? High numbers. should we call anyone?

Bubby is having some issues with a new Asthma med and not feeling well tonight now his BG at +3 is 691. Pre shot was 673. It's usually dropped to the 400's at +3. I don't think I messed up his shot. Should I call the on call vet?

 

Yeah, if we're me, I would call.

 

Yes

 

yes -I would call

 

We called 2 vets. The hospital suggests we bring him in. The town vet says give more insulin and wait. Spiked to 731 after 20 minutes then 20 minutes later has dropped to 715. My only reason for not heading out is its a 90 minute drive in the dark with me already tired. I might test once more before I go. Opinions?

 

It's your call. If Bubby were mine, I'd be driving 90 minutes in the dark tired.

 

I would not give more insulin, but if he's acting really sick, he needs to go to the vet (of course most vets are going to say "bring him in" no matter what the problem is because they won't diagnose over the phone)

If you're still feeding the dry, that's not helping his numbers either.

It would also REALLY help us to help you if you'd start keeping track of your test results on our spreadsheet. We really do depend on it to be able to give useful advice when it's most important

 

Now BG down to 682. He's moving around and ate a little food.

 

I know I need to do the spreadsheet I looked at it but it looked like it might take a bit to figure out. My brain is so jumbled from the stress and not sleeping due to worry. Thanks for all your advice.

 

These are his numbers today. AM before insulin 604, +7 548, 5:30 gave dose of new med terbutaline for asthma. PM before insulin 673, +3.5 691, +4 731, +4.5 715, +5 682. This drug was to be redosed at 1:30 am. His pre shot numbers are usually 500-600 lowest number since I brought him home is 372, and 382. Many 400's.

 

It's really not as hard as it looks...it's already coded....all you have to do is have a Google account......then click on the link below where it says "US Spreadsheet Template"

A spreadsheet will pop up and you click where it says "Use this template" and you're ready to go!

Click on this link for the US Spreadsheet Template for HUMAN METERS:
US Spreadsheet Template

The date is self-explanatory....LOL

AMPS is the AM Pre-shot....the test you get before the morning shot
PMPS is the PM Pre-shot.....the test you get before the evening shot

U is for the number of units of insulin

Then the "clock" starts....if you get a test 3 hours after the morning shot, that test number goes in the +3....if you get a test 8 hours after the morning shot, it goes in the +8......all the way up to +11....and then you're at the PMPS and the "clock" starts over

So if you shoot at 7am and get a test at 10am, that's 3 hours after the shot, so that test would go in the AM +3....If you get a test at 3pm, that's 8 hours after the morning shot, so that test result goes in the +8....etc

 

Thanks I will try tomorrow. I posted his numbers from today in another comment. I am going to test once more at midnight. I don't trust my vet here in town for anything serious unfortunately that means a lot of driving from here until remission. I have been getting him to eat 1 can of wet food per day.

 

Well if you can cut that dry out completely, you may see some much better numbers...You should do it slowly enough and when you can test to make sure the lower carbs don't cause him to go too low though

We've seen cats that got into as few as 3 pieces of kibble and their blood glucose went up 200+ points...it really can make that much of a difference.

If he's a hard core kibble addict, we know it can be really tough to convince him to make the switch, but it's well worth the effort!

There's all kinds of tips on Transitioning the hard core kibble addict, as well as a lot of people here have been able to use Stella & Chewys ( a dehydrated raw that usually has water added) as a little "crunch"....or taking some of the dry and crushing it into powder to "get him started" on eating the wet

If you have trouble with the spreadsheet when you try it, click on my name and send me a Private Conversation. I'd be happy to set it up for you but I'm going to call it a night for tonight

 

The Hill's m/d dry is very high in carbohydrates. You would undoubtedly see a significant drop in his BG if you could transition him to low-carb wet food, only. You would be amazed at what a change that can make!

 

I have been adding wet everyday since Friday. A little more everyday. He has some kind of respiratory problems now, started coughing Sunday. URI, Asthma, ?allergic to something in the wet food. Trying to fix to many things at once then when things start to go wrong you don't know what's causing it. Wonder why my vet says m/d?

 

Because the only education vets get on nutrition comes from the prescription pet food industry who tell them what fantastic stuff their food can do..and how much it can be marked up for lots of extra profits!!!

 

Happy to report Bubby's BG is now down to 577. Still high but much better than the 731 high of earlier. We already had an appointment for redoing the blood work tomorrow but it sounds like diet and home monitoring are the best way to treat this.

 

I empathise completely with how hard it is dealing with multiple issues. Fingers and paws crossed that things will get better for you and Bubby very soon.

((Lisa))


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My kitty, Mouse (God rest her soul), had severe athsma. She was diagnosed as a young kitten, her vet said she'd probably only live to be 7 or 8 years old. I lost her a week ago, she was 12. She wasn't diabetic, thank God, but we were using albuterol with a cone mask twice a day, it helped a lot! Mouse HATED it when I put stuff in her mouth, she turned in to a 6 pound LION! Maybe you could ask the vet that you do trust about doing this instead of the Terb, at least until you get the diabetes regulated?

 

Have you tried a limited ingredient canned food? Cats with food allergies/asthma sometimes do much better on those. Fancy Feast has a lot of byproducts so you can't really determine what might be causing issues there, if her allergies are triggering problems.

Nature's Variety's canned limited ingredient foods are all low carb and ok for diabetics, I believe! You can find them at PetSmart, and I believe PetCo, but you can also order online from Amazon where they're a bit cheaper (you sound like you might not have a lot of options close to you). I would find someplace that sells them in the store first and try out a few flavors before you buy cases, just to make sure she'll eat it.

These are the foods: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/instinct-limited-canned-natural-healthy-foods-pets

 

Julia thank you for this advice. Bubby has decide that his favorite canned food is Sheba but I will definitely try those foods because I just can't figure out what's making him feel so crappy. His numbers are lower today because he's eating less cuz he's feeling crappy and just wants to sleep. He saw the vet yesterday maybe the stress is why he feels bad today but she also put him on an inhaler so one more thing to contribute to the confusion. His numbers at the vet were in the 200's lower than I've ever had here. Partly because it's a long stressful trip so less food.

 

I hope Bubby feels better very soon.




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I hope he feels better soon, too! (And I'm so sorry for calling him "she"... I had one of those days yesterday)

 

We've all done it at one time or another, Julia.


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