4/6 Charlie AMPS 267, +2 220, +4 184, +6 200, +8 225, PMPS 266

Good luck on the new dose Charlie! :cool::D:)

Regarding what to do if/when you get to the carb manipulation phase:
I second what Bhooma said above: that you will figure it out with time, experience and data.
My advice is: WRITE IT ALL DOWN - what food, when and how much, and what effect it has on his BG, how quickly it begins and how long it lasts. You'll think you'll remember but you (probably) won't! I've only recently got the hang of keeping him safe with food. It would probably have been easier if I had been paying better attention and been more methodical right from the beginning. It feels like part science, part art. It's kind of wild!
 
Love reading about the zoomies!:). It's a sign that he's feeling better, as is him grooming more. We have a acronym called the 5 P's (preening, purring, playing, peeing, pooing). We like hearing the 5 P report, cause it tells us more than what we can see from the BG numbers.

I second Helen's suggestion on recording food. I'd put it in the Remarks column of the spreadsheet so you know when you gave it, quantity and carbs. With the spreadsheet, you should be able to see how long higher carb food lasts. You can assume higher carbs takes 20-30 minutes to take effect from when the food is eaten to impacting blood sugars.

Another suggestion is when you first need higher carb food, start with high end of higher carb and a tsp or two only. Cats really vary in how carb sensitive they are so you will be experimenting and learning what your cat needs. Jill's Alex, (of Jill and Alex who wrote the Sticky's above) got a food bump just from freeze dried chicken. I've seen others who need 25% carb food to move. You do want to start with the higher carbs for safety, then learn if you can lower the carbs. The first times I gave Neko anything over 20%, she soared 80+ points.:rolleyes: I discovered that for her, a 16-17% carbs was ideal. Unless she was under 40, in which case she got a drop of syrup (karo in the US).

Which specific MC or HC foods you give can depend on a couple things. First is the % of carbs you want to give. Second is the contents of the food. Many people may suggest the FF gravy lovers etc. but I tried it and found Neko was allergic to wheat so that was a no go. FF uses wheat for thickening and is what is the carbs component. I see you are using NV as his main food. Some of their LID foods are MC, and the flakes have MC and HC options. The LID has peas for carbs. If you are trying to stick to just a chicken diet, maybe you could look at something like Weruva. Their Cats in the Kitchen pouches are what I landed on for Neko cause their carbs were from potatoes and have some good MC and low HC options. Of course, Charlie has to like more than pate for those foods to work. Weruva's Grandma's Chicken Soup is over 20%.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Good luck with the increase! :)

I'm going to tag @Diane Tyler's Mom GA for food recos.

ETA: You can always increase the carb% of LC food by adding some honey/syrup to it. How much you add will depend on where in the cycle you need to boost his BG and how carb sensitive it. You'll figure it out with time and experience and data.
Click to expand...
Thank you, this is really good to know in a pinch!
 
Helen + Noogi said:
Good luck on the new dose Charlie! :cool::D:)

Regarding what to do if/when you get to the carb manipulation phase:
I second what Bhooma said above: that you will figure it out with time, experience and data.
My advice is: WRITE IT ALL DOWN - what food, when and how much, and what effect it has on his BG, how quickly it begins and how long it lasts. You'll think you'll remember but you (probably) won't! I've only recently got the hang of keeping him safe with food. It would probably have been easier if I had been paying better attention and been more methodical right from the beginning. It feels like part science, part art. It's kind of wild!
Click to expand...

I’ve been following along on you and noogi’s food journey, haha. That’s actually why I asked! Reading your posts made me realize I’ll probably need more than just a few cans of fancy feast :cat:

and thank you, this is really good advice. I’ll definitely forget everything if I don’t write it down.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Love reading about the zoomies!:). It's a sign that he's feeling better, as is him grooming more. We have a acronym called the 5 P's (preening, purring, playing, peeing, pooing). We like hearing the 5 P report, cause it tells us more than what we can see from the BG numbers.

I second Helen's suggestion on recording food. I'd put it in the Remarks column of the spreadsheet so you know when you gave it, quantity and carbs. With the spreadsheet, you should be able to see how long higher carb food lasts. You can assume higher carbs takes 20-30 minutes to take effect from when the food is eaten to impacting blood sugars.

Another suggestion is when you first need higher carb food, start with high end of higher carb and a tsp or two only. Cats really vary in how carb sensitive they are so you will be experimenting and learning what your cat needs. Jill's Alex, (of Jill and Alex who wrote the Sticky's above) got a food bump just from freeze dried chicken. I've seen others who need 25% carb food to move. You do want to start with the higher carbs for safety, then learn if you can lower the carbs. The first times I gave Neko anything over 20%, she soared 80+ points.:rolleyes: I discovered that for her, a 16-17% carbs was ideal. Unless she was under 40, in which case she got a drop of syrup (karo in the US).

Which specific MC or HC foods you give can depend on a couple things. First is the % of carbs you want to give. Second is the contents of the food. Many people may suggest the FF gravy lovers etc. but I tried it and found Neko was allergic to wheat so that was a no go. FF uses wheat for thickening and is what is the carbs component. I see you are using NV as his main food. Some of their LID foods are MC, and the flakes have MC and HC options. The LID has peas for carbs. If you are trying to stick to just a chicken diet, maybe you could look at something like Weruva. Their Cats in the Kitchen pouches are what I landed on for Neko cause their carbs were from potatoes and have some good MC and low HC options. Of course, Charlie has to like more than pate for those foods to work. Weruva's Grandma's Chicken Soup is over 20%.
Click to expand...
And I love watching him have the zoomies! I was beaming.

Did Neko ever show symptoms when she was low enough to need syrup? That must've been scary.

Thanks for this, this is really helpful. I would prefer to stay with NV as much as possible since that's what he's been on his whole life (I fed him their raw diet before this). I figure he's probably used to that carb type and formulation. I didn't know they had MC and HC options, that's great! According to Dr. Pearson's chart, it looks like the minced chicken is 15% and the minced salmon is 17%. Are those considered HC? The flaked chicken and salmon are 10% and 12%, respectively. Are those MC? I'd rather not introduce any other proteins so those are my only options for NV.

Sorry to ask so many questions--I know I saw a reference for MC vs HC percentages on here before but I can't seem to find it. If none of those are high enough, I'll get some Weruva for sure.
 
From the Slang Dictionary (linked in the New to the Group Sticky)
HC - High carb canned food (usually 16 - 24% carbs, depending on the cat)
MC – Medium carb food (usually 11 - 15% carbs, depending on the carb sensitivity of the cat)

FYI - Neko was on raw, except when I needed HC. I never used MC.
Charlie'sMom22 said:
Did Neko ever show symptoms when she was low enough to need syrup?
Click to expand...
Not always, once she was sound asleep in the middle of the night I saw the 30's. That was freaky! Most of the time though, when she was low she'd either stand by the fridge or try to encourage me to test her. Obviously a learned skill. One or twice she'd fake me out and want testing just because she wanted treats ... and she was high.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
I'm going to tag @Diane Tyler's Mom GA for food recos.
Click to expand...
A lot use this for their hypo kit

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs. This is not correct on the food chart, many members used the car calculators and it is 14 % carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods


https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-
 
Wendy&Neko said:
From the Slang Dictionary (linked in the New to the Group Sticky)
HC - High carb canned food (usually 16 - 24% carbs, depending on the cat)
MC – Medium carb food (usually 11 - 15% carbs, depending on the carb sensitivity of the cat)

FYI - Neko was on raw, except when I needed HC. I never used MC.

Not always, once she was sound asleep in the middle of the night I saw the 30's. That was freaky! Most of the time though, when she was low she'd either stand by the fridge or try to encourage me to test her. Obviously a learned skill. One or twice she'd fake me out and want testing just because she wanted treats ... and she was high.
Click to expand...

Ah, that's where I saw it! Thank you. The carb calculator says the NV minced chicken is actually 19%. In fact, it's way off from Dr. Pearson's chart for a lot of NV foods. Ugh. I absolutely hate figuring out cat food stuff. These companies should have to list the carb content by law. I'm just going to get some and see how it works I guess. If it doesn't raise him high enough if/when I need it then I'll use Karo and then go back to the drawing board haha.

That's too funny that she would stand in front of the fridge and tried to fake you out a few times. :joyful::joyful: Charlie goes to his testing spot in the kitchen to try to get treats :cat: I've noticed lately he's been going into the (human) bathroom at shot time, which is where I do his shots. It's the sweetest thing. Last night he went in sat in there around +2, and when I tested him his numbers had gone up since PS. It's like he was asking for his shot again because he knows it helps. It broke my heart that I couldn't give him more
 
Diane Tyler's Mom GA said:
A lot use this for their hypo kit

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs. This is not correct on the food chart, many members used the car calculators and it is 14 % carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods


https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-
Click to expand...
Thank you Diane!
 
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