New to this - Tank's glucose level 635! Please HELP.

My sweet cat, Tank, is in trouble. I found out today that his current glucose level is 635. Here's the super quick story:

In late March I noticed Tank was not himself. He was depressed, wouldn't eat, wouldn't move. When he did get up he went straight to the water bowl and just hunched over it. He had trouble walking. I freaked out and immediately took him to the emergency vet. They ran all kinds of procedures and test but couldn't find "anything wrong". He was terribly dehydrated and his potassium was way too low so they kept him overnight with fluids. That cost $975. The following day I took him to our regular vet who suspected diabetes. He has always been overweight (one reason he's named Tank) and was always borderline. We knew that he would probably get there someday but we tried to manage it with diet so we put him on DM dry food.

About four weeks ago he started demanding water and food constantly. I took him for a follow up vet visit and, sure enough, he needed to be put on insulin. His bg was around 450 at that time. I was told to give him 1 unit of insulin twice a day. Also, he had a strange toe situation. His back right toe was inflamed and looked horrible. I thought it was his nail growing into the foot but the dr said it looked like an infection, so we also gave him an antibiotic for the week.

The following week, I thought things were better, but his insulin was higher, around 530. We moved up to 2 units twice a day. His toe looked much better, but it was more like a little mass on his toe than a wound. The dr gave him more antibiotics for the week...just in case that would help.

Now, for the third week, the bg is 635. The dr says give him 3 units twice a day. The dr thinks the toe mass may be more like a tumor and thinks the toe should be amputated. She also suggested a teeth cleaning to check for gum problems. The thought is that this other problem may be causing us to not be able to get the glucose regulated.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Does this sound like a good idea? What is the likelihood that I'll get him regulated after a surgery like that? I love this cat dearly and I want to do the right thing for him.

Thoughts?

 

ok, first off, take a deep breath

can you answer some questions for us?

1. what insulin are you using?

some work better than others and some just plain rarely work for cats. also, depending on which insulin is being used, often dose adjustments are done inaccurately.

2. are you hometesting his glucose levels or running him to the vet to be checked? levels obtained at the vet are often falsely elevated due to the stress of being there, etc.... testing at home is waaaaay more accurate and is easily done.

3. what are you feeding kitty? a diabetic cat needs a proper diet just as a human diabetic does but often vets prescribe foods that are too high in carbohydrates not realizing there are better foods out there for a diabetic (nutrition isn't a major focus in vet school so they often don't know the difference)

4. are you in a town large enough to get a second opinion about the toe? i ask because personally, i'd want that figured out and taken care of right away. and anything that causes pain, etc....can raise glucose levels too so if it's painful, that could be part of the higher levels along with if it's infection it could be too.

and i'd probably not be rushing off to amputate before looking into some of this stuff

 

Hi, and welcome to you and to Tank.

Any condition that causes pain, infection or inflammation can cause spikes in blood sugar levels as the body tries to marshal more resources to deal with the problem. The problem with his toe could be an infection or a mass (painful); tartar build-up on his teeth (or other dental problems) can cause inflammation. So addressing those issues will (hopefully) help bring Tank's blood sugar levels under control.

But ... may I ask what you were feeding Tank before the vet switched him to D/M dry? I'm asking because most dry foods are fairly high carbohydrate, and high-carb foods are like feeding pizza and ice cream to a human diabetic and then wondering why they're having problems with their blood sugar levels. Generally, we recommend that, unless other health issues are present, you switch your cat to a food that's less than 10% carbs. You can find out what the carbohydrate values for many foods sold in the US through Janet and Binky's food charts, here.

That said, you're giving a fairly high dose of insulin, so please don't change to a low-carb food unless you also cut back on the amount of insulin you're giving. Also, the single best thing you can do to get control over Tank's diabetes is to learn how to home-test insulin levels. That'll give you significantly better control over Tank's diabetes, letting you know whether it's safe to give Tank insulin and how he's responding to it. It can also save you money in the long-term, by avoiding spot-checks, curves and fructosamine tests at the vet's; and, by having better control of Tank's diabetes at home, you lower the chances of needing a visit to the expensive emergency vet.

You can find tips and videos on home-testing here, and you should feel free to ask any questions you have about it. FWIW, I got my first test kit from WalMart (their ReliOn brand). The meter was $10, the lancets about $4, and a box of 50 test strips about $22.

While you're there, please also pick up some ketostix. Those should be in the diabetes section, though if you can't find them ask the pharmacist -- some pharmacies apparently keep them behind the counter. With ketostix, you can test for ketones, which are a not-common but still-possible side effect of unregulated or under-regulated diabetes. If they *do* occur, ketones can be very bad. Low levels of ketones may be treatable at home, but high levels of ketones may require hospitalization at a 24-hour care facility. You can read more about ketones here.


The increased drinking and eating are both signs of diabetes. The increased drinking is because the body is trying to flush out the excess sugar. The excess eating -- well, you need insulin to properly digest your food. If you're not producing enough insulin, you can't digest food properly, so you can't get all the nutrition from it, so your body wants more food so it can get more nutrition. Both the excessive drinking and excessive eating should normalise as the diabetes comes under control.


May I ask how the vet diagnosed Tank's diabetes? Was it an on-the-spot blood sugar test, or did they run another test called a fructosamine? And what type of insulin are you giving?

-- Jean and her Gwyn

 

OK, thank you...I have taken a deep breath and I promise I will calm down!

1. I was given Prozinc Insulin to use. As of today, I am giving 3 units twice a day. He also gets a scoop of Renal K (for the potassium) once a day. He is getting one antibiotic, Zeniquin, for the next five days.

2. I am not home testing but I am very willing to do so. He does get quite upset when I get the carrier out and he tries to run away. Sometimes he wets the carrier on the way to the vet, howls and cries the entire time. So his stress level is high on vet days.

3. The Dr. had him on DM (Dietary Management?) dry food. I don't exactly know the name. We finished the bag on Monday and I didn't buy a new bag at the vet today. I took advice from this website and bought some Fancy Fest. He had that tonight for the first time. Now I wonder if that wasn't the right thing to do since he's getting 3 units of insulin. I will watch him very carefully and can even give him more food before too long. I told the vet I wanted to switch his food but she didn't mention the need to decrease his insulin.

4. I don't know how I feel about the toe amputation. Seems drastic to me. My husband is very much against it (for the cost, another $900) and wants another opinion. His toe actually doesn't look bad at all. It's not inflamed and it's a very very small mass. It doesn't seem to bother him at all anymore. His teeth look like they need a cleaning but they don't look bad, inflamed, red, bad teeth....

Just to add, this cat is my faithful companion. He is 9 years old and I have had him since he was a kitten. A friend's dog carried him up to her house on her ranch just after he was born. He still had him umbilical cord attached. My friend brought him to me and I bottle fed him. I thought for sure he wouldn't make it but he did just fine and I have had him ever since. I love him dearly and I am desperate. I feel like he has lots of life and love left.

 

> OK, thank you...I have taken a deep breath and I promise I will calm down!

Don't worry; we all pretty much freaked out at first


> 1. I was given Prozinc Insulin to use. As of today, I am giving 3 units twice a day. He also gets a scoop of Renal
> K (for the potassium) once a day. He is getting one antibiotic, Zeniquin, for the next five days.

ProZinc is a fairly good insulin for cats. I haven't used it, but I used it's predecessor for five years. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll find a 'Jump To' list. You can use that to head over to the PZI forum. At the top of the page should be a sticky post, with links to information on using the insulin most effectively. (Though I have to admit that I've not read the thread since we switched to the new board ... )

The Renal K shouldn't affect the BG levels at all. I've not used Zeniquin, so I can't help with that.


> 2. I am not home testing but I am very willing to do so. He does get quite upset when I get the carrier out and
> he tries to run away. Sometimes he wets the carrier on the way to the vet, howls and cries the entire time. So
> his stress level is high on vet days.

Okay, in that case, may I ask how Tank's diabetes was diagnosed? There are two main types of tests. There's a spot test, where they draw blood and it tells you what the blood sugar level is *right then*, and there's another test called a fructosamine test, which says what the average blood sugar levels have been for the past two weeks. I'm asking because if Tank's blood sugar levels are artificially high at the vet's, and the vet is trying to prescribe insulin based on those numbers ... well, that's just not a good idea. Given his stress levels, I definitely think the best thing all around would be home-testing.


> 3. The Dr. had him on DM (Dietary Management?) dry food. I don't exactly know the name. We finished the bag
> on Monday and I didn't buy a new bag at the vet today. I took advice from this website and bought some Fancy
> Fest. He had that tonight for the first time. Now I wonder if that wasn't the right thing to do since he's getting
> 3 units of insulin. I will watch him very carefully and can even give him more food before too long. I told the vet
> I wanted to switch his food but she didn't mention the need to decrease his insulin.

A lot of foods are high-carbohydrate, so sometimes it doesn't matter if you switch between foods that are similar-carb. Unfortunately, sometimes it does. If you'd like to be safe, you could run to your local grocery store and pick up a can of high-carbohydrate food for Tank this evening.

Actually, you'll probably want to have a couple cans of high-carb food on hand, in case of hypoglycemia. You'll want to read up on that here. Read it, print it out, and tape it to the side of your fridge; when you suspect a hypo is not the time to find out that your internet connection has gone down. You'll also want to stock a hypo toolkit; you can read Jojo's suggestions here.


> 4. I don't know how I feel about the toe amputation. Seems drastic to me. My husband is very much against it (for
> the cost, another $900) and wants another opinion. His toe actually doesn't look bad at all. It's not inflamed and it's
> a very very small mass. It doesn't seem to bother him at all anymore. His teeth look like they need a cleaning but
> they don't look bad, inflamed, red, bad teeth....

The teeth don't have to look bad for it to have an effect on the BG levels. I obviously can't speak as to what's happening with the mass in the toe; you might at least consider getting it aspirated, if possible. If you do decide to go ahead with that, you might speak with the vet about whether it's possible to combine both the amputation and the dental into one time slot. I don't know if that's even feasible, but it would mean that Tank would only have to undergo one anesthesia.


> Just to add, this cat is my faithful companion. He is 9 years old and I have had him since he was a kitten. A
> friend's dog carried him up to her house on her ranch just after he was born. He still had him umbilical cord
> attached. My friend brought him to me and I bottle fed him. I thought for sure he wouldn't make it but he
> did just fine and I have had him ever since. I love him dearly and I am desperate. I feel like he has lots of
> life and love left.

Cats can live amazing long and productive lives; I personally consider 9 to be just middle-aged, and I certainly don't think looking at treatment options to be a waste of time or energy.

-- Jean and her Gwyn

 

He can certainly have lots of life and love left. Diabetes is a treatable disease.

I'll just deal with the hometesting and diet piece. Here is some info on hometesting: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm with a video to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

Check out this website by a vet. She explains why any dry food is not good for a diabetic: http://www.catinfo.org

Your job as a sugar mom is to educate yourself. Read and read some more, make copies and ask questions. We can help you help Tank.

 

Hello,
Welcome to the board.

You've gotten tons to read and look over already, I just wanted to echo the home testing advice. It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it and it'll give you much more reliable info about what is happening when he's not super-stressed, and save your sanity in the process because otherwise you're constantly worrying and wondering what's going on inside Tank.

Breathe, ask questions. It's scary and overwhelming at first, but it gets easier pretty fast. Within a couple of weeks you'll be a pro.

I hope they figure out what's happening with his toe and teeth.

Odiesmom

 

Does it look anything like this? If so, you may want to try doxycycline as your next antibiotic. Personally, I'd ask for a biopsy before an amputation.

http://marvistavet.com/html/plasma_cell ... titis.html

 

OK, thanks for the feedback, y'all.

I ran out and bought a home testing kit, watched the video and gave it a try. It reads 115. Would it be normal to have such a high fluctuation from today at 7:00am (bg 635) to now 8:15pm (bp 115)? He ate Fancy Feast and I gave him 3 units of insulin at 6:30pm. He seems perfectly happy right now, sitting on the kitchen counter. I will continue to watch him. But I thought that was strange.

I appreciate the feedback and look forward to exploring this website for additional information. Thanks again.

 

He's at 115 two hours after his last shot of insulin?

I'm hoping others will chime in, but I think that might be heading low a bit too fast ... you probably want to keep checking him.
I'm not familiar enough with this type of insulin though to know whether this is normal or not.

You might also want to change the heading of this post to something that will indicate that you need help with a number of 115 at +2. (two hours post shot)

 

You're in great hands, and I am soooooooooo happy you're home testing. That will give you all the information you need on a day to day basis.

Can you do me a giant favor? Actually, a favor for Tank. Read the HYPO sticky at the top of the page. Lots of times when we give insulin and change diet, we might go hypo (I did it with Esse...), so keep an eye on his sugars, too, for the night.

Not saying you have anything to worry about; you don't - you're here, and we're here, and if anything happens, we'll walk you through, so NO WORRIES, deal? I just want you to be prepared. I wasn't prepared for Esse's first hypo...

Welcome, glad you're here, and Tank is gonna be fine. I know all about the special bonding with bottle babies...he'll be just fine. Especially since you're hometesting and have gotten over the whole "D/M" thing. I feed Evo and Wellness 95%, and just today my vet told me to "Do NOT change the diet at all. It's perfect."...after I had consistently refused to use D/M. LOL.

Best-
Michele

 

PZI, in most cats, hits its lowest point 6 hours after the shot. Since you got such action from the insulin, you will need to keep testing until you get past that +6 mark. (Congrats on the testing by the way! ) Test again in a hour and post your number. We want him to stay above 40. Be sure to give him a treat after each poke and lots of praise.

Just as a test, try the meter on yourself and see if it is sure reading accurately.

 

I think it would be prudent to check his bgl again ASAP and advise, please, what the current reading is.
In the future, please test prior to shooting so that you can see if he needs a smaller dose as 115 2 hours after shot might be problematic if he keeps dropping..

~M

 

Okay, first off, congratulations on your first BG test!

You've implied that this is your first home-test and you've said that Tank freaks out at the vet's. Since you got a reading of 635 this morning, am I correct in assuming that that was done at the vet's? If so, yeah, vet stress could well have spiked the BG levels.

I'm not very familiar with ProZinc at all. The ProZinc info says that the nadir (the lowest BG reading) can move around during the first 45 days of use, but you're at now at two hours post-shot and getting a BG reading of 115 (in our terminology, PM +2 is 115). That's a fairly low number this early in the cycle, and I'm worried about the effect 3 units may have. A 115 in itself is nothing to worry about; I'm just a concerned about how far his blood sugar may drop.

How many test strips did you pick up with your supplies? Just whatever was included with the glucometer, or did you pick up an additional box? I'd be interested in another BG reading, but I'm concerned about running through them too quickly. And, in case Tank does hypo this evening, could you take a couple of minutes and put some supplies together in case you need them.

You'll want some form of liquid-y sugar. That can be Karo corn syrup, honey, pancake syrup, anything of that ilk. Those will give him a sugar rush if he needs it. You'll also want some high-carbohydrate food as well. Dry food is good for this if you have any on hand; also higher carb wet foods are good. You can find carb values for many foods in Janet and Binky's food charts here. If you have an oral syringe or a clean eye dropper to give the syrup with, that'd be good; otherwise, you can rub it into his gums with your finger. And you might want to print out Melissa's notes on how to treat hypos here. I'm not saying that you'll need this stuff, just that you'll want to know it's available in case you do need it.


Tank may be getting several BG tests this evening. After you get the blood onto the test strip, if you press on either side of the site you lanceted, that'll help reduce bruising and keep his ears from getting too sore. If you have trouble getting blood, try warming the ear either through a rice sock or vigorous ear massage. If you can't get the blood to bead up, try putting some vaseline on the ear; that'll help with beading. If he ends up moving his head, you can scrape the blood onto your fingernail and test from there.

If you could post an updated number when you have a chance, that'd be good. Let us know the number and how long it's been since the shot. (We tend to use the +2 +2.5 +3 etc terminology so that we don't have to worry about dealing with different time zones.)

 

Thank you so much for the support. I am prepared in case he hypos tonight. I have Karo syrup and a syringe as well as the other items mentioned. I have plenty of test strips because I bought the extra box. Do I need to post a new thread or just keep posting to this one?

I'm watching him now...he's just staring back at me. It's very possible I didn't do something right or maybe didn't get enough blood to test. I will test again shortly to see.

 

You can just post to this thread; we have several folks who've been reading who've handled hypos before who are reading the thread already.

ETA: Also, good job on having your supplies ready, just in case!

 

If the glucometer didn't have enough blood, it would not return a result (it would say Error), so if it gave you a number, you did it right and it had enough blood.

Let us know the number as soon as you retest.

Glad you have everything ready just in case.

 

He sounds like my cats...'what, Mom? WHAT are you looking at me like that for??? You want a staring contest do ya?'


~M

 

I ran out and bought a home testing kit, watched the video and gave it a try. It reads 115. Would it be normal to have such a high fluctuation from today at 7:00am (bg 635) to now 8:15pm (bp 115)? He ate Fancy Feast and I gave him 3 units of insulin at 6:30pm. He seems perfectly happy right now, sitting on the kitchen counter. I will continue to watch him. But I thought that was strange


ok, does this mean your cat was at the vet and tested at 7 am? then you tested at 8:15 pm nearly 2 hours after you shot 3 units into an untested #? at 8:15 he was 115?
just want to be clear.

 

That is a huge drop to be seen at +2. That tells me there was still insulin in his system when the shot was given and the high pre shot number may be a bit of rebound zoom. Give him food if he will eat it right now and keep a check on him every hour till you at least pass the +6 mark, or his numbers start to rise again. (I would vote for the latter because I have seen Oscar's nadir at +9 several times) Have syrup or a high carb food ready for if he goes into 40 territory.

 

i think she's off line...hope she comes back soon. i don't understand the cat being tested at 7am at the vet? did the cat spend the night there? has there ever been a number close to 635, i've never heard of that.

 

The second attempt to test is not going well. I think I'm too timid to prick his ear and then I don't get any blood. He did eat some food about an hour ago. So I hope that's good. Will post results as soon as I get them...

 

Just to clarify...I took him to the vet this morning, first thing at 7:00am. He had not eaten since the night before at 6:30pm. The vet ran the blood test and it came back with 635. I know that's so high!

Will try to test again now and see what I get.

 

Don't feel bad about pricking his ear... the worse that will happen is a small bruise, and at this point that's better than having him go into hypo and you don't realize it.

Which part of the ear are you pricking? sometimes pricking a bit lower along the side of the ear (rather than the tip) bleeds better. You can use a flashlight to see the vein better if you're having a hard time finding it.

Also, warming up the ear helps too:
Take a sock, put about half a cup of regular dry rice in it. knot the sock. Put it in the microwave for like 30 seconds. Hold it up against his ear for 15 or so seconds before trying to prick him.

 

Also, the vet gave him a shot of 3 units at 7:15am. Tank was fine all day, no problems. I gave him his shot at 6:30pm (too early?) as instructed by the vet. That's when he ate his Fancy Feast. After reading some of the posts here, I went to Wal Mart and bought the home monitor kit and tested him at 8:15pm and got the 115 reading. I didn't know anything about home testing when I gave him his shot at 6:30. I was just doing what I had been doing for the past couple of weeks, just with 3 units instead of 2.

He had a snack (regular dry cat food) because I got nervous, although he seems just fine.

 

pmps ? 3u
+1:45 115
and...waiting...

 

Just tested...59.

He's eating some dry cat food now. Anything else to do?

 

time to feed. do you have high carb wet/canned food, something with gravy. let him lick the gravy. don't over feed as he will likely need to eat off and on for the next few hours and we don't want to fill him up.

 

Don't worry about being timid; you need that blood. If your concern is accidently pricking through the ear and pricking yourself, use a cotton ball or a tissue or something to provide backing to the ear so you don't prick yourself. (That's actually a good thing to do anyway, as having something on the reverse side of the ear gives you makes it easier to prick enough to get blood.)

Remember to warm the ear up beforehand, either with a rice sock or some sei-vigorous ear massage. Warmth is one of the main keys in getting blood to come out. Some folks will prick twice right next to each other to get enough blood. You can also put a finger on either side of the prick-point and push inward, 'milking' the ear for blood (kinda like you would try to pop a pimple). If the blood 'melts' into the fur, try putting some vaseline on the ear beforehand to help the blood 'bead'. If he moves his head, you can scrape the blood onto your fingernail and test from there.

 

exactly how many hours since you shot him? including 1/2 hours.
good for you getting the test successfully.

 

It has been 4.5 hrs since his shot.

 

good, but not out of the woods yet. what has he eaten and how much?

 

btw, what's your name? we've been doing all this talking!
this is what you have. the pm stands for evening the ps stands for pre shot #

pmps ? 3U
+1:45 115
+4.5 59

does this make sense to you? this is how we read it. tomorow will be your amps.

 

You're doing absolutely everything right so far. I agree with the feeding; what type of dry food are you using? Most dry foods are high-carb, so that's good, but if you happen to have a higher-carb canned food on hand, that could work better.


> It has been 4.5 hrs since his shot.
So it's
+2 115
+4 59 ('cause it's been a while since the test??? )

Is that correct?

And could you get another reading? We'd like to see what his BG is doing because that 59 was a bit low for where he is in the cycle.

 

Just wanted to poke my nose in and say "please don't blame yourself."

FD is a learning curve - often we beans of FD cats teach our vets, so it's a learning curve for them, too. So when I read your post saying you did what you'd been told to do, and you sounded upset because you didn't know about home testing, well, sweetheart, that's all right. What i really like is you're jumping in and testing right away, and dealing with things straight off. That's pretty darned impressive. And deserves a "well done."

I'll go now, so this thread can focus on the issue at hand. But I just didn't want you to feel bad...especially since you're dealing with everything so wonderfully. Nice job!

Best-
Michele

 

thanks JJ for making me exact measurements more readable :mrgreen:

 

Yes! That makes sense, thank you.
My name is Chris and my cat's name is Tank.

He ate some regular dry cat food (Cat Chow) that one of my neighbor's outside cat eats. I don't have any canned food with gravy, just the Fancy Feast canned food that was recommended from this website. He ate a big handful (sorry I didn't measure it out) and he ate it all. He will usually eat anytime I offer any food so I think he will likely eat again if needed.

Should I retest in 45 mins to 1 hr?

It's been 20 minutes since I got the 59.

pmps ? 3U
+1:45 115
+4.5 59

 

Hi Chris and your doing great. personally I'd test in 10 or 20 minutes so you can have a +5.25
this insulin peaks out between 4-7 hours and that dose was a high. we want to catch the fall before it gets to the danger zone (if that even happens, paws crossed it won't) and then you kind of want to test every 45 minutes or so until he starts to go up.
don't worry this is not the usual routine.

 

Purina Cat Chow is a lovely 37% carbs.

Because he was dropping from +2 to +4.5, I'd feel more comfortable if you could grab a +5, just so we have an idea whether his BG is going up or still going down.


Also, just so you know: because of the intervention we're doing tonight, his BG levels tomorrow morning are going to unnaturally elevated. Please do *not* increase his insulin because of the increased numbers. Also, cats post-hypo can be very sensitive to insulin. I would most definitely *not* give anything more than 1 unit tomorrow morning; I might even be tempted to give half a unit, if you can measure that out.

Also, for the immediate future, please do *not* give any insulin if his BG level is under 300. It *is* possible to safely give insulin at less than 300, but you need a bunch of data before you can make those decisions safely, and you're still collecting the data you need.

 

agree with tomorow's reading being high and do not react to it. 1u or .5u.
but JJ, not shooting under 300? can you explain? is'nt starting a SS and shooting 1u or .5u at 160 up appropriate? just trying to understand the logic----not tomorow amps of course.

 

pmps ? 3U
1:45 115
4.5 59
5.25 52

It's been 5 hours and 15 minutes since his shot.

I understand about tomorrow morning's shot. Loud and clear. From what I've learned tonight...3 units is too much with a low carb wet food. Yes? Also, my anxiety is high because my husband is out of town and I am doing this alone. I am so glad to have found y'all. I appreciate all of your help. When should I test again?

 

You're doing great.
This has been quite a night for you. I'm so glad you went and got a glucometer tonight and started testing just from watching the video. Really, great job.

Keep testing frequently tonight at least until he starts going back up. It's very important that you get those numbers. Every half hour or hour.

It's not always like this... it's actually rarely like this. With a lower dose of insulin, hopefully it won't happen again.

 

will he eat a little bit more?

(and yes, 3 units appears to be too much)

 

> but JJ, not shooting under 300? can you explain? is'nt starting a SS and shooting 1u or .5u at 160 up
> appropriate? just trying to understand the logic

It's generic advice for the first couple weeks, until you have a chance to see how the cat reacts to the insulin. Most cats will do fine on the softer insulins, but there have been cases where they've turned out to be over-sensitive.

That said, while I'm a long-time PZI-Vet user, I'm not a ProZinc user. I did look for a ProZinc primer awhile back, but no-one seemed to have written one back then (or at least it wasn't in the PZI forum), and so I've not followed the nuances of that insulin. If the ProZinc standard is for the no-shoot number to be lower, that's fine; I went with 300 because that's what I've seen applied to most insulins across the board, at least until the bean has collected enough data to safely shoot at lower numbers.

 

I'd just like to echo Odie'sMom's comment that I'm really glad you went and got testing equipment this evening!


> When should I test again?

+5.25 is probably still before nadir, and 52 is too low for me to feel comfortable leaving things for an hour. The high-carb dry food is doing a nice job of slowing the drop, but the levels *are* still dropping and 40 is hypo territory. Could you do a reading at +5.75?


> Also, my anxiety is high because my husband is out of town and I am doing this alone.

Even if your husband was home, you'd still be kinda freaking out. We all do the first time this happens. It's completely normal, and you're *absolutely* handling this wonderfully!

 

Yes you've had a BIG night.
Welcome to the Vampire Club
and the avoided a hypo kitty club
and just got my testing equipment
ALL in the same night!

 

yeah chris, we want to see her going up before you go to bed ok.
hope it's not a long night.
but this experience will make you a good tester by tomorow :mrgreen:

 

6.0 71

It's going up. He's had quite a bit of dry cat food. He's very upset with me about the whole let-me-test-your-ear-again thing.

Y'all are amazing. We're headed in the right direction, right?

 

Yaay, yes this is heading in the right direction.
I wouldn't quite go to bed yet, that's still not very high but at least it's starting to go up. Good job Chris and Tank!

Yeah, he'll be cranky about the whole ear thing, but it would have been much worse otherwise. It's one of these "it's for your own good" situations. It won't have to be this frequent on a normal basis, and you'll both get much better at it so that soon it'll literally be a 20 second no-big-deal thing.

 

absolutly! yeah and who can blame tank for having enuf of the whole thing? :?
i'm comfortable. i was staying up for you but i'm going to bed. i think your done.
you did great. if you wake up to go to the bathroom you might wanna check to see if tank is still breathing LOL...really, kidding, but do give him a look/see.
check in with us tomorow ok?

hey check below for page 1 and 2. on lower right side. you now have 2 pages.

 

chris start a new thread tomorow ok, just let us know his amps and what you shot. i know you won't react to the big # you'll see. to be expected.
'night
lori

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I know I'm not ENTIRELY in the clear just yet, but I realize I may have avoided a major situation tonight had I not home tested. Y'all have been so great (AND CALM!) and I truly appreciate it.

 

I'll be up for a while yet. If you're still online, it's be great if you could get a +6.5 reading; two sequential 'rising' readings are what we ideally look for in these situations.


> I realize I may have avoided a major situation tonight had I not home tested.

There's no question in my mind that you avoided a problem here. And, though Tank may well have had the reserves to deal with this on his own, there's no reason to tempt fate. (Also, note that you handled this on your own, without having to head over to the emergency vet. I know you dropped some money on your testing supplies, but you saved a bundle on not visiting the emergency vet.)

And honestly, you did everything right: you were proactive in learning how to home-test, immediately realised you had a potentially bad situation, immediately gave Karo, fed high-carb food, and asked for advice. You handled this tremendously well --

Jean and her Gwyn

 

If JJ will be around a bit longer, I'm going to head to bed.
One more good reading and you'll be able to get some sleep too.

Tank is lucky to have you there with him tonight. He might not realize it just now, but he is.
(and they forgive us very quickly, I think they realize that we're doing this to make them feel better)

I'll see you in the morning.

 

I just checked again and got 153.

6.75 153

Now, you mentioned that it will be high by the morning and for me not to freak out.

 

That's a wonderful number; feel free to head off to bed now

And, yeah, his number will be high in the morning. There's no telling how high, but don't freak out at it. Do a pre-shot BG reading and, if it's over 300, give him either a unit or a half-unit of insulin. If you happen to be home around +6 tomorrow, getting a mid-day reading wouldn't be a bad thing, just to see where he is.

Give Tank some extra cuddles from the folks here on the boards, and tell him what a wonderful job he did letting you prick his ears like that And, if you're so inclined, have a glass of wine or some chocolate or something for yourself :grin: You both did a wonderful job tonight -- congratulations!

 

This site helped me through a couple hypo or near hypo episodes. I know much more about this than I used to! You only get so much time with the vet and I don't really think they are used to people home testing.

You may be going through alot of strips so I wanted to let you know that I have been very successful getting them from EBAY at less than half of what stores charge. I have also bought some from someone off of Craigslist. I spoke with someone on the phone first and met her in person of course since there is no recourse like there is with EBAY.

I use the Freestyle Freedom Lite meter and it only requires .3 ml of blood which is I think the smallest. I tried a meter from Walmart that was cheaper but it required much more blood so it was hard for me to use in the beginning. I'm much better at it now. Luckily, this particular cat is pretty much okay with everything I do to him for the most part. I have other cats and I can't imagine if I had to do this to them. So I thought I would throw that in in case you may benefit by using an easier meter (if you're not already) if your cat is temperamental.

 

Thanks everyone. Really. Thank you very much.

 

Great job! I'm very impressed. I've seen this happen a few times with new people on the board and it's always worked out because everyone here is so nice and helpful. Yay! Tanks' gonna be just fine.