For new member Suke&Huntley

My Suke (who is 14.5) was diagnosed at the beginning of April. We started with vetsulin, but his numbers were all over the map. So 2 weeks ago she switched him to glargine. He was overall trending downward, but his numbers were still all over the map. We are on our 3rd day with the Freestyle Libre and we are finding out a TON of information. Our vet placed the sensor on his right side just behind his front leg His insulin dose is 1/2 unit of the glargine after breakfast and with the CGM we’re discovering that his BG starts to get low around noon and then 2 hours later, it’s really low to where we need to give a little dry food to get his levels back up. Then we’re struggling to keep it up the rest of the day. Before the Libre, we were blissfully unaware of what his levels were doing because we were only testing twice a day. I’m so confused now. I know that we’re done with the sensor in 8 more days, but then I won’t know that he’s low (he can’t tell me he feels bad) unless I prick his ear. What sort of treatment plans do others have?

 

@Suke&Huntley , we have a saying here, Every Cat Is Different (ECID). May I encourage you to make your own intro post on the welcome forum here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/welcome-to-the-group-post-an-introduction-here.41/

Or feel free to move on to the health forum! You will get more responses to your own individual questions that way.

 

Most of us do prick their ears to monitor them. The Libre is only a recent tool available, we've seen folk use it, but then they switch to manual testing.
You may want to take advantage over the next 8 days to practice doing the ear prick, so you can both get used to it.
If you are testing manually you will probably need to plan to always get a test prior to giving insulin, and then getting a test or two midcycle. With the libre, you should be able to see when the insulin shot starts to work, ie you start to see the drop, and when she usually get's her low point. That should give you an idea of when to get spot checks, following up with more if she is unexpectedly low.
Do start your own intro post, we'd love to help you more.
Hope that helps a bit.
BTW Suke is gorgeous.

 

Separated @Suke&Huntley 's posts from another thread to create their own thread.
Welcome to the FDMB!

 

Thanks Jill

 

Hi and welcome Suke & Huntley. What a handsome kitty! Cassandra mentioned posting in the Main Health forum so that more members can meet you and Huntley and begin addressing your questions. This Introduction forum is the welcome mat, so to speak, and more members monitor the Main forum. As Gill said, most do manual blood sugar testing and we use a spreadsheet to record the insulin injection data as well as the BG testing data to see what's happening in our kitties.
If you would take some time and create a signature with Huntley's pertinent data, you won't be asked multiple times for the same information.
1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Spreadsheet: You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

Since you are presently using the Freestyle Libre you can plug in those numbers so you can get an idea of Huntley's patterns.

We can offer you suggestions about home testing meters, how to home test, information about a proper diet and point you to information about the glargine insulin, so you know more about how that works.
We are all here doing the "sugar dance", maybe at different levels, but with the same purpose: helping our furbabies in the best way we can.
Best wishes going forward