7/23 Nikki PMPS 169; +2.5 179

Yesterday's Condo

I'm nailbite_smile that I had to leave Nikki to come to work today, even though I'm loving these blues. I left some meals in her feeder and hopefully she'll just surf for me. If she earns a deduction, I'd rather it be at night when I'm home. :-|

And although it isn't protocol, I slipped a tiny drop out after drawing 2u. I just had to do it for my sanity. I'm really going to lose my mind soon. :lol:

Everything was good this morning, no more litter eating and hungry, bouncy cats this AM.

Have a happy, healthy day LL!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

I totally understand your concerns! I'm new to this and while I want to see lower numbers, I always worry!
Glad to hear you had a good morning. Have a wonderful day at work. Congrats on the blues.

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

Good girl Nikki!!! Maybe Nikki, Bob and Tom can all have our OTJ party at the same time!!! Woo hoo! I came home for lunch and bob was 85. It's good but I'm reduction hungry!!!!!

Have a good day at work Alexis!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

Hi guys .. aren't these lower numbers exciting and stressful all at the same time?? Before you know it, you'll be shooting low 60's without blinking! Have a great day guys!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

@Liz - Ugh, I know, I feel bad that the lower numbers stress me out so much! I know they are good for her but it makes me crazy. :lol:

@Dara - From your lips! Go Bob! He's doing really great. I'm glad he's finally eating his fuds. Maybe Nikki had a chat with him? The problem with her is that she's such a piggy. I can't leave food out or it's gone in no time flat! :roll: Thank goodness for her auto feeder!

@Peter - Yikes! :lol: I still get nailbite_smile any time I have to shoot under 200 during the week. She seems to stay flat but I don't trust her! :lol:

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

It's great to see that blue! Why do they always decide to find the lowest numbers on the most awkward days? Cats! But from your spreadsheet it doesn't look like Nikki pulls any crazy dives, so hopefully she will just surf along in safe blues or even dip her toes in a bit of green today. Have a great one!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

Thanks Amy! I might be a little neurotic, but I'm counting down the seconds until I'm sprung from work today! :lol: She did ok on the 2u last Friday night, so I'm hoping to see more of the same.

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146

You are so lucky she eats alot! I swear the entire time I'm home I stare at him waiting for him to eat. He'll go over the bowl and I get all excited and then he sniffs it and walks away. then he'll walk the OTHER way and do the same thing. I think he knows I'm watching. Little brat!

Seriously, I hope he gets his butt in gear - I need a life. I love my kitties more than anything, but I seriously don't know how many more weekends I can go with just staying home with the cats. It's kind of sad....

update us with how Nikki is doing after you get home. Hope she had a good day!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173

You know, I bet if you just said "Fine Bob, don't eat! See if I care!" and just walked away, he'd eat all his dinner! :lol:

I have the opposite problem. Nikki is in love with her new fuds and gobbles them! She actually growls and huffs air out her nose if she thinks I'm going to take the food away. Then after she's done she burps! :shock: :lol: She's so silly!

All was well at home. Whew! @-) I don't know if work can deal with me leaving at 5:15 every day but some days I just have to rush home and check her. I know what you mean about being home too. Most of my friends are in the city and I have to get home to give Nikki her shot. :roll: If I turned around now, it would take me at least an hour to get back into Manhattan. So I sit at home most nights. :? Please, please let us all get to the Falls so we have lives again! :thumbup

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

She was great today! I got home and Bob was 66. YIKES! But he's on his way up so I gave him the 3.75. Sigh. I do have a sample of the Grace dehydrated raw. I may have to try that. Did it effect Nikki's belly when you first switched?

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

Well, she's sort of complicated because of the diarrhea she's had most of her life. We finally mostly cured it with the pred and z/d food this winter but the pred went away with the diabetes dx. Then I found out that z/d was 34% carbs :shock: so I figured since she was still doing half solid/half pudding anyway, it couldn't hurt to switch to a lower carb. Right before I started the switch I had upped her insulin and she started having much more regular stool. First time ever! It was very exciting! Luckily the switch went fine. I did it over about a week and no problems. Then I decided to try lowering her carb load even further, so I've been mixing wet food in. We've been having mixed results with that. She likes the food but is back to having some pudding issues. :lol: I think what I may do is keep her on the Grace but cut the serving back a hair and add just a bit of LC canned food. See if I can find a happy medium.

And because the Grace is so high calorie, a 4lb box has lasted almost 2 months! It seems expensive but is worth it. Plus they sent me a coupon for $3.50 off our next box.

ETA - Ok, I lied about the 2 months thing. I just checked and I received the box 6/18 and have maybe another 2 days of food left. So about a month and a half?

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

You are funny - still, a month and a half is pretty good! I'm sure Bob won't like it because it would make life too easy. Poor Nikki and her pudding poo (colitis, lower bowel disease, etc). Was she diagnosed with something or is it just her?

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

It's been an ongoing saga. She was always gassy. Then about 3 years ago I tried switching her to Wellness dry after a Nutro recall and she was miserable for about 3 days. At that point I decided to try grain-free dry. I went through a variety of those and she'd be ok (which for her was large, smelly, mostly solid poops) and have periods of diarrhea. We tried low residue, hypo-allergenic and limited ingredient diets. Then late last summer her bouts came more frequently. Plus since she was overweight she couldn't clean herself and started dragging poop streaks everywhere. :sad: I tried a holistic vet and we gave enzymes, aloe juice, omega 3's, and probiotics a shot. She just kept getting worse so she went back to her regular vet and we tried flagyl and that didn't help. Finally we did an ultrasound and it came up clear. So, we suspect it's IBD, a food allergy, or cancer but we're not sure. I know raw food has been said to work well in IBD cats so that's why I wanted to try it. She seems to be able to tolerate turkey flavors well. I think the venison I've been giving her may be too fatty. I'd like to try frozen raw (due to lower carb count) but am waiting for cooler weather to have it shipped (or I need to find a place locally that will order it for me).

I'm glad we finally did the pred, because she got so bad last December I was having to bathe her every day. She was losing mostly water down the back of her legs and her skin was all raw. It was horrible. :cry: The pred helped but contributed to the diabetes. Not sure which was worse! :lol: She seems to feel better now than she has in years and as long as she's mostly solid I'm happy.

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

poor baby!!! that is awful!! I'm so glad she's doing better now. ever thought about making your own raw? I personally could never do it unless I had to for one of the kitties. gross!

Re: 7/23 Nikki AMPS 189; +1.25 146; +11.25 173; PMPS 169

It's definitely WAY more work than I want to do! :lol: Plus I don't like handling raw meat for my own meals!