New to Dx - first BG spike

Hello all,

I'm new to the feline diabetes diagnosis (it's been just shy of week). I apologize for not having a spreadsheet yet, still trying to come up with a rhythm here.

So...
11/8: Loki's BG at the vet was 380. She put him on 1 unit of ProZinc twice a day.
11/11: pm BG was 290, vet told me to up the dosage. So I started giving him 1.5 units twice a day.
11/12: pm BG was 260.
11/13: I couldn't get his blood . Poor boy has 100 sticks in his ear, I just couldn't get a good reading. Same thing for this morning. My husband and I were finally able to hold him down and get a stick tonight.
11/14 his pm BG was 432. I gave him 2 units.

This is a BIG jump. I'm nervous! He was trending down and I was hoping he was going to be able to fight this. Now, I'm worried.

Has this jump happened to anyone? Could a jump that high be caused from the stress of me poke him (literally) dozens of time within the last 24 hours? Help!

 

Also, just found out that my husband gave him 4 oz, or so, of the D/M dry food when he got home. That was 3 hours ago, but not sure if that could contribute to his glucose spike.

 

Could be. Dm dry is like 16% carb (too high) and dry takes longer to metabolism.

The dose increase is being based on random readings? We're the readings at naidar? (Lowest point) have you done any curves?

 

I haven't done a curve yet. The vet told me to up his dosage based on the 2 blood glucose readings I took before his dinner. I'm still trying to get a handle on glucose readings and right now it's a 2 person job. And between our jobs, it's been hard to be around him during the day. Is there a certain time of day that is most crucial? I assume the naidar is 5ish hours after his dosage?

 

Just retested +1 (after insulin and wet food). He's down to 328. Still higher than I'd like, but going in the right direction. Still not sure what could have caused such a huge jump!

 

Are you heating his ear up well before poking? Warming the ear can make a huge difference, especially when it's cold outside!

A small sock with a little rice in it (microwave for 10-15 seconds and test on your wrist like a baby bottle for temp) or a small pill bottle filled with warm water work well as a small heat source

 

Could have very easily been the dry food....we've had cats here that would go up 200+ points from eating just a few pieces of kibble

 

Thanks, Chris! I have not been warming his ear (cold weather isn't a problem for us in South Florida), but i'll give it a try. Loki keep flicking his ear and between holding him and putting in the strip, he keeps flicking away the blood. I've had better luck when he's laying in the bathtub, so I'll start trying that more.
And thank you for the reassurance about the dry food. We're going to cut down is dry food a lot!!

 

Another trick you can try is to scrape the blood onto a clean fingernail and then test the blood from there

 

So the 260 was a preshot number around when he would get a shot? That is am excellent preshot number! Why in the world would he say to increase? Your have to see how low he's going... Test 5-7 hours after the shot. This high number may be a bounce from going too low mid cycle!

 

Chris, THAT IS GENIUS!! I will definitely keep that in mind the next time I have problems.

I am happy to announce that I got Loki's blood sugar all by myself this morning He drank a ton of water last night and had me worried. His blood sugar was 276 before breakfast and his insulin. Still higher than I want it and higher than it was earlier in the week, but better than last night. I'll try to check it again this afternoon to get a naidar reading.

appreciate all the guidance! Thank you!

 

Did my first mid day testing. Here's what i'm looking at:

0815 - BG: 276. Gave 1.5 units prozinc and half can of DM wet food

1430 (+6) - BG: 253. Gave a few bites of DM wet as reward

What's up with this?? Shouldn't his mid day numbers be a lot lower?? More help please

 

It will take time.....that's only 1 test on 1 cycle on 1 day.....We have a saying here "It's a marathon, not a sprint" so don't take one test result too seriously.

Can we get you to start using our special spreadsheet? We really depend on it to give the best advice in the future.

Here are Instructions on getting the FDMB spreadsheet

 

Ugh... patience is not my virtue. I want my baby feeling better now! But, yes. I need to let the insulin start working... and I think in this scenario, take a step back and go to 1 unit twice a day until I'm able to better track how he's doing with those numbers. And yes, I will get that spreadsheet uploaded by this weekend! Thank you!!