6/14 - Olivia - dose increase tomorrow

130 @ AMPS
107 @ PMPS

Ok, done my experimenting, and I dont think she wants to go lower on her own pancreas power, on just the drop dose and the near 0% carb food, so we're gonna up her dose a smidge tomorrow.

Ive experimented with a spent syringe and coloured water -- on the syringes I have, there's I think maaaaybe a half a unit between true empty, and the '0 units' line, and I can maybe eke out 2 drops when I twist the syringe plunger up just a tiny bit up to the '0 units' line, so we'll start there? Or should I try eyeballing .10 past '0 units'?

I hope it's a slow decent tomorrow and not a relatively jaunty decent like on that first day, eesh.

 

I think that sounds about right. Not sure which syringes you use. I use BD Ultra ½ unit syringes, and I use the plastic stopper at the top as my guide, not the zero line as there's often as you noted .25 or even .5 units above that line because they're printed in a wonky way. I pull about a half unit into the syringe and then push out the air bubble to bring the plunger so that there is a hair of light between the plastic stopper and the plunger. I get two fat drops, and .25 is three drops but I use calipers for measuring that dose.

 

I have Walgreens syringes with the half units!

But ok. I'll try the '0 units'/two drops, and after that try upping it a bit more, to the 'hair of light' above 0.

About how many cycles do you reckon I need to do before we see if it works? Do I have to build her depot up again for a few days at the new dose before it stabilizes or whatever, or should it be relatively clear after only a couple cycles?

 

Since you're "attempting" TR , you hold the dose for 6-10 cycles to build up the depot and see how Olivia is reacting. Here's a bit from the Dosing Methods sticky, and I've highlighted in blue what I think will apply to Olivia. You'd reduce back to a drop if she ever drops below 50.

Increasing the dose:

• Hold the dose for 3 - 5 days (6 - 10 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are less than 200 before increasing the dose by 0.25 unit.
  • if your cat is new to numbers under 200, it is recommended to hold the dose for at least 8-10 cycles before increasing.
  • when your cat starts to see nadirs under 100, hold the dose for at least 10 cycles before increasing.
• Increase by 0.25 unit after 3 days (6 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are greater than 200, but less than 300.
• Increase by 0.5 unit after 3 days (6 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are greater than 300.

 

Ok, cool cool cool, thank you! I read had read that and thought maybe it might be different on such an itsy bitsy dose.

 

Kitties can react pretty strongly to a single drop because they're so small and insulin is so powerful, especially if the pancreas is pulling some of the weight too. Two drops essentially is doubling the dose. Ruby took a bit of a dive tonight on .1, but I won't really know what this dose will do until I see what happens tomorrow. Given that she is dipping into the 60s, I will hold this dose for at least 10 cycles to keep her safe and then revisit the idea of increasing then.

 

Yeah - I get the idea that her pancreas is kinda sputtering at random, which makes this kinda tricky.

Fingers crossed she doesnt throw any curve balls at me!

 

We got all paws crossed here for you and Olivia!

 

Shes doing ok otherwise! Loving that raw lyfe, and had her first round of home subq, and Zobaline today. She was super feisty this evening, and putting the 10 years younger civvie through her paces!

Glad to see that likewise, Ruby is doing well under pred and eating for you like she should! I will miss the poop emojis, as her poops get less notable to bother keeping track of

 

Actually Ruby hasn’t pooped in three days, hence no emoji. It’s not uncommon for her to go for a long stretch with no BMs, especially since she’s been on raw.

 

Aaaah - I imagine that makes it especially tricky to gauge how her digestive track is doing/collect samples incase the vet needs them.

At least she seems happy, even if her numbers are a little wonkier.