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Heather & Shooter

Heather & Shooter

Member Since 2009
Not sure how 911 this is but Shooter tested 60 at +6. I gave home some fancy feast beef pate having no idea if this would help or not. Unfortunately at +8 he is 47! I only have maple syrup or whip cream here right now. Should I give him some and how much? He is acting fine thankfully.
 
Hi,

You are towards the middle of the cycle, so shooter should be going up soon? You don't have a spreadsheet with data, so we won't know its usual patterns.

Nevertheless, the best approach is a drop of honey mixed in a teasponn of usual food, or smear honey in the lips (so not much) and test in 30 minutes
 
I happened to see that Heather posted in the main forum, too: Shooter is newly diagnosed, so no one knows this kitty's patterns yet, and she probably doesn't have a hypo kit yet, either.

Do you have something a little higher carb than the FF to give him a scoop of?
 
So I panicked before anyone replied and gave him a tablespoon of whip cream and 9 temptation treats. At +9 he is 54 so a little better but still low. Since he is up just a little should I wait another 30 minutes to see if he is still going up or give him more treats now?
 
It is totally understandable that you panicked :), we have all been there!

However, for the future it is best if you cut the treats all together. You can substitute them for freeze dried meat which is low in carb?
Maple syrup, honey and Karo, should do the trick. Most cats don't like to eat that directly, so that is why mixing with regular food goes better. You should keep testing him. If in half an hour he is still higher than 54, I would hold any food and test agin in 30 minutes. If higher again, then he should be fine for this cycle.

Have a read of all the stickies to remember all the protocols and expected curves. For a "well behaved cat" they will go slowly down until +6 ot +7 and then start going gently up again. So, it might be that 47 was the nadir (the lowest point of the cycle), but it will take a while monitoring his patterns until you have a better idea what is the response to different amounts of honey.
 
I have given Perry vanilla ice cream in low moments -- sometimes you just have to give the cat something you know he'll eat to bring him up! We are all doing our best here in a stressful situation.

Definitely peruse the sticky for SLGS, Start Low Go Slow, while you're waiting to see where Shooter is going here. He earned a dose reduction with these numbers today! There's also a sticky on handling low numbers. I printed that one off so there's a physical copy in my hypo kit for when I'm not around, so my husband can refer to it if needed.
 
Here are handy stickies to help you prepare for the next time this happens:
How to Treat Hypos
Jojo and Bunny's Hypo Toolbox

Please set up a signature and share your spreadsheet for us so that in the future when this happens again we are better prepared to help you and won't keep asking you the same questions over and over again: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/. You can use any of our signatures as a guide.

Have you been able to test again? Please remove the 911 from your thread title by going to "Thread Tools" on the upper right corner of this screen and change it to "4/20 Scooter +6 60, +7 47, +8 54". Please keep updating the thread title with new test results since you haven't shared your spreadsheet with us yet.
 
Heather82372 said:
So I panicked before anyone replied and gave him a tablespoon of whip cream and 9 temptation treats. At +9 he is 54 so a little better but still low. Since he is up just a little should I wait another 30 minutes to see if he is still going up or give him more treats now?
Click to expand...
Heather, what is happening with your baby? What is his latest test? Please don't leave us hanging. We are here to help you and your boy.
 
Sorry! I had to go back to work for 2 hours. My fiancé was keeping his eye on him. I just rechecked him. He is at 151 +12.5 so should I go ahead and give him 1 unit or skip until morning? I’m using a human meter.
 
Perry & Jenn said:
I have given Perry vanilla ice cream in low moments -- sometimes you just have to give the cat something you know he'll eat to bring him up! We are all doing our best here in a stressful situation.

Definitely peruse the sticky for SLGS, Start Low Go Slow, while you're waiting to see where Shooter is going here. He earned a dose reduction with these numbers today! There's also a sticky on handling low numbers. I printed that one off so there's a physical copy in my hypo kit for when I'm not around, so my husband can refer to it if needed.
Click to expand...
Great idea! I’m going to print that off for my fiancé!
 
Because he went under 50, you should reduce the dose by 0.25.

Usually when kitties are over 100 it is ok to give them the full dose if you will be able to monitor. A big however, is that we cannot see your data, so I am not giving you advice. Just stating some highlight of the protocol. Sorry I cannot be more helpful.
 
I agree with Karen. You should reduce the dose by 0.25 but it is so, so difficult to determine how to help you if you don't set up a "spreadsheet" and log all your test and you insulin injections. Please, Heather, you need to do this so folks on this site can really help you. Don't stray away. If you need help with setting up the spreadsheet and logging your test and twice daily insulin injections just ask. We can help you do all of that but you have to do it so we can help your boy. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Heather, welcome to you and Scooter. I tried to catch up on original history, based on your first post in the health forum, and I also wanted to encourage you to make sure you are using the correct syringes, which was previously mentioned in your first post. Because we generally make dose adjustments in 0.25u increments, you want to make sure you are using U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings.

Insulin Care & Syringe Info

This picture from the sticky above should help, hopefully it comes through View attachment 59849

While it is possible to have kitties react quickly when starting insulin, the numbers you had today make me wonder and I am worried you may have given more than 1u, if you aren't using the U-100 3/10 cc syringes. The other thing I'm wondering about, can you tell us a little about how Scooter was diagnosed with diabetes? Was he showing symptoms of diabetes? How was he diagnosed? Did the vet run any blood work and urinalysis, or fructosamine? What are you feeding Scooter? Is he on a low carb wet/canned food, or do you have dry food in the mix?

There is quite a lot of information here, and people who are happy to help if you have any questions. A good starting point is this post:

New? How You Can Help Us Help You

When people here on the LBL subforum are new, and just gathering data and experience, we recommend if you get a preshot number 150mg/dL or below, to stall (don't feed) and post for help. Continue to recheck in 20 minutes to see if the BG is rising. On the main health forum, we usually suggest not shooting if the number is below 200mg/dL, until you gather enough data and experience with how your cat responds to insulin and carbs.

Perhaps you can take a picture of what you believe is 1u on your syringe and post? At this point, given the cycle he had today, regardless of the dosing methods that we follow here, a reduction to 0.75u is warranted.
 
Ok, so I hate mentioning this because I feel like an idiot. Shooter's bg's plummeted this afternoon because I messed up his first injection this morning and gave him 3 units instead of 1. :( This is from today. It looks like now he might be spiking from being so low? BTW, I'm working on creating a spreadsheet still.

6:30am 299 accidentally gave 3 units!! +6 60 (fed fancy feast) +8 47 (gave TB whip cream & 9 cat treats) +9 54 7:00pm 151 gave 1unit +3.5 342!
 
Christie & Maverick said:
Heather, welcome to you and Scooter. I tried to catch up on original history, based on your first post in the health forum, and I also wanted to encourage you to make sure you are using the correct syringes, which was previously mentioned in your first post. Because we generally make dose adjustments in 0.25u increments, you want to make sure you are using U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings.

Insulin Care & Syringe Info

This picture from the sticky above should help, hopefully it comes through View attachment 59849

While it is possible to have kitties react quickly when starting insulin, the numbers you had today make me wonder and I am worried you may have given more than 1u, if you aren't using the U-100 3/10 cc syringes. The other thing I'm wondering about, can you tell us a little about how Scooter was diagnosed with diabetes? Was he showing symptoms of diabetes? How was he diagnosed? Did the vet run any blood work and urinalysis, or fructosamine? What are you feeding Scooter? Is he on a low carb wet/canned food, or do you have dry food in the mix?

There is quite a lot of information here, and people who are happy to help if you have any questions. A good starting point is this post:

New? How You Can Help Us Help You

When people here on the LBL subforum are new, and just gathering data and experience, we recommend if you get a preshot number 150mg/dL or below, to stall (don't feed) and post for help. Continue to recheck in 20 minutes to see if the BG is rising. On the main health forum, we usually suggest not shooting if the number is below 200mg/dL, until you gather enough data and experience with how your cat responds to insulin and carbs.

Perhaps you can take a picture of what you believe is 1u on your syringe and post? At this point, given the cycle he had today, regardless of the dosing methods that we follow here, a reduction to 0.75u is warranted.
Click to expand...
Yes, you are exactly right! My syringes are U-100 but they are not 3/10cc. I definitely need to get new ones. Shooter has been drinking a LOT and acted like he was always starving even though he kept getting fatter for a few months. He was just diagnosed 4 days ago. The vet did bloodwork, no urinalysis. Shooter is 14 years old. He has always eaten fancy feast beef or chicken pate mixed with water two or three times a day and now I'm weaning him off the Purina naturals grain free kibble he used to have out all the time.
 
Yep, that sure looks like a bounce from that low. Happens to Perry every time! And good catch on the morning dose. You'll be back in the swing of things here in no time since you've done this all before, you just have to get used to the new equipment.
 
Thanks for the additional information. If you are just now transitioning him off dry food which is high carb, that can have an affect on his insulin needs, when you remove dry food altogether and go exclusively to low carb canned food. Please do continue to get tests in during each cycle, in addition to the preshots, so you can get a feel for how the insulin is working. I'm glad we figured out the dosing problem, no worries, it happens, more often than you think :).
 
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