? High Numbers.

Hello FDMB,

Would someone be able to take a look at Melty's SS for me? His numbers have been really high today, and don't seem to be dropping much, even though he barely touched his evening meal.

I"m seeing a lot more formed poos in the litterbox (YAY!) so I'm wondering if it doesn't have something to do with his digestive system adjusting to the new diet.

 

Good news about the litterbox contents. I also have gotten excited about formed poop recently. It seems to be a good sign of adjustment to new food. I feel your pain with the numbers on the ss but am sure more experienced people than me will have a suggestion or two. As I've watched Radar take a rapid nose dive towards 0 this week I've gained a new appreciation for watching the whole cat as an important indicator for what might be going on. As there is so much more happening than ear pricks and numbers on a chart. This might be useful for you too as you ponder which is why I share it. I feel like every day there is a book of information I have to absorb... But I haven't absorbed yesterday's book yet... Hang in there, Nikki.

 

Thanks for the encouragement Jan. Happy to hear Radar's digestion is working itself out as well. It's a stressful process during diet change! Melty's demeanor has been fantastic, despite his numbers. I'm hoping to see him even out (as always lol). How's Radar?

 

Hi, Nikki. Looks like you had a pretty deep nadir drop last night after his PMPS. So might be doing a bit of the bouncy-bounce thing today.
He seems to be doing a more reasonable drop tonight.

Re: New diet - How much food is he getting per day, total? His weight?
And how many Temptations treats is he getting? Bat-Bat LOVES those, too. But that can, indeed, help spike higher #s; she can't have them. (Some kitties are way more carb-sensitive than one would expect.)

 

Hello @Robin&BB!
He's been doing pretty good on .5 units 2x a day. So I reasoned with myself that I should be sticking with that dose for at least the next few cycles to make sure it's not just a bounce.

Melty is about 15 pounds, and gets about 5.5 oz of wet food, and 1/3 cup of dry food a day.
When he drops too fast, I always try to entice him with higher carb wet food, or dry food. He's a bit of an emotional terrorist, and tends to go on hunger strike all of a sudden because he KNOWS we have the temptations.

 

Yep, that's a good plan re: the dosing.

Now about those Temptations ... at 15 lbs., Melty is not in imminent danger of starving if he doesn't get any many treats as he would prefer you give him. It was hard for me to stop giving Bat-Bat those little, tiny Temptation squares; I felt sorry for her, and she made me feel so guilty with all that crying and begging. I'd tell myself: 'But they're so ... dinky. Surely they won't spike her BG that much..." But turns out they did.

So I held my ground when she did the emotional terrorist thing. I got strength of resolve by keeping my mind on the prize: Getting her well and off-insulin. (Might try gradually cutting back on the treats, bit by bit.)

 

And what kind of dry food is he getting? (And why the dry?)

 

I don't normally give them at all. Just when he goes lower than I would like, or is dropping too fast... And only if he won't eat anything else. :/

The dry is pretty minimal, and he is less and less interested as he adjusts to the wet food. (He had never had wet food before, and wouldn't touch it at first) it's more of a stepping stone on our way to an all wet diet.

 

Sorry it's Orijen Cat and Kitten. 17% carbs (lowest we can get in Canada, I believe)

 

You should really try using a higher carb wet food instead of dry for times when he's dropping too low or dropping fast.

Dry takes a long time to breakdown and get into the bloodstream and takes a longer time working it's way back out

 

I'm glad you're phasing him out of the Orijen dry, as that's too many carbs for a diabetic, even just a 1/3 cup per day.

 

As I mentioned before, the first thing I offer is a higher carb wet food, I had two kinds in my cupboard, and he wouldn't touch it.

 

Nikki, please don't think either of us are chiding you. I know well how frustrating it is to get a kitty to eat the way you'd prefer; we've all been there.

 

Wow! He must be super-picky! Most of our sugarcats would stand on their heads and spit wooden nickels for the gravy!! ...LOL

 

Early on I ran into the same with Alex. I had to resort to giving a little dry kibble to help pull numbers up. If it's just a little bit when running low I wouldn't worry about it too much. Alex would normally eat everything under the sun, but wouldn't touch wet high carb food over the entire 8.5 years she was diabetic. Eventually, I'd give her a just a small drop or two of karo mixed in low carb canned food instead of offering dry kibble. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Dry food taking too long to break down to get into the bloodstream to pull numbers up has become a popular myth on the FDMB over the last several years. It's kind of like a game of "telephone". When something is said and than repeated enough times it spreads and soon becomes fact. LOL! A high carb dry food *should* begin pulling numbers up within 20 - 30 minutes. ECID (every cat is different).

However, I will say for most cats, dry food does appear to take longer to work itself out of kitty's system than canned food. It all depends on how carb sensitive the kitty. Often times it'll take about 2 - 3 days. Again, ECID.

Good luck transitioning Melty to an all wet diet! Some cats are easier to transition than others. Alex was easy, but I found perseverance to be the key with one of my non-diabetics. It took 4 months to transition him from dry to wet food! "Stubborn" is his middle name!

 

Hey Nikki just checking in on Melty. I read about the sardines on your SS - my daughter, who is the pickiest child I know, eats them straight out of the can. Talk about <gag>!!