? Bubba 3.18 AMPS =126 +6.5=63 PMPS=82

3/16

Good Morning L & L ~

Bubba is still hitting some 50's. but not going under to stop the countdown for drops........and bouncing a bit afterwards. Hopefully, he will get a bit more stable with his numbers. It is what it is.

I hope everyone had a nice St. Patty's Day. We hosted a small dinner party with the typical Irish Corn Beef, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. I served a nice horseradish cream sauce with it. Oh, so good.

Vines to all the Beans and Kitties in need.

 

Good job Bubba!
That menu sounds yummy!

 

Good Morning, Bobbie, I learn so much from you and this forum(!) I read about counting drops in 1 unit; however, will you kindly elaborate on this? When do you start counting drops, and does 1 drop = when it rolls off the tip or when it still stays on the tip of the needle?...Or am I being OCD again?

 

Good morning, Bobbie. Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day and St. Gertrude of Nevilles Day.

Bubba sure is getting ready for Springtime Break(out)!

Your holiday dinner sounded wonderful, especially the horseradish sauce! I love horseradish!

Enjoy the weekend and Bubba: surf steady!

 

Nice Bubba. I love corned beef. As a kid not knowing what is was called I always called it the stringy meat.

 

Two days ago, Forrest started having problems walking on my hard wood floors. His back legs would just slide out sideways almost like he was ice skating. It happened a few hours after he passed a HUGE hard poop ( the size of a ping pong ball) It is an intermittent thing. He can walk on the floors for so long then he starts slipping again.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

I have no idea about the floors. All my floors are carpeted (yes kitchen too) by previous owners. Have not gotten to taking out kitchen carpet yet. Will do it WHEN not if kitchen is remodeled.

 

When Allen's hind legs started doing this (they were also very weak, he had trouble walking) it was the Pred. Years ago when my Snickers was still with us her hind legs got very weak and started sliding on our floor and I believe it was low potassium.

 

Hi Carol. What I meant by drops was 3 drops below 50 which is when long term diabetics get a reduction.

But, to answer you question about drops: I always found counting drops tricky. I use calipers so I never counted drops in .10 of a unit. But, if you do, you would slowly screw the plunger until one drop appears from the needle and it free falls. And count how many you get till the syringe is empty.

And after kitty stays in all green numbers on the .10 dose then you would move to a "drop" of insulin. The way you do that is to push the plunger of the syringe in tight and hold it down while putting the needle into the insulin cartridge and then let go on the plunger. It will suck up a drop on insulin. You can practice with water. It will look like there is nothing in the syringe but there will be a drop.

 

Thanks Judy, I did see that on line about the potassium. He did just have blood work done about 1 month ago. I will have to look at the labs.

ETA: Did see receive potassium and did it help?

 

Yes, there was a noticeable improvement almost right away.

 

I will make an appointment tomorrow for a senior panel. They just did a thyroid panel last month but I think it's been a while since he had a senior panel. I hope it is that easy!

 

Bobbie, it could also be arthritis. I know Forrest is getting up there in years.

 

Oh my, Forrest.
My first thought was low potassium, too. Happened with Civie Bo.

Eta: Bo’s low potassium was found when I brought him to ER during a blizzard (multiple conditions very senior cat, long story and scary event that night). Even though he’d had b/w a couple weeks earlier and potassium level was normal then, it was very low that night. They did fluids and rx’d a potassium supplement (I think it was Tumil-k, pull that I crushed and added to assist fed slurry). It helped a lot. Also that’s when I discovered that he liked raw chicken liver and then liver shakes.

 

I hope Bubba heads back to the lagoon and surfs for you. Poor Forrest. I wonder if she strained something and it only bothers him every now and then. I hope you can figure it out soon. Sending prayers.

 

Me too! Vines to Forrest! And for you.....

 

I wondered about arthritis also but then why would he only have trouble walking on the hard wood floors? As today goes on, he seems to be worse. I am calling the vet first thing tomorrow morning. I had to pick him up and take him into the kitchen to eat. I put a bath mat down for him to be on while eating. After he ate just now, he just laid down on the mat right in front of his dish.........I had to pick him up and carry him out of the kitchen. My poor boy......it came on the day before yesterday and seems to be getting worse.

 

Oh my goodness, Forrest threw a curve ball at ya' the last few days! I hope the upcoming labwork sheds more light on this!

Wow, when Dante had his heart failure, I never thought to come here during his recovery period...this place offers a wealth of experience and information and...a place to start!

Bobbie; Thank you, ok, so I wasn't displaying my OCD (if the drop should stay on the tip or free fall - it takes more juice to make it free fall)... I was reading earlier about drops and never realized how low a dosage can get. Thank you for the instructions, this offers another option, though I will continue with my calipers. Another one to highlight and paste in my FDMB e-notes! Thank you!

 

Bobbie, check his BG just in case. Doodles started doing that and happened overnight it seemed. 2 days later we got the diabetes dx, it was neuropathy. Sending vines and prayers

 

Oh dear. Forrest certainly isn’t feeling well. I’d also wondered if the extra straining to eliminate big poop, might have created a bit of muscle strain back there. But since it’s been going on before that and you’ve been carrying him place to place before and since, sounds like something else...arthritis as Carol mentioned; low potassium /electrolyte imbalance; non-diabetic peripheral neuropathy? Good you’re taking him to vet tomorrow and getting New senior panel done.

(Btw: Bo also had hard time on floors but was determined to conquer them, with or without carpets in place),. At one point, I bought some tiny dog sized booties that had rubbery soles. It helped give him some traction but he kept pulling them off)

 

Glad you are getting him checked out tomorrow. Vines and prayers for nothing serious.

 

From what I'm reading, it looks like Forrest could have low potassium, neuropathy from incipient diabetes, arthritis, stress from the hard giant poop, and so on, so it's good that you're taking him to the vet tomorrow.
For what it's worth, walking on a rug causes less impact on the hips than does walking on a hard floor.

Here's hoping your vet can make a diagnosis, a good prognosis, and have Forrest back to normal again.

 

Actually, the weak hind legs starting a few hours after I discovered the huge hard poop. That is why I thought the it had something to do with legs......

 

Good idea. I will check his BG's

 

Feel better Forrest! Hoping and praying it is easy remedy!

 

Just had to comment on this. The TR protocol says that long term diabetics earn a reduction by going under 40, or by going a week in green. Some caregivers have decided to use an alternative for reductions, where they use three drops under 50. This last method is also suggested for cats who keep failing reductions.

I had an arthritic civie who had problems with hardwood floors. His had spinal stenosis, and I guess walking on slippery floors put extra pressure on his spine. He also had hock arthritis. If you think about it, we walk a little different on icy surfaces.

Sending vines for Forrest, hope it's something simple.

 

Ah, thanks for clarifying the recentness. Guess I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately.
Good luck tomorrow and hope Forrest feeling better soon. ❤️

 

Sending prayers and vines for Forrest! Hopefully the vet can get it all sorted tomorrow.

 

love light and healing

 

Wendy, got it, thank you(!) for responding; thank you for clarifying when to use drops as an option! Another note to copy and paste for me!

Bobbie, we're praying for Forrest! Keep posting, and we'll keep praying!

 

Thanks for clarifying that Wendy.

Walking on icy surfaces is just what it looks like. Almost like he's ice skating.

 

How was his BG?

 

He is 80 and that was 4.5 hours after eating.

 

Extra prayers to Forrest

 

Thanks to everyone who responded with ideas about Forrest. We'll keep everyone posted after he sees the vet tomorrow.

 

Vetty vines for Forrest tomorrow. Rusty had that problem (much worse) as a reaction to Pred. He has since recovered.

Lookin' good, Deputy Bubba!
~ LagoonMeister Rusty

 

Judy and Boomer also said the same about Pred with civvie Allen. I hope to get to the bottom of this. Forrest is approximately 15 years old, not too sure as he was a stray/rescue. I am not ready to let him go...... Prayers and vines please!

 

Vetty vines for Forrest. for the beans.

 

More purrayers and vines for Forrest.

And for Bubba:

 

Oooo. That's a whole other clue. Vines for a good vetty trip tomorrow.

 

Prayers for Forrest tomorrow and extra insight/wisdom for vet

 

Vetty vines for Forrest. Nice PMPS for Bubba.