Major Wilson News

Wilson has found a home! He's been adopted by a very experienced FDM caregiver and is settling in (in a spastic, Wilson-like way) to his new household. There are a lot of other cats in the household but I think it will work out ... Wilson was actually good with the two original cats here; it was the constant addition and subtraction of foster cats that really pushed his buttons. His new mom and dad love him, and understand that he is a very sweet loving cat who may be a few sandwiches short of a picnic :)

He actually went to his new home a few weeks ago but I was too nervous to post in case he was sent back ... ! I was luckier than I ever thought I'd be in finding someone that not only will accept a cat with a health issue but also actually understands that cats have, um, "personalities" and aren't the happy-cheery sure-whatever types that dogs are.

So here's to Wilson and his new family!

Hanging in there

He is still swinging between the 100s up to 300s (ugh) but I have decided to hold steady on a dose of 2 units until things calm down. I think that changing the lantus dose so frequently isn't helping matters, esp since overlap seems to be a factor here. So I'm going to try to stick at 2 for a few days and see where we end up.

In other news, Mr Wilson got on the bed this morning (waaay too early) and parked himself a few inches from my face, purring like a motor, and I of course jumped up and quickly tested him in case he was too low again. He wasn't, and instead was just getting an early start on his morning beg-a-thon for breakfast. What a stinker!

+12 = 124

Gave him a fat 1/2 unit. I'm off tomorrow so I can spend all night staring at him if I must. But I really think this afternoon's dip was because of his exercise.

WTF Wilson?

Ok so he has had three numerical episodes of hypoglycemia in the past two weeks. Two were mildly symptomatic -- only symptom was hunger/begging for food. This current one is without symptoms. But let me start at the beginning. First a few notes:
*I have tested this meter (the Elite) extensively against the lab machines at work. It is remarkably accurate.
*All using the same box of strips.
*This is all using the same cartridge of insulin.
*Food is all the same flavor from the same exact case.
*My usual dose was 2 or 2.5u. I'd give the higher dose if the PS was higher because in my long history with lantus it seems that it will not drop higher PS's unless you bump it slightly. (This is only my experience with this cat and shouldn't wantonly be applied to others.) I've also had luck adjusting lantus doses up or down 0.5u without a problem, despite the typical protocol requiring it to be the exact same every day.



As noted in previous posts, Wilson has been having pretty predictable pre-shots. He was getting 2 units BID. I hadn't done a curve in a long while though and I was getting a bad feeling that maybe his nadir was, well, not really a nadir. I did a curve on 10/13:
AMPS 258
+2.5 296
+4.5 258
+6.5 239
+8.5 225

At this point I gave him his two units early.

Ok, his BG is not going anywhere at this dose. Started 2.5 units bid.

10/14
AMPS 232 gave 2.5u
PMPS 143 gave 2.5u

10/15
AMPS 202 gave 2.5u
PMPS 248 gave 2.5u

Now for our first hypo:

10/16
AMPS 184 gave 2.5u
PMPS @ +13 56

Huh? Yep, 56. Now I was at work for 11 hours that day so I'm not positive if he ran around or not, but in my experience he is not very active. He is miserable around the dog, doesn't like the foster cat and rarely plays with the other cats. I fed him, he ate an entire can of food (6oz)

+14 45

Another HUH? He went down. Now on the meter 56 and 45 aren't that far apart-- you could do two tests on the same drop of blood and get a 3-5 point difference. I don't know if this was a true dip (indicating pancreatic function?) or basically another 56.

I gave another can of food, he ate some and by now he's eaten probably about 8-9oz total of a low-carb food. I gave him a few feline greenies, too. He seemed a little hungry at first but now is back to his usual behavior (lunging at the dog, etc.) so I took a shower, walked the dog, etc. It's now past midnight.

+16.5 48

Ok, I will just pull my hair out and give up. He won't budge even after nearly two cans of food, and a few handfuls of greenies. I give in and put out several bowls of kitten dry food since the other cats will snarf as much as they can too. He eats the dry food eagerly like the typical kibble junkie. I fall asleep on the couch for a few hours.

10/17
AMPS = +22.5 = 404

Awesome. I have to go to work; I give him 1 unit.

PMPS = 418 gave 2u

10/18
AMPS = +9 = 308 gave another 2u. Remember, this wasn't budging him a few days ago.
PMPS = 144 gave fat 1u (1.25 or so)

He eats his dinner, about 6 oz of canned food. Later on, Wilson starts being unusually lovey-dovey and cuddly. I'm about to go to bed, so I test him for the fun of it.

+4.5 = 30

Here we go again. I can't stay up most of the night again so I bust out the kitten dry food immediately. He wolfs it as expected.

+5.75 = 37

You have got to be kidding me. He inhaled carb-y dry food like a champ a little over an hour ago. I give him some more treats and encourage him to eat more. He eats just a little more, it seems like I am annoying him. No signs except his previous cuddliness. As before, his behavior is normal.

+6.25 = 43

I put out some canned food & dry food and go to bed. I've been up for 20 hrs by now. [NB: I don't encourage other people to fall asleep while their cat's BG is 43.]

I wake up a few hours later, probably around +9, he looks good and runs under the couch when I stumble over to test him. He's had it with me and my little pin pricks and beeping meter and swats at me when I reach for him. Typical Wilson. I go back to bed.

I get up at about +13 to go to the bathroom. He looks good, and vigorously attacks the dog when he walks into the living room.

10/19
AMPS = +26 = 365 gave 1.5 unit. I'll be home all day today to watch.
+3 = 301
+7 = 303
+10 = 341
PMPS= 296 gave another 1.5u

10/20
AMPS 314 gave 2u. Will be at home today again.
PMPS 168 gave 1u because I have no idea what's going on here.
+2.5 160 (spot check)

10/21
AMPS 242 gave 1.5u
PMPS 329 gave 2u

10/22
AMPS 320 gave fat 2u
PMPS 96 gave about 1 drop of insulin (0.25?) after he ate

10/23
AMPS 315 fat 2u
PMPS 257 gave 2u
+1.5 231 (spot check before I fell asleep)

10/24
AMPS 235 2u
PMPS 259 2u

10/25--today
AMPS 217 2u

+4 62, I think. The strip was slow to fill--I am not sure I had enough blood, and the meter reads falsely low when this happens. He is not amenable to a retest so I give him a few grenies and will just keep an eye on him.

+6 29
I tested to confirm that the 4+ was a mess up (which it probably wasn't) and because he had been unusually active today -- major case of the zoomies. I just fed him although he is not ravenous. He ate about 1/2 can of food, washed his face, smacked one of the other cats, and is now snoozing in his basket by the window.

Will keep you posted.

A big huge screaming fight

Wilson just had a big huge screaming fight with the foster cat. The foster cat is confined most of the time but is out for short periods of time. For the most part, I can referee and everything is ok -- tense at times but ok. No one got hurt this time around, probably because the fight lasted about two seconds. My dog helped break it up because he immediately gave a few loud woofs, scaring everyone.

Now the poor foster cat is back in the bathroom.

Depressing

I have been thinking about posting for the past few days but the whole situation over here has me feeling pretty down. Wilson is very unhappy here and I don't see any way to change things for the better. He does NOT like to live with dogs, he does NOT like the coming and going of new cats all the time (I do cat rescue). He's stressed, unhappy, tense, and I don't see any way to remedy this since he is not exactly an adoptable cat.

He's definitely dog aggressive and will actually burst out from under a chair, or jump up from the couch, etc., just to run after the dog and slash at his rear legs. The dog gives him a wide berth but Wilson is constantly on the offensive. This isn't cool for all of the obvious reasons but topping it off is the fact that my dog is getting older and was recently diagnosed with liver failure. Awesome, right? After Wilson gets all hot and bothered about the existence of the dog, he will occasionally pick a smack-fight with one of the other cats. There are two other cats that live here, and I have one extra right now who is looking for a home. Wilson is aggressive towards this extra cat as well.

So what to do? Try to find a home for a grumpy (but often loving) diabetic cat....

Wilson is holding steady

And there is (therefore) not much to report. I actually haven't even written his numbers down though they are stored in his BG meter. He is on 2-3 units a day and I consistently get pre-shots in the 200s. We've had little wobbles in his numbers--a few days of numbers in the 300-400 range led me to take him to work for a urine culture--but it is actually quite consistent as long as there are no illegal activities undertaken like ripping open the dog's dry food bag or scarfing down some unattended pasta (why, Wilson, why???).

I should copy down his numbers at some point ... it's on my to-do list...

Insulin needs are lessening ...

But true to the caveat in the Rand protocol, if you back off too much at first you will mess up the process.


8/5
7:21a 105, 2u
8:25p 83, 1.75u
8/6
6:54a 133, 2u
7:57p 127, 1.5u
8/7
8:19a 306, 2.5u
9:48p 234, 2.5u