November... Where Changes Abound
What a weird month we've have had! An election and the time change – two things that are not my favorites, and they are too close together in my opinion. Have you adjusted your schedule properly for Kitty yet? We are still working on it. The fur babies don’t read clocks so they are up and ready to go before we are, and we lowly humans must keep the same routine regardless of what someone else dictates. After all, Kitty didn’t gain an hour for extra sleep, so why should YOU? All joking aside, with the twice-a-year time change, challenges with sugar kitties are bound to arise. You can’t change their routine too much unless you do it gradually, so that extra hour of sleep is not happening. It still hasn’t happened here.
Now for the busy fur parent this adjustment can be a real issue because we have to maintain Kitty’s routine and change ours to meet the new schedule of Daylight Savings Time for work, school, parenting, and other commitments. To the fur babies, it is 7 am no matter what my clock says, and the kitties are very vocal about feeding time. If one of us isn’t awake at the “correct” time, one kitty rubs all over whomever she gets near. My Zeus with his long saber claws (not an exaggeration at all!) gently taps a face with them – not enough to actually hurt but you definitely feel the little pokes of those super sharp claws. My little one, Gwen, cries and attacks feet under blankets, and she is ruthless! The only one that doesn’t care is my big boy Bucky. He does not bother moving until he hears food actually being served. He lets the others do all the work for him.
Sometimes, with work demands or other scheduling issues, we may not have a choice but to readjust Kitty’s schedule. Ideally, this is best done 10 or 15 minutes at a time. In this case, 10 – 15 minutes later than Kitty’s interpretation of the hour is a good start. You can do this daily or every couple of days depending on your schedule and Kitty’s tolerance. I have seen cats that are fine with an hour difference, though rarely. It can take a couple of days or a couple of weeks depending upon how sensitive Kitty is to change and how stable her blood glucose and health status has been. Some kitties are going to take longer to adjust because some are just flat out more sensitive to environmental changes. If you have a Kitty like this, you know even small, seemingly insignificant changes, will send Kitty’s blood glucose numbers soaring or plummeting. You may have to temporarily adjust her insulin or diet if she is very intolerant of the change. In most cases, however, everyone adjusts and the normal routine resumes.
This time around, it has actually been my dogs that have been much less tolerant to changes in their walking/feeding schedules; they still cry and whine to be walked at their “normal” time. Their incremental adjustments have taken longer and have had to be 10 minutes tops per day. The kitties have all adjusted for the most part pretty well. It seems that the spring time change is the opposite. The dogs are very happy and excited, and the cats are looking at us like, “What is wrong with you; it is not time yet”.
Even though I work at home, I have my own routines and recently started a graduate program, so adjusting the schedule has been a bit more challenging for me. I have also been diagnosed with post-COVID syndrome, so I am working on a graduated exercise program, and I have to maintain a very strict routine in order to do that the correct way. The key to balancing it out is to calm down, take a deep breath, and rethink your strategy if something is not working or Kitty’s sugars are bouncing all over. Patience and readjustments are part of diabetes in humans as well as our fur babies.
It is normal that during any time of transition, be it a time change or something such as a move, or really anything that is going to immediately impact Kitty’s routine for this to temporarily affect her blood glucose levels. A couple highs or lows here and there, as long as not drastic, are to be expected. If you start getting the new routine down and the stressor has been eliminated, and numbers are still bouncing, then it is time to consider a readjustment of inulin, diet, meal times, vet visit, etc. This is where that diary comes in handy. Look up how Kitty did during the last time change or transition event. Were her blood glucose levels bouncing more at that time? Perhaps they are slightly abnormal but less so this time around, which shows Kitty is able to handle stress a bit better physically than previous. Once you have a good diary with good notes and a good amount of history, it will be a lot easier to decide if Kitty is just stressed, if the fluctuations are normal for the time of year or situation, or if there is something way off. The diary can seem very tedious at first, but when it comes to a reference point, it is 100% customized to YOUR fur baby! You can make more informed decisions, adjust to Kitty’s needs, be better prepared for those transition times, and perhaps even make it easier on both of you next time.
Welcome to November 2020!
As always, Feline Diabetes Support Group on FB is always available for support for questions, venting, and all things sugar Kitty with details and help for the concerned fur parent.