Gandalf update

This is as close as I can find to a grey colored font.

Gandalf is doing pretty good. Today is the first day I've been able to curve in a few and he's throwing me for a loop. 208 preshot, 1U, dropped to 80 by +4 and was 53 at +6 and had gotten up to eat so I assume he may have been a bit lower prior to test. I let him eat first.

My concern is that his pancreas isn't producing the proper enzymes to process his food correctly, therefore causing him to need less insulin - like eating less would do. Next week is acupuncture appointment so will ask that vet what she thinks. Pancreatic enzymes are apparently by prescription only, so I need vet approval. Our regular vet didn't seem keen on them when we discussed during his pancreatitis episode. She was not convinced they would help.

I can feel his ribs now and his sides are gaunt. On my scale he's between 12-13 pounds. I'm reserving judgment about weight until I can get him on proper scale at clinic. He seems to be eating fine and I am still supplementing him with 1.5 to 2 oz of raw mixed with Wellness per day.

But the visible weight loss plus seeming decrease in insulin needs tells me something changing. I know 12 to 13 pounds may seem normal, but he's a Maine Coon body type and very large. 15 to 16 was his normal pre-diabetes weight.

 

While his numbers look good i'm concerned about the weight loss. Is he independently eating the raw or is he still taking it off the syringe? How many x's a day is he eating?

Just out of curiousity, why are you trying to find the gray font? Boooring

 

He eats on his own, but I give him the raw mix via syringe because if I put it in his feeder it either sits there and gets crusty or Leahpold eats it.

I thought a grey font would be cool for Gandalf the Grey

 

Full moon

Since I just realized earlier this afternoon that we have a rare full moon on New Year's Eve, I also realized this might explain his 296 yesterday AMPS and the 29th PMPS of 331. I have noticed this pattern before previous full moons, on Nov. 30th he had a 300 followed by an upper 200s 2 days before the full moon on the 2nd. And then after the full moon he had several green numbers although not the day of full moon like today.

I miss our little moon phase graphic from the old board

 

PMPS 231, so I dropped to .9U as I think he may be getting a bit too much. 53 isn't too low, but I may not have caught the lowest low and his preshots have been over 200 for a few cycles lately, even several days before the full moon.

 

Vicky, I think the .9u was a good plan. Agree about the observation of the FM. It sure does effect these guys.

Paws crossed that the lower insulin needs can be attributed to something "simple" like needing more pancreas enzymes. Has he been screened for hyper-T lately?

 

Lately as in last 6 months, no. If we do his dental in February as usual (depends how he's doing) I will ask that be added to blood work. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

Re: Full moon

Vicky - I have that moon program that Steve had added to the old FDMB in the blogs for both Scruffy and Milkshake; you can look at it any time. (I actually went to see if I could copy the address for you, but it's all computer gobbledegook; however, if you click on the moon itself, in the sidebar of the blogs, you can get two links to see more about the program.) I think it cost around $20. You can look up all sorts of moon information, past and present; and the photography is very striking.

I have kept track of the moon effect thing for several years, and - especially with Milkshake, since seizures seem to be thought to be quite highly related with the moon phases - there has been NO relationship with either of my cats. I know though, that cats like Dude have very specific responses. It's all fascinating. If I had a cat that was moon-sensitive, I think I'd really enjoy this moon program thing and recording my evidence.