Thabbo 11/3 slumberparty, zombieclub membership ... and first reduction earned! :-)

Good morning ...
Thabbo is still not decided if he likes yellow or blue more ... he keeps jumping up and down with his numbers for now

 

Hopefully you'll see more blue soon.

 

Looks like he's giving you some nice blue surfs during the day. Seems like he's liking those blues to me

 

Blue, Thabbo. It's a nice color. More, please.

Marilyn and Polly

 

Thabbo is giving strong blue numbers now!!! +11 128
maybe we are done bouncing ???

 

btw, I did not give him a noon snack today ... as I stated previously, he was never allowed to graze and never had a meal during the day before in his life ... so I wonder if his bio-rhythm is therefore set the way that he really does not need that snack ? I understand that usually smaller meals throughout the day would be better ... but I still wonder if his evening bounces the last two days were because of the daytime snacks (his usual low carb food) or because of the dose adjustment??
On a side note, when he and his brother moved with me to the US ... it took them a couple months to get over their jet lag ... they woke me up at night to ask for food and left their food untouched when it was feeding time ..... I swear their faces expressed some confusion about the untimely daylight outside

 

Oh boy ... now we are really going down!!! What should I do with a PMPS of 114???

Please advise!

 

feed ... shoot ... test, test, test ??

 

Can you stall 20-40 minutes, without feeding, and test again to see if he's coming up?

 

BTW, do you have a copy of the spreadsheet that is not on the website? It's better for us to be able to see all the data at once, instead of split into different months. The versions we have on Google docs mean we can scroll through the data much faster.

 

Are you going to be home and able to test him for several hours tonight? Do you have enough strips (at least 20), and high carb food?

have you fed him already?

 

sure! I can do that

 

did not feed yet and I have all supplies I need!

 

here is the complete table: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...kP20ulf2Yk/pubhtml?gid=1217253389&single=true
I'll put it in my signature in a sec

 

Looks like it's gonna be an interesting evening. But wonderful!

 

ok, PMPS +30min (no food): 112

 

Thanks so much for putting the spreadsheet into your signature block. It helps a lot!

 

gonna feed my droolers now ... BRB !

 

So he's basically flat for the past 30 minutes.

You have 3 choices:
- you can give the full dose
- you can give a token dose (10-25% of the regular dose)
- you can skip the shot

Please remind us if you are following Tight Reg or SLGS?

 

I'm on tight reg ...

 

With tight reg, the goal is to shoot progressively lower numbers until you're shooting most everything over 68 as long as your cat isn't ill, and you can be home to monitor the first few times on any dose.

So if you are ok with monitoring, go for it. Shooting normal numbers can help to lower the whole range of blood sugar.

Get a +1 and a +2 so you don't have any surprises. I can check back with you for about 3 hours. I can't tell from just the November ss - have you dealt with low numbers before? You might have to do it on your own, so consider that before you shoot.

 

by the way, can you remove the 911 now? If you need it again later, you can put it up then.

 

We are on Lantus since 10/16 so there are no more reference values ... we did Vetsulin for a few days before that and he went down to 60 a couple times and I gave him kibble with a few honey drops ... so I can do that if need be

 

Done

 

oh oh ... 103 now ....

 

Ok I gotta make a decision ... shot or no shot ... hmmm

 

If you stall long enough without feeding him, his numbers will likely continue to fall until they become unshootable. Doesn't always happen but it does happen often enough. Most of the time it's best to shoot on time.

Have you dealt with low numbers before?

 

nope, that is the first time ... that's why I'm a little lost ...

 

ok - that might suggest that it would be better for you to just give a token dose or to skip tonight. I can't promise to stay with you and usually if we encourage someone to shoot, our custom is that we also commit to staying with them in case there are low numbers. But I have to work tomorrow and only got 3 hours of sleep last night, so that's not realistic for me to promise.

What do you think about shooting something small, like 0.5u? That's 25% of the regular dose.

You think about it and let me see if I can identify anyone who might be on late tonight. Be right back.

 

Ok i'll shoot and check him over night as much as possible... I have a long work day with (boring) meetings tomorrow ... but I guess I can always give him some extra food higher carb, right?!

 

No worries, about not staying up ... I think I can deal with it

 

ok - well I've asked a couple of people if they might be available. There usually are people up late here, and we'll have some time to recruit someone if Thabbo does head into low numbers.

I'll check back with you in 1 hour from now.

Sometimes @Chris & China is on late.

 

I am here

ETA: I noticed that you said you fed kibble when Thabbo got into the 60s previously. Do you have HC wet (LC with some syrup added works too). You really don't want to use kibble as it takes longer to get into and out of the system. Also since you're following TR it's an even bigger no no.

 

Yay! Thank you Serryn!

 

No problem I'm working from home today so no one can tell what I'm working on

 

Since those are the lowest numbers you've had so far on the new dose, it would be really nice if you could handle that and the possibility of having to manage a low during the day, wouldn't it? Of course they pick late night so cause problems. Lows are super scary at first, but once you've been through a few they are mostly just stressful and annoying.

So your numbers are with AlphaTrak? 103 would be like what on a human meter? 80 or so?

 

yup we use alphatrak!

 

I have medium carb kibble, that I got to deal with low values if I have to go to work... when I had the 60 values using the vetsulin I gave him some low carb wet food sprinkled with some dry food and some drops of honey as icing
At that time it got his number up fairly fast and I could go to work for a few hours knowing, that the kibble would kick in and keep him up while I was gone ...

 

I have to work tomorrow, but I can sneak home between lectures ...

 

I guess I will be up for a while tonight too. I've got a deep diver. 320 to 220 in two hours. We are dealing with a very different situation, higher numbers obviously and doing SLGS for now, but I hate this waiting around to see how far they drop. It's kind of funny knowing there are other people up testing and feeding their cats tonight. Comforting somehow. I will be signing off for tonight though. We've done hypos several times and we can do it again if we need to. You will be fine if that happens, and it looks like you've got good support tonight. Good luck!

 

Thanks and good luck Melissa!

 

Lol! I sneak home too between teaching classes and appointments. My poor clients and my boss have had to wait for me quite a few times now, and I come in a few minutes late for meetings rambling about how I had to check my cat's blood sugar again!

 

Will Thabbo scarf it all if you leave wet food down? If so you're going to want to invest in a timed feeder for when you need to be out if you want to follow TR. A golden rule of following TR is no dry food.

 

I'm here, too. Just about to sit down to dinner, but I'll be back to check on you after.

As Serryn says, if you're feeding any dry food, you aren't supposed to do TR. SLGS would be the method for you. It's a good idea to have some canned food with a variety of carb percentage on hand, so you can find out how high you need to go, percentagewise, to get kitty to surf or to come up. If you only have LC, it's probably better to use honey or Karo added to the LC than to use dry.

 

83 ..

 

That's quite a drop already I would give a tsp or two of wet to see if we can't get him on his surfboard and retest in an hour

 

I will give him some mid carb food now ... brb

oh and I only feed wet food - low barb B.F.F, I only used the kibble for the hypo event ...

 

heehee just saying, i read that as "low barf" which made me do a double take!

 

66 ... i just gave him some more higher carb food w gravy and some drops of honey ....

 

Well well looks who's earned themselves a reduction check again in 30 mins

 

still 66 ...

 

Give another tsp of HC and go again in 30 mins - this is the lather rinse and repeat part until we see him coming up a bit. He's doing great

 

most of the carbs are in the gravy part, so many people put the can back on and squeeze mightily to get the carbs out.

Some high carb foods aren't that high, so you can also add a drop of honey or corn or maple syrup to the gravy to increase the carbs.

 

oh boy this is so exciting ... my dog picked up on it and is jumping around ...
oh ... btw that dog is Thabbo's best friend beside his brother ...

 

I dont feed dry food, just used it for the hypo situation three weeks ago ...

 

Tee hee hee I was giggling away here thinking about the adrenalin rush you must be having right now. The first reduction is very exciting.

When you get a sec can you update your spreadsheet with the latest numbers and if you put a space between the BG reading and the @times in tonight's PMPS cell it will read much nicer.

You might also update your subject line and remove the ?

Geez imagine me giving you housekeeping to do when you're probably running around in circles LOL

 

Karen, you've got lots of help, so I'm going to step out. I'll check in on you tomorrow and see how things went.

congratulations on Thabbo's first reduction!

 

79 !!! yay for the honey
I did not give any additional food since the 66

 

That's better!!

You want to test again in 30 minutes....honey is great at bringing them up, but it wears off quickly (which is why we usually want to use a high carb food like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers....the carbs are in the gravy and help hold them up a little better than simple sugars do)

Congratulations on the reduction!!

 

he had one pouch of whiskas chicken in gravy beneath the honey

 

So reduction means: I will give him only 1.75U tomorrow?? and I probably have to expect quite the bounce, right?

 

For future reference you only want to give a little HC (a tsp or two) so as to bump them up a little into the safety zone and keep them in the healing numbers as long as possible and also to make sure they don't get too full in case you need to keep going at it for a while.

Yes on 1.75 units tomorrow for the bounce we'll have to wait and see. Chances are there will be one but Thabbo doesn't look like much of a bouncer.

 

102 ... panic mode *OFF*
ok, next time I will try to give him less food at a time, I gave him 2 tbsp when I saw the drop to 83 and the rest when he got down to 66 and then he stuck his head into the pouch before I could even get the food out .... crazy cat

 

They do love that gravy!!!

You still want to retest in an hour...I figure he'll probably be just fine with all that wonderful gravy, but we always want to be safe first!

 

How could you not love a boy like that

It's not time to get too relaxed though the carbs could wear off after a couple of hours at which point they can start heading down again. I'd give him about 45 mins now before retesting.

 

yes, he looked very content after getting his extra food portion!

 

thanks a million for sticking with me here!!! you guys are awesome!!

 

You need to keep your spreadsheet as accurate as you can so it gives us a good record of how Thabbo works. I don't think there was an hour between those last two tests was there. You'll also want to add in the comments section what food/honey you gave him at +whatever. Good data is really important to ensure you get good advice and for your own knowledge.

 

You're very welcome I think I would've lost my marbles completely if someone hadn't stayed with me when Vyktor earned his first reduction - or the first time he went into the 30s

 

95 ... looks like we stabilize?!

 

Could be surfing, how long has if been since he had the mega feed?

 

he got his lollypop at 8:30pm! 90min ...

 

Actually I can tell from your spreadsheet now - good work

Since it hasn't quite been two hours and he has dropped back a little and we don't know him too well yet I'd be inclined to get one more test before calling it a night, in around 30-45 mins

 

I agree with Serryn about at least one more test.

Nice work. Looks like you don't need me. I'll keep popping in, though, just in case....

 

will do!!

 

oh oh .... 76 ... we are heading down again!!

 

Thabbo usually gets his night meal @11pm ... what do you think, should I mix in some high carb food with his BFF?

 

I gather it's about that time now, I might be inclined to just give the LC meal and see if that gets him surfing

 

im guessing it's about now that you'd normally head to bed too, how are you at taking cat naps?

 

I will test him again at 11pm (PCT) and then feed him... if he goes lower again till then, then I might just add some gravy to the BFF

 

I'm in Australia I've got no idea how close you are to 11 - if it's more than half an hour give him a tsp of LC out of his dinner rations now

 

I'm not good in cat naps ... I can stay up another hour or so, getting up in the middle of the night might not happen ... I'm a severe TBI survivor, I kind of pass out when I fall asleep ...
oh and it is 5min to 11pm here now

 

75!!! we are surfing ?!

 

That is great news LC dinner only no HC required. You should be fine to go to bed too.

ETA excuse my ignorance, what is TBI?

 

That's good! Paws crossed he'll start heading up now. Did you give him his 11:00 meal? I don't suppose you have an auto feeder, do you? I know you have another cat, and a dog. I'm thinking it would be good if you could leave some LC out for him after you go to bed, but someone else might eat it, right?

 

Thabbo is digging into his LC food right now ... I don't have a feeder, Garah (Thabbos bro) would steal the food and the dogs would eat the feeder ....
I'll stay up at least another 30min and see if he stays stable

 

I believe it's the acronym for Traumatic Brain Injury

 

Hahahaha...."and the dogs would eat the feeder".....but would they wait for the cats to steal the food first or eat it with the cats still "attached"....LOL

Just made me chuckle to picture it

 

yep, traumatic brain injury, fell off a horse a few years back, subdural hematoma, a couple surgeries ... took me 1y to recover...

 

LOL on the dogs eating the feeder!

 

whoever gets to it first wins!!

 

Well it's after 1am here and I still haven't had anything to eat, so I'm going to go dig around and see if there's anything easy and quick (I think a bowl of cereal is going to win out) and then hopefully get a +8 on China and then GO TO BED!! Have to be up in 4 hours for the next thrilling installment of the Chris's Temporary House of Chaos show!

Be a good kitty Thabbo and surf safely!!

I'm sure @Vyktors Mum will be around a little longer in case you need more help

It's been a good night for him!!

 

Here are the trouble makers!

 

So gorgeous!

 

Awww, they don't look like troublemakers! They always look so innocent when they're asleep.

So he went up in response to the food, but it wore off and he went down again. I think you need to give him some more food. Are you about ready for bed?

 

I can stay up another 30 minutes ... 11;30pm here right now

 

Oh yeah...Look at those desperado's!! You can just tell by the looks in their eyes that they're working on overthrowing the world...or at least the part of the world that has their food !

 

OK my springer spaniel just protested ... because I did not show him off as well ... so here goes both droolers:

 

yikes! 59!! WTH ... looks like no bedtime for me in the near future ... but hey I take the greens...

 

Yep better get the HC back out, looks like we've got a while to go yet - just a couple of tsp this time and retest in 20-30 mins - no point testing sooner than that or the carbs won't have kicked in