Just gave 1st Insulin Dose...

hey all! This is my first post ever after giving my cat, PJ, his first ever dose of insulin at 10a today. I've been home testing and here's how that looks:

10/2

Meal - 835p
Test - 855p
Glucose - 284


10/3
Test - 713a
Glucose - 177

Meal - 730a
Test - 755a
Glucose - 264

Test - 1015a
Glucose - 259
Insulin - 1 unit

Test - 1145a
Glucose - 188

Test - 827p
Glucose - 56

What's up with 56?! Is that terrible? I'm feeding him now but not sure if I should give him another dose of insulin...

 

Absolutely not! 56 can be within normal range, but generally our sugar cats won't be used to numbers that low and they may or may not experience symptoms of hypoglycemia. I see it's been 25 minutes since you posted. Can you recheck PJs BG and let me know what it is?

 

Yes! Just fed him and about to test now!

 

It's 87 now. He had about 2 tbsp glycobalance can and a slice of turkey. I also rubbed honey on his gums right when I got that 56 because he was acting SO lethargic and squinty.

 

Good, it's going up. He definitely went hypo there. You're at about +8 (7.5 or 8 hours post-insulin dose) right now, right? After that episode I would definitely skip tonight's dose. I would recheck in about 15 minutes to make sure it's continuing to go up. What insulin are you on?

 

Thank goodness I took it upon myself to home test because the vet never even mentioned it as an option. I would have given him that dose tonight and gone to bed and probably would have woken up to a dead kitty! He is on Vetsulin.

 

I am so thankful for you and PJ as well! You'll find that is a common theme for many of us on this thread. We're on Vetsulin as well and my vet originally wanted to give my buddy Lou 4 units twice a day. I hedged and gave 2, and he had a hypo episode within a week of starting insulin. I know exactly where you're coming from!

Thankfully Vetsulin is what we call an in-and-out insulin and only lasts about 8-10 hours, depending on PJ's metabolism. You should be past the point of true worry (for example, if you had received that low BG 3 hours after the insulin shot, the insulin would still be working to pull the BG down even further). Has PJ perked up yet? He may still feel crappy for a bit.

 

How's his BG now? Can you recheck to see how he's doing?

 

It's 128! Woo hoo! I can sleep tonight! Should I do only a half unit in morning or is that even possible?

Thank you so much for talking me through this! ☺️☺️☺️

 

Awesome!! My pleasure! I am so thankful that I was floating through! Half units are absolutely possible, and if your syringes do not have half-unit markings, you can get some from www.adwdiabetes.com (I use these). In the meantime, you can just eyeball it.

At minimum, 0.5u in the morning wouldn't be a bad starting point. Since you skipped the dose tonight, you should expect to see higher numbers. Plan to not dose if his BG is under 200 in the morning, but you can definitely post for assistance once you see where he's at.

When and if you post, go over to the Main Health forum, were there will be more eyes to see your questions. I hope you never need it, but if you have an emergency situation (which you handled beautifully tonight, I might add ), you can attach a 911 tag to your thread title to make sure you get a response ASAP. We'll be with you every step of the way. I hope you sleep well tonight. It was a scary introduction to the forum, but I'm so glad you're here!

 

Thank you so, so much! I feel SO much better having you (and others) with experience and wisdom who are willing to help me through this! SO thankful! ❤️

 

I'm in the same boat as you! I don't know what we would have done if I hadn't found this forum. So since the excitement has passed, let's get to the introduction, haha. What is your name? How old is PJ? What part of the world do you hail from?

I am so very glad you are home testing. We all keep track of our numbers on a handy spreadsheet that color-codes the numbers and allows other members to review the numbers and trends when we post questions. The instructions are located HERE. If you need any assistance setting one up, let us know. We've got a couple of gurus on hand.

Another helpful tip would be to include pertinent info in your signature, which is the gray information on the bottoms of my posts. Include information such as date of diagnosis, insulin, what you're feeding, where you're located, and what meter you use. To do this, click on your name above and select "Signature" from the drop down box. You'll put your pertinents in and hit save. I had copied someone else's format and entered my own info to get me started. Basically this information gets your info out there so that members don't need to ask you the same questions over and over.

 

Definitely you should reduce the dose to half a unit. Are you using a human or pet meter?

Can you set up a signature and spreadsheet? To set up a signature like you see in our posts, click on your name at the top right corner and choose signature. Add info such as your pets name, date diagnosed, insulin type and dose, food you're feeding and any other health concerns.


Here's a link to how to set up one of our nifty spreadsheets. It's the best tool to help us help you.

You're going to find a lot of help and support here.

 

Make sure that you get a preshot test in the morning.... Don't shoot if under 200.

 

Can you share link to spreadsheet again please? Either I am missing it or it didn't link right.

 

The spreadsheet instructions are located at http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/.

 

Oops, sorry forgot to paste it. Amanda posted it for you