I keep seeing people saying if kitty is 200bg or lower not to give them their insulin. I'm sure there are so many variables to base that on but that's certainly not a black or white statement is it? Thoughts?
No, definitely not an "always" rule. It says that in the stickies because when folks are new, they are often uncomfortable/inconsistent about testing, and there isn't a lot of data to know how a cat will respond. There are also a lot of people who join, read the stickies, and then go away and do it on their own, without every posting for help. For those reasons, the stickies are the most conservative approach to dosing - they are designed to keep kitties safe when their caregiver may not have the skill or wisdom to use a more complex and nuanced approach. Once the cat and the human are used to testing, and can be sure of being able to get a test when needed, and understand how important that data is, and how to use the data appropriately -- then it's not only safe, but necessary to dose below 200. You cant' usually get a cat into remission without breaking that rule.
Thanks @Djamila . I've seen it commented a few times and as you know with my Scout we're trending towards mostly green and I didn't understand why 200 when I'm still dropping her at 100.
A non-diabetic cat will usually spend most of their time in the 50-80 range, with occasional numbers up to 120 (as measured on a human meter). There are cats that run a little higher than that though. Conventional wisdom around here has been that the more a cat is in that lower range when they go off insulin, the better chance that their remission will stick. That's why I'm hoping if you give it just a little longer, Scout will start to get into that range. Tomorrow is his one month anniversary, so he's still pretty new at this. If he stays at this level another week though, I think it might be worth trying a couple of cycles without and seeing what he does on his own.
