Tested lower than 200- advice please!

Wilson tested at 161 this morning. That was the lowest he's been, so I tested the same drop of blood again and got 160. Do I give him his 2U of vetsulin?

 

Why is nobody responding? I've seen so many responses to other people this morning, but I don't know how to post in the section where their messages appear "new posts"
It's over an hour past when Wilson should have had his shot. We need help!

 

In the future post in the main health forum, as this one is not really one people look at. If your preshot is lower than normal, stall for an hour (which should be now) and retest.

 

If he's over 200 go ahead and shoot. Please try to get some mid cycle readings in to make sure he doesn't go too low. You'll want to grab one around 4-5 hours after the shot each day when possible. If you work during the day, try to get a before bed reading. Vetsulin is dosed based on the lowest point in the cycle.

 

Okay, so I tested again and he's 244. I'll give his normal dose now. Thank you!

 

Sounds good. if there's ever an emergency or time constraints there's an fdmb group on Facebook. People get alerted on there when there's a new post. We can't Give dosing advice on there but for something like this someone could help, or you could put a link on there to your post here.

 

I did post in that Facebook group as well. I got more specific advice here from you. Thank you again!

 

So this morning I got a reading of 156, I fed him then retested in an hour and 15 minutes and got reading of 188. I've been giving 2.5 U of vetsulin twice a day, but haven't given his shot yet this morning as he was below 200. Should I give just 1U?

 

Tested 213 at 9:15, so it's now been over 2 hours since he was first tested and ate. I'm thinking give 1.5U?

 

I gave 1.5U of vetsulin at 9:25 hopefully he'll be okay....

 

Hi Heather. I can't give dosing advice (too new, and no experience with Vetsulin), but I wanted to share a couple of thoughts.

One of the most valuable things to me about FDMB is the dosing guidelines. I knew that if no one was around to help me I could rely on those guidelines that have been tried and tested for donkey's years. Lola was on Prozinc and when she was receiving shots (she's in remission right now), I copied the 'what to do in case of low numbers' language to the top of her spreadsheet so I had immediate reference to it and wouldn't have to go searching for it. Here are the Vetsulin ones I copied over from 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.
• If your cat has history of ketones or DKA, or other health issues, or you are concerned, DO post on the Main Health forum for further advice.

Instead of making note in the Remarks section that you shot 1.5u at 9:15a, I think it would be more helpful if you moved the 1.5 over to the usual "U" column with the notation "@+14" (or whatever the appropriate number, counting hours from his last shot -- if it was 2 hours late it would 12+2, so 14).

Also, I'd start a new thread for the day instead of using one that's weeks old when you need help. That way folks can see that the request for dosing advice is new today and not related to something from a while back.

I don't have any experience with Vetsulin, but from everything I've read about it being pretty fast-acting I think it wouldn't hurt to get a couple of tests in during the next few hours to safeguard against Wilson going too low.

Enid

 

I have tested him again at 2 hours after the 1.5U shot. He's at 133. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Hi Heather,

Remember tonight that, because you gave the morning dose later than usual today, your PM dose will need to be given at a correspondingly later time tonight (assuming that the PMPS is high enough). You'll then need to gradually work back to your normal scheduled times gradually, either by shifting back 15 minutes on AM and PM cycles - OR - by shifting back either the AM or the PM shot time by 30 minutes (i.e. a maximum backward adjustment of 30 minutes in any single 24-hour period).

Alternatively, provided ...

- Wilson has no history of generating ketones or episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis
- is eating well
- has no known additional health problems (e.g. infection or inflammation)

... you could elect to skip this evening's dose if necessary and then start back at your normal scheduled time tomorrow morning. If in any doubt, please post for help.

Because the board is quieter over the festive season it might be an idea to take a BG reading +11 hours from the time you gave the dose this morning and posting for advice about what to do for this evening's cycle. (Note: For clarity, you still need to take the PMPS reading as well.)

Posting a little earlier might increase the chances of someone replying to your thread in time. I also suggest changing the title of the thread to say that you need help with this evening's dosing decision (click on Thread Tools in the opening post to do this).


Mogs
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Can you think of any reason for the abnormally low (compared to past) PS this morning? Eat less?

 

Thanks for reminder and suggestions. I was planning to bump up time of test and shot this evening to account for later morning shot.

 

I assumed you would be, Heather, but I thought I'd cover the topic anyway to be on the safe side. Belt 'n' braces!


Mogs
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