8/22Cairo PMPS 133, +1/130, +2/116, +4/94

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=123892&p=1285109#p1285109

Rough night last night (more for me than for my Cairo ;-) ...I'm moving a little slow today. Once her numbers went into the 60's I tested an hour later (without feeding) and she jumped back into the low 100's so I went to bed but that was after 2. This morning her AMPS was much more normal. I gave her the usual amount of FF classic and cut her dose to 1/4 units.

AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75, +9.5/93

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148

Question, am I going to continue with 1/4 units? How do I know if/when I should go back to .50 units?

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148

Hi Jeannie. It's good that so far no bounce with high numbers this morning. Don't be surprised if it happens though. You will keep her at the .25 dose and see whether she gets down to green. If a bounce occurs,you wait for it to clear. One of the pros will post from the protocol the specifics. If there is no bounce and she doesn't go to green, we call it a failed reduction and you go back up to .50. Good luck with the reduction.

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155

Ok, thanks! Her +1(155) seems fairly normal for her. I won't be able to test again until about +4. Hoping my students are well behaved today @-)

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155

hi jeannie! i've been gone on vacation and haven't had a chance to get to know you and Cairo yet!

you'll hold this dose for 10 cycles or so, unless Cairo goes under 50. The goal is to have mostly all green numbers - that tells you that Cairo's pancreas is kicking back on and hopefully healing.

i read yesterday's post and see you're a teacher. do you have a timed feeder for while you are at work? that's the best insurance you can provide for while you are at work. Food is the tool we use to bring up low numbers - do you have other pets that might eat food you leave out, or can you leave food out for cairo when you're at work?

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155

Hi Julie, nice to meet you. Yes, I have other animals but I think the self feeder is the way to go. Cairo LOVES to eat and will be very protective of her food (and not let the others eat it)! I am going to look into purchasing one. Right now I go home during my lunch period and feed her. I'm usually home for the day by 3:00 pm and continue feeding her approximately every 2 hours or so.

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75

Question about the timed feeders:

How does wet food stay cold (and/or fresh)? Is there something that keeps it cold or is it ok to just leave it out? I found one that I like that has 5 compartments. That would definitely take care of Cairo's feeding until I got home but I'm afraid that the food would be spoiled in an 8 1/2 hour time frame. Any thoughts?

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75

Nice recovery Cairo! :mrgreen:

There are a couple of models of feeders that have room for an ice pack. I feed raw so have to do that. The other trick is to put an ice cube on top of the food. It'll melt and add water to the food and keep it cool. You should be adding a bit of water to the food anyway as diabetics need extra water. We typically don't feed in the last half of the cycle, so if you leave at +1, it only has to last 5 hours. I think some people just add water to the food to make it a bit soupy and it'll last quite a few hours without getting crusty that way too.

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75

Hmmmm, interesting ideas! I like the ice cube method. A couple of the posts made it sound like I should feed her every couple of hours. So, if I leave at +1 (which is when I leave), she should be ok until +6?

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75

If you leave at +1, you could set the feeder for a few times in the first half of the cycle, maybe +2 and +4 and +6? As you gather more data on Cairo, you'll get a better idea of what food times work for her. Using today's data, a +4 feeding would help her surf those greens. From your description of Cairo, it sounds like the food won't last any more than a couple minutes once the feeder has opened. :lol:

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75

here is a discussion on timed feeders from a few weeks ago. i used the Petsafe 5 compartment one and loved it. We put one or two ice cubes in each tray to keep it moist. I rarely fed punkin after +3 unless he was having low numbers. for poking treats after +4 or so, i used bits of boiled chicken breast that i kept in the fridge.

When i went back to work i used that timed feeder every day. it's super.

if a cat is a grazer/nibbler, feeding around the clock might work. if a cat is a hoover and will eat a lot of food at once, eating in the latter half of the cycle (+5-12) can sometimes result in much higher preshot numbers. Lantus is waning in the second half and it can really stomp on the figurative brakes if you add a lot of carbs later in the cycle. When I see a decent naidir and cycle followed by a high preshot, i always ask if the person is feeding after the naidir.

Re: 8/22Cairo AMPS 148 +1/155 +4.5/75, +9.5/93

Thanks Julie. That's exactly the one I was looking at for her! PetCo has it on sale for $45

Cairo-girl is definitely a Hoover! She LOVES food (hers and everyone else's)! When possible, I try to feed her a few teaspoons every couple of hours (except while I'm at work). It sounds like there isn't a hard fast rule for feeding..? I was told that it's ok to give her a little food (pre shot) as long as it is 2+ hours before her insulin. I rarely feed anything that is high carbs (except last night when her BG was really low).

I don't know when her nadir is, I haven't done a curve yet. She's only been taking insulin for 6 days and I've already had to adjust her dosage.

Re: 8/22Cairo PMPS 133, +1/130, +2/116

For now, there are no hard and fast rules regarding feeding (except the no food for 2 hours before pre-shots for now anyway)

It's something that you'll start to notice as you continue testing/feeding.

If you feed every 2 hours on the weekends when you can test and you always notice that after +6 or so she's climbing fast, then it's time to try "front loading" and giving her most of her food before then

Some cats need to have most of their food earlier in the cycle so when they're past nadir, it doesn't add to the load..others can eat right up until +10 without any problems

You're going to see this a lot, but it's one of those ECID things! Testing and data will tell the tale!