Looking for advice on if I should give my kitty a shot or not, or maybe a half dose? He was at a 148 this morning and he’s usually in the late 200-300. He ate his pate as usual, but the low number scares me a bit to be giving him his usual 2 units. Thoughts? You can check his spreadsheet for reference!
I think you can try 1 u or 1.25 u. Can you test him at +2 to see where he's heading? These general guidelines might help: if close to 200 (maybe 180 and above), stall without feeding for 30 minutes and retest. If BG has risen try the full dose. if in the 150 to 180 range, try stalling up to an hour and if rising do the above. If BG isn't rising much give a reduced dose. How much to reduce is always a conundrum. Maybe try a 2/3 dose. if BG is much lower (say, 100 to 120) give token dose - size depends on what the normal dose is. It's best to avoid skipping if you can. A lot of this is experimenting when you can be there to monitor.
I notice you have 3 glucometers listed in your signature. For consistency, it's best to pick one meter and use it regularly. All meters have some variances but they aren't all the same so using multiple meters could muddy the picture of how any particular dose of insulin is working for Bubbles.
Thanks for the tip, I have been using the same meter for awhile now, just depends on which I can get strips for. I just retested and he actually went down to 112, I have not given him his shot. I’m so confused..
So his BG was dropping and despite eating he hasn't risen. Skipping was the right decision. Looks like 2u may be doing more for Bubbles than your testing is showing. If you can, get another reading between +5 and +7 today to see how quickly and how much his BG is rising without his shot. I don't know your availability to test during the day but if you can get a mid cycle test whenever possible, it will fill in some of the picture more and help make dosing decisions. Also, it's incredibly helpful to get at least a before bed test every night as many kitties tend to go lower overnight. Without night time data, you are really only seeing half the picture.
So I took it again, and it’s gone down again to 77, I’m starting to panic. I gave him some treats and I put out kibble but he doesn’t seem to have interest in the kibble, ate the treats. Advice!
No worries. Bubbles is quite safe. The ProZinc insulin is an in and out insulin and while there can be a bit of carry over into the next cycle, its highly unlikely Bubbles is going to go hypo with no shot since last night. That is however indeed interesting that his BG has continued to go down and that definitely suggests that the 2u dose is likely too high and may have been contributing to the higher numbers you have been seeing. How many hours is it now since Bubbles last shot of insulin was given?
His last shot was at midnight last night, I’m confused as to how a high dose would produce higher numbers tho? I thought the whole idea of the insulin is the more you give the lower the bg levels will go? Plus his last shot was 14 hours ago
No need to panic, you're doing fine. You didn't give a shot so he should start climbing soon. The insulin will cause the bg to drop, but if they drop too much and/or too fast, sometimes their bodies will panic and release a bunch of sugar and they'll bounce up super high.
Insulin is a hormone not a drug so it doesn't behave like 1 vs 2 aspirin for instance. The body has defence systems that works to protect it from BG going too low. So if too much insulin is given, the defence system goes into action and pumps out other hormones to get glucose pumped into the bloodstream to keep the BG up at safe levels. Too much insulin can look exactly the same as too little and often results in doses being increased too quickly/too much. Retest Bubbles again in 2 or 3 hours and see if his BG is rising or not. Let him eat if he wants to but you don't need to push food at him either.
Thanks everyone, I’m taking his blood again in 10 mins, will post results. I’m thinking I will put a bit of wet food down with the kibble, he may be more interested in eating that. I have to go for a doctors appointment and I am just a bit scared to leave if he’s crashing.
He is not going to crash. You didn't give any insulin today and it will be 15 hours or more since his last shot so any effect from the previous shot would be very very minimal if existent at all at this point in time. I suggest you ditch the dry food if you can and keep Bubbles on a wet food only diet. He seems to be telling you that his pancreas is working better now and keeping him on wet food will help keep it that way and possibly get him to the point where he no longer needs insulin shots.
It’s gone up to 97, I so beyond relieved.. scared the crap out of me. I’m still confused as to why this happened so late after his shot, usually he gets this low mid cycle between shots. Should I change his dose to 1 unit for a week? And see how his numbers go?
My vet is very adamant about not getting rid of dry food completely, he does get wet food 2x a day, and makes up the other kcal in dry food, which is basically an 1/4 cup that he can go to to self monitor himself.. generally he eats a bit of dry food on his own if his numbers get this low.
Well if you just fed Bubbles, that BG could have a food bump involved. I suggest you withhold food for 3 hours pre shot tonight and test perhaps an hour or so before shot time and see where he is at and post. Then we can help you decide on what dose to give or not. Dry food is not ideal for any cat and definitely not for a diabetic. Wet food can be left out to allow Bubbles to graze should he need some food mid cycle. I really think you have an opportunity to get Bubbles off insulin shots if you keep the dry food out of the diet.
A quick calc of the carbs in the Performatrin Healthy Weight dry food suggest it's >20% carbs. A diabetic cat should be on a diet of less than 10% carbs. The dry food may very well be what has kept Bubbles from crashing up till now on that 2u dose of insulin.
Thank you, I’m going to work at it. I have to fight with him to eat the wet I give him, he never eats the amount he should and then I worry about his bg levels, and he seems to prefer the dry food. Just wish it was an easy switch and he wouldn’t fight it so!
I get the fight with dry food far more than you will even know. Suffice to say it took me over 2 years to get my cat to even eat wet food! You could try switching to a lower carb dry food as a starting point. Unfortunately we don't have any really low carb food here but there are a few lower than the Performatrin. Nature Variety Ultimate Protein, Instinct Original (both 15%) and GO Fit and Trim (14%) would be a better choice if you really have to keep dry food in the mix for now. I would try though to remove it totally over time because as I say, I think you may have a really good shot at getting Bubbles off insulin.
Looks like you dropped to 1.25 last night. I think that was fine. Did you happen to get any tests at night to see how he did?
