How much Glucogel to give? My cat’s BG is 1.0mmol!

She’s just eaten some food just before I tested her & I’ve given her some gel but she wants some more I think. She had no symptoms whatsoever! the tube is a 25g one. How much is too much gel?

Thanks all!

Btw, I did a curve a few weeks ago & her lowest reading was 7.7.

 

I am not familiar with glucogel, but I'd give her a little more now, and re-test (did you re-test the 1.0 reading?). As long as she doesn't throw up, it's not too much if that reading was correct.

 

No, I didn’t retest. Should I have done before giving the glucogel? :/ I am going to retest again soon.

 

I'd have gone straight to the glucogel after that number, too! No harm in doing that, at all. But any time you get a number that seems out of place (either high or low), it's a good idea to re-test because sometimes the strip is bad, there's an air bubble, etc.

If she's still low when you re-test, here's the procedure:

Feed/give glucogel (glucogel if below 2.0-2.5, a tsp or so of high-carb food if between 2.0 and 3.0), test again in 15-20mins. Keep going until you see numbers above 3.0-- in that case, don't feed, but keep testing to see if she can hold on her own.

How long ago did you shoot? What dose of Caninsulin is she on?

 

Okay, thanks. She’s on 1.5, gave her her dose at 12.30. What if she doesn’t eat any high carb food? She liked honey one time but she’s gone off that! She’s become fussy with her food lately. Thanks again for your advice.

P.s. she seems fine in herself, she’s just had some water & she’s back on her bed. (Sometimes she hides under her blanket if she’s having a bad day...)

 

Well, I'm glad she's having a good day, at least .

I don't know what time zone you are in, but I think that would have been maybe 4hrs ago now? So we should be getting close to the Caninsulin peak, but there still might be a couple hours to go. Even though she isn't showing symptoms, it'd be good to have a Plan B in place-- she may need to head to a vet if you can't get the numbers up.

 

If she likes the glucogel, you're in business! In addition to just giving it to her straight (when she's super-low and needs the immediate boost), you can add a few drops to her regular food to make it (at least) medium-carb.

 

Yeah, it’s 4 hrs now. (I’m in the UK, BST). Hopefully I can get the numbers up!

 

Have you done another test?

 

I was just about to write that her BG is 8.4 but then she just threw up! Also with undigested food. And then a bout of bad diarrhoea! Luckily, someone was around to help me clean her up! I’ve just made an emergency vets appt for just under an hour’s time. She seems more shaky in her legs but I don’t know what I can do right now for her. :/

 

Oh, poor thing!

The vomiting/diarrhoea could be from the glucogel, but I think it's a good plan to take her in to get checked out.

 

Glad that you have an emergency appointment. The dose is obviously too high and should be seen to.

From: https://www.gogluco.co.uk/product/glucogel-triple-pack-3x25g-tubes/

Ingredients and Nutrition
Common Ingredients

Demineralised Water, Dextrose, Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (thickener), Citric acid, tri sodium citrate (acidity regulators), Sodium methyl paraben (preservative when manufactured by Perrigo), Potassium sorbate (preservative when manufactured by Vitrition)

Nutrition Information Per 100g – Perrigo

Energy: 630kJ / 150kcal
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrate: 37.5g
(of which sugars: 36.3g)
Fat: 0g

Nutrition Information Per 100g – Vitrition

Energy: 963kJ / 227kcal
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrate: 56.7g
(of which sugars: 40.0g)
Fat: 0g

 

Ah right. She has recently had diarrhoea before though without having the gel. Also, I think I read once it can be due to the diabetes. She also has stomach issues which can cause vomiting now and again, which she’s on tablets for. I’d rather take her especially with it being a bank holiday weekend here (and because of all her health conditions she has!).

 

It could be the glucogel that made your cat throw up, but the very low numbers could also be a factor. Her little body has been through a lot in the last couple of hours.

If it were my cat, I'd head to the ER vet's now (watching the cat closely during the drive). Better to monitor from the vet's waiting room than to monitor at home.

 

I got back from the vets just over an hour ago. She’s had her urine test - no ketones and everything else is fine that the vet can test himself. I did a BG reading there and then - 17.5, which the vet said is fine and to give her 1.0iu tonight then test her BG tomorrow morning and depending on the BG, to give her her usual dose or 1/2 the dose. I’ve also got an appt with my usual vet for Sat afternoon. The vet today gave Pepsi an antibiotic injection that lasts for 24 hrs then a 5-day dose that I give her orally starting tomorrow evening. Also, an anti-nausea injection.

She’s been fine since we got back, she’s eaten a bit and she’s eating a bit more now.
Hopefully all is well tomorrow!

 

Glad the vet appointment went well!

Be sure to test her again before you give a shot tonight, to make sure she's safe to shoot. 17.5 is high, but I'm a little surprised it isn't higher, considering how low she went and how much glucogel she got. Will be interesting to see where she is later tonight after she's had a chance to settle back in at home.

 

Hmm, maybe the BG isn’t higher because she was sick just after I’d given her the gel. Although I was told once that numbers can be high due to sickness and stress. I’m coming to find that diabetes is a complicated condition, at least for me right now. Also, with all of her other health conditions, it’s hard to say why she threw up (can be, for Pepsi, heart-related and stomach-related also).

I will test her tonight before I give her her shot. I’m really hoping she’ll be okay over the bank holiday weekend!

 

Her test just before I gave her 1.0 unit was 17.8. Weird as I know she had eaten a bit now and again since we got home. She also had a few pieces before I tested her. Anyway. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

 

That's a good safe number to shoot, and it's fantastic that she's eating well! I think the reduced dose is a great idea until you can figure out what happened with that low today. Especially with the long weekend coming up .

 

Hi all, just an update. Yesterday, I saw another vet than our usual vet (as she wasn’t working yesterday). Luckily we’d seen this vet before so she knew about Pepsi. . I’d tested the BG Friday morning, at her lowest point (it was just under 4 so I gave her a bit of glucogel with food) and tested her again in the evening before her shot. I told this to the vet and basically she said to reduce the insulin dose to 1.0 and do another glucose curve in 2 weeks’ time. I’m really pleased about this as this is what I’d thought be best for Pepsi, a reduced dose. .