Loose Lips..I Learned That This Program DOES...

... Work. We've been on here for over 2 years now, and I have to admit that I was a bit slow on the uptake on how to go about at least getting Blackie's #s down, and now that I know, I should've done this much sooner. Granted, there was a good chance that it may not have worked, but then again, there's a good chance that it could've worked back then, if this bean had figured it out sooner. Now, 2 weeks ago we've gone up to 5.25u, which is the most Lantus she's ever had since being on it. Then, she gave me a # below 40, which told me that she's ready to come down. Yes, we're on our 3rd reduction in as many weeks (7 days each week to be exact), and so far, so good.

I have learned to work out her food schedule, and then her weight issue, and then bring her #s down. The latter was done by following the Tight Regulation Protocol (sorry I can't do the blue thingy link with only the words instead of the link) http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1581 as closely as possible. IF she continues on this path that she's currently on, there's a chance that she may be registered in the OTJ Boot Camp Trial Period. If she passes that, then she'll be registered at the OTJ School with all the other OTJ kitties. Right now, I'm taking this 1 week at a time.

Thank you to all the experts who have helped me help Blackie through the 2 year period, and up to today. We both greatly appreciate the help, and the knowledge that you have provided me to help my darling little Blackie. Without you all, Blackie certainly wouldn't be here today. For that, I'm extremely grateful, and happy to have her still in my life.

Oh Angela, this brought tears to my eyes. What a sweet sentiment, and I'm sure we all feel the same way, no matter how long we are here, or how often we return. I'm certain this place and these fantastic folks here saved Muffin's life as well, and I will be eternally grateful to them all.

great post angela, it is so exciting to see a "long timer" cat doing as well as blackie!

Wow, what a great post, really just so inspiring :YMHUG: Good Luck Angela!

And they saved my Reuben`s life too along with all the others! cat_pet_icon

Aren`t we all just so incredibly lucky :RAHCAT !!!

Angela, Great post! Glad you found Blackie's breakthrough dose and she is steadily coming down :mrgreen: . Have a great evening!

Thank you, ladies. I had to say something because this program does really work. Granted, every kitty is different (ECID), and what may work for one kitty may not necessarily work for another. It's all trial and error. Like you folks, I've been through a lot with Blackie as you have with your own kitties... Trying to find the magic dose... Trying to find the right weight for her... Finding the best food for her, and adjusting it constantly so that it'll help maintain her at her weight. I had to go up 2x, the last being that I had to incorporate some more carbs into her diet so that I could safely go up in her doses in order to bring her #s down. I was willing to go further if needed in order to help her. I found out that the carbs were making her #s rise too much, so I had to get her off of it quickly so that her pancreas didn't get further damaged. Recently, I've learned that I can use her food instead of using any MC or HC to help raise her #s if she decides to drop. I have HC JUST in case, but so far I haven't had the need to use it.

Blackie is very special to me. Other than the kitties that I barely remember when I was a child, technically she's my first kitten. She gave birth to the 4 (there were 5, but as it was her first litter...) that we have now. I will do whatever I can to make sure that she has a good quality of life. I'm extremely lucky that she's bonded with me from the beginning, and that she allows me to take care of her as I have been. I'm not immune to her 'tude when she shows it, but I deal with it. :lol:

Hey Angela,
Thanks so much for this post. It gives so much hope to so many of us and shows us that many avenues can be tried in order to achieve desired results. You are not afraid to experiment with all the "variables". This is a valuable lesson.

Have a great weekend. Hugs to you and scritches to Blackie and the rest of the fur family,

Ella & Rusty

p.s. thanks for visiting Stu's remembrance condo.

Hi Angela
Thanks for sharing your experience. Every time I read something like your post, I learn a little more. I'm trying to learn how to balance all the variables, and sometimes I think I've made a lot of progress learning and experimenting, and other times I think I'm flailing in the dark and hurting Leo by not getting things better sooner. He bounces up and down and I know food could probably help but yes, so hard to figure out.
Thank you
Lisa

Went back a few pages to find the post. Very encouraging to read your story Angela. thanks for the sharing. Can you please eleborate more on how you did it? I believe we are all following the TR but is there something Ive missed out?

Re: Loose Lips.. I Learned That This Program DOES...

All I did was when increasing the dose, I waited a few days to adjust Blackie's food, and went by the formula to try and figure out the amount of calories that she'd need. I didn't want to adjust both at the same time, which I thought would cause extreme wonkiness in her #s. One day, I read somewhere (I can't remember where, exacty) that most female cats should weigh 10-11 lbs., and have about 200 calories/day (I'm not sure if that's for both males and females; if this information is incorrect, please accept my apologies, and correct me if I'm wrong). I took that bit of information, recalculated Blackie's food amount (yet again), went to Google to find a conversion to convert the ounces to grams to get the 0.75 oz. and 0.35 oz. (aka 21 grams and 10 grams) measurement of food for Blackie. Considering that her food is about 38.2 calories/ounce (she eats the Evo 95% Chicken & Turkey flavor), she'd need 5.2 oz./day, which is 198.64 calories/day (5.2x38.2=198.64). I also bought a pet scale from Amazon so that I could closely monitor her weight every 4 days or so. Now, Blackie is holding her weight from 11.33 to 11.37 lbs. each week. The past couple of weeks she has weighed in at 11.37 lbs. To adjust her food, I simply removed 0.10 ounce from each feeding, or most feedings to get the required amount of calories for her. The slight (0.10 oz.) removal of food was so that she wouldn't bounce too much from it, and it was done between dose increases, which was to allow her body to adjust to 1 variable, and then the other, being the insulin. The idea behind the see-sawing of each was to make it easy on her.

It took a lot of time to adjust everything accordingly, and it also took a ton of patience to get her to where she is at now. I am glad that I worked hard to get everything figured out for her, to the best of my ability, and with the help, and knowledge of those on here.