Allie update

[Squalliesmom]

@Squalliesmom Do the Relion meters read if there is too small a sample? My meters beep to tell me when I have a sufficient sample and there is a display of lines moving on the screen that doesn't start until a sufficient sample has been taken into the strip. Just wondering if that could account for the LOW this morning followed by what seems to be a fairly high food spike?

Linda, my Relion Confirm gives me an error message of "E 7" if the sample is too small. I have never gotten a Low reading, but I have gotten a Hi, and once an error message that said the temperature of the meter was too cold for it to function properly (Old, drafty houses are no fun!).

 

[Meya14]

Regarding the trace ketones and feeding:

If your cat is underweight, to prevent DKA it's important that you feed AS MUCH as she will eat. This is going to raise the blood sugar due to the extra calories available in her system. That is ok, you use the insulin to account for that increase. The extra food + the extra insulin will clear up any ketones as well as help her gain weight. Although some calorie/feeding restriction is needed with obese diabetic cats, underweight cats should not be restricted. Underweight cats who don't take in enough calories tend to become "brittle" diabetics, that is, their blood sugar can swing from high to low and back again and never get evened out. The more calories you can get in, the more stable the blood sugars will get, although you'll probably need a higher dose.

In regards to the type of insulin you are using, Novolin peaks at about 6-8 hours or less in cats, and has a total duration of about 8-10 hours, sometimes 12. So really the majority of the insulin is used in the first 8 hours or so. What ends up happening is that for that final 4 hours until the next dose, her system is without insulin. With no insulin, a body cannot use the sugar in the blood for energy, and ends up burning fat instead. Most cells can use ketones for energy for a short while, but these will build up in the blood and cause DKA. Novolin is not a good insulin when a cat is prone to ketones, as it doesn't provide a full 12 hours of coverage. Lantus and levemir peak in 10-12 hours but have a residual effect for up to 24 hours or more, so doses overlap. This means the body is never without insulin - it's called a basal dose. Having a basal dose is very important to preventing DKA in ketone prone animals and people. In order to have this with novolin, you'd have to shoot every 8 hours. You may want to discuss switching insulin types with your Vet.

Also, if your cat is currently eating, that is a good sign. Continue to test ketones daily, as they can build up and become a problem very fast (less than a day). If your cat stops eating again, or if ketones are higher than "trace" you need to see the vet as this is somewhat of an emergency.

Edit: The novolin I'm referring to above is Novolin N

 

[Alexi]

@Courtney - how is Allie doing? When my kitty was diagnosed she had lost a quarter of her body weight so I was pretty much free feeding her to start with figuring I could always adjust the insulin dose to bring her levels down. She acted starving most of the time. I asked my vet for a target weight and weigh her weekly. Fortunately I never had to deal with ketones.

 

[Courtney]

Sorry for not updating when everybody has been so great with all the help. My youngest son is in the 2016 babe Ruth World Series, so I'm running a lot this week.

Allie seems to be doing good. I've changed her dosing to 10 hours instead of 12, which makes for not much sleep but if that's what I need to do to get her healthy and regulated then I'll sleep later. I'm also feeding her 1/4 of a can mixed with water every 3-4 hours, which really seems to be helping with the starving behavior. She's started to free drink again, which really made me happy. I'd noticed that I never saw her drinking, so her food all day Monday looked more like thin stew. By the end if the day I caught her twice drinking from the toilet. I tested her urine once, and my husband had to interpret it for me cause they're his strips and I swear it didn't change color at all. He said it was a slight trace hue. Her numbers have been mid 200s to high 300s, so I increased her insulin to 2 units at her 2:40am shot. The 1.5 didn't seem to be helping much with all the snacks she needs to put on some weight. Hopefully I'll see some lower numbers today. Is it ok to change dosage like that? Or should I stay at a level for a certain amount of time?

Thanks,
Courtney

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

You can change the dose as needed/warranted with Novolin N as it's an in and out insulin.

 

[JanetNJ]

Glad to hear she's drinking and feeling better. Do you have a ss started?

 

[Courtney]

Glad to hear she's drinking and feeling better. Do you have a ss started?

I haven't yet. Next week my daily schedule will slow down, so I'll have time to check out some on here, and what I need to be charting. Right now I'm just keeping a notebook with details.