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Sans insulin in the am!

 

Woo Hoo!!!

 

Fabulous!!!

 

NICE!

 

Wow! Hooray!

 

Awesome!

 

That's so great to hear that.

 

I was so happy I cried. Like I won a car. Or house. Or husband. I'm super strict w two cans a day as opposed to however many cans a day plus dry food. He's hungry like we all are when we go on a diet but I think it's helping. Plus the help of you amazing people.

 

It's definitely helping and good for you for sticking to your plan for him. Here's hoping that he is headed for remission soon.

 

Awesome!!

 

That's great!!!!!!!

 

I think you may be ready to start the off the juice trial!!! If he can go 14 days without insulin he's considered to be in remission. As long as he's under 140 for the next few days hold off on giving any insulin and let's see what happens. Crossing fingers for you!!!!!

 

It's OK to give a little wet food mid day. Just no dry.

 

I'm excited to see where he is this morning! Here's hoping he stays in those nicer numbers...ANTI JINX!

 

So exciting!

 

I do. I leave a quarter can for him at noon and a quarter for him around 3

 

Going to test soon

 

Drum roll ...............

 

Oh god I'm nervous

 

I'm scared to test! I will in 10. Gah! Thank you

 

Inquiring minds want to know!!!!

 

I poked him like four times and not enough blood so I'm giving him a break. Like 5 min

 

102 and 194884930 pokes his poor ears!

 

!!!!

 

Maybe I should start using the lancet device. I don't know it seems like I'm getting worse at this. when I first started I was getting blood on the first try. Maybe it's because his ears are so banged up. I don't like the Lancer because of the noise and I don't know how deep it goes

 

102 and a shaky cat mom that has to go grade a million papers

 

What lancet do you use? I have a relion one, and an alpha tracker one. And I think the alpha tracker is much easier.
Also...congrats on your BG numbers again. I'm green with envy. I wish Frank's numbers would be green with me.

 

The alpha track. I don't know if it should be on 2 or 3 or what. And I can't get the lancet out from last time.

I hope Frank gets green!!! I wish I had all of your testing skills! It's so much easier to just give the insulin. This testing is for the birds. But I'll keep on keeping on.

 

I keep mine on 3, but did move it up to 4 last night when I had problems getting a good poke. Do you put a cotton ball or anything on the other side of the earwhen you're poking?
Also, Frank has white ears, so it's super easy to see the blood as soon as it gets into a drop. That also means you can see AAAALLLLL the little bruises on his ears, too.

 

I do. Yoshi's are super light orange so I can see everything. He has 5 holes on the sides of 1 ear and 6 on the other. Like he's in some sort of metal band.

 

5 is nothing! I'll send you a picture of Frank's ear's later today. He looks like a junky.

 

Hahaha

 

I just realized both our cats were diagnosed the same day.

 

And look how well Yosh is doing! You're so lucky! Lol.

 

soooo happy!! Well you can give his ears a break until PMPS test time. GO YOSHI, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

 

Let's go Yoshi!!!

 

Yo-shi! Yo-shi! Yo-shi!

 

I hope I stay lucky. Gah. I hate that this no insulin business requires so much testing. I'd rather eat glass. Bah

 

Many people with kitties who are going toward remission find it more stressful than the usual BG monitoring while giving insulin. They fret over every number ...

 

108 pmps. I'm not going to test tomo. His ears...I think it long as I keep his diet under control I'm OK

 

I just can't do it this often. he's growling as he feels better. when he was sick it was easier. He's being really extra.

 

I think it's okay if you need to take tomorrow off. You do want to keep monitoring because if his numbers start to creep back up, you want to catch that right away. Usually we say every pre-shot time for two weeks and then we throw and OTJ party. But that being said, I also understand the stress of testing, especially when you aren't doing it with that urgency of giving him a safe dose. Plus, Yoshi wasn't even on insulin for much more than two weeks in the first place. So if you need to take a day off, I think it will be okay, but please please please come back.

Considering his short time on insulin, it would probably also be okay to just test once/day, alternating between a morning test and an evening test. Give you both a little bit of a break, but still give you enough information to be certain that he's ready to be done with the insulin. Does that seem more manageable?

 

Have you thought about testing his paw pads for now? Just to give his ears a chance to heal up a little bit.

 

Yes. I'll test this evening.

 

Hurray! Go, Yoshi, go!

I'm hoping Schatzie will follow his example soon (she started insulin around the same time as Yoshi).

 

Pretty Kitty! Looks like Yoshi's brother!

 

He has neuropathy, so I don't really want to mess with his feet. Plus I don't know where to paw poke. I have a feeling that may hurt more

 

Is anyone using an AlphaTrack meter regularly? I'm almost out of strips because of his fussing. I read somewhere there are cheaper strips for the AlphaTrack that work, but I can't remember...

 

They aren't cheaper, at least not in amazon. I think they are freestyle lite test strips.

 

Amazon price had dropped to $43.25 vs +$50. The other place is adwdiabetes.com with the retailmenot coupon code. You can use Freestyle Lite test strips but you need to do multiple comparisons between AT2 strips and FSL

 

128 pmps. Not dosing. He ate exactly 2 hrs prior and may have had a old dry kibble I saw him crunch on in the corner inbetween. I'll test in am. Going to alternate am shots and pm shots

 

Also I tested his crazy brother for comparison and he's so much easier. He was at 88.

 

Lol...wait, I thought you hated testing! Now you're testing cats for fun?!?!

(I bet we've all tested our civvies a time or two - Atticus is way easier to test - he doesn't even seem to notice!)

 

I use a lancing device. I set it on 1 and turned it up til I got a good poke with a decent drop with little squeezing. I put my finger on the other side and never poked straight through. We use ours on the "3" setting. I poked myself with a fresh lancet and I didn't feel it. I have another that when set on 1, I swear it hit my bone! Painful contraption... I won't use that one.
I'm very impressed and quite jealous... But very happy for you and your kitty's success!!

 

!!

 

Tried testing today. No dice. I only have one strip left so I'll test tonight. I'm scared he's going to creep back up.

 

Haha! know! I don't know what got into me! My mom made me do it on FaceTime. I think she was more curious. It didn't bother him at all. Yoshi is a bit of a drama king, I've learned.

Why are they called civvies?

 

Short for 'civilian' - a person who is not a member of a particular profession or group, as viewed by a member of that group. So the civvies are the cats who aren't part of the the super-cool-diabetic-cats group

 

I just read this whole thing and it's amazing! Go Yoshi! And cheers to you as well! I think my Pita gets fussier with testing when he feels better too. Hang in there and I'm so excited for you

 

Thank you. I'm just hoping this sticks!

 

It's the greatest feeling when it happens and the most nerve-racking feeling to hope it stays!

 

Djamila and I talked about Sam and Maury when they are in normal numbers can also be a little feistier

 

Well it seems to be the trend to be feisty when feeling good! At least we're all in the same boat!

 

Well, one strip left and I didn't get enough blood. Waiting for amazon to deliver them in an hour. I just fed him because he was losing his mind, so I'll test in two hours. I'm the meantime, here is his much sweeter brother, Seine.

 

Gotta love prime delivery. Very cute. I have a few grey ones.

 

Here's one right next to me. This is Lita.

 

I realized Yoshi needed a playmate when he was younger because he was chasing, biting and trying to play with me with some giant cat toy. So then I prayed for a nicer, sweeter cat and Seine is almost too affectionate. he's in my face constantly

 

OMG TWINS

 

I have another one who is all grey too.... Stormy. Here she is with her sister Luna.

 

Pretty kitties!!

 

When I took stormy in (they were born to a feral in my garage) she had double eye infections and pneumonia. I honestly didn't think she was going to live.... But she did! And she's just the sweetest thing. This was her when we first took her in. Poor thing was so so sick.

 

OMG that poor little thing! I'm so glad she got a good home and has obviously thrived.

 

OMG Nugget! Yoshi was bad too, but not that bad. He had a bad bout with Feline Herpes. Almost didn't make it.

 

What a good cat mom!!!

 

She's great now. Her tear ducts have some permanent damage so I have to wipe her eyes evvery day or two but otherwise she's healthy. That first night inside I fully prepared myself to wake up to finding her passed away. When she was still fighting I had to do whatever to help her. Two different eye ointments every three hours, oral antibiotic, and nebulizer a few times a day. Within a week she was really coming around. After 3 weeks we brought her sister Luna in from outside. (We didn't want Luna to get sick by bringing her in too early, but it was clear she missed her sister as we found homes for her other two littermates). They were so happy to be together again.

 

Me too!!!

 

Strips came. He was at 95 an hour after eating half a can. I couldn't wait to test as much as I hate it.

 

Janet you are awesome! Such adorable kitties!

Grats Yoshi!

 

That's great! Love seeing some greens pop up like that!

 

Beautiful green! That made it worth waiting for the strips!

 

Have you told your vet yet about these numbers? Thank goodness you test!

 

Oh my that poor little baby! That first picture of her crying just broke my heart! I'm so grateful they found you!!!

That green is excellent! One of the signs of the pancreas kicking in is that they actually go down after eating, which looks likely!

 

I emailed her the spreadsheet. She said the numbers look good great and to test him once a day for a week and to let her know if there any changes. Then she said it might be ok to give him a break for a week or so. She still not a fan of the .25 if it creeps back up even though it clearly helped him.

 

I'd keep up the once a day test for at least another week...that's our official count of OTJ (anti jinx!). If he did end up creeping back up, I'd go with 0.25 personally so that you can get ahead of it and hopefully keep him from needing more...GREAT JOB!

 

I agree. Thanks Rachel

 

You might try to alternate the times a bit with your once/day testing - getting morning tests as well as evening tests. Just to make sure he's doing well with that morning number as well. Fingers crossed for more greens!

 

Maybe I'll test before his afternoon snack today

 

He was at 102. I can't really remember when I exactly last fed him. (I was half asleep.) it could've been less than 2 hours after, it was definitely not more.

Weird question: yoshi likes lettuce and or spinach. Is that contraband? I think it will help with his constipation (in addition to the miralax)? Also how often should he be peeing?

He goes maybe 2 or 3x per day, but I'm also putting water in his food. He doesn't drink much anymore, but neither does my normal cat. I think I'm just so used to him hugging his water bowl. I don't know what's normal anymore.

 

To me lettuce and spinach are in the same category as cat grass. Probably not a big raiser of BG. Teasel loves leafy greens too.

 

Some cats like kale also. I think leafy greens are fine. Sam eats every plant in the house (they're all non-toxic to cats, don't worry) and it doesn't seem to impact his BG...except the day he ate all of the violets - but that might have just been a coincidence...

Anyway, most cats on a wet food diet don't drink a lot of extra water, and the peeing sounds about normal. You can pinch some skin around the scruff and see if it snaps back quickly. If so, then he's probably okay on hydration.

 

I put water in my kitties' wet food and never see them at their water bowl.

 

He's going to be so happy to have lettuce!

 

I think the worst case scenario is that he'll barf it up on a carpet somewhere - like cat grass. Why does it always have to be on carpet??!

 

lol yes! I have mostly hard floors and Maury almost always barfs on the rugs

 

Happy Caturday! 102 this am.

 

That's his third 102 in a row on the AM tests!

 

He likes that number.

 

I just realized that.

 

Is blue still good or should we be hoping for green?

 

Blue is still good. Normal range is 68 - 150 on pet meters, of course some kitties run higher or lower