Newbie tries home test

Well, I watched the video on you tube and took my own BG test kit and did a test on Robbie- took a couple of pricks to his ear that he was very good about but which produced no blood - took a flashlight to his ear and found the vein was not quite as far at the tip as I thought and tried again success - but now i have a reading and don't know what it means - it's midnight - about 3 hours since he had a small helping of very high protein, low carb beef wet cat food and 5 hours since his insulin and he's at 81. Can someone comment on this? thank you

 

Congrats on the successful glucose test.

81 at +5 (hours after insulin) is a good number. If it's been 3 hours since a snack I would probably give my cat a small snack with that number then go to bed and get some rest.

Best,
Pam & Layla

 

thanks Pam I gave him a small bit of the diabetic dry food (he's so nuts over not having his dry) and he chowed down and is now cleaning himself. He looks a bit spacey I have to say - so I'm watching him for a bit longer. Thank you for the input.

 

Welcome to the VAMPIRE CLUB! your first successful pokey!
once you get more of those #'s you'll be able to put together a picture of his reaction to the dose. but the number you got was excellent.

 

that small dry will elevate his #'s surprisingly well. we usually save that for times when kitty is very low and we are worried kitty will dip into hypo.
learning curve.
i know it's hard to get them away from their crunchies but it's really for their own good.
he'll get used to it.
think of it as tough love :mrgreen:

 

I know I have to be tough with the dry but it's Royal Canin dry for diabetic cats almost totally now - we've been weaning him off the others - so it still has some Nutra Max hairball control and some Wellness for Adults mixed in but it's about 65% DX for diabetics. I will eventually get him off dry all together but again, taking it slowly. I gave him about 25 "kernals" of the mix - so not a lot (he's a big guy). Getting the blood Wasn't easy - my husband had to hold him - not in a choke hold but just on his lap and I kept putting the flashlight up to his ear - he's a Maine Coon so the tufts of hair sucked up the blood pretty fast so I had to be johnny on the spot with the test strip. I do this for myself as I'm a diabetic so it was somewhat familiar. I also am very well controlled so I can share my test supplies with him and save lots of money in the process (my insurance covers most of my test stuff). Just gave him a bit of wet food as he still seemed spaced out (he'd been sleeping mostly since about an hour after his shot- I was at work and my husband just said - he's sleepy it seems). That was the push for me to check his blood that and the video of Buddy I think it was (black cat with male owner) which showed it so clearly it wasn't scary anymore. I don't know how often I can do this as I need my husband and we don't have similar hours in teh am - but I'll do my best - I have a call into our vet for a phone consult tomorrow as I think things are turning around since the (almost) no dry food and the change to wet that is lower in carbs.
thanks all - more info is so helpful.

 

yes, unless you already have done so fill us in on the type of insulin you are using and the dose. and make sure you give all the lovies and 'good boys' to kitty even if it's a failed attempt. kitty should begin to associate pokey time as lovey dovey treat time.

 

He's currently on humilin - 8 units - high dose - we've been working up from 3units every 7-10 days the vet had me go up 1 unit because he was not dropping in BG levels - he was at 370+ originally - as high as almost 400 at one point. I am speaking to the vet tomorrow hopefully (he had emergency surgery today) about changing the insulin and also that I think dropping out most of his dry food and switching over to the lower carb wet has helped a lot. As soon as I can wrap my brain around it all I will have a chart for him and keep reading up on this. He's the love of my life cat wise - which is saying a lot cause I've had some amazing cats that I've loved very much - and his "sister" is a darling - but he's my baby boy - mostly cause I'm his choice so... YOu know how it is (our girl loves my husband best... go figure).

 

So that 85 may have been somewhere near his lowest point (nadir). It's a nice number but as we have said, it is a problem with Humulin because he shoots right back up and is on that roller coaster effect. As Lori said, the dry will probably give you a higher number this morning. Reacting to a number with dry is usually counterproductive unless you are really low (30-40) and moving lower. With 50 and above, you can dry a higher carb wet food to raise the numbers a bit. Hope you can get your vet to prescribe a different insulin, and start at a lower dose, since you are working toward a wet lo carb diet.

Oliver was a Maine Coon. I always found it easier to poke on the inside of his ears,as he was so hairy. Either side works. Welcome to the Vampire Club!

 

The inside of the ear - so simple and smart - the horror I feel at stabbing my poor sweet guy blocked any common sense. Thank you. The dry food issue is one I'm working on - when we took him off dry food and put him on a high protein wet food (EVO) about 9 months ago he got so terribly constipated so quickly (and we made the move over pretty gradual) that he was in the ER and it was serious. So I'm being really cautious. Plus he's SCREAMING for it constantly, so I figured if he was low it wouldn't be so bad - so looks like I was wrong.
I'm talking to the vet today
what should I ask for him to be put on? Which insulin? Any recommendations out there?

 

The three that are the most popular here are Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc. They are all milder, longer lasting without the sharp ups and downs. My impression is that Lantus requires more finesse - more testing so being around more is pretty important. Lantus has the most active support group so you would have lots of help. ProZinc is like the PZi that we used - it allows you to make changes a little easier and faster. Everyone has their favorite. You might just go on the Insulin Support groups and check out each page: viewforum.php?f=5

 

wait,,,am i to understand he's been gradually upped to 8 u hum. without hometesting?
okey dokey...time to get a ss going and see what's going on here. that does not sound good to me at all. please if you change foods you must reconsider dose. it's really important right now that we get to look at your #'s with you.
can you get a spread sheet going?

 

I agree with Lori.

You have no idea how low he is going and he may already be on a rollercoaster for his numbers.

You could use miralax to help with constipation issues.

Hope you can get a curve done at home as soon as possible to see what a dose does to him.

 

He was not home tested (until last night) but he was tested at the vets every 3-4 days for 4 weeks and has had 2 fructosimine tests (I know I'm spelling that wrong). I appreciate the call for home testing and am certainly a believer but I'm sure you realize there are plenty of people out there who don't do this (especially in the early stages) and have managed to get their cats regulated. It just means lots of vet visits and more money. We were taking him in first thing in the morning and sometimes again at the end of the day - happily the vet is only about 5 minutes away and Robbie sits on my lap like he's going to a play or something. We started him at 3 units of ProZinc (I was wrong in thinking it was the Humalin) 2x per day for a week, than went to 5 for a week than 6 for a week than 7 for a week now settled at 8.
Came home tonight and tested him before food or insulin and it was 103 - called the vet who said to feed him dinner, give him his regular dose at 7:15 as always, watch him and check his blood again in about 3 hours - so I'll do a 10pm check and see how it is - he's sitting happily cleaning himself right now - chased his sister around the room tonight for the first time in months - he is certainly feeling better.
When I spoke with the Vet today he corrected me on two very important things - we ARE using ProZinc and his last test had him at 849 NOT the high 300's I kept thinking - that was his daily test one of the days that week. So any of the numbers we've seen in the past 20 hours are big improvements.
I am hoping to get a spread sheet done soon. Not much to put on it at this point

 

to be extremely blunt, if you shoot 8 units on anything close to that 103, you will need to test tonight, several times. 103 on a pzi insulin is not even a shootable number. plain and simple.

please don't take this as an attack on you but know that a test in the morning and a test in the late afternoon does not tell one much about what is happening with diabetes other than the subject is still alive. and what alot of people think is regulation is the same thing, a cat that is still alive. what they don't know is that the cat is suffering kidney damage because the diabetes is not well controlled or that a urinary infection is starting because of poor control. at least they don't know it until kitty is sick and requires further medical care and often that is not too long after diagnosis. some people actually think that getting six months out of their cat after getting the diagnosis is a good thing when in all reality, with knowledge and proper control that cat could have easily lived much much longer.

also, remember that a fructosamine number is not a blood glucose number. that fructosamine number has to be converted to get a glucose number. the conversion chart is here. http://www.sugarcats.com/infirmary/fructosamine.asp

 

Oh my god robbie, please as cindy said this is NOT a personal attack but please also believe me when i tell you that vet has not treated your cat in ANY fashion. to think he was shot 8U or anything for that matter a 103 is soooooooooo dangerous i don't even want to go there.
and was that a bg that was in the 800's not the 300's????? 800's i don't believe exists, but maybe that was your fructosomine test?
i just want to help...will be out for the next couple of hours but please test, get your hypo kit at the ready...seriously. and keep us posted.

 

Hi Robbie's mom... just getting caught up.... are you still around? Are things going ok? Typically with PZI we set a no-shoot level, and don't give insulin if their BG is below that #. Surprising your vet said to go ahead and shoot on that #, especially with a dose that is high compared to many cats. All that can be an issue for another day though . For now, how is he doing? We're you able to get a spot test in to be sure he isn't headed too low?

There is a really handy Hypo guide here in the Health forum. Hopefully you won't see low #s, but I would more or less expect that you will on this dose and this PS & reviewing the guide will help you be prepared if needed. Hopefully I'm wrong though. Please post an update when you can. If you need to, put 911 on the first post in your thread (otherwise it won't be noticeable from the forum list) to get a quicker response if you run into problems.

 

just saw the new thread... never mind

 

good for you!! I'm about to watch the video and do the home test myself. Wish me luck!

 

Just read all this - to be clear I think you are all wonderful - but i also think my vet is wonderful and I've been thru a lot with him - I called his office after hours tonight when i got the 103 - they were closed but the vet tech picked up told her he was 103 - she had me hold that the vet was still there doing paper work and on the other line with clients - and she got back to me and said - go ahead as normal - I just plugged my cell phone in for charging in the middle of all this tonight and noticed a call from the vet about 2 minutes after my call. His message "is Robbie 303 or 103? if he is under 200 cut the dose in half and watch him carefully and call me if anything happens but if it's 303 go ahead" When I talked to him today I told him the numbers so when the tech said 303 to him he was preoccupied and said "fine" than thought about it and thought it was odd that he was at 303 - so called the only number I ever tell him to call which is my cell which was battery dead. So if I had gotten that message I would have given him 4 units and probably avoided all this - or maybe not - We will be adjusting the dose - the emergency Vet said she is sure my vet won't keep him on 8 with numbers like this popping up.
Thanks again -

 

that puts a new spin on things. and i'm glad you got that message before tomorrow and possibly decapitating anyone with your bare hands :lol:

 

thansk for the chart but it doesn't even go up to the 849 robbie was showing 9 days ago- I fully expect and want to work towards Robbie living to a ripe old age - he is my baby boy and is supposed to be around for another 10 years or so - he turns 9 on Monday.
Yes, glad i got the phone message but wish I'd gotten it earlier or even after this all began since he left me his cell phone number to call.... :evil:

 

I'll retract my last comment then too. Though still not happy how you got to 8u.

He is a maine coon and they can need more insulin (not necessarily body weight) but I think you need to sleep for now. Need some more jigsaw pieces to work out what the best dose is for him.

Sleep well.