Blood Sugar too high to register

I just checked my boy's blood sugar and it was so high it wouldn't register on my device. He is due for insulin in about 30 minutes. Is there something I need to do?

 

Can you add info to your signature so people remember all your details? Click on your name at the top and go to signature. Write the type of insulin, dosage, when he was diagnosed, and food he's fed.

So glad you are home testing. Please enter the numbers in our forum spreadsheet so we can better help you.

I don't want to give dosing advice yet because without any info it's hard to know what's happening.

 

What are you giving? 1 u of vetsulin?

 

Yes, we need to have some history to give advice. I never had that happen. But please ensure you don't overdose you kitty.

 

I have only been testing a couple of days. I'm so worried. He is drinking and peeing almost non-stop. Just today he has drunk about 3 cups of water. ...possibly more. I haven't really pursued testing since the vet got upset with me for testing when she told me not to. He is taking 1 unit of Vetsulin twice a day. This is his 5th day on insulin. I'm feeding him a low carb diet.

 

Oh no, please don't let the vet dictate what you do at home with your baby! It's absurd that she would be upset for you caring for your cat! Testing at home is very important! It's hard to tell if he is bouncing from a dose to high or if the dose is too small and he's just HI from to little insulin... with home testing it's much easier to determine.
Have you gotten preshot tests and any mid cycle test in the last couple days? Posting those will help understand what is going on and what you could do to keep it from going so high.

 

I can't imagine NOT testing at home. Your vet is full of shxt. My cat (Leo) ended up requiring more and more insulin over time. Plus he varies. How would I know how much insulin he needs on a daily basis if I didn't test.

AND bear this in mind. Let's say your cat has a spontaneous recovery, which does occur. Then you give him insulin. That could kill him. It's called hypoglycemia and it occurs when too much insulin is given to a cat which didn't need that much. We have hypoglycemia written up in the FAQ at the start of the insulin sub-forums. I highly recommend you read it. And I recommend home testing as well.

 

Don't let the vet discourage you from doing it. Whenever you can, do a preshot and try to get a reading around 4-5 hours after. It's possible you need to increase the dose... It's also possible the dose is causing a bounce from being high. We don't know without curves. Your car is not in immediate danger from being high, although over time it isn't good for him.

 

Ninja was up all night drinking and peeing. He ate maybe one bite this morning. His blood sugar was 558. Do I go ahead and give him his insulin? The doctor told me to give him half a unit if he didn't eat much. Well, for sure, he didn't eat much. What do you guys think?

10 Minutes Later
I went ahead and gave him half a unit of Vetsulin. He is presently hiding under the bed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11z6VC6AVw6USLC9h4v_qpZOfIANWS7wGCWgltShFKFw/edit#gid=0

 

You will generally get more dosing advice by posting in the forum for the insulin you are using. You are off to a good start. Nice job on getting the spreadsheet going. It is helpful for others when you ask for dosing advice.

Multiple vets have given me good advice "Keep Leo safe". I always use that mantra. If the test shows his BG is borderline, he gets little or no insulin.

 

Listen to these experts. My DVM told me all sorts of crazy things. As an Rn, familiar with "human" needs when on Insulin, I challenged him.. For ex: "Check the BG only once each day at the nadir"...Really? And then there was "magic"..HERE on the FDMB site which helped Elliott go into remission 9 months ago!!!!!

 

Paula @Ninja & Baby , I just took a look at Ninja's SS, and I think there is a distinct possibility that the insulin dose is too high....

Vetsulin's action in the kitty's system is relatively short compared to some other insulins (often not lasting the full 12 hours).
If you get a low number at +12 hours on Vetsulin (as you did on morning of 9th Feb) then that could be an indication that the dose is too high. It could even be that Ninja's blood glucose actually dropped lower than that 139 and was rising at that point.

I suspect that what Janet suggested earlier might well be the case where she said:

There are other reasons why a cat's blood glucose might be low at pre-shot, but the high numbers on the rest of Ninja's SS would seem to support the idea of 'bouncing'.
'Bouncing' can happen when a cat's blood glucose drops too low, or too fast. The body can respond to this by releasing stored glucose to increase the blood glucose level. It's a protection mechanism.

It would be great if you could get some more test results so we can get a better idea of what's going on with Ninja's blood glucose.
Are you able to test before each insulin shot? And might you also be able to get some tests later in the cycle so we can see how fast and how low Ninja's blood glucose is dropping?

Eliz

 

Sometimes if you overload the test strip it will give an off the chart high reading. Mine has done that before, at least, but when I re-checked 15 minutes later everything was OK.