Just tested my cat's blood and it was 70 - what should I look for?

Hello,

I just rediscovered this forum while searching about hypoglycemia. My cat, Huey, whose been on Vetsulin for about 5 months, just gave the lowest blood sugar reading we've seen yet. At 5.5 hours after 4.5 units of Vetsulin, he is at 70. Should I be concerned? He is not showing any signs of hypoglycemia yet. He just ate some dry food, as well as some high carb treats. What should I be looking for? Should I give him karo syrup yet?

Worried cat mom,
Rachel

 

Sorry, I don't have a spreadsheet to reference yet (adding to my to-do list), but I can provide some additional info. We slowly got him up to 4.5 units over the last few months. We've done a glucose curve and found that his lowest is at 4-5hrs after dosing. He is typically in the 200-300 range at his lowest. He dropped down to 116 a few weeks ago when we had gotten up to 6 units, so we brought him back down to 4.5 units.

 

Sorry I'm just now seeing this - as an FYI, the Feline Health forum gets more foot traffic and is best to post there if you need immediate help.

To answer the question - the 70 itself isn't too worrisome. The direction it's heading is what tells you whether or not to worry.

Without a spreadsheet it's hard to say, but because it was 5.5 hrs after the shot, more than likely the 70 was his nadir and he would have naturally gone back up on his own without intervention.

If I had seen this yesterday, I would have recommended feeding 1-2 tsp of a low carb food and testing again in 30 mins...and then gone from there depending on how he reacted.

If the 70 had been much earlier, like 2 hrs after the shot, I'd have likely recommended feeding 1-2tsp of a medium carb food to help slow him down. You really only need to bust out the high carb food when you start seeing numbers close to/below 50 or very very sharp drops.

But like I said, it's difficult to know much without seeing a spreadsheet and history, knowing Huey's diet, etc. If you'd liketo stick around regularly, we're more than happy to help! I'd suggest starting here to get spreadsheet and signature set up.

He's on a relatively high dose...is he on a low carb diet? Or have any other health conditions?

 

*numbers above assume using human meter, if using pet meter it's a bit different

 

Thanks for your response. After eating some low carb dry food and treats, Huey's numbers went back up last night. When we started insulin therapy he was not on a low-carb diet, which is why (I am guessing) he got up to 6 units. When we switched him to a low-carb diet (FF Pate and No grain dry food), we lowered his units to 4.5. Now that he's been on that diet for a couple of months, it seems that we may need to go even lower than 4.5 units. He does not have any other health conditions.

Thanks again. I have my own spreadsheet where I have been keeping track, so I will make sure to transfer and share in my signature here.

-Rachel