Jess and MrCat
Active Member
The following is a quote taken from this website's main informational page. I see a lot of people talking about how their cat keeps "bouncing" and thought the new folks might like to know exactly what it means, how dangerous it is, and how to avoid it....
Somogyi Effect (Rebound)
When a diabetic experiences hypoglycemia, the body tries to compensate. While it generally doesn't have to, the liver is capable of producing glucose. The "signal" is glucagon, produced in the body in response to low blood sugar. Some vets treat hypoglycemia by injecting glucagon, which will keep the liver producing glucose for quite a while. The length of time it keeps putting out glucose is probably tied to the severity and/or duration of the hypoglycemia (or the size of the glucagon injection), but it can last 72 hours. The liver will generally kick in when BG levels get below 60, but in some it may happen at a higher level.
True Somogyi effect is quite rare in cats. Since they are obligate carnivores, their liver enzymes and glucose production ares different than that of humans and dogs.
Any hypoglycemic episode, whether or not you observed it, may be followed by some degree of rebound for some unknown length of time. It will show up as BG spikes happening before the insulin tails off, if you're doing blood tests. If you're using dipsticks, you'll see a high reading at a time when you're not even supposed to see traces. The spikes are almost as bad for the cat's long term health as sustained high BG levels, so they should be stopped. Besides the other things damaged by high blood glucose, the poor old liver gets extra stress, and the long-suffering kidneys are thrown into overdrive again.
Unfortunately, the instinct is to increase insulin when we see high BG levels. If they are caused by rebound, the answer is to decrease insulin.
So how do you know whether to give more insulin or less? First you decide whether or not there is any possibility that hypoglycemia is occurring -- if the cat is unregulated and never has a BG reading below 200, you're probably not seeing rebound.
If hypoglycemia is an unconfirmed possibility, simply decrease the insulin by 20% for three days and see if the spikes disappear. Since food causes blood glucose to rise, it's impossible to differentiate a Somogyi spike from a post-peak food spike -- another argument in favor of restricted feeding.
Somogyi Effect (Rebound)
When a diabetic experiences hypoglycemia, the body tries to compensate. While it generally doesn't have to, the liver is capable of producing glucose. The "signal" is glucagon, produced in the body in response to low blood sugar. Some vets treat hypoglycemia by injecting glucagon, which will keep the liver producing glucose for quite a while. The length of time it keeps putting out glucose is probably tied to the severity and/or duration of the hypoglycemia (or the size of the glucagon injection), but it can last 72 hours. The liver will generally kick in when BG levels get below 60, but in some it may happen at a higher level.
True Somogyi effect is quite rare in cats. Since they are obligate carnivores, their liver enzymes and glucose production ares different than that of humans and dogs.
Any hypoglycemic episode, whether or not you observed it, may be followed by some degree of rebound for some unknown length of time. It will show up as BG spikes happening before the insulin tails off, if you're doing blood tests. If you're using dipsticks, you'll see a high reading at a time when you're not even supposed to see traces. The spikes are almost as bad for the cat's long term health as sustained high BG levels, so they should be stopped. Besides the other things damaged by high blood glucose, the poor old liver gets extra stress, and the long-suffering kidneys are thrown into overdrive again.
Unfortunately, the instinct is to increase insulin when we see high BG levels. If they are caused by rebound, the answer is to decrease insulin.
So how do you know whether to give more insulin or less? First you decide whether or not there is any possibility that hypoglycemia is occurring -- if the cat is unregulated and never has a BG reading below 200, you're probably not seeing rebound.
If hypoglycemia is an unconfirmed possibility, simply decrease the insulin by 20% for three days and see if the spikes disappear. Since food causes blood glucose to rise, it's impossible to differentiate a Somogyi spike from a post-peak food spike -- another argument in favor of restricted feeding.
