AJ dosing help

So he was reading HI twice last night, gave him 1 unit dose of novalin N at midnight, 11 hours ago. Took his blood glucose again at 10am 10hours from the shot and it is reading 311 now. Should i just go ahead with 1 unit again? I’m still puzzled as to why his blood glucose ran so high at night and would really not like to repeat that if possible.

 

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/aj-newly-diagnosed-please-help.218218/page-2#post-2426485
Link to old forum

 

Good morning, has AJ eaten this morning? He needs food on board for 30 to 60 minutes before you inject the Novolin.

 

He has but it was only 1/2 can of his wet food, still not very interested in food.

 

Do you have lots of strips for your glucometer? Do you have some high carb, medium carb and low carb food in house yet or are able to get some today?
How long ago did he finish eating? He needs to have the food getting into his bloodstream before you give any insulin. I'm wondering if a reduced dose of 0.5u this am might not be best till you get more data. He dropped a lot on that 1u overnight.

 

I wonder if his tummy is upset since he ate the most he has in awhile last night? Its strange since he loves his wet food

yes we bought the 100 strips yesterday. And we went and got more canned food and also treats to try as well. He ate about 30 minutes ago. So less might be better? I’m worried his glucose might go up in 600s if we give less though but maybe not?

 

The only way to deal with this is to go slow and steady. Something has caused BG to drop a lot overnight ....more than 300 points. If the 1u is dropping BG that much then it might drop AJ too low today. If the BG today is just from the clearing of excess sugar in his system, we'll find out soon enough. Another day in higher numbers is not going to harm AJ but if he goes too low it could be very dangerous. The fact that his appetite is not great also concerns me because most cats with unregulated diabetes are ravenous and would jump at any and all food offered. I'd stick to 0.5u for today and you can get his shot ready now and give it to him.

 

Okay i’ll give him .5 and update later

 

NO. Let's take this one step at a time and not worry about tonight right now. We need to figure out what is going on before we can make any decision about dose tonight.

 

Linda, how often should she test now today to see how the 0.5 U is working?

 

Test AJ again one hour after his shot and post it here please. Novolin starts working quickly and often starts in one hour and peaks between 3 and 5 hours post shot so we want to try to see how low that dose is taking his BG today.

 

Cross posted Lou!

 

Gave him 0.5 Okay i’ll test it again in an hour and post it. I have to leave my house for awhile after though. So the next test after that will be about 5 hours after the shot.

 

A couple of things.......what should we call you? We usually use our first names for a little more "personal touch"!

Second, Chris says she set up the spreadsheet. Did you get her PM? We need to get the spreadsheet going so we can track what AJ is up to easier.

 

Ok. Knowing your ability to test AJ is critical to keeping him safe. I am really glad we reduced the dose since you will not be there to monitor him for awhile. When you go out, you will need to leave some food down for him to eat should he feel the need.

 

Koltyn, i’ll update the spreadsheet and add it to my signature when i get back home later.

 

Excellent Koltyn, what a wonderful name and spelling. I like it! Relax a little, hopefully AJ's little body is going to learn that the lower numbers are ok, and he's going to eat better, and start grooming again. Sometimes it takes awhile..or even a longer while in some cases. So, we are going to stick with you and see this through.

 

Thank you! He is eating on the other half of the can now, i hope he will feel better soon too

 

Did you test again Koltyn? It's been an hour since you gave the shot.

 

1hr and 30 minutes after 0.5 unit shot, he is at 153 blood glucose, should i give him some honey before i leave since Linda said the peak is 3 hours after?
@MrWorfMen's Mom @Idjit's mom

 

@MrWorfMen's Mom
What kind of canned food did you buy this time? Were you able to get some of the gravy varieties?

 

Did you get some high carb wet food? If so I'd feed him some if he will eat it. If he won't eat, then yes I would rub some honey on his gums to prop him up. I hate to say it but it would be best if you could monitor him a bit longer? Any chance of delaying your departure? Can your BF monitor or is he going with you?
The honey will prop him up a bit and slow him down a wee bit but it will also wear off quickly. Will he eat any of the high carb dry food?

 

Let's wait for Linda's response Koltyn, I don't advise on dosing and she's very experienced. We want to get this right and not have AJ in any danger while you are gone today.

 

I got the regular pate kind but got a lot more cans and i got some soft chicken purina bites and some chicken soft stick chews and we have the dry food and his honey.

 

He ate one can of pate so far and i have been trying to give him dry and treats but he wont eat. I will try again with the dry and if not then i will give him honey, we unfortunately cant leave out wet food for him when we are gone because the other cats will push him out of the way and eat it.

 

One option might be to mix a little honey into one of his favorite foods (something you are certain he will eat), basically making your own medium-carb food. If he won't eat it, then the honey alone on the gums is always a reliable way to get a few carbs into him quick, it's just the more actual food he gets, the better (longer-lasting effects).

Glad he has at least a can of pate in him already, that will definitely help. Also glad you reduced the dose to 0.5-- whew!

 

If you leave out dry food, will the other cats eat that too? You may need to isolate AJ and some dry food if you must leave him and there is any danger the others eating all the food. I am concerned because he has already dropped 150 points and might still be dropping for a few hours. You do not want his BG going much below 100 so it's imperative that he eats or you give him honey if he starts going too low.

Please retest again about 30 minutes after the last test to see where he's at.

 

He ate one whole chicken stick with a drop of honey and also 10 purina soft chicken bites. There will be enough dry food if i leave that out, i always have dry food out for all of them at all times. I can not seclude him because none of our doors shut well enough to keep the other cats out. I will test him again in 10 minutes before we leave to see if its going down more or not since that’ll be 30 minutes after last blood check.

 

Ingredients: Turkey, chicken, pork, pork liver, pork rind, pork broth, animal plasma, salt, guar gum, yeast extract, potassium sorbate (a preservative), sodium acid pyrophosphate, lactic acid, calcium propionate ( a preservative), calcium lactate, taurine, rosemary extract (flavor), vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 ...

 

I’m thinking we might need to give him only 0.5 per day at night one time instead of two shots to keep him regulated without going to low? Going forward of course, not related to tonight.

Not the best ingredients im sure but we had a limited selection so i chose whatever wasnt high carb that had high protein

 

No you do not want to be giving only one shot daily. If the 0.5u dose is too high then you half it and give 0.25u twice daily. Harder to measure but doable.
Right now my concern is making sure his BG is coming up some so it is safe for you to leave him, I wouldn't be nearly so concerned if he were going to be monitored till we know his BG is rising on it's own.

 

Just letting others know what was in the sticks, to see if HC or not, that's all.

 

Looks pretty low carb to me. Wish it were higher carb.

 

He is at 297 now after the treats and honey so i think we are in the clear. I will be back to test him in 3 hours.

 

Have you tested him again yet?

 

Yes 297

 

Ok that elevation is pretty good but part of that is the honey and it will wear off pretty quickly. Any chance to delay your departure for 30 minutes to see if he's holding or still dropping? If not leave lots of dry food out to be sure he gets what he needs.

 

Can’t delay any longer, there is plenty of dry food out.

 

I will be back in 3 hours

 

Can you take a picture of your syringe and where you're loading it to?

With the kind of drops he's doing on such a tiny amount, it's something we need to check just to make sure.

 

U100 needles 1/2 way to first line

 

Tested at 311 now 6 hours after shot

 

Fed him another can of pate now and going to test him again in 4 hours, 2 hours before his next shot

 

Looks like you're dosing is correct. It's fine to feed AJ wet food now but let's keep the kibble out of the picture for the rest of this cycle if possible. That may be what is elevating BG at least to some degree.

 

Thats okay haha he has refused to eat the kibble all day. Just wet food and low carb treats so far.

 

Safe to say if he is still reading over 250 later today then i should give him 0.5 again tonight?

 

But if you were out all afternoon did he not have access to the kibble? How would you know if he had any? I'm confused.

 

Yes if he is over 250, which it appears he definitely will be, you can give him the 0.5u dose.

 

Well he has had access but i’m pretty sure he hasn’t eaten any since he has refused it all day when i’ve tried to give it to him

 

Okay sounds good thanks!
I work from 7am to 5pm the next three days so my boyfriend will be in charge of the dosing and testing until Thursday morning so hopefully AJ stays on track so my boyfriend can handle it easier since I can’t have my phone at work.

 

What about exploring moving the the shot times Linda? @MrWorfMen's Mom

 

Well his shot time for tonight is 11pm so that would make tomorrow 11am so even if it was moved I wouldn’t be around for multiple hours difference

 

I think as long as he is steady tonight then my boyfriend will be okay. I’ve told him all the info from here and had him do some tests and shots by now since we live together. He knows to check his level and feed him before giving shots and to feed more if going low and to not shoot if under 250.

 

My concern Koltyn, is if he or you run into problems at night, that there might not be someone available that can help you right then. We were online last night because we were waiting to hear about tests after getting the new battery and suggesting a dose. It's possible to gradually change a shot schedule to where it's workable for you and so that you have proper support too.

 

We had what's called a "pajama party" last night, because when a member is in trouble and needs help, whoever can stays online or finds someone who can advise properly to take over. We don't like anyone hanging out on a limb.

 

I understand well I’ll be home from 530pm and up until midnight so i’ll be able to be on here during those times if there are any issues.

 

It may be better for everyone to move it back to 10am and 10pm though so i can test more before bed however, so we might move it back to that if possible

 

You will be able to be online, but perhaps an experienced member might not be, to advise you well. When you logged off last night, I was the only person showing online..there might have been others that were hidden, but don't know.

Let's see what Linda can tell us before jumping the gun. We don't want to upset the apple cart too much..and get AJ all confounded. I am not familiar with Novolin, so I can't make a judgement on how to change the shot schedule. OK?

 

Oh okay i see so most people are not online after 10pm~

 

That depends from hour to hours, day to day, weekdays, weekend days (and nights). Plus we have members in all different time zones, it's 4:30 PM here, Linda is an hour ahead of you..time is relative.

 

not the most experienced -- but I'll be around this evening until 10 pm west coast time -- will be watching Seahawks game on TV with DH starting 5 pm here which would be 7 in Kansas, but can check in at game halftime -- if things get sticky I can stretch it till 11 here, by which time those in Oz and NZ may be on ...

Linda has helped me through a few low numbers and I recall most of the way Vetsulin works, the Novalin is at least similar

 

definitely will be checking in as well between 6:15 and 6:30 west coast time since that's Catcat's PMPS and shot time

 

If a 10AM/10PM shot time works for you and allows more testing if needed, then I'd change to that schedule . That also makes it more likely someone will be around if you need help at night. You can move the shot earlier by 30 minutes tonight and then another 30 minutes tomorrow provided AJ has a shootable pre- shot test.
It would be really helpful if we can get the spreadsheet filled in and the link added to your signature.
Also tomorrow it would be a good idea to get some medium and high carb wet food which will be much better for steering AJ if needed.

 

will be in and out for at least the next half hour, just fed Catcat his before bedtime snack

 

How is AJ doing Koltyn?