AMPS +4 is 48! Worry?

AMPS +4 is 48! He's acting fine. Should I be worried? Should I give him some high-carb food?

 

I would have fed him one teaspoon of high carb and tested 30 minutes later. When's the last time he was tested? Also, a reduction was earned.

 

I agree with Kat. A spoon of HC, test in 30 minutes, and this means you should reduce the dose by .25u

 

Hi again! I see Tooloo was completely off the dry as of yesterday--congratulations!!! Looking at your SS, it's evident these past few days the lack of dry food is really doing a great job of lowering his numbers. Like I said, he's earned a reduction and if he was my cat, I would definitely give him a reduction. Per the Lantus Protocol, the reduction would be .25 HOWEVER someone with more experience will advise you (I do not advise). I will locate an Advisor to help, and have him/her post on this condo. My concern is that with the food change, a bigger reduction MAY be in order.

 

Wa La--Carl is here and top-of-the-line!!!

 

Thank you! I gave him some Fancy Feast medley - maybe too much - about half a can. Then tested about an hour later - up to 65. Phew!

He's actually been off the dry completely for almost a week now. I updated a little late.

How can you possibly measure .25 units? You must have a different syringe. I have 31 gauge 3/10 mL. Half-unit markings. I guess I could try. Should I get a different syringe next time?

I also have him confined to the bathroom to test for ketones. Maybe not an issue now since his numbers are so low. I've never tested before so thought I should. We have another kitty so have to use separate box to test. He's been in there about 3 hours. I'm about to give up, although he doesn't seem to mind much. There's a soft rug.

Also he's only been at 1.5 for a couple of days. Reduce already?

 

Good job, controlling the numbers with MC food.

Yes, he earns a reduction with that 48. Sometimes if a low number happens right away after a reduction, we figure it's still from the depot built up in him from the last dose, but your kitty has had 5 shots of this dose, right? I think it's time to try a reduction.

The .25 were the hardest for me to measure. The smallest increments of markings readily found on insulin syringes are the 1/2 unit marked, so you'll have to get out a syringe and play with it and try to get to what you think is between the 1.00 unit and the 1.50 unit markings. Once you think you have it, save that syringe to compare your doses to when you measure each dose, so you can be consistant.

Good luck with the new dose.

And, if he goes up tonight or tomorrow, just ride it out. Cat's livers will produce glucose like substances that are there to "protect" the cat, when he has gone lower than what he is used to. We call the higher numbers a bounce, and they can sometimes take 3 days to clear. You just need to be patient. Once the bounce clears, you'll see how the new dose is doing.

 

Ok thanks. I'll practice with the syringe. He's going to be alone for about 10 hours tomorrow. This worries me. Do you think I should reduce by .5 instead of .25 since I won't be here to test him? nailbite_smile

 

Reducing to 1.0 is an option tomorrow if you won't be home to watch him, yes.
What time in the AM do you give the shots? We can make sure somebody is here to answer any questions.

In this thread, if you scroll down, there are pics of what the "in between" doses look like.
Plus tons of other great information.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18139

 

Since he dropped low you may find he will bounce tomorrow and be high yellow or pink in which case the 0.25 reduction will probably be fine.

But if he is under 200 you might be better reducing to 1IU for that one shot and starting the new 1.25 IU dose tomorrow night instead like Carl said

Wendy

 

I went ahead and reduced to 1.25 tonight. He bounced at pmps to 287. So I'll probably do the 1.25 in the am. It looks like my husband will be able to check in periodically tomorrow, but the following 3 days no one will be here. I'll see how he checks out tomorrow night and might reduce for Tuesday.

Friday is vet appointment for them to do their first check. They want to keep him for the day. They don't know I've reduced amount from 2 units, and they don't know I'm monitoring. Is it really necessary for me to have them do a check on him? I can monitor him closely myself on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I guess I will see how he does through the week. I'm curious how many of you use the vet to do an occasional curve?

 

What are they going to check?

I estimate, less than 10% of us have curves done at the vet. Two reasons. 1. Accuracy of the numbers, stress induced highs and 2. cost is outrageous for what is done vs cost for us to do this at home.

Since vets charge somewhere between $100 and $200 for a curve at the vets office, most of us that home test say no thanks and do them ourselves at home for the price of 6 strips and some of our time. You test every 2 hours, starting with your pre-shot test and ending with your next pre-shot test. That's a curve.

Curves done in a familiar home environment reflect the actual BG numbers better. You do not have the stress of the ride to the vet raising the numbers, you do not have the scary dogs and strange people at the vet to cause more stress and raise the numbers. You do not have your cat puking all over the car because they get car sick. Curves done at home give you a better idea of the nadir and that is what dosing changes are based on for Lantus and Levimir.

New people tend to have a curve done at the vet if they are not comfortable doing it themselves or have not gotten the hang of home testing.

I had one curve done at the vet office and that was under protest. My sugardude Wink is a foster kitty, so the shelter insisted on a curve even though I had lots of data and had just done a curve myself at home. They would not accept that data and insisted on a curve at the vets. I told them I could do one at home for $2.16. Nope, they insisted on my taking Wink to the vet and spending $120 on a curve at the vet. Their money, their choice since Wink still belongs to them and not me.

Most of us do not spend the money on Fructosamine tests either, since we have more accurate real time data on what the BG's are doing.

 

Good Morning--

I'm real curious as to what TooLoo's amps will be. If you could start a new post, it would be easier for others to identify. To add yesterday's condo to it, you can use this link:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...sid=035d72a2bf3779f4f80a7528e07759ff#p1083425

Also, you can identify the date, TooLoo and AMPS, such as:

8/5 TooLoo AMPS (add BG)