The trick to using food to steer the numbers if they start dropping is to feed small amounts at a time to avoid ending up with Melty so full he won't eat at all. I've seen suggestions of giving a teaspoon or 2 and then retesting after 20-30 minutes. Repeat as needed. I don't know of any reference docs that can tell you how much at what number. I think it becomes a judgment call based on ongoing testing if numbers are dropping and what your testing availability is.
If Melty is dropping sharply then higher carb food would be appropriate. If there is a slow drop, low carb might do the trick. If he dives corn syrup or honey is a quick sugar boost but won't last long so it needs to be accompanied by some food.
Sounds like a good summary, Linda.
It really does depend on the situation. Sometimes low carb food is all that's needed to 'steer the drop'. Sometimes higher carb food is needed.
The gravy from higher carb food is particularly useful as it adds carbs without bulk. Syrup/karo acts really fast, but doesn't last as long as food. So, you may often see the advice to give a little syrup
and a little food.
And as Linda says, it also depends on your testing availability: If a caregiver isn't going to be around to test much then just getting carbs on board to raise the numbers (and 'abort the cycle') may sometimes be the safest option. Some folks would use dry food if they need a longer acting carb source (but there was one memorable instance here where a member used potatoes because that was all she had available! (It worked well as I recall...))
We often tell caregivers to try not to let the cat drop below 50/2.8 (on a human meter) in order to give some buffer of safety. But for some cats (and in some situations) it may be better to try to keep them at a higher level than that, especially if they're using a shorter acting insulin and the cat is prone to dropping fast. (There have been caregivers who've tried to keep their kitties BG above 90/5 for example.) When numbers are dropping fast things can change very quickly.
A brief story of Bertie's first hypo:
I'd given a shot at a BG of 200/11. Two hours later he was 47/2.6. It was obvious I needed to take some action to stop the numbers dropping further, although Bertie looked completely normal. In the time it took me to run downstairs and get syrup everything had changed though. His eyes were like black saucers. He was staggering and falling over, and kept swatting at the air in front of him as if he could see something that wasn't there. And he was aggressive; so it was really hard to get the syrup into him. I couldn't believe that the situation could change so fast...
And I recall a member here (a couple of years ago) whose cat was just sitting with her watching TV. He then jumped down from the couch, keeled over on the floor and had a full hypoglycemic seizure.
Some cats show hypo symptoms early on (increased/ravenous hunger for instance). Some cats show symptoms when the hypo is moderately advanced (like Bertie does). And some cats do not show symptoms until the hypo is severe (as in the seizure example above). '
Absence of symptoms does not mean absence of hypo'.
For more advice on handling low numbers do see the FDMB hypo document linked to below for general information/guidelines. It is an extremely helpful document; well worth reading and then printing out and keeping with your hypo kit (especially for times when there is nobody online to help you with advice tailored to your particular situation) :
How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
(Sorry, I hadn't meant to go off into my usual 'hypo spiel'. But I've not said it for a while so it probably doesn't hurt to give it a little airing.
)
.