Dosing advice

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Okay, all, I need your knowledge. Squallie has had high-ish BG numbers for a couple of days; I just tested him at +7 hrs and he's down to 67! Is this good or should I be worried? I'm going to monitor him to see if it drops any lower. He seems perfectly okay, maybe a little hungrier than usual.
 
at 67 mg/dL, he is having a lovely number for +7.
He can go as low as 50 mg/dL on a human glucometer for his nadir (lowest glucose between shots), safely.
 
BJM said:
at 67 mg/dL, he is having a lovely number for +7.
He can go as low as 50 mg/dL on a human glucometer for his nadir (lowest glucose between shots), safely.
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Thank you! I hoped that was the case but I feel much better hearing it from someone with more experience than me.
 
See my signature link Glucometer Notes for feline-specific glucose reference numbers.
And check out the signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for other assessments you can make to evaluate Squallie's health. Glucose is just 1 aspect - behavior, food & water intake & output, etc. tell us a great deal about our cats.
 
It could be that the 6 IU BID dose may be settling in. Remind me what you're feeding Squallie (PTSD - I have major memory problems).
 
Critter Mom said:
It could be that the 6 IU BID dose may be settling in. Remind me what you're feeding Squallie (PTSD - I have major memory problems).
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He eats Purina ProPlan DM and either Fancy Feast or Friskies pate'. Getting him to eat the canned food is a challenge, I usually try to give it to him pre-shot but sometimes he just won't eat it.
 
BJM said:
See my signature link Glucometer Notes for feline-specific glucose reference numbers.
And check out the signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for other assessments you can make to evaluate Squallie's health. Glucose is just 1 aspect - behavior, food & water intake & output, etc. tell us a great deal about our cats.
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Thanks. I have read them both several times, lol! I'm just an OCD worrier.
 
Hi, Lucy - How long a needle is on your syringe - 8mm? For I while I used the shorter 6mm ones on Bat-Bat (BD makes them, marked on the 1/2 unit, too). And that cut down on the problem considerably. Might be worth a try (unless your kitty is particularly thick-skinned).
 
I'm going to guess there may be some bouncing going on. With 6 units, Squallie gets as low as 67 mg/dL (just yesterday). Cats often go lower at night, so it is possible she may have gone lower than that 67 overnight. Either of those situations sets her up for bouncing.
I'm blind, discard the AlphaTrak notes. Saw Robin's thought it was yours.
Plus, the 67 earns her a 0.25 units reduction on the AlphaTrak, too.

Maybe put AlphaTrak at the top of your spreadsheet. Also, you've typed into the spreadsheet cell which is supposed to read > 500.
 
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Radar purrs when I test BG but the shot has been problematic for us after he started feeling better. When he shot me that look that says why did you do that?? I started distracting him with something yummy, even a bite of his favorite food is enough, and it's gone much better. I noticed after I was able to get him to stop walking away mid shot because he was distracted, my tenting technique got much better. As I improved he didn't give me that look. Don't know if that's helpful or not??
 
Robin&BB said:
@BJM - Eagle eye!!!:cool: (Must be nice to have eyes that actually work ...)
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I'm blind - mistook your sig note for hers.

No, just a bit OCD. And that 67 was so close to the 68 we use as a cutoff, that I checked what meter she was using.
 
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Lucy, I'm a bit confused. Your signature says Relion meter but BJ mentions Alphatrak.

As I've been following your progress, I'd appreciate it if you could do a quick post to confirm which meter you're using. I'd feel better contributing to your threads being 'belt 'n' braces' sure which meter you use. :)
 
BJM said:
I'm going to guess there may be some bouncing going on. With 6 units, Squallie gets as low as 67 mg/dL (just yesterday). Cats often go lower at night, so it is possible she may have gone lower than that 67 overnight. Either of those situations sets her up for bouncing.
I'm blind, discard the AlphaTrak notes. Saw Robin's thought it was yours.
Plus, the 67 earns her a 0.25 units reduction on the AlphaTrak, too.

Maybe put AlphaTrak at the top of your spreadsheet. Also, you've typed into the spreadsheet cell which is supposed to read > 500.
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Okay. What do I do about bouncing? I saw that on the spreadsheet, I don't know how that happened except my bluetooth keyboard goes crazy and types things on its own, I have to boot the tablet to make it stop. Can I just delete it?
 
Critter Mom said:
Lucy, I'm a bit confused. Your signature says Relion meter but BJ mentions Alphatrak.

As I've been following your progress, I'd appreciate it if you could do a quick post to confirm which meter you're using. I'd feel better contributing to your threads being 'belt 'n' braces' sure which meter you use. :)
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Yes, I use the Relion on a regular basis, I use the Alphatrak every other day for numbers for my vet (I do NOT put those numbers on his spreadsheet, I keep them in a separate notebook).
 
Hi Lucy - can't help you with the loopy keyboard or any advice, but you can just type >500 back in the black square and it should overwrite it. If you have any issues (I noticed a few formatting issues) I can PM you my email and if you share the spreadsheet with me I'm happy to fix it for you!

Squallie is a cutie (but I'm partial to tabbies).
 
Robin&BB said:
Hi, Lucy - How long a needle is on your syringe - 8mm? For I while I used the shorter 6mm ones on Bat-Bat (BD makes them, marked on the 1/2 unit, too). And that cut down on the problem considerably. Might be worth a try (unless your kitty is particularly thick-skinned).
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Yes, 8mm. He doesn't have thick skin but he knows how to tense it up so I have a hard time getting a "tent." I have bent needles on him before.
 
Brashworks said:
Hi Lucy - can't help you with the loopy keyboard or any advice, but you can just type >500 back in the black square and it should overwrite it. If you have any issues (I noticed a few formatting issues) I can PM you my email and if you share the spreadsheet with me I'm happy to fix it for you!

Squallie is a cutie (but I'm partial to tabbies).
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Oh my gosh, I'd love it if you could fix it! I don't know how to share it with you, tho', you'll have to talk me thru it, lol.

I think Squallie is a cutie too, but I may be a teensie bit biased!
 
Hi all, back with more questions *sigh*. Spoke with my vet today, she advised putting Squallie back on 7 units instead of 6. His PMPS was 397. Should I start the 7 units tonight (when it is more difficult to monitor him) or tomorrow AM? Any advice? Thanks!
 
Squalliesmom said:
Hi all, back with more questions *sigh*. Spoke with my vet today, she advised putting Squallie back on 7 units instead of 6. His PMPS was 397. Should I start the 7 units tonight (when it is more difficult to monitor him) or tomorrow AM? Any advice? Thanks!
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Can you set an alarm so that you can wake up to test somewhere in the +3 to +5 zone?
(You only have one overnight # so far on the SS, so I'm "guestimating" @ nighttime-cycle nadir here ...) I've done the alarm thing so many times :rolleyes: myself.
 
Robin&BB said:
Can you set an alarm so that you can wake up to test somewhere in the +3 to +5 zone?
(You only have one overnight # so far on the SS, so I'm "guestimating" @ nighttime-cycle nadir here ...) I've done the alarm thing so many times :rolleyes: myself.
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Yes, I can do that.
 
So then you should be ok starting the dosage increase tonight, as long as you can monitor. And you know how to steer with food to keep him out of the <50 hypo-zone?
 
Robin&BB said:
So then you should be ok starting the dosage increase tonight, as long as you can monitor. And you know how to steer with food to keep him out of the <50 hypo-zone?
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I do in theory, yes, I've never had to do it before. I do sometimes have a problem getting him to eat.
 
Well, if while you're monitoring his BG and you see him dropping close to the hypo-zone, give him a little bit of higher-carb canned. (Ex: if it were Bat-Bat & she was dropping nicely at +2 and then hit, say, a 60 on a human glucometer @ +4 overnight, I'd steer w/food at that point, then retest in about 20 min. or so to make sure she's heading back up.)

You say sometimes you have a problem getting him to eat. What are you feeding these days? How much per day & how often?
 
In the event that you're having problems getting Squallie to eat and he goes too low, rub honey/karo on his gums then post here ASAP for help and also call your vet's out of hours service.

Where are you with the food transition, Lucy? What's the split of higher to lower carbs?
 
If you need to get out the higher carb food, be sure to just give a tsp or two. You do not want Squallie to get full the first time you have to give the high carb food because you might have to give him more. After you keep testing during those low numbers, you may find that you have to give more high carb food so you want for Squallie to be hungry enough to eat it as long as you need him to. In other words, do not give him the full meal course. :)
 
Robin&BB said:
Well, if while you're monitoring his BG and you see him dropping close to the hypo-zone, give him a little bit of higher-carb canned. (Ex: if it were Bat-Bat & she was dropping nicely at +2 and then hit, say, a 60 on a human glucometer @ +4 overnight, I'd steer w/food at that point, then retest in about 20 min. or so to make sure she's heading back up.)

You say sometimes you have a problem getting him to eat. What are you feeding these days? How much per day & how often?
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He eats Fancy Feast or Friskie's pate' and ProPlan DM. I can only get him to eat about 1/2 can per day, 1/4 for breakfast and 1/4 for dinner. He much prefers the dry, and he gets that throughout the day, about 3/4 of a cup all told.
 
Sounds like a good plan, Lucy! Let me know how it goes (I'm 3 hours behind you on the clock, so will likely be awake here until about 2 am your local time.)
 
Critter Mom said:
In the event that you're having problems getting Squallie to eat and he goes too low, rub honey/karo on his gums then post here ASAP for help and also call your vet's out of hours service.

Where are you with the food transition, Lucy? What's the split of higher to lower carbs?
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He really doesn't want to transition to canned food, it's an uphill battle all the way. His canned food is all well under 10% carbs, not sure what the carbs with the ProPlan DM are.
 
Merlin said:
If you need to get out the higher carb food, be sure to just give a tsp or two. You do not want Squallie to get full the first time you have to give the high carb food because you might have to give him more. After you keep testing during those low numbers, you may find that you have to give more high carb food so you want for Squallie to be hungry enough to eat it as long as you need him to. In other words, do not give him the full meal course. :)
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Thank you for the info, much appreciated!
 
Robin&BB said:
Sounds like a good plan, Lucy! Let me know how it goes (I'm 3 hours behind you on the clock, so will likely be awake here until about 2 am your local time.)
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Robin, if you're still up, I just tested him at +3 hrs and he's at 186. I've got an alarm set to test him at +5 and +7 hrs. I'll keep his spreadsheet updated. Thanks for the support, much appreciated! :-)
 
Squalliesmom said:
Robin, if you're still up, I just tested him at +3 hrs and he's at 186. I've got an alarm set to test him at +5 and +7 hrs. I'll keep his spreadsheet updated. Thanks for the support, much appreciated! :)
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Thanks for the heads-up, Lucy. If I find myself stuck in the insomnia zone tonight, will peek back here again later ... Otherwise will be conking out as mentioned earlier. You're doing just great!:D
 
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