November 2014

Posted by: Tamandua Girl / Category:

Pua relaxing in the little hammock

Pua relaxing in the little hammock

November 2, 2014
Got the new pet track meter yesterday but I didn't cooperate with a morning check and mom got no reading after two pokes. After a second poke on evening wake up she got a reading of 363 on cat setting but mom doesn't believe it as that's unreasonable for just woken up and not eating all day. The most likely issue was that she touched it to some blood but it wasn't enough but then it got the reading after getting a bit more blood. The first may have started to clot already and affected the reading.

However mom may have found a solution. The human strips use less blood so was always easier to get a reading. Turns out they work in the pet meter. Some people even use the human strips in the pet meter by coding it to read as the pet strip would on the control fluid. Well mom used a pet strip and the control on dog setting and the control fluid was 150. Mom stuck a human strip in and the control fluid read 162. Now the dog meter was 11 points lower than my lab value when the vet did it so it would seem the meter set on dog with a human strip might be right for me since it's just 12 points above dog.

Man this is complicated. They should just make a tamandua meter.

November 2, 2014
In happier news I got a fresh rotten log last night and got to play with the jack-o-lantern. Mom came to give me my morning supplements in the washer. Aurora was not pleased and I didn't accept. So mom backed off and when she came back we had switched places and I was laying on my back so mom put the cup on my belly. I decided this would be a fine way to have a treat.

November 4, 2014
Mom came to test my blood in the washer. This was much less stressful for me but Aurora freaked out and fled to the closet. I didn't like getting poked but then I just let mom hold my foot. She did have to poke me twice though. Seems I bleed better from my heal. Anyway it was 256 using dog with human strip, which we hope is the most accurate. Guessing it is as 252 or so was my first value at the vet when we found out.

But I'm on turmeric temporarily as we ran out of curcumin(we'll make sure this doesn't happen again) but it should be here in a day or two. Curcumin had me at 107 at the vet but it had been a few hours rather than all day since taking it. If I keep testing high maybe we'll need to work on breaking the amounts up and taking it more often.

November 4, 2014
I wasn't wanting to take my morning supplements so mom added a tiny touch of ketchup. Ketchup flavored blue cheese and chia isn't your typical fare but I've not been allowed ketchup in so long I'm eating it but slowly.

November 4, 2014
Oh interesting green tea extract helps keep blood sugar down during exercise. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18326618

November 7, 2014
Had a nice snuggle and play season with mom in the big play hammock. That was nice. She likes to cheat by pinching me through the hammock. It's funny.

November 7, 2014
Pua's mommy(playing the role of mad scientist): Ugh Pua tested 333 in an afternoon test. I'm kind of doubting the new meter's accuracy. Though if it is high maybe the addition of oatmeal(hoped it would help her cholesterol) is just too much carbs for an anteater. I did use a couple drops of ketchup to get her to take her morning supplements as well but she had already refused her evening dose the night before. I had left it out to let her eat it in her own time as she always has before but didn't this time. I don't think the ketchup spiked her though as a fasting value the other night with no ketchup was actually higher.

Think it's time to reboot and take little logical steps. First will be to test her tomorrow and try to get enough blood to test both the dog meter and the human meter. This will help to judge if it's giving accurate readings. It just seems odd that she tested 107 lab work/99 dog meter/75 human meter at the vet but am getting 300+ dog meter now. Then if it does seem accurate start over using one supplement at a time and see which are working and stop using oatmeal since that's the only change made(aside from adding some insects) that was made since the vet test.

November 8, 2014
Got up and had a snuggle and play with mom in the baby hammock. Then I had my supplements.

Also I got my first old lady bump. It's on my knee.

November 8, 2014
Okay dog meter 311 human meter 192 That's too big a difference. The human meter was only 30 points lower than the lab work so going by that today's test was 222 but I was being reluctant about supplements this morning so just had curcumin we will add cinnamon again. It may turn out that was helping more than the curcumin.

November 8, 2014
Pua's mommy as mad scientist: A few hours and 65 test strips(1$ each!) later I may have a metering solution and a nifty graph. I had 3 coding solutions and 2 meters and two types of strips to try in combination.

After testing each fluid with each combination I came to the conclusion none of them are going to be accurate for Pua. Then the light bulb went off. I tried to recode the freestyle meter, oops it's code free. So I stuck a freestyle strip in the alphatrack pet meter and began coding. Dog code is 36 cat code is 38 so I began working my way down.

My aim was to get the freestyle and alpha fluids to test at about 123-127. Pua tested 99 on the alpha track at the vet 75 on the freestyle and 107 via the lab. So the freestyle was 32 points lower than the lab. The plain freestyle test on the fluids was 91-95 so add 32 is 123-127.

So with that in mind I get the control fluid to test in those ranges within about 5 points set on 24. So using the alpha meter with a freestyle strip set at 24 should be a fairly reasonably accurate result but feel free to poke any holes in my logic.

This was discounting the contour fluid readings since it is long expired which probably explains the odd readings with it. However it does show that it may still be less accurate the higher her glucose gets no matter the setting.

PS the odd symbols on the graph where Pua's blood values were tested indicate when each was done, meaning if same symbols was tasted at same time.
(From the future: eventually we talked to a diabetic cat owner / statistician who explain we were going about it all wrong and how to go about it right but that's for a later blog. Obviously statistics isn't my strong suit but I was trying).

November 9, 2014
Mom woke to a lot of crashing and banging and said "What are you doing Pua" But when she turned the light on it was Aurora tossing books off the shelf again. Aurora also found the butter milk mom was fermenting and ripped into the container and spilled it all and left incriminating buttermilk foot prints leading away in the direction she likes to go.

So I was a good girl all I did was raid the fridge.

November 9, 2014
Mom had to stick me 3 times to get enough blood to test cuz my foot didn't want to bleed, but 259 but this is pre-morning-supplements. So she may test me in a couple hours to see how they effect the reading. Also it's advised to do a glucose curve and test me every 2 hours for 24 hours but since I'm not on insulin maybe ever 4 would work. It would give a good idea of how my body is reacting to food and sleep ect.

November 9, 2014
Aurora: I got lonely so started peeking out of the washer. Then the human started groping me, she called it petting though. After that I have gone to the closet nest to be with Pua.

November 9, 2014
290 and a perturbed Aurora but she settled back in once mom left. Also only one poke this time. Mom looked for the pinkest part of my foot. Maybe my sugar tends to climb during the day for similar reasons to exercise. 15 hours or so sleeping mean my cells go crying for fuel due to not eating so sugar is released but due to insulin resistance doesn't get used so keeps climbing, maybe. Mom tried giving me a protein snack of blue cheese.

She has also tried ordering ants again leaving the seller a note to please be sure to send the red/black and not the black because no one likes the black. Hopefully it doesn't seem too rude but he did send the wrong kind last time.

in addition mom has found numerous studies showing DIM(diindolylmethane) is comparable to metformin in lowering glucose. Only for a dose my size mom would have to cut the pills she has up for herself(for other reasons) into 20ths so she has ordered a lower dose variety for me. Claws crossed.

Also and in addition too, I think mom needs to try making a new batch of food minus the oatmeal and see if that brings it down again cuz it was a nice level before that was added.

November 9, 2014
319 ugh so snack didn't help. I wanted mom to stay and snuggle after she did for a bit but Aurora was not pleased.

November 9, 2014
Next test. Aurora was not pleased but at first she stood her ground, sitting on my feet and growling at mom. I wasn't sure who she was growling at so I gently slapped her a few times to try and get her to chill, plus once mom did poke my foot I thought it was her and maybe Aurora was trying to play.

Mom had to poke me again once Aurora gave up and fled. So I batted at her and grabbed her hand to stop the crazy poking and hugged her tight instead. After a few seconds rest she got her sample. Then she snuggled with me. At one point Aurora got real brave and marched past mom and tried to settle in but I was in Aurora's spot and after trying and failing to get under the blanket she decided she simple could not sleep next to the human so left to pace. After awhile mom left and Aurora settled back in.

Oh and mom started with a treat though she barely put any blue cheese in the cup I licked a long time. Turns out the DIM pills are soft and mom is pretty skilled with a razor so she gave me the 20th of a pill.

November 10, 2014
Oh just noticed I forgot to put the result of the last test it was a fasting for 4 hours value of 250 at that point it is now 237 which is probably the same amount of drop to be expected from not eating for 4 more hours though there was that tiny bit of blue cheese last time to try the DIM. Since the DIM is comparable with metformin we can expect it to take time to see results.

Mom said she wont poke me any more as I'm getting a bit depressed about it and we learned quite a bit and can expect it to just go back up from eating now once I get up. For now mom will go back to testing my wake up value to see how things are trending.

November 10, 2014
To complain about all the poking I have peed on the drier. So there.

November 11, 2014
I got up and had my supplements willingly today.

Mom changed the sink drain tube to a new poke proof and unplug proof one(she hopes). I shoved my way back there and peeled the foil but didn't unplug or poke it for now.
She did leave the old tube on the drier for me. I peed on the drier to let her know how I felt about that.

I did however have a successfully messy fridge raid.
Aurora is up having a treat too because she was jealous of me having a treat.

November 12, 2014
Since I could not poke holes int he sink drain tube I unplugged the washer drain tube but mom noticed before running a load so there was no flood.

November 15, 2014
Since I can't poke holes in the sink drain tube now I'll just keep unplugging the washer drain but It's not as exciting. And Aurora unplugged the fridge.

November 16, 2014
I woke up scratching and went to the washer so mom poured me some vinegar and I'm having a bath.

Mom bought herself some coconut water and I found them and poked holes in them. She had 6 and I poked holes in all but one. It's called sharing, mom

November 16, 2014
Since I was bathing mom took some of the leftover no rinse shampoo and gave Aurora a sponge bath in the washer. She sat in poop or something last night though it was gone from her fur already. She's also been a bit rashy again. Maybe she's allergic to silkworms. She is not happy and is pacing now but that was less traumatic than the tub.

November 16, 2014
So much pacing from one little sponge bath. I mean Aurora was dry in minutes again anyway. On the plus side her rash looks a lot better already(shampoo has aloe and other healing oils), and she has gotten tons of exorcise.

November 20, 2014
Evening fasting blood sugar 189 better than 300. I'm on DIM, Curcumin and Chitosan. I would be lower but the chitosan made my poops real soft so mom cut back but she may try slowly upping me again as my body gets used to it. It helps with glucose levels and helps keep fat from being digested so it leaves the body(so can result in the loose poops but also lower cholesterol).

Mom was super busy but will be making me a new batch of food minus the oatmeal in the next couple days then I think I will get much lower readings but we are working our way down.

November 24, 2014
Played with mom some last night and tried snuggling under the covers but I could smell a Beaker.

Am up and having my supplements now.

November 24, 2014
Played with mom on the feeding shelf for a awhile and snuggled too.

November 26, 2014

Aurora: Pua always gets treats so I peeked out of the washer wondering where's mine so the servant brought me some buttermilk since Pua was in the closet nest so she wouldn't get any.

 November 27, 2014
I went outside and took a couple strolls around the yard in the rain and sniffed out the back window a few times. Then I woke Aurora and we played while mom was off making breakfast for everyone else.

 Beaker by a boulder
Beaker by a boulder

 Hyzzie by a boulder
Hyzzie by a boulder

 Shaggy Manes gone wild!
Shaggy Manes gone wild!

 Hyzzie in the sun
Hyzzie in the sun

 November 29, 2014

I went outside today and ran around in the rain and climbed on the gazebo. Mom didn't bring the camera but here's a photo of me getting into mischief last night. My fur is yellower than normal due to the curcumin supplements and my tendency to get it all over my claws and then scratch myself.

November 30, 2014
Darn insomnia. It's back and forth between the closet nest and the washer all day.


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Oct 2014

Posted by: Tamandua Girl / Category:

October 1, 2014



Logs are good


Getting into her new log
Getting into her new log

Yummy bugs
Yummy bugs

Pua on the window shelf
Pua on the window shelf

October 3, 2014
We were playing wildly on the cat tree and even the bed a bit and the desk and all over. Mom thought she was sneaky by turning the sound off on the camera but the pre-focus flash in the dark was hard to miss. Aurora promptly quit playing so I cried then Aurora stormed off so I followed riding her to the best of my abilities as she climbed the wall and across the shelves and up the ladder to my princess hammock where we resumed our play in private.

Baby snake
Baby snake

October 5, 2014
Aurora: I got up and was minding my own business when the servant went crazy and tried to put a harness on me. This is unacceptable. I've gone back to the washer.


I don't want to go wading
I don't want to go wading

Not sure what happened
Not sure what happened
But I'm sure an anteater is responsible

Hyzzie enjoying her fresh bed
Hyzzie enjoying her fresh bed

October 5, 2014
Aurora: I got up and was minding my own business when the servant went crazy and tried to put a harness on me. This is unacceptable. I've gone back to the washer.

October 6, 2014
Aurora: went out and had a short sunbath on the back step now I feel ready to sleep so have returned to the washer.

Aurora in the house
Aurora in the house

Aurora thinking

Aurora Explores
Aurora Explores

October 9, 2014
I was a good girl and didn't wake mom at all last night. I entertained myself instead by unplugging the sink and washer tubes.

October 13, 2014

I raided the fridge last night and climbed right in even. Mom pulled me out and cleaned up and straitened the containers back up.

When she went to get some coconut water later it splashed all over her. I had clawed holes in it. She poured the rest out into a container. I don't understand the complaint about the ant legs floating in the coconut water though. That should be a plus.

October 13, 2014
There was a bunch of water on the floor this morning and after stepping in it mom got a towel to mop it up. Mom figured I had unplugged the drain tube again. When she later checked them they were fine. She then followed the trail and found I had poked holes in the bottom of the vinegar jar and yep the towel smelled of vinegar. See mom, and you thought the worst of me but I didn't mess with the tubes this time.

October 15, 2014
I did poke a hole in the sink drain tube but I didn't unplug it. That's a nice compromise I think.

 Blue cheese and chia seeds
Blue cheese and chia seeds

 Hand pillow for Hyzzie
Hand pillow for Hyzzie

 Casually enjoying wood
Cassually enjoying wood

 Hello there
Hello there

 Wanna kiss?
Wanna kiss?

 This is good wood
This is good wood

 I like when Hyzzie lays like this
I like when Hyzzie lays like this
 She looks a bit droopy here though

October 16, 2014
Mom took me for a hike today on my favorite trail and I was having a blast but then mom noticed I was looking off similar to when we though I got poisoned in the spring so mom made me turn around. I was pretty mad. Just when mom was convinced she was just being a worry wart I started puking but otherwise I never got as bad as last time.

I had a short rest when I got home then mom tested my blood sugar, since the vet wanted to last time but couldn't since she was in surgery. It was 373. So we have an appointment for the 22nd to discus where to go from here. I don't wanna go on insulin jabs. Maybe I can just stop exorcising instead? Actually mom read just now diabetics should test their sugar before exercising maybe that would work. My resting and fasting values have been okay and last time I went everything was fine. We'll see.

(edit from the future: With lots of work we have found that a test of 373 on the freestyle lite is actually around 510)

Video of her in ketoacidois from her walk (I was gonna embed it but I seem to have disabled that on this one. I'm sure I had my reasons)
https://youtu.be/xzKrMMIlm2s

But happy photos from earlier in the walk
She heard a bird
She heard a bird

It sounds creepy
It sounds creepy

Moving fast now
Moving fast now

Checking the stump
Checking the stump

I found a hallow tree
I found a hallow tree

This hole's too small
This hole's too small
Is there another?

It looks so nice in there
It looks so nice in there

Pua butt
Pua butt

A cool tree
A cool tree

Pua on a log
Pua on a log
I thought I was taking video, oops





October 17, 2014
Oh just so you know after a rest and drinking lots of water I felt petty good mom woke last night to the sound of my knocking a soup bowl out of the fridge. I was doing her a favor. That soup was gross. I was having fun on the shelf clawing at blue cheese and ant packages and poked holes in the soaked chia container but dropped it. I fought coming out. It was great fun.

 October 18, 2014
Mom adjusted my supplements and switched me to twice a day. I drank a lot less water last night which is a good sign. She is waiting for me to get up so she can poke me and test my blood. She contemplated doing me in the washer but Aurora is using me for a pillow.

 October 19, 2014
Fasting value 115. YAY I win, a cup of supplement laced blue cheese and chia seeds.

 Pua enjoying her supplements
Pua enjoying her supplements

Pua enjoying her supplements



 October 19, 2014
Got up and found a nice drink of berry smoothie thing on the way to the closet. Mom said too much sugar and took it away. How rude. So I went back to the washer.

 October 20, 2014







 October 20, 2014

I got up and ha a drink of vinegar then headed to the closet nest but stopped to have a good groom first.

 Pua snuggles
Pua snuggles

 She loves to cuddle
She loves to cuddle

 October 22, 2014
 So Pua went to the vet today. The vet was baffled by the fact exercise was making her sugar spike instead of go down. Maybe it's not as common an issue in animals but what I had read about that in people is exercise makes the cells need sugar so signals get sent to release sugar but either due to lack of insulin or insulin resistance the sugar doesn't make it into the cells so they keep signaling for sugar that keeps getting released but it just keeps building up in the blood. An insulin panel would be pretty hard to accomplish on a tamndua though so she is as hopeful as I am that we can manage this naturally.

The curcumin really seems to be doing the trick though. Even when I did do her supplaments twice a day in the past and tested I never got her below about 150 "wake up" fasting blood glucose. Her wake up test on it was 115. Today she had her morning supplements at 9 which was a bit early but we had to leave at 10 for the long drive. At the vet about one and half hours later she tested 99 on the vet track meter set at dog(had choice between dog and cat) and 75 on my human meter for her. Then we can compare which is more accurate once we get the lab work back. The home meters work based on density and blood cell size which varies by species so on the domestic pets they wind up reading lower than they really are on the human meters. We don't know enough about anteater blood to know which home meter is best for them but this comparison will help.

At any rate even a reading of 99 is great too see.

The vet wasn't sure what to suggest for the blood sugar spiking from exercise though. She wasn't sure if a high protein snack before would help or hurt? I can up the protein in her meals though. I didn't add the silkworms last time as I only made a small batch while waiting for beef to go on sale but I have the beef now so will be making a new batch soon. Seems the supplements are the main thing though. Last time I took her for a long walk and she didn't have an issue I had made sure she got some supplements in the morning before going out. I hadn't yet made that a regular habit though since I hadn't found it to effect her evening(wake up) test values. But maybe at the least it was helping her not spike super high when I did do it. With the curcumin it has lowered her values to nice numbers so if nothing else if her blood glucose rises on a walk it wont make it to these critical levels any more *fingers crossed on that.*

She had actually refused her morning supplements yesterday so today I left out the grape seed extract since that tastes the worse but she still was refusing so I had some pre-made up with water in a syringe and tried to force it but soon as the tip passed her lips she got upset but then after pushing me away with force she ate her supplement-treat instead.

 October 22, 2014 ·
Anyway aside from being abducted to the vet and molested I got up and went out for a walk in the yard this morning before I was abducted. I found some kale infested with aphids and licked at them but they are kind of hard to get off.

 October 23, 2014
I was a good girl and took my morning supplements in a treat this morning but at first I just took half then had the rest later when mom added chia seeds to it.
I was sleeping in the closet with Aurora but I have now returned to the washer.

October 25, 2014
I had my supplements this morning then lingered about awhile so mom offered me my carry bag. I stuck my head in and sniffed a lot but decided to go back to bed instead of a walk this time.

Got my blood work back and my glucose officially was 107 so the home dog test was closest of the two but maybe the cat would have been even closer I'm guessing. That would mean my levels were higher all along than we though but at least now it seems to be under control with the curcumin.

Everything else looked good except for my cholesterol it has kept getting higher and is really high now, a side-effect of the diabetes. The stressed pancreas and liver don't make and handle the lipase(enzyme that removes fat from the blood) right. Mom's going to add oatmeal to my food to start with and research this more.

October 25, 2014
I heard mom getting supplements ready. She was doing some in advance but I heard it and know it's good stuff so got up and asked for my evening supplement treat. It's okay cuz morning normally overlaps a bit(less than 12 hrs apart) due to when I get up and go too bed normally so I got them but now back to nap a few more hours.

October 26, 2014
I'm up. I had some chia seeds. I left the closet to sniff out the window. It's pouring elephants outside. Not sure what to do with myself now......

Mom figured it out. She brought me some food. Time for a midday meal.

October 26, 2014

That hit the spot now back to the closet nest.

October 27, 2014
I had my morning supplement but I refused it till mom added some chia seeds. I dipped my claw in and was like, um something's missing.

I then sniffed out the window till mom got back from walking the dogs and asked for a treat. I mean the other was supplements and didn't count. So I got more chia seeds.

After checking out my options I have settled in the washer with Aurora.

October 27, 2014
Pua's mommy: The pet track meter has now been ordered and after seeing this it makes sense Pua would need to be tested as a cat. Humans are omnivores, dogs are carnivores that eat some plant matter or can, and cats are obligate carnivores. Tamandua are obligate carnivores as well, just they eat bugs as the animal matter instead of mice and birds. http://www.alphatrakmeter.co.uk/alphatrak2-species-specific…

October 28, 2014
I like my supplements now. I tried to get mom to give them to me early but she said she didn't want them to over lap more than they already do. I got them a bit ago though so am back in bed.

October 28, 2014
Since I had my supplements at 10 this morning I got up now(10pm) to have it. I got this thing figured out. I'll go back to bed once finished though.

October 30, 2014
Seems the sink tube got unplugged so mom fixed the holes in it by trimming it one more time and reattaching till the new tube gets here. She also tried wrapping some aluminum foil around it. Not sure what she expects that to do but I may humor her for awhile and let her thinks she's won. Especially since she used bleach to mop back there, pew. Oh and seems there's a couple small holes in the drier tube. That's pretty hard to do since it's stiff metal.

October 31, 2014
Mom got up early to work so I came over but she kept saying no when I tried to get on the computer so I kept trying to come from different directions. Finally mom distracted me with a treat of chia seeds and I was satisfied.

Auora's got her period so mom gave her a treat of sour cheese stuff with some extra vitamin K in it since her's are extra heavy. I heard this and came from the washer for my supplement as well. Aurora spilled her treat half way through. Mom forgot that Aurora is cup challenged and needs it in a bowl.

October 31, 2014
Aurora: I went outside to sunbath but there was no sun and everything was wet. Who ever is in charge of the weather around here messed up. I came right back in but then went back out for a short walk but the weather still sucked. I have decide to mope under the bed today instead.

October 31, 2014
Aurora: I decided it wasn't nice enough under the bed so I settled into the nice closet nest instead.

My Pumpkin - snake and mouse         
My Pumpkin





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