Novalin-N and weird numbers?

Discussion in 'Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH' started by MindyC, Mar 11, 2019.

  1. MindyC

    MindyC Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2019
    So I'll try to be brief. Max is 17yo. Diabetes diagnosed 9 years ago, used Lantus, went OTJ in 6 weeks. Been absolutely fine since then, other than CRF diagnosis 3 years ago. He's been on low-carb Friskies, the same flavors, for the last 9 years. His sugar has been so fine, the vet was impressed at how good it was every time we did bloodwork for CRF (and that was testing at the vet's office!).

    2 weeks ago Max was in rough shape--diarrhea and vomiting. Took him to the vet, expected a "we need to discuss your end plan" discussion. Vet knew he had an infection, but we figured we'd check the kidney levels before deciding on medications and treatments. His Creatinine went back to normal! And his sugar was super high. So...antibiotics for a week, and start insulin again. Decided not to go the expensive route right off the bat since he's 17 and we weren't sure what all he had going on, or if he'd pull through, thus Novalin. Given his age and the CRF, we really weren't expecting remission to be a possibility again.

    We started at 2U twice a day. Numbers weren't really improving after a week, so vet bumped it up to 3U. I did a curve on the 2nd dose at 3U, and it seemed decent. The weekend was busy, I gave his ears a break, and tested at shot times. I missed Sunday morning due to time change and power outage, so we skipped that shot so as not to screw up the 12hr schedule. All seemed normal last night, and again this morning.

    Then tonight...I wasn't home at usual shot time (5pm) and my husband didn't realize I needed to test him before he ate, so he fed him. I tested him at 5:30 and he was only at 340 (he was at 300 when I tested him at 3:45). I did not give his shot at 5:30, and waited until 6:30 to test again. He was at 431 then, so I let him eat and gave a shot of 2.5U, knowing he was getting it late. I'm going to test him in a minute (trying to hit even hours from shot time for the sake of keeping track because it's Monday and I'm tired and, well, this isn't something I want to screw up), but...do I need to be worried?

    He's been done with the abx for 5 days now. I know infection can jack up numbers, but would the abx clearing out of his system drop his numbers that much? He has also peed in the bathtub today, and pooped on the floor. We've been having litterbox issues on and off with him for a while, but usually he's mad about something or not feeling well. I don't know what is triggering the issues today--he seems more 'himself' than he's been in a while.
     
  2. MindyC

    MindyC Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2019
    Shot +2 was 258.
     
  3. Bama Kitty Mom (GA)

    Bama Kitty Mom (GA) Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2018
    Max may just need a bit more time on the insulin or he may be truly out of remission. Don't give up hope. Bama has been diabetic for over 4 years and on Novolin N the entire time. Try to be consistent with time and dosage but watch closely. Novolin may be taking him down faster than his body comfortably handles and causing the bounce back to black at preshot. I'm not clear on what happened on the 3/11/19 PM preshot. Your notes seem to read that you gave a smaller dose then another smaller dose later. I wouldn't do that with Novolin. Decide on the dose at shot time and don't give more even if you think you got a fur shot until the 12 hours have passed.
     
    MrWorfMen's Mom likes this.
  4. MindyC

    MindyC Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2019
    Sorry, I didn’t explain that well. He did not get 2 shots that night. His shot was 1.5 hours late because he wasn’t testing very high and wasn’t rising well either. That’s also why I gave a short dose, which turned out to probably still be too high for where he was BG-wise. And I also gave a lower dose this morning in the hopes that he wouldn’t do another crazy drop while I was at work today. He seems to have bounced tho, as his +9 from this morning was 510.
     

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