Charlies numbers in general are better this week so far. Last night he was acting lethargic again and barely ate at shot time. My son tested him post shot and said he was acting ok and saw him eat. This morning his glucose was 310 but he is not interested in eating again so I did not give him the shot. Was that the right thing to do? Can ketones happen when his numbers aren't super high?
Yes, you should check for ketones regularly, specially now that he's in Pink and he's not eating...!! It's important that he eats; maybe make a little buffet to give him choices, or heat up his food ! Good luck with Charlie !
Yes ketones can happen when numbers are not super high. Bubba was throwing ketones for a while when he was in the 200's. Since Lantus doesn't usually onset until around +2, you have a couple of hours to get some food into them. With a higher number , I would have shot . Is your schedule flexible to shoot now and then shoot 12 hours later? And coax him to eat.
I can shoot now which is 1.5 hours later than normal. Wont that mess things up moving forward? Like can I resume regular schedule tomorrow?
It's approaching 2 hours past normal shot time so I don't think I will shoot this morning. I followed him to the litter box and got some urine, ketones were negative. I guess I don't understand why he acts lethargic and not wanting to eat sometimes when his numbers are not super high and no ketones? Moving forward I will know now to shoot anyway even if he doesn't eat since I have a 2 hour window. I heated some food now and he ate some as well as drank water so I will keep an eye on him and test his sugar later to see what its doing without the shot.
Sorry, just seeing this. If you shoot 2 hours late, then your PM shot can't be any earlier than 11.5 hours after the AM shot. When the schedule gets disrupted for times like this or just running late, you recover your schedule by either shooting 30 minutes once is a 24 hour cycle or 15 minute earlier in each 12 hour cycle.
I see you recently switched to a human meter. You may already know this, but just mentioning in case... Human meters read consistently lower than pet meters do, because they do not read the blood sample in the same way. When people switch from an Alphatrak to a human meter, it can seem that the cat's numbers are better, but it is important to keep in mind that some of this may be due to the meter change. I am thinking a lot about this myself and have been doing some comparison tests (with a human meter AND the alphatrak on the same blood drop) to try to get an idea of what the difference tends to look like with Figaro's numbers. When Lyane mentioned "pink" numbers she means numbers in the 300s. The pink refers to the color coding on our spreadsheets.
Yes I am sure you are right that in reality his numbers are not really better! Interestingly he was acting more himself this past week and also put on some weight which was needed. I understand the pink numbers on the spreadsheet, I just didn't understand the comment that I should check ketones especially since he had pink numbers. I need to read up on ketones I think!
I was out all day, so could not get back to you! Thanks to Liz to clarify the PINK numbers! Until you get into low Yellow or Blue numbers, it's always good to pay attention to ketones!
Thank you for clarifying! I did end up checking his ketones this morning and they were negative. I will be sure to occasionally check to make sure he's fine. Still not sure why he was so lethargic and not eating, and not the first time he has been like that. Always seems to resolve itself, but makes me worry nonetheless!
Good! for negative ketones !! Those can develop very quickly sometimes, specially on high numbers (black, red and pink), that's why it's always safe to do some spot checks. Hope he keeps on eating well and gives you lower numbers soon!