Novemeber

Posted by: Tamandua.Girl / Category:

Mom forgot to latch the fridge earlier when she got up to give us a snack. Ants and blue cheese goo everywhere! I couldn't get the ketchup open but left trace evidence of ants on the lid. So I woke mom by knocking her little container of stuff off the dresser. Mom saw the mess and says that's not funny. I beg to differ.



Aurora threw a bunch of books down last night. She was active and went outside for awhile but thought it was cold so she roamed the house some too.

Aurora in the living room


Aurora in the living room



Aurora heading out

Aurora heading out

Aurora going home
Aurora going home

People stayed up till after midnight so I got to go outside and run around. They said it was actually only after 11 because of the time change, silly humans you can't change time. I know when midnight is.




It was nice and wet outside. I had lots of fun. Something snuck up behind me and scared me. Mom said it was my tail. Um, no I'm sure something was after me.

It's nice when mom forgets to latch the fridge.


Pua raids the fridge



Aurora running along

Aurora running along

Aurora inspects the garden
Aurora inspects the garden

Aurora wants in
Aurora wants in

Aurora heading in again
Aurora heading in again


And then I figured out how to take a decent photo on a cloudy day with the new camera
Aurora

Aurora explores
Aurora explores

I want in here too
I want in here too

Leaving the shed
Leaving the shed

Aurora in the house
Aurora in the house

Aurora headin inside
Aurora headin inside


I ran around a lot this morning as well as last night so I'm chilling tonight. I got up around midnight(11 silly human time) snuggled with mom then went to join Aurora in the washer.




I could not get the fridge open last night. I puled the laundry drain tube from the wall and attacked it instead. Mom took it and was telling me no so I then went to poke the old one she gave me and she said good girl. *sigh* but that one doesn't have water in it.




I visited mom in bed last night. When she leaned over to get up I hopped up on her back but she stayed put till I got off instead of giving me a ride.

Aurora even visited mom in bed last night but she just got close enough to get mom's attention then ran off. She wanted mom to get her some fresh soup.




I was a bit wound up last night. I was literally climbing the walls, pulling at the trim on the walls, I peed a big puddle by the door. I played with Aurora and we broke the hammock again. Aurora tried to ride me as I climbed down the cage and we almost fell to our doom. We stopped ourselves but some wood fell. I snuggled with mom too and visited her in bed and laid on her and begged for treats too of course. I think Aurora fell in the dog's water and splashed it all over. Aurora was also throwing books around again. She likes the book shelves.




I was still riled up last night. I was clawing at the door and distracting me didn't work so mom got the bright idea to spray the corner of the door I was clawing at, after she pushed me back, with this strong smelling body spray mom's been using as air freshener.

Oh boy one whiff of that I recoiled and left. But it backfired on mom some. I decided it was so bad I would avoid going that way at all so took the long route around the room for most of the night. That is across the head of mom's bed.

So Avon natural's body spray makes a great anteater repellent.

Oh I also unplugged the sink drain. That was funny.




Mom just finished a fresh batch of yogurt and poured it into bottles. We smelled that from the washer and were peeking out but we didn't come out. It's still too early and we prefer our yogurt cold. We'll let it chill awhile.




Well, we put this off a bit to get things more in focus but I've got some bad news: I can't have yogurt or ketchup any more. When we got my routine blood test at the vet the result came back a few days later. My glucose was high(256). Mom cut out the ketchup and it took her a bit to get a home meter. She finally got a good one and a result now and after a snack of yogurt to distract me but I got away before she could test so got tested post snack and nap, my glucose was sky high post yogurt treat(over 408).

So no more yogurt or ketchup, since ketchup has added sugar. Mom says it's okay for me to have lots more ants instead, though we are low, due to my fridge raids, till our new order arrives but then I can have tons of ants for treats.

Mom did not think I was getting enough treats to cause harm. She kept the portions small. She was wrong. She has always been willing to admit when she's made a mistake with us so that others can learn(keep your windows and doors locked, for example) but she says this is a sad and painful example. But don't be too sad we are hopeful to get this under control with diet and some supplements.

Darn it all but no more yogurt or ketchup. Mom thinks judging by my test that yogurt may be like 80% of the problem along with ketchup maybe 95%. Aurora will needs to be weaned off of the yogurt though since her illness she has refused to eat without it but this is vital. I'm sure it's not good for her either and if she has it I steal it so it has to go.

We plan to replace the black strap molasses with chia seeds in my food mix. Some people have used chia seeds and seen their elevated glucose drop to as much as half. I will just try a little at first just to be sure I have no reactions but mom's research shows them to be very safe. I'll have more flax in my food too as that has been shown to help some. Mom has also added sweet potato despite the name it also helps lower blood sugar.

So wish me luck and we except prayers, good mojo, reikie, and even voo doo long as it's beneficial and not the bad kind.

PS: I'm feeling fine we only even know there is a problem because mom got me a blood test. She knew treats might be throwing my diet off so had me check. She never expect this though, more like some of my minerals would of been a bit off. Personally I think for me the hardest part will be that word diet and no more fridge raids 

PuaBloodTest


PuaBloodTest

This was done as a check up but we found out she has insulin resistance, otherwise known as type 2 diabetes. The main culprit seems to be the yogurt. She tested at 408 after a snack of yogurt on the home meter. That was added last year after Aurora's illness because she would not eat without it. We are working on weaning her off of yogurt again and Pua is not getting any extra. We also dropped all fruit treats and ketchup.

We are also replacing black strap molasses in the food mix with chia seeds. They have tons of the needed mineral content and have helped some people drop their blood glucose dramatically. They are packed with nutrients that are proven to help lower glucose.

We can beat this with diet but its not an over night fix. She is feeling just fine. We only know anything is wrong because we checked.

What's behind the curtain?
What's behind the curtain?

Pua on the coat shelf.
Pua on the coat shelf.





I had a lovely walk this evening

Time for a walk
Time for a walk

Nose to the trail
Nose to the trail

Crossing the bridge
Crossing the bridge

Peeing on the trail
Peeing on the trail
She normally goes into the bushes for that.

Checking out a tree
Checking out a tree

The sniff test
The sniff test

poking around
poking around

Time to get moving
Time to get moving

Trail obstical
Trail obstical

Mushrooms on a tree
Mushrooms on a tree

Pua on a fall hike
Pua on a fall hike

More mushrooms
More mushrooms

Going up the stairs
Going up the stairs

Going the back road
Going the back road

So many leaves
So many leaves


I'm queen of the woods
I'm queen of the woods
Boulders at the end of the trail

Slowing down
Sowing down

Dismounting
Dismounting

This yard is different
This yard is different

Time to go home
Time to go home

I forgot to mention it was a very poopy walk. I stood up on two legs to poop! One more item crossed off the bucket list Then I found some raccoon poop to sniff then found some very interesting horse poop. I lifted my claw to it but mom said if I dug in a pile of horse poop it would lead to a bath so I moved on.




Got my new glucose meter today. The first instruction is to use outside the body only. What did someone do to get that warning put on there. I don't think I even want to know.




So I was minding my own business when Aurora came along and stepped onto me and used me like a stool to get up to the shelf.




Mom was up crazy late and we were playing in the closet. Aurora normally wont put up with mom watching play but mom managed to film us this time. Either Aurora was pretending not to notice or mom was extra stealthy.





It must have been dinner time next door as all his chickens were mobbed up at the back door rioting.

In our own food news Aurora is taking her soup with almost no yogurt in it but has a dolip of blue cheese on top instead.

Also home experimentation and testing shows the addition of sweet potato in my food does help lower my glucose by 30-40 points. My chia seed arrived today those will help even more. Next batch of food with have chia replace molasses but for now it will be added to the premixed stuff. I was down to 210 on sweet potato then it went back up without it.


Soaked chia seeds with my joint supplement mixed with some blue cheese. I wasn't sure at first but I decided it was good and ate it all.


Off to my hammock to nap.

Our blender is dieing or at least it smells funny and doesn't do a good job blending Aurora soup(aka raw meat smoothies) any longer. Aurora does not like lumpy soup. So mom just bought this monster. With the 7 year warranty that works out to $30 a year so probably works out to about the same as buying cheap blenders cuz we burn through em so quickly.



After being on chia seeds for a couple days my fasting glucose is down to 165. Would like to get that a bit lower as that's a better after eating value but that's a great step. These things take time. Once molasses is removed from the food mix it should help more too.

Still much better than my fasting before being 252-260. We are back below renal levels, yay! Or most likely 252 is renal limit in cats no published info on tamandua but we know the zoo averages for blood glucose of max(175), min(33), and mean(72) of those tested.

Oh It looks like my ants will be here Tuesday or maybe Wednesday at the latest. Mom though it would take much longer. Thank goodness she was wrong though because I ran out of ants night before last. No ants last night sucked especially since all my other treats but blue cheese are gone already. Anyway, yay the ants are coming. till then yay for blue cheese.

My ants are here!! Mom got me ant eggs too! I was waiting excitedly on the shelf when she got home from the mail because I just knew. She gave me some eggs. They are awesome!

It came with a big lovely book all about the health benefits of ant tea and ant eggs, or maybe it's a recipe book or they are trying to convert me to the religion of the mighty ant gods. I'm not really sure because I don't read Chinese.
(I later decided I don't really like the ant eggs that much because they are black ant eggs and there are ants mixed it. I like the red and black ants instead).

Our ant Eggs from China
Our ant Eggs from China
They are sold as a "herbal" tea

Book all about health benefits of ants and ant eggs
Book all about health bebefits of ants and ant eggs


Blender arrived today too. It's like Christmas. Anteater soup(meat smoothies) are now smooth once more.

Pua eating ants
Pua eating ants
I forgot the flash doesn't pop up on it's own.

She's done
She's done

Taking my after wake up treat nap.

For anyone wondering what to get me for Christmas Amazon has blue cheese assortments.

November 24(If you click this link and read through the comments there is some interesting discussion of the sounds we make)
When mom peeked in the washer Aurora was sprawled out on her back, body under the blanket with her hand on my butt.

We like to sleep real late this time of year.

Sleeping
Sleeping
We don't get up till like 2-3 AM lately. Winter hours :) so not many photos as this is about all you'd get. Aurora is under the blanket.

We are making progress on my blood sugar. I was 144 tonight. Last time I was 165. I've even been without sweet potato but it's getting back in tonight. Some has to be thawed and mixed with each new container until we make a new batch, which wont be too much longer since my silkworm pupa will be here soon. Then we wont have any mistakes of not thawing in time as it will be already in.

Mathematically since sweet potato alone brought my level down about 40 points and the chia knocked it down by 100+ both together could get me down to low hundreds or even better and with the next batch no longer having molasses it should be normal(These are all fasting values).

Oh and mom thinks I can have cheery tomatoes since I only suck out the seeds and the seeds are acidic, so not sweet, the sugar is in the tomato flesh and I don't eat that, but regular tomato seeds aren't as acidic as the cherry.

The bright side of getting my blood sugar checked is after the distracting treat and foot poking I get cuddle time in the closet with mom. She almost forgot about that part of the bargain tonight but I reminded her.

First look at the new shelves.
First look at the new shelves
They passed the test both Aurora and I went back and forth just fine.

Attempting the dismount
Atempting the dismount

A bit awkward
A bit awekward
But she did it easy next time

The microwave is in the same place
The microwave is the same place

The route remains the same
The route remains the same

Going across the bridge
Going across the bridge
I had a blanket on it to finish drying.

She came back across the lower wooden shelves.

So when mom got the shelves she decided to rearrange the room too. The shelves were where the desk used to be so we got to go across those just like we did the desk and no disruption there.

But mom moved the desk and bed by the window, where the play pen used to be. Aurora decided she didn't mind going up and down the cat tree near a sleeping mom. But I couldn't get to mom's bed. I couldn't get to her to wake her 50 times a night to ask for treats. It was so upsetting. I peed on the drier and then poked holes in the washer tube and the flood today should teach mom a lesson.

Mom's note: She can get to me easy she just seems to think she cant. She could come down the cat tree or the cage and walk right onto the bed. I guess she's just scared to try new things. I fixed up the hose with a piece of the new one and most of the old one for now.

Pua in the morning
Pua in the morning

I did not find my way to the bed yet. It's just too scary. Mom liked that she only had to wake up once when Aurora rang her dinner bell for more food.(Aurora will be getting a real bell for Christmas. What she does now is reaches down and clangs this decorative metal lantern around(doesn't light or anything). She learned making noise with that wakes mom up better than clawing at the walls.)

I made it half way down the cat tree last night and sniffed at the desk but that was spooky so I retreated quickly.

You'd think mom would learn to check the laundry drain tube for holes before running the machine instead of finding out after the room floods. This time I poked a hole in the plastic part of the tube. I've never done that before. It was hard to do but the end result was worth it. She tries giving me the old tubes to play with but I have no interest in them. They aren't filled with water.

I got brave enough to climb down the cage and touch mom's arm with my cold nose to wake her for my treat but I didn't come all the way down.


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