What Now???

Please see SS. Harley is not eating his canned food this morning. But he greedily ate around 40 Friskies Temptations Treats. I need to leave for the rest of the day in 1 1/2 hours. My mother is home but Refuses to check glucose. She will push food on him.

Question: Should I give him his insulin just before I leave? It will be about 1 1/2 hrs late. And Why are his numbers all over the place? I thought Lantus gave a nice gentle curve. There is always canned food on the floor so he picks throughout the day.

 

Since you fed you won’t know if another test would be food influenced. Shooting late would mean your next dose would be 12 hours from when you shoot. I’d skip this morning if he were my cat since the higher depot is still in play and your mom won’t be testing.

Grazing is fine but food needs to be picked up 2 hours before am/pm preshot.

 

Go ahead and skip. It looks like he is going low then bouncing. His body isn't used to the nice green numbers so the pancreas dump glucose in the bloodstream to boost his numbers. It's normal for new diabetics.

 

Thank you. I will hold this morning. I was wondering if it was bouncing and I also thought the same that he is not used to such low numbers.

 

Your kitty isn't bouncing -- yet!

Given some of the numbers you've seen and Harley's response to Lantus, I think skipping is your best option. Were you giving Harley high carb food or syrup when you saw the numbers in the 30s and 40s? If so, could you please put a note in the Comments section of your spreadsheet?

 

When his numbers were 30's-40's he ate Friskies Temptations Treats. Those are kept for my other cats and for emergencies with Harley as he Always is willing to eat them. Otherwise he is only eating Friskies Classic Pate since about 6/1. I did try giving him honey when low but he seriously turned into a Tasmanian Devil! Also, he was not symptomatic when low. I will recheck in about 30 minutes and post number here then I need to head out.

Aside from the current events, he looks/acts normal. Which for him means slinking around like a Sloth.

 

Lantus and Levemir do not always give gentle curves. We have some nice cooperative cats with perfect curves.

Take a look at Leo's chart. He had/has Acro. And he gets daily prednisolone for small cell lymphoma (SCL), where the pred is a gluticosteroid influencing blood glucose (BG). Darned near impossible to keep on a consistent dose and curve.

A month ago, Leo was ~7.25 units/day average, and now he is at 5.0 units. Maybe Harley is similarly challenged to have a standard curve. If so, you can do what I do. I just try to get him daily nadirs in the 100-150 range. Give his body and his kidneys a break.

 

40 Temptations is a LOT! I have seen people use one or two successfully to bring up low blood sugar. Have you ever tried crushing the treat into a powder and sprinkling it on wet food?

The overnight low was likely the 2.25 unit depot talking. Your skip this morning should help drain that depot so you should be able to go to 2.0 units tonight. I personally would not aim for nadirs in the 100-150 range. First of all, it's almost impossible, second, you are following TR which I assume means you are aiming for better regulation. Better regulation is a prerequisite for remission, should that be in the cards for Harley. He's relatively recently diagnosed, so the odds are with him.

 

Hello again. I kind of freaked out this morning because he was So low AND he refused to eat. I just started letting him chow down on the Temptations as much as he would eat. I never dreamed his sugar would sky rocket! I had to go to work and my mother would not test him but she would keep an eye out and try to feed him. Eventually he did resume eating his Friskies. He has gone on these hunger strikes in the past. I think he just wants to keep his mama's blood flowing.

So I will resume 2 units going forward and see what happens.

Thank you all for your help!

 

Eating issues seem to plague many sugar cats. I'm glad he got his hunger back. Let's see how the 2.0 units goes with him.