cat drops to 1.8mmol after morning shot

Hello, new member here. My rescue cat had diabetes before I adopted him and went into remission. Now it is back, and this is all new for me. (thank goodness for this board!) I have finally gotten the hang of BG testing and for the past two days have been able to get some numbers. Yesterday morning I managed to successfully test him 3 hours after his insulin shot (1unit) Caninsulin BG read 1.6mmol. I immediately gave him some corn syrup and tested again 30 minutes later. BG had risen to 3.5. I called the vet who was suspicious about the low numbers on the human meter. She told me to reduce insulin to .5units. Evening his BG was 5.4 and then 5.2 an hour after his shot.

This morning I tested him before feeding and BG was 5.4mmol. Two hours after his shot it was 1.8mmol. I immediately gave him some food with corn syrup.

My question is; Is this unusual? Should I be skipping a dose? Now that I have the hang of testing I will try to test every 2 hours today to get a curve.

THanks for any help.

 

Previous post
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-member-so-glad-i-found-you.273116/

 

Have you taken a test since the 1.8 (32)? That is a dangerously low number. Corn syrup only lasts so long. It is very important to get another test in.

 

I've managed to take two more tests a couple of hours apart. they read 3.8 and 5.4. I've also clipped his nails because he has managed to draw more blood out of me than I have out of him. I'll try for a couple more before his evening meal. My concern is giving a cat with with "normal range" BG numbers an insulin shot. Any thoughts, suggestions would be welcome.

 

I'm not a caninsulin user and will tag people who know more but in my opinion, even 5.4 (97) is far too low and far too dangerous to shoot, especially since you do not want the nadir (the lowest point in the cycle) to fall below 5.0 (90).

There are a few things that can knock a cat out of remission.
Was there a food change? The saying goes "once a diabetic, always a diabetic" – which means stick to low carb food. Just doing this may bring the numbers back down.
Sometimes teeth are a factor. Is he in need of dental cleaning?

Your vet should not be suspicious of a human meter. Before pet meters, every vet used a human meter. And low numbers are low numbers no matter what is used.

Please do not shoot tonight without guidance. How many hours until your shot time?

From the Vetsulin Stickie:

Sticky BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CANINSULIN/VETSULIN
Q: It’s time for my cat’s shot, but the BG is a little too low. What now?

• If your cat’s BG is a bit below 200 mg/dL [11 mmol/L] on a human meter, consider ‘stalling’.
  • Stalling is waiting - without feeding your cat - for 20+ minutes, then retesting to see if the BG has risen to a suitable level.
  • You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling, and is high enough to give insulin.
  • If you have time, you can repeat the stalling process to see if the cat’s BG reaches a number you can shoot.
• If you cannot stall do to time constraints, if numbers are continuing to drop or if you do not have a supply of strips and high carb food on hand, it will be safer if you skip the shot.
• Note: As you gain experience with home testing and have gathered data to show how your cat responds to insulin, you will become more confident and better able to shoot progressively lower numbers.
• Ask for help on the forum before giving insulin if you are unsure, as you can never ‘un-shoot’ insulin.

And just in case:

• How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!

As I said earlier, carbs wear off rather quickly. If you get numbers below 5 (90), you need to got start the hypo protocol which means giving corn syrup and/or high carb food until the numbers come up and stay up. This means testing every 20 minutes.


@FrostD @Suzanne & Darcy

 

I agree with this! Please post your evening cycle BG and ask for guidance before shooting insulin. What time (and time zone please) is your shot time?

 

Thanks for your reply. This message board has been a lifesaver! I just tested Mouse again now and his BG is 5.1. I gave him a little bit of wet food as it seems from what I have read a few small meals are better than two big ones. I am in the Eastern standard Time zone (Ontario) (GMT -5) and will be testing him again in 2 hours at which time I would feed him his evening meal and give him his shot (which I might skip given what I have read here)

You asked about a change in diet? When I adopted him I was told to keep him on a wet diet ( 4 small meals) I didn't listen to this and since May he has been getting wet and dry grocery store brand kibble (he REALLY loves his kibble) and of course treats. Since his diagnosis I have thrown out all the treats/kibble and he has been on a strick wet food (Friskies and Fancy Feast) diet. It's hard to believe that just that small change in diet would help send him into remission again. I'm going to keep testing him every 2 hours this evening, and again tomorrow to see if this isn't some sort of strange anomoly.

 

What number did you get for Mouse?

 

Good it sounds like you need to withhold insulin for now and just rest and see where he is with just the low carb food. Diet change to low carb wet food makes a big difference in BG.

 

I've taken two more readings of Mouse's BG, each about 2 hours apart. 7.3 at dinner time. I decided to skip the insulin and got a reading of 9.4 later. I'll check him once more before I go to bed,but from what I have read on this message board, he should be fine without an insulin shot tonight. It would be really amazing if all I have to do is keep up the new diet. Thanks for all the help and support!!!!

 

It would help if you could setup a spreadsheet and the signature so we can see information when we help you.
Help us help you has the information to set both up. If you need help I can ask @Bandit's Mom to help you set up the SS.

You may need to give insulin for a time as well so don’t stop it without being advised to do so. If he needs it and he doesn’t get it, he can get very sick.
Once a cat is a diabetic, even if he goes into remission, he has to stay on a low carb diet for life, ithrwise he will fall out of remission and need insulin again.

 

OK, I think I have set up the spreadsheet and my signature. I've have now skipped two insulin injections. Last night and this morning because everytime I test his BG it's fine. I'm going to monitor it again for the next 24 hours and then if it stays the same, maybe give the vet a call. It's a little nerve-wracking worrying right now.

 

@MouseMom
Hi Vera
We can't see your spreadsheet
You have to
To set spreadsheet sharing permission:
* At the top right of the spreadsheet screen click on Share.

* In the pop-up dialog box click on the Get Link section.

* Change link access from 'Restricted' to 'Anyone with the link' and make sure that the permission on the right hand side is set to 'Viewer'.

* Click Done to save the changes.

 

@Diane Tyler's Mom
Thanks for the tech support. I think you should be able to view it now (fingers crossed).

 

Yes I can see it now By the way what a handsome kitty Mouse is , he's beautiful !

 

I’m going to tag @FrostD and @Suzanne & Darcy about what dose, if any, you should give Mouse moving forward. It looking like his pancreas is producing some insulin by itself.
I would wait to hear from one of those two people I have tagged above, before giving any more insulin.

 

With the numbers I see for today, which are all greens, I am guessing at this point that you will not need to give insulin tonight. How many minutes until shot time? I'm also Eastern time, so you can actually just tell me what time you will be testing before his dinner. Your Mouse is beautiful.

 

Keep in mind that road conditions are not great tonight so you may want to suggest tomorrow. I can't see the river at the bottom of my yard right now.

 

Okay well I tried to check in, but I will happily assume that all is well for tonight and that you are just monitoring him and BGs are good. . I am going to go offline now. See you tomorrow perhaps.

 

Thanks for your support! I've been holding off giving him insulin and checking his BG every few hours. This morning it was 7.1 mmol. I've also been feeding him (wet food) in smaller meals throughout the day, maybe about 4 small meals. So far so good. I stopped by the pet store this morning and picked up some high carb pet food for my Hypo Toolbox (I have learned soooo much from this site) His personality is starting to come back too which is nice, except he has gone back to peeing in his 3 favourite spots in my house! (but that is another issue altogether)

 

I love when diet changes work, glad you found us!