Need advice please

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting and I need advice desperately, please.

My name is Sonia and my kitty is Leo. He was diagnosed in February 2018 and it’s been a long terrifying road with bad advice and no support. I eventually found the FDMB and read some information about doing a tight protocol, which we started on May 4th.

I finally completed Leo’s SS and was hoping someone could take a look and tell me what we’re doing wrong.

If you need me to translate the SS to the US version or answer any questions please let me know.

Thank you so much for being there, I’ve had a chance to read some of the posts and you people are truly amazing.

 

Welcome! It is a holiday weekend in the US, so you may not see many responses right away. Glad you found FDMB and made the decision to home test. Great job getting your spread sheet going. Your mid cycle tests show Leo is responding to insulin, so this is good. I do see some frequent dose changes, so want to mention consistency is important to build and stabilize the depot. Following TR, you will want to hold the dose longer and make smaller dose changes (.25U).

Other than pudding poo, how is Leo doing? My first suggestion for pudding poo would be a probiotic.

Please keep asking questions, even if responses are slow this weekend.

 

Thank you Carol! Just remembered the US long weekend. Yesterday it looked like we were on the right track but then we got a AMPS this morning of 29.3.

Thanks for the advice, I just opened up a file for Leo at at new vet and will get some on Monday.

 

Great. Hope you like your new vet. Please don't let one reading discourage you. We like to look for patterns in data - trends over time.

Vet will most likely recommend a feline probiotic. Many here use human probiotics. These are readily available at local drug stores. I will let a Canadian member suggest best available brands for you.

 

Thank you, Carol

 

Hello and welcome!

I don't have much advise to give. I know in the beginning this dance is pretty overwhelming. It was nice to see those blues the other day.

We suggest doing smaller increases of .25u. I would say it looks like Leo is due for an increase, but I am unsure because of the larger dose increases and I don't feel comfortable giving dosing advise. I am sure one of our members will chime in on what dose they think you should be at. Also, with TR, we decrease the dose by .25u when going below 50 (US number).

There is a lot to learn, but you are in the best place for that!

 

Welcome. You might have increased the insulin too by too much as mentioned and missed a good dose. Yesterday’s numbers were much lower than Leo is used to and so he’s bouncing today. That’s common. I’m not at all sure what I’d do at this point. I’d probably keep this dose for the weekend and see what Leo does.

 

Hi, Sonia and welcome to you and Leo. You've found the best place you never wanted to be! You do not have to go it alone -- this is a wonderful community that is willing and able to offer you as much support as you need.

There is an overwhelming amount of information in the sticky notes and associated links that are at the top of the board. If you've not had a chance to read them, I'd encourage you to do so. As long as I've been here, I still find something I've overlooked every time I go back and reread. The sticky notes are a great place to start so you do feel like you've got information at your fingertips.

One quick observation is that you will want to get at least one test during the PM cycle. Many people will gat a before bed test. Given that you're seeing numbers in the 100s during the AM cycle, there's a good chance that there are lower numbers happening during the PM cycle. In fact, many cats experience lower numbers overnight. Numbers that are dropping at night may explain the high AMPS numbers. If numbers drop low, drop fast, or there is a larger difference in numbers than what your kitty is used to, you may see a "bounce." The number drop and your cat's liver and pancreas panic and pump out a stored form of glucose along with counterregulatory hormones which cause the numbers to spike upward. (This is normal but a rather annoying response to insulin.) It is the most likely explanation for the swings in Leo's numbers. The additional concern is that we don't know whether Leo's numbers have dropped into dose reduction territory during the PM cycle. Without any testing at night, you're missing half of your data.

There are two options regarding dosing methods that we use here -- the Tight Regulation Protocol and Start Low Go Slow. I'd encourage you to read them both over and decide which you want to follow. With SLGS, doses are typically changed in 0.25u increments. With TR, if the nadir (lowest point in the cycle) is generally below 300, doses are increased by 0.25u or if the nadir is typically over 300, the dose is increased by 0.5u.

Please let us know if you have questions. The people here are very generous with their knowledge and their time. We're here to help.

 

Welcome Sonia and Leo.

 

Thank you! We're going to slow things down and follow the Go Slow method and get some PM numbers. Until then we'll stay at the same dose of 4U twice daily to get proof of "bouncing", which now that I look back on everything, I think that's exactly what's happening.

 

Hi Sonia & Leo,

Welcome to the group.
My kitty and I have also been struggling with pudding poo. I've been giving Florastor, which is a human probiotic, and it's been helping. I just open the capsule and sprinkle half on his food in the morning and half at night. If Thomas's poo is almost like liquid. I sometimes add a whole capsule at the feeding. I have also been adding 1 teaspoon canned pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.

 

Thanks so much Sara, I'm on it!