will go bananas for

For the trip, we were trying to bump him later anyways, since it's about an hourish to the Zoo which opens at 10, and it closes at 5 (though you can stay until 6) so we wanted to move his shot time to about 7:30 (instead of 6:30) to give us more wiggle room on the drive home in case we stay until 6 and if there is traffic

 

Ugh, 15 mins later and hes back at 95, retested on other ear at 104...so basically same number

 

Sounds like you are prepared if he would drop lower. Hopefully his next test will give you a better idea of his plans for the day. At least stalling works out for your trip tomorrow.

When you have a chance, try to get his spreadsheet up to date. I know you haven’t been able to and I completely understand. But it will help people help you with these decisions.

 

Of course he wouldn’t make the decision easy ... he’s a cat. Lol

 

The spreadsheet is actually up to date, is it not showing up via the link right? We switched to using the relion meter so it should be a blue tab. Unfortunately with work I haven't been able to test more than about 3-4 times per day.

 

I didn’t realize about the second tab, but I just double checked. I can only see through May 25th in the human meter tab. Maybe it is just my phone.

 

And at +1 he just came in at 92..

I'm not sure how long it's safe to stall. I wanted to push him later but not past 1 hour later since I go back to work Tuesday and have to be out the door by 7:15 (which moving to 7:30 the night before would let me bump back to 7:15 the next morning)

I'm almost wondering if I should take this as him saying he doesn't want insulin this morning and skip the shot. Pretty sure if I dont feed him soon he might just start eating me. I already had to go lock his sister in the bedroom with Josh since he kept attacking her. He's hangry

 

I don’t think you would want to stall much longer either. At some point the dropping numbers would be related to him not eating (I would think so anyways).

 

Yeah, I'm calling it and just skipping. Gonna test a bit throughout the morning to see how quickly he spikes. Hes a stubborn boy, that's for sure.

 

Mmkay, they are fed, and I am gonna try and get about a few more zzzs in. Will ask Josh to test him while I nap but spreadsheet wont show his numbers until I'm awake since the spreadsheet app is on my phone.

 

Hello, missed you.

If you keep reading the part in the SLGS Sticky Notes on low preshots, you will see there are two sections. The first starts "in the beginning". The second begins "with experience". I think the second part is more relevant for you now. Over time and as you gather data, you should be able to shoot anything over 90. Start by lowering you own no shoot level when you have the opportunity to monitor, and gather data.

Often when you stall, their numbers go down without food. It's a delicate balance. The upside is you can now move his shot time to what works for you and you can have a great birthday tomorrow.

 

Hes actually not bouncing as high as I thought. Unfortunately both Josh and I fell asleep so I got a +2 but then nothing until +5, which was 350 and now at +7 he is 380...he getting lunch now but hes been surprisingly chill. I find it really odd that it seems like the lower his numbers are, the more squirrelly he gets as of late, I would have expected the opposite. Gonna try and get a ketone test today but hes been elusive.

We switched to the pine pellets/breeze litterbox, nestled on top of another litterbox with a puppy pad and it had made litterbox issues SO much better. I can flush the poo and just swirl it around to get the sawdust in the bottom, then every 3-4 days I just lift up the breeze box and can fold the puppy pas on itself and toss it and the shavings in one go. And the 6 dollar 40 lb bag of pine pellets from Tractor Supply is only half used up!

But this box does have higher sides so it's easier for him to hide his stream from my reach, lol. I tried the ladle once with this new box.....he is having None of that..he beats it away the moment he sees it. Not too worried though since hes acting "normal" (as normal as hes ever been, at least )

He did try and hunt the lizard today. His new favorite nap spot is on top of the big boa tank since that has an under-lid forced heater, so there is a roughly 2x2 foot square "warm" spot that is perfect for him to nap on AND be able to keep an eye on every movement the lizard makes. Hes only allowed in when one of us are in there but BF keeps his desk and computer in there and likes to unwind with video games after work so he gets lots of time.

 

Man, I cant believe I completely missed that this morning. Well, now I know what to do next time hopefully. His data is so hard for me to interpret sometimes because the one time he went super low he had a pretty high pre-shot, and other times when I was on the fence and went for it, he had a beautiful looking curve at first but then a huge jump at the next pre-shot, but never the huge drops I was afraid of.

He has started responding to Pogo now though, lol. This cat has a million nicknames that I'm amazed he even responds to Gizmo sometimes.

I just realized it's been 2 months today since he was diagnosed. It feels like it's been forever. So I guess it's still early.

 

Every day is a new lesson with FD. And every cycle is a chance for a do over. I didn't keep track of how many times I said that to myself.