Hello, This morning my cats blood glucose was 507 it's never been this high before. He did miss both doses on 02/18/19 so maybe this threw things off? I gave him his 2 units and called the vet. The vet said to keep him on the 2 units for the next two days and call again. I'm just a little scared as I've never seen a number this high. Thank you!
Poor Nudi! It's scary to see an unexpectedly high number, and it probably makes him feel a little crummy, too. He clearly needs insulin, so yes, I would think that skipping a day's worth of shots allowed the build up of the glucose in his system, resulting in the number you got this morning. It will probably take some cycles of regular shots to help his body clear that. Giving him lots of liquids will help, too. Since cats don't typically have a high thirst drive (although with BG that high, he will probably naturally want to drink more, so be sure he has a big bowl of fresh water. I'm sure you have already), you might also try adding some water to his FF to get it into him that way. Do you check for ketones?
Ok thank you so much. I will do that. I don’t check for ketones. I’m not sure how, I know it involves checking his urine but he prefers to do his business outside. He doesn’t go far and doesn’t go out for long, sometimes he visits the neighbor and he will get very stressed if we don’t let him out when he asks too. I’m happy to learn more about this though. Thank you so much!!
You can get ketone test strips at any human pharmacy. My kitty goes out to pee sometimes too, and I just go out with him and test him out there. You just need good light and a watch with a second hand because testing at the right time is very important! I agree with Jenna that skipping those doses is the likely cause of the high numbers. It's important to be very consistent in giving insulin. Skipping doses is hard on them.
Interesting that after the skipped shot the morning of 18th, the PMPS was lower and despite missing the PM shot too, the AMPS of the 19th wasn't as high as today's. It's really difficult to say what is going on with so little data to look at but I am wondering if the 2u dose might not be a bit high causing these curious numbers. Looks like he has been on antibiotics and if he had an infection and it's clearing up, his BG may actually be coming down which could mean his dose of insulin may need to be reduced. It would be very helpful if you could fill in what happened on the 16th PM, and both AM and PM on the 17th. It currently looks like shots may have been missed there too or that no pre-shot tests were done. Were the shots missed on the 18th due to scheduling issues or something else with Nudi? It's very important to get a pre-shot test before every shot to make sure it is safe to give insulin. It is also very important to get some mid cycle tests whenever possible. If you are not home to test during the day, then grabbing a test when you get home and/or an extra test before leaving for work can give us clues as to what is going on. The other thing to note is that a lot of cats go lower overnight and without any night cycle testing, half the picture of how the insulin is working for Nudi is missing. We strongly suggest getting at least a before bed test at night to get a bit more data about what might be happening during the night cycles. If Nudi has a particular bush or whatever he likes to use outdoors, crumpling up some plastic wrap and leaving it in his favourite spot might allow you to catch a few drops of urine to test for ketones.
ok thanks very much. There is a lot of good information here. I ran out of the AT2 test strips the night of the 16th so that pm testing was skipped. I bought a human meter the next day CVS brand (while waiting for the AT2 strips) so the numbers on the 17th are from the human meter that's why I didn't put in the SS. The numbers with the human meter on the 17th were 290 in the am and 277 in the pm. The am test on 02/18/19 was also with the human meter and that tested at 200. Thank you!
Glad to hear pre-shot tests were done on the 17th and morning of the 18th. While there is no direct conversion from human to pet meter values, I would estimate his numbers were running pretty much the same as the days prior. If you can get some night tests before you turn in for the night, it will really help to fill in the puzzle a bit and help figure out best dosing for Nudi.
Ok thanks. I just did an 11:00 pm test and posted in the spreadsheet which is 2 hours after his usual pm shot at 9:00pm. Also we were going to do his curve testing this Friday but wondering if I should wait until Sunday to let him regulate from missing a day of insulin on the 18th? Not sure if it will make a difference or not. Thank you!
A curve on Friday should be fine. And that gives you the weekend to increase the dose (assuming that's needed after the curve) and keep an eye on how he reacts.
Great job getting those extra tests in. I might suggest increasing on the cycle you will do the curve. It looks like Nudi is going to need more insulin, so you might as well do the increase when you're planning on doing the extra tests anyway. Then you could possibly do a second increase before the weekend is over if need be.
Ok thank you so you are suggesting increasing his dose the same day we do the curve testing correct? Just want to make sure I have that right. Would you recommend increasing from 2 units to 2.5 units? Also do you let the vet know your increasing the dose? Thank you so much.
Yes, increase on curve day. We generally recommend increases of 0.25 u at a time so the next dose up would be 2.25 u (eyeballed).
