hello from Minnesota!

hi everyone! I've been lurking around the forums as a guest for a few weeks now and finally got around to making an account. my name is Tiffany, and I live in Minneapolis, MN. my 9 year old boy Tojo was diagnosed back in February.

it's been a roller coaster of emotions and blood glucose levels. when I first took him in it was an absolute hypo emergency situation and his glucose was so low they couldn't even get a read on him. two weeks later it had jumped to over 300, then the week after that was over 500. since mid-April he's been hovering under 100. we've gone through several insulin dosage changes the last few months.

he had some pretty severe neuropathy issues at first but his walking has drastically improved. his sugars have been pretty consistently low for the last five weeks, though. generally he's between 70 and 90. I was instructed to continue giving him one unit of insulin (Lantus) twice a day and we're going to see if changes need to be made when we go in on Monday (5/21).

I've had some financial issues recently because of this (and not even four months prior to Tojo's diagnosis my other cat Nixon had emergency surgery for a UT blockage) but I was -finally- able to get a blood glucose meter so I can start testing at home. the vet gave me instructions on how to do a curve at home so we'll be doing that this weekend before our next appointment. his glucose this morning was 84.

has anyone else had issues with such drastic ranges like this? generally how long does it take for his sugars to get back up (or down) to the range they should be?

he doesn't drink water excessively and urinates normally. I feed him exclusively Wellness Core canned food (specifically the chicken/turkey/liver recipe; he was eating the dry version pre-diagnosis), but should I be considering giving him something else? my vet just said "nothing dry and keep it under 20% carbs." should he be getting more carbs since his sugars are still pretty low?

 

Welcome! 70-90 are excellent numbers. What meter are you using? Since you’re hometesting, you can set up our spreadsheet so we can better help you. We suggest a wet food with fewer than 10 carbs, the Wellness is fine. Here are the instructions for the spreadsheet. If you need help setting it up, just ask and someone will do it for you
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

Welcome, Tiffany and Tojo. This is a good place to be, lots of information and experienced knowledgeable folks.

 

Welcome!!

 

You should definitely NOT be giving more carbs since his numbers are so low (or rather, they are almost perfect, Whispy and I are jealous!).

But what you absolutely might need to consider doing is reducing the insulin further. A curve, or just random spot checks at various times of day, will help you figure that out. Let us know which meter you have. Depending on whether it is s pet or human meter, that will tell you the BG number that should concern you (below 50 on a human meter or 68 on a pet meter). I am worried that you could be getting numbers like that now and you just don't know it.

And, are you using a syringe into either a Lantus pen or vial? Or are you using the pen needles on a Lantus pen?

Best,
Sandi.

 

How much insulin are you giving? Seems to me you need to reduce. Looks like he's trying to go into remission.