Testing glucose for the first time

I have a Accu-chek monitor and am using it for the fist time. As scared as I was I did and it read 16.6mmol/L what does this mean, should I be giving her the prescribed 1 unit of Caninsulin?

 

Good job. Glad you made it to the health forum! That is a shootable number. Will you be able to get a few more tests in tonight? I've never used Canninsulin, but I understand it can have an early drop, so if you can, get another few tests in after the shot. The vet prescribed 1 unit twice a day? @Sue and Oliver (GA) do you know caninsulin?

 

Yes I can a few more tests in tonight if that is what I should be doing, I will do it. Yes the vet prescribed 1 unit twice a day but had said for the first day we may want to give her half that amount to see how she handles it.

 

Not sure what happened to my post, I must have hit delete by mistake!
I'll try again
I think 1/2 unit would be good to start since she's so tiny. How much does she weigh again? And how much should she weigh?

 

She weighs 2.58 lbs but I do not know what she should weigh.

 

Just remembering you said you were using a pen with the pen needles, not a syringe is that right? Can you give 1/2unit with the pen?

 

The pen is poking tool for the glucose monitor, our vet gave us a ( 29 gauge ) needle syringe for the insulin injection.

 

If she only weighs 2.5lbs, I wouldn't give more than .5 unit to start with.....But I don't use Caninsulin either

Do you know that since you live in Canada you can get much better insulin than Caninsulin over the counter? Canisulin is much more useful in dogs (thus the "canin" in it's name)

Cats have a faster metabolism and do better with longer acting insulins, like Lantus or Levemir (both human insulin available at a human pharmacy) or ProZinc (only available at vet or vet supply)

 

Oh ok, I misunderstood I'm sorry I'm not more knowledgable in your insulin, and I'm trying to find someone who is, but it's quiet around here due to the holiday weekend. If you choose to shoot, I will stay up and wait for your test, or, Since it's so late, maybe consider waiting until AM maybe we can find someone more experienced with your insulin. The choice is yours, I'm here either way and will be in the AM too.

 

Thank you that is very good to know, I imagine that I will have to talk my vet into a prescription for that but I will definitely give it a go. I was hoping he was going to give her Lantus.

 

Jenn, if you have given the insulin at this point in time, I think it would be a good idea to get a test 2 hours after the shot and again at 3 hours post shot. The two hour test will tell you how fast she is dropping from her pre-shot number and the 3 hour test should be approaching the lowest reading. Lowest point with Caninsulin could be a little later but those earlier times will tell you how fast her BG is going down. Caninsulin does drop the BG faster than some other insulins so don't be surprised if there is a decent difference in the number at 2 hours post shot.

If J.J is dehydrated, did the vet give her any fluids at the office? If you haven't given the insulin yet, I'd be inclined to reduce the dose to 0.25u given her small size and it being her first shot. If she is dehydrated though, withholding insulin completely is not the best idea. You might want to try adding a little water to J.J's food to up her fluid intake.

Please let us know if you have given the shot and if so how much and then post the reading at 2 hours post shot. I'll check later to see how J.J is doing.

 

No need for a script if you live in Canada!....you can go into any pharmacy and just ask for it! It's over the counter in Canada!

 

I can wait until the morning. Please know how much I truly appreciate your help. Maybe by morning it won't seem quite as scary & don't want to keep you up but again thank you for the offer. You have been so kind. Happy holidays to you!

 

My husband wants me to go ahead and do the shot tonight. So apparently I will be staying up for a couple more hours and will do the glucose testing as Mr. Worf men's suggested.

 

I'll be here. Probably good to get it started!

 

Jenn, we are quite use to PJ parties around here. We like to ensure all our kitties are safe! I will be up waiting to test my sugar anyway so I'll check in too. Given J.J's size, I'd still be inclined to start with a dose of 0.25u. It's much easier to increase the dose if need be than it is to deal with a cat whose BG is heading too low.

Happy Canada Day to you too!

 

I just took a close look at J.J's picture. She is a beautiful little girl with stunning markings but oh so tiny! What a love!

I think it was a good decision to start the insulin tonight. Withholding insulin for any reason other than a low pre-shot number when kitty has an infection is not the best idea and J.J is already dehydrated so hopefully a little insulin will lower her BG and slow the urine production down a bit too. Is J.J a good water drinker usually? If not have you tried putting out a couple of water dishes in alternate places around the house. Some cats don't like their water near their food and they don't have a big thirst drive so putting water readily accessible often prompts them to drink a bit more.

 

Thank you for the holiday wishes but I am so stressed I'm in tears. I found J.J laying in the corner of my daughter's bedroom she seems really out of it, if that makes sense to you. When I picked her up and put her on my daughter's bed she would only stand with her front legs and kept her back legs down she will not eat her food and we were told not to give her insulin on an empty stomach we are also supposed to give her a pill for the blood they found in her urine. I put the pill in a Greenies pill pocket and she will not take that either I am at a loss for what to do.

 

She does need to eat. Do you have some tuna, sometimes that will get them started eating.

 

It is so sad to see her wasting away to nothing. Her losing the weight and flooding the litter box with so much pee to the point that it was not being absorbed and becoming like a pan filled with water made me take a stand with my husband that she is not "getting over it" & that something is seriously wrong! I would have thought that not getting her supper yet she would be more than willing to eat ( it's 11:05 pm here) but that's not the case. I'm very worried. I will do as you say and place some dishes of water around upstairs ( she only stays upstairs as we have 2 Shih tzu's downstairs that she wants no part of ). I have not seen her drink from her water bowl for days & can only hope she is when I'm not there.

 

I will go see if she would like some tuna right now.

 

Was J.J eating earlier today? Will she take some water? I don't want to alarm you but did the vet check her urine for ketones? Even if they were negative at the vet the other day, she could have them now. If she has ketones that can quickly advance to ketoacidosis which is serious and can be life threatening. If she won't take something to eat or drink, I would strongly recommend you take her to an Emergency vet clinic tonight. If this is ketoacidosis, quick treatment is key. Unfortunately, an infection, dehydration and lack of insulin are all an indication that ketones could be a problem.

 

She just ate about 1 tbs of tuna and before now her last feeding was around lunch at that time she had 3 the of Wellness turkey. The vet checked for ketones this morning from a urine sample that we took on Thursday night, they were closed yesterday because it was a holiday but we kept in the fridge and were told that it would be okay. When he tested this morning he had said that was okay but found bacteria from the blood in her urine. Hoping that the bit of tuna makes it okay to give her the insulin.

 

No I don't think it is ok to give her the insulin unless you can get her to take a bit more food. She really needs to have a full meal on board otherwise there won't be enough food in her system to work with the insulin and that could cause her to drop too low. If she does start dropping fast, you also want to know she will eat something to slow the drop down. Right now that seems a bit iffy at best. Do you have any plain meat baby food around the house per chance or any other kind of food including the kibble she was eating before? If so try those to see if she will eat a bit more.

 

She is hiding under the bed now but I put down a handful of the new treats I bought today & she is eating them up, I also put bowl with tuna under my bed too & I have left her in peace so perhaps she will eat some more with out me watching her.

 

You said earlier she ate treats after the test. Try some of those

 

Great, sometimes eating some treats stimulates the appetite.

 

Does J.J usually go under the bed or is this something new for her? Often when they are not feeling well they will seek out a hiding spot away from the hussle going on around the house. She might just be feeling poorly because of the high BG and bladder infection but I'd recommend you get some ketone sticks tomorrow to test her urine yourself. The problem with ketones is that they take a couple of days to show up in the urine even though they are already present in the blood so it's a good idea to home test for them when there is an infection or any behaviour indicating kitty is not feeling well.

What did the vet tell you to do feeding wise? Two meals a day or several small meals? Did he tell you to feed J.J and wait 20 minutes to give the insulin? I'm not sure I'd risk the insulin tonight but if you decide she's eaten enough and do give it, I'd definitely wait the 20 minutes between eating and insulin to make sure she doesn't vomit or regurgitate the food back up.

 

Hi I'm back. J.J ended up eating the treats under the bed and some more of the tuna. We waited 20 -25 min and then gave her 0.25 u maybe a tad more but under 0.5 since she is so small and it's her first time. We will test her glucose levels in 2 hours to see where she is at. She does like hiding under the bed at the best of times but I do think she is spending more time hiding of late than what she would before she started being so sickly. I will have to read up on doing ketone testing and will buy the sticks tomorrow for sure. I have been giving her 4 small meals a day since switching to the wet food on Thursday night so that she will keep it in & hopefully be more hydrated but I'm still worried about not seeing her drinking water or going in the litter box, when prior to Wednesday when she first went the vet she was flooding the litter box. Really hoping that in the next few days that between the medication, wet food & insulin things will start to turn for the better.

 

Measuring out 0.25u can be a bit difficult so don't worry about that. There is a solution to make it easier to give small doses but for now a good guess will do. The important thing is that she's getting insulin but at a reasonable starting dose for such a small cat. If she doesn't produce any or less than normal urine(amounts she'd pee before diabetes) by tomorrow morning, I'd get a baby syringe and get some water into her. Once she is well hydrated, the wet food will give her most of the fluid she needs but I doubt it's going to replenish a loss if she is dehydrated. I'd also add a bit of water to her food if she will eat it that way to supplement her fluid intake. I'm still up and will likely be awake so please post the reading you get in two hours. If you have any questions in the meantime, you can always add a "?" mark to the title of this post to get attention. To do this, go up to the upper right hand side of the screen where it says Thread tools. Click on that and you will get an option to edit title. Once at the box with the title in it, you can select the "?" from the Prefix options.

 

I have now ( 3:00 am ) tested her glucose and got a reading of 14.4 down from 16.6 at 9 pm, I also gave her 1/4 cup of Wellness mix with warm water to make a slurry & fed it to her by a syringe. I plan on giving her more water this way tomorrow/ today ( since it's after midnight ) and I'm wondering if it would be good to use some Pedialyte with the water as I was reading about giving that to dehydrated cats.

 

Sorry I timed it to be about 3:30 for the next reading.

Ok she's not dropping exceptionally fast so that's good and of course the dose was lowered too. The pedialyte would be a good idea to make sure her electrolytes stay balanced. If you are still up, you could take another reading at 4am just to see how much further she has gone down. Then perhaps you could leave her a bit of food for the rest of the night in case she feels the need. If you do get a 4 am reading, please post it here. Otherwise, please keep us posted as to how J.J is doing and I suggest you post in the morning with your pre-shot reading if you are unsure of what to do.

 

Thank you for all the help and advice. I left food out for her, put some treats under my two daughter's beds now that J.J has gone into hiding. I also placed a couple bowls of water out in different places in the hope that she will start drinking ( I measured a cup into each bowl so I can pour it back into a my measuring cup to see if she has actually drank some ). I will post her pre-shot reading in the morning. Hope you are able to get some sleep. Thx again it really helped knowing I was not alone.

 

No problem. We all remember what our first days were like. Are you going to take another reading now? It would give you a good idea of how much she'll drop on the 0.25u dose.

 

Has J.J shown any signs of weakness in her back legs before tonight? There is an associated condition called diabetic neuropathy which can cause weakness and sometimes it causes diabetic cats to actually walk on their hocks instead of on their toes. The good news is that it gets better as kitty gets more regulated. Just wondering because of your comment earlier about J.J not getting up on her back legs.

 

Hi Jenn, how's JJ this AM? As Linda said, the pedialyte is fine just be sure it's the unflavored kind.

 

Good morning all. J.J definitely seems a bit more perky this morning. I made kissy sounds and she has come out of hiding to get her breakfast, I watched how she is walking and she seems a lot more steady on her feet. She actually started meowing while I got her food ready & started eating the moment I set it down ( yay! ) I'm now waiting 20 min & then will test her glucose levels. Can not wait to get into a better routine.

 

Wonderful to hear J.J has perked up and is steadier on her feet this morning.

Jenn, please test her the minute she is finished eating if she has started already. You want a reading that is not food influenced. Normal routine would be test, feed, wait 20 minutes and then shoot.

 

You gave the shot at 1am last night and shots should normally be 12 hours apart. With Caninsulin, you can shoot earlier (provided you have a shootable reading) and I am sure you want to get onto a reasonable schedule. I'm figuring you probably don't want to be shooting at 1am again! LOL! Let us know what you get for a reading.

 

Okay so the minute she walked away from her food ( almost ate a full tin of Friskies, thinking she may not be a big fan of the Wellness ) I tested her glucose it read 17.9 at 10:21. Thinking to give her .5 of her Caninsulin and not the full 1 unit prescribed yet since it will just be her second one.

 

My bad, I got confused and thought I was supposed to test after eating not before. Thank you for clarifying that, will let my husband know as well so we can help each other get through this learning curve.

 

The half dose was given. Now should I test her glucose levels in 2 hour & then again in 3 hours?

 

Glad you got the shot in and she's eating! Yes check in a couple hours and post the numbers. Do you think you can get the spreadsheet set up? If you need help ask and someone will help.

 

Is there a spot on here or a certain format for using? As you can probably tell I'm not computer savvy ( so I have kept track of everything in a note pad ) my husband is excellent with computers so he can do this I'm sure.

 

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

Excellent thank you for this, I will have him set this up

 

Good call on the 0.5u this morning.

On the spreadsheet we don't go by actual times but rather keep track by date and how many hours after the shots in each cycle the readings are taken. We do this because we live all over the planet and this method makes it much easier for everyone to understand what is going on should you need any assistance or have questions. Just holler if you need any assistance with the spreadsheet.

Once you get that set up, you can set up a signature (the small grey text at the bottom on our messages. It can include whatever you want to share but most importantly, the type of insulin, the dose of insulin, the type of meter you are using, the diet kitty is on and any other health concerns that might need to be taken into consideration as well as the link to J.J's spreadsheet. It's also helpful if you indicate you are Canadian so folks recommend food etc accordingly.
To set up a signature, go up to your screen name at the upper right corner of the screen and click on Signature. This opens a text box in which you can enter the information. It will only allow you to hit the enter key 3 times so you can separate different bits of info by using a "|" or "\" to fit everything in if it gets too long.

 

So I am writing out important info I learned from here yesterday and had a question. If no insulin should be given under 11.1 is the actually a ideal number range that we are hoping to see? And if the number goes to 2.8 or lower is that what's called hypoglycemia?

 

2.8 would be a warning number of the possibility of hypoglycemia and the point where you take action to make sure she doesn't go hypo. You give some food to bring the numbers back up and monitor for a bit to make sure they are staying up if you get a reading of 2.8 or less. If kitty is displaying symptoms, like head wagging or stumbling or just odd behaviour of any sort, it may mean kitty is actually hypo and at that point, you would intervene with some corn syrup or honey either added to her food or rubbed on her gums if she won't eat it directly. There is a sticky for hypos is HERE and it would be a good idea to put a hypo kit together as soon as you can catch your breathe and include a copy of the instructions for handling hypos in the kit. We all understand how overwhelming this is but believe me it gets easier in short order. The fact that you are able to test J.J so quickly and well means you have already managed to master the first and usually hardest hurdle! Congrats!

You ideally want J.J to have numbers ranging from 2.8 to 6.7 for as many hours per day as possible but you need to strive for that slowly and methodically. This is not a sprint...it's a marathon. Some cats get regulated quickly and some take a bit more time so patience is key.

 

With Caninsulin you get a U shaped curve so the pre-meal tests tend to be the highest sugars with the lowest around 5-6 hours after giving the shot - some cats get a big drop to the low point others don't so it's better to be quite cautious at first with dosing until you have enough readings to work out how your cat reacts. Sometimes the 2 hour test is a little higher than the pre-shot - that's the food. My kitty can easily drop over 10 mmol in a single cycle, so until you get familiar with how this insulin works it's best to take things slow and steady and ask for help if you are not sure. With such a small cat the vet advised quite a large starting dose so I think you were right to drop it and the fact she is better with a small dose suggests to me she may have been a little bit too low and feeling unwell with it.

 

Thank you so much for the encouragement Linda it means alot, I was feeling really down. I will make up the kit and post emergency phone numbers to have on hand too. I made up a homemade Pedialyte solution and will get some into her today as well. I just tested her glucose and it's down to 13.2 her best yet! After testing I gave her treats and this time she didn't even run away, so I gave her a few more treats & cuddles, then celebrated by dumping out a bag of cat nip mice onto the bed! Lol J.J actually started rolling around on them and was being playful, really did my heart good to see.

 

I thought her dose from the vet ( 1 unit x twice a day ) seemed high for her being so tiny & dehydrated Alexi too! Plus she is on other medications and I'm nervous how they would affect the insulin. I felt better to air on the side of caution.

 

AHHHH! I can just picture her playing with her mice. Glad to hear she's spoiled! LOL! It sounds like she is already feeling somewhat better and that is music to my ears so I can imagine how happy it's making you!

You are doing just fine with her Jenn and it's important to celebrate those early successes because each step brings you closer to getting "comfortable" dealing with the diabetes and often folks get so overwhelmed they don't realize how much they have learned or how well they are doing.

Alexi's Cappucino has his lowest readings between 5 and 6 hours post shot. I would suggest you test again today around 4 hours post shot because some cats have their low point earlier or later than others so you really need to figure out J.J's response. The 0.5u is pulling her down a bit more today but she is looking good. You just want to make sure this dose is not going to take her too low.

 

Just tested her glucose again ( 2:30 pm ) and it's at 12.5 Tried the Pedialyte solution by syringe, did not go over well at all.

 

We tried filling out the spread sheet but not sure if it was done correctly, hoping someone can check it out and see. Thank you

 

Looks fine to me. Are you able to get a +5 and a +6 number today, I would test hourly now until you see the number start to rise so we can work out where her lowest point is.

 

Congrats again! The spreadsheet is accessible and looks great. Nice number too. She is going down at a nice even pace. I like the suggestion of testing at both +5 and +6 today just to see when her lowest point is. Let's see what she does.

You folks are doing great and J.J is so lucky to have you caring for her. She's in good hands.

I'm going to pop out to do a few errands and will check back in when I return.

 

Phew! So glad all is okay. Thank you both for your feedback. * hugs * I will post her readings for +5 & +6 when the time comes.

 

I tested her glucose ( 4:00 pm ) and it said 17.9

 

Ok so J.J is on her way back up now. Don't be worried that she's a bit higher than she was this morning. That's normal in the early days as kitty gets used to a lower BG than they've been used to. We call it bouncing and you just have to ride it out for a few days to let her body get used to the lower numbers. The other thing is that when the infection is gone, J.J's BG may come down more on it's own so I'd hold the 0.5u dose for now.

 

Just tested her again and it's 18.1

 

So if I've done the math right then at 10:45 pm I should test her bg, then feed, wait 20 mins, then give her 0.5, wait 2 hours test bg, wait 1 hour & test bg again...yes?

 

Sounds good to me, if you get an unexpected pre shot number post again for advice. I am not going to be around as it is past 11pm here but will check back when I get up to see how you are doing.

 

Thank you so much Alexi! Hope you have a great night.

 

So glad JJ's doing so well!

 

Thank you Sharon, I owe so much of her improvement to you guys and this forum. I truly do not know what we would of done with out your support. It's crazy how little information we received from our vet. Since we live out in the country and the closest town is a hour away so vital to be prepared. Funny thing is I always worried for our 2 little girls Bella & Sophia I never thought about the cat. Now I know better.

 

Hi Jenn, Just saw the reading from about 6pm. Looking good. No surprises there. Do you have any particular time of day you would like to be giving J.J her shots on a regular 12 hour basis? We should try to get you on a schedule that's a little more workable for those 3 hour post shot tests as I'm sure you'd probably like to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Caninsulin is a little more forgiving with shot times as it often doesn't last a full 12 hours so I think you could safely move the shot back a bit tonight if you'd like to do that to get started toward what will become your usual shot time. All the testing we been having you do won't have to continue on a regular basis. You should continue getting tests before each shot and ideally another about 3-4 hours post shot for each cycle. So perhaps if you do shots at 7/7 or 8/8 those night tests won't be as much of a problem but that decision is entirely yours to make. I think you can skip the 2 hour test tonight and give you and J.J a break. The +3 hour test will tell you how the cycle is going ie. how fast and how much J.J is dropping.

 

That's fabulous news Linda. The 8/8 would be great! What time do you recommend for tonight then instead of 10:45, would i do it at 9:45 and the reduce it another hour tomorrow or is that to drastic?

 

I think that would be a great plan.... even 9:30 should be fine if you see this in time to test, feed and wait the 20 minutes. There are times when shots get held up for whatever reason and depending on the insulin you are using, there are different methods of getting back on a workable schedule. Caninsulin is a little more flexible than some others so that makes it easier to get you onto a reasonable schedule.

 

Awesome thank you, just saw this and am off to test!

 

Her test at 9 pm was 20.5. Should I be scared that this is such a high number or is this part of the bouncing thing?

 

Just part of the bouncing thing. It may be that she will need a bit more insulin but for now the best thing to do is dose her conservatively. It may also be that her insulin requirement will come down when the infection is cleared up. I'd rather be a little conservative than too aggressive and it take a few days and some data to see if it's bouncing or a need for more insulin. Besides, our kitties often run a little lower at night than they do in the daytime which is why getting those before bed tests are so important. You don't need to be scared at all. This is just part of the usual adjustment period we all go through.

 

Thank you for the reassurance, feeling better about it if this is typical process. My husband ( Nick ) is giving her her shot now & I will be sure to post the +3 bg test.

 

Ok I'll be up and will check in to see how she is doing.

 

I can't believe how well she is taking all this poking! I was laying down with her on my chest talking to her while she was giving me kisses, when Nick walks in & pinches the scruff of her neck to give her the shot & J.J just keeps on licking me like nothing happened. I can not believe that we even entertained the thought for one second of putting her down thinking to make her go through this would be so cruel. I would never in a million years thought it possible that she would be so cooperative & it would bother her so little. Thank god we played this by year.

 

At her +3 read ( 12:45 ) it was 17.5

 

Looking good, in terms of changing shot times I tend to move by 30 mins at a time, sometimes an hour if the last shot was late and the blood sugar is looking ok. I agree to hold the dose until we have more data - can you update your spreadsheet as I'm not seeing your latest numbers on there.

 

Sorry Jenn. I checked in a bit too early I guess and then nodded off. J.J seems to be having pretty smooth cycles without a very dramatic drop. Making shot time changes of no more than 30 minutes daily is true with the long acting insulins that have carry over from one cycle to the next. Caninsulin is an in and out insulin so there is a little more flexibility to back up shots a little faster as long as pre-shots tests are done to ensure it's safe to do so.
Monday if I were you, I'd test at +4 hours and again at +6 during the day cycle to get a little different view of J.J's cycle. As you get more data, you'll start to see a pattern for J.J and those patterns help make dose adjustment decisions. And as Alexi mentioned, when you have a second, it would be helpful if you can update the spreadsheet.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I updated the spreadsheet with this morning's number included, feed her and im just waiting now to give her insulin. This will be the first time i have had to inject the insulin ( up till now I have only done the bg & my husband has been the one to do the insulin injections, so I'm a bit nervous).

 

You'll be fine. If you find you need to distract J.J at all to do it, give her a treat or two. while you shoot. I'll check in with you later, have to go out for bit, but if you have any problem, just post using a "?" prefix and someone will be along to help.

 

Jenn, did you give 1u or 0.5u last night and this morning? Just wondering!

 

I u last night and just about to do shot this morning. Should I do 1 u as vet had said or only half needed?

 

No worries. We usually hold doses for a few cycles to see how they are working but the 1u last night seems to have been fine and she had a nice pre-shot this morning, lower than previously, so all you need to figure out is how low the 1u is taking her. One suggestion.....make dose changes when you can monitor if need be. I always wait until a day cycle to make dose increases knowing that if I happen to get a lower reading than expected at a mid cycle test, I will be awake and able to monitor more closely if need be.

It will be interesting to see how J.J does today. I will be out most of the day but will check in later.

 

Huge relief! A million thanks & will be sure to get post shot readings.

 

J.J's +3 hour bg is 6.9

 

ok that's quite a big drop from her pre-shot level, can you post the PM pre-shot level as her dose may need some tweaking.

 

Just checking in and Wow! Now that's a nice number but quite the drop which isn't all that surprising. Obviously you did just fine giving her the injection! Congrats! Another hurdle conquered! I'm guessing the infection is now starting to clear and her BG numbers are coming down and may go down more. You also switched her to an all wet diet and it takes a few days to see the full effect of that change too. J.J also had a lower pre-shot number this morning.

Did you by any chance get another reading later in the cycle?

J.J could have dropped even lower by +4 or 5 so I'd be a little leery of giving her the 1u tonight because we often find the numbers in the night cycle are lower than those in the day and you don't want J.J going too low especially at night. I'd be inclined to take her back to the 0.5u dose tonight, get a test in at +3 again to see how much lower that number is than the pre-shot test and be prepared to perhaps get another test in if she is dropping sharply. I think you could back her shot up another 30 minutes tonight to make getting post shot tests in. Please let us know what her pre-shot reading is tonight.

One last thing, if you can put readings into the spreadsheet as you do each test, it will make it easier for us to see how she is doing and to assist you if need be.

 

Ok just saw the 7.8 at +5 so I am not sure it's necessary to reduce the dose tonight but I say that with the caveat that if you give 1u and her +3 is down as much as today's cycle, I'd suggest getting at least a +4 test in too, just to be sure she stays safe overnight. The problem is that if the infection is clearing her numbers could be continuing to drop on their own. It's up to you whether you are up to possibly having a bit of PJ party with J.J tonight. The cycle on 1u today was beautiful but the aim is to keep her safe and you sane! It will be interesting to see what her pre-shot number is and that should be part of the deciding factor here too.

 

Hi I just took her before supper shot & it was 17.5 I also updated the spreadsheet. Just going to feed her so I can start timing her for her next insulin dose. brb

 

Just noticed that you posted the same time as me, lol. Please at the risk of sounding stupid can you explain what caveat means, thanks. I have no problem doing a post 4 hr read if that helps then I will be glad to.

 

So she's a tad higher than this morning so If you are able to stay up IF she were to drop sharply by +3 you could give her the 1u. If you want to play it safe and or not be staying up tonight beyond the +3 test, do you think you could draw up 0.75u? It's your call Jenn and either option is fine.

OOPs we just cross posted again! Caveat just means a warning with conditions attached to it and apparently you are Ok with possibly staying up so decision is made?

 

Yes I am fine to stay up. So I will draw up 1 u then & give it straight away. Tonight will give me a chance to try and find some food for her that's available here in Canada, she really does not seem to like the Wellness. Thank for explaining what that meant. And I just learned how to put the numbers into the spreadsheet myself, so I won't have to wait for Nick to be home to do it.

 

I figured there was a good reason for the lack of spreadsheet updates! You are learning a lot of stuff these days and doing a great job at it! The learning curve definitely slows down very soon. Did I give you this LINK for food options before? The other option of course is Fancy Feast pates. There are other options like Tiki Cat, Hounds and Gatos, Boreal and Weruva which are available at Global pets but they are considerably more expensive. I can't think of any others off the top of my head but then I am the pet parent of a kibble addicted sugar who tries to bury any soft food as if it were her waste and 5 yrs of trying to get her on a canned diet has been one failure after another. There is also info HERE but some of these brands may be US only.

I'm feeling a little perkier tonight so will try to stay up to see what J.J's +3 reading is. If she stays around the same numbers as today or a bit higher, then I think it's safe to skip the +4 reading. If she has dropped more than she did today, then I'd get the +4.

 

Just did her +3 it was 6.1, thank you so much for the kind words & support you have been such a blessing through all this craziness. I have praised you & others who have help guide me through this to my friends and family so many times that now when my oldest daughter calls home to check on J.J she asks " What does Linda say? " Lol We live about a hour away from London in one direction or a hour to Port Huron in the other direction, so I'm sending hubby to the states side since there are more options for J.J there he should be able to pick up a assortment since my choice of Wellness did not meet her paw of approval! Lol Thank you for the link too!

 

Until she was diagnosed with the diabetes & I started doing research I never knew that some cats would actually prefer dry food over wet, but then again I thought the food she was on was good for her too because it was high in protein. So ya learn something new everyday, right now in my case tons of new things every day! But it truly is getting better ( as long as nothing happens to my notebook or tablet). If you are up & think I should do another read I will.

 

You are quite welcome. It's my pleasure to be able to help a little but I am just passing on the support I got when my journey started. That 6.1 is looking good but I think getting a +4 would be a good idea as she has dropped a tiny tad more than this morning. She's nowhere near any worrisome low numbers but we don't know exactly how much more she might drop so just to be extra safe (and I admit to being very conservative) I would get that +4. The early days of trying to understand your kitty's patterns will make things easier in the future.

 

Post 4 reading is 7.8, sorry that took a few mins I could not get her ear to stop bleeding but all is good now

 

I have been in your neck of the woods many many times while driving to Mackinaw and/or Wisconsin. Handy being able to hop across the border to pick up stuff but beware that you cannot bring pet food across the border without having the animal who will consume the food with you. If they catch you it will be confiscated. Last year I was considering having some exceptionally low carb kibble shipped from the states but they told me there was a possibility that they wouldn't be able to ship it up here much longer due to changes in our pet food import laws. I switched Menace over to another low carb kibble that was available here only to have that company suddenly decide to stop doing business in Canada. I looked into the possibility of running over to Niagara Falls NY to pick up that low carb food which is how I found out about this absurd regulation. Pitiful that we are supposed to have free trade and have such stringent rules for pet food/supplements. I understand wanting to keep our pets safe but I think this is taking that concern a little over the top.

 

Wonderful. It looks to me like the 1u is the right dose for her right now. She is on her way back up and you can go catch some much needed sleep. She is doing great! You just need to keep an eye on her in case her insulin need does drop more in the coming days as the infection clears. Sweet dreams!

 

Thank you so much very grateful. Hopefully you can get some rest too! Nighty nite & kisses to Menace, Civies & Worf