Tabby tested at 427 at 6pm

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Matt & Tabby

Matt & Tabby

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Tabby tested high at 6pm could of been are car ride back home but she was home for about 2 hours before tests but I am sure car ride stress raised the numbers a tad. Gave her 2 units of prozinc
 
I hope you can get another test in a couple hours and before bed. It is impossible to know whether she needed two units or whether the number was inflated because she dipped low in the middle of the cycle. There is something called bouncing. Their body senses a lower level than is safe, or is what they are used to and it releases extra glucose, making them bounce up at the next pre shot. If your evening number is a bounce, the extra insulin can make her drop low overnight.

I would urge you to be cautious with your dosing until you get her body on the 12/12 schedule and until you can get some mid cycle numbers (5-7 hours after the shot) Since you are gone all day, it'd be wise to plan to get an in the door test as soon as you get home everyday and a test before bed every night. The more data you have, the better you can figure out what the insulin is really doing and what you need to do with the dosing.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
I hope you can get another test in a couple hours and before bed. It is impossible to know whether she needed two units or whether the number was inflated because she dipped low in the middle of the cycle. There is something called bouncing. Their body senses a lower level than is safe, or is what they are used to and it releases extra glucose, making them bounce up at the next pre shot. If your evening number is a bounce, the extra insulin can make her drop low overnight.

I would urge you to be cautious with your dosing until you get her body on the 12/12 schedule and until you can get some mid cycle numbers (5-7 hours after the shot) Since you are gone all day, it'd be wise to plan to get an in the door test as soon as you get home everyday and a test before bed every night. The more data you have, the better you can figure out what the insulin is really doing and what you need to do with the dosing.
Click to expand...

I'm out at dinner now what tine should I test her again tonight
 
I'd get a test when you get home, and then one before you go to bed. And let us know.

I sent you a message in the private conversation. Check it when you get home. I added the Test number and shot tonight. We'll get the spreadsheet so it works for you.
 
So that's 3 hours after the shot and a drop of more than 50%. She might stay in good ranges but she could drop low. I'd try to get a test in that 5-7 hour to see if she is too low.
 
I would stay at 1.25, Matt, unless you get a pre shot under 200. This needs to be a slow and steady process - there is no rushing it. It's always best to slowly increase rather than shoot too much and not be able to get it out.

You certainly could give her a little snack if she is hungry - maybe a tablespoon of her regular food. I don't think she is likely to drop low enough to be dangerous (But I could be wrong). It is just quite a drop early in the cycle, and likely to cause a bounce into higher numbers for the next shot. Better flatter than a fast drop.
 
My syringes got every unit.. 1.25 is hard to read out. She's eatting right now gave her a table spoon of dry she has some wet food left over from dinner to. Fingers crossed here
 
I think I'd do one unit if she is 200-250. 1.25 for anything over that. If you'd get a test under 200, stall. Wait 20 minutes without feeding and retest. If she is sure rising and 200+, then give her a shot but maybe a little less than one unit. Pull up one unit and let two drops out. You can also leave out some regular food out For her during the day.

This is a steep learning curve and you are learning fast, Matt. And she is doing great! I think the 12/12 steady schedule will really help her. Your job is to test, keep her in safe ranges and let her body work with the insulin.
 
A before bed test will be in a few hours, won't it? That should give you an idea of whether she is going to drop or flatten out.

Try not to feed dry. Even if she would drop too low, the gravy off high carb food is best. Fancy Feast gravy types are good low number foods - you can just give a tablespoon of gravy. Buy some and label them high carb so you don't feed them by mistake.
 
Well I'm actually about to head to bed here soon.i have to be up early so am curious of a good time to retest maybe at midnight. It's 930 here now
 
Midnight would be great if you can get up then.

It was a steep drop, Matt, but she is still in good ranges. I wouldn't worry too much. Leave out some regular low carb for her. (If they feel themselves dropping low, they eat to bring themselves up).
 
Write this down somewhere. You may need it sometime.

If she is in the 50s, give her a tablespoon of regular food and retest in 20 minutes. If she starts back up, she should be okay but you might get another test in another half hour. If she continues to drop below 50, give her a tablespoon of gravy off the higher carb food. Retest in 20 minutes. If she'd continue to drop, add a teaspoon of honey to her food, retest in 20 minutes. Once she starts to rise, you need 3 tests going up before you relax.

She may be stressed because you are a little stressed. I'd go to sleep and plan to get up and check her.
 
If you're not able to test mid-day, can you occasionally try testing in the middle of the night to see how low she might be going? It works best for most folks to make it a multiple of 45 minutes, the approximate length of the normal sleep cycle, as waking up at the end of a sleep cycle is much easier than waking in the middle of one. Thus, you might set an alarm for 4.5 hours, 5.25 hours or 6 hours after going to bed - whatever is going to come closest to the probable nadir period of +5 to +7 hours post-shot.
 
Take action to prevent or correct a situation, ie prevent low numbers or correct low numbers.
 
At + what? Need the context to evaluate the number.

Maybe give a tablespoon of regular food.
 
But how many hours (+#) since the shot, that is the context I mean.
ie if +3 was 196
what column is this most recent number.
 
Just checking to make sure you understand how we use the spreadsheet.

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning, pre-shot, test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening, pre-shot, test)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

The nadir is the lowest glucose between shots. There is a general period when it will happen which is specific to the insulin being used and testing then helps make sure your cat doesn't go too low.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.
 
Could you just list the test like this:
PMPS = The glucose level before the shot
If a test was 3 hours after the shot, it was a test at +3

If a test was 5 hour after the shot, it was a test at +5
 
Definitely feed a tablespoon of food. Here's why:
427 ~ PMPS
196 ~ +3
150 ~ +4 a drop of 277 in 4 hours, a drop rate of 69 mg/dL per hour
If she continues to drop at this rate, in another hour it will be below 100. And we don't know when she usually hits her lowest glucose between shots.
 
She may nadir early and start back up by +5. Its OK to snag a nap for 45 minutes.
And she is still in safe numbers (above 50 mg/dL on a human meter).
 
That's good, Matt. She's headed back up. Go to sleep. She may be high in the (a sharp drop can cause a bounce or numbers lower than she's used to) but please, only give her 1.25 tomorrow. You did good and kept her safe, and got a real taste of why you increase low and slow
 
Tabby tested at 6am 450 after last night's slight scare.. I'm going with 1.25 sue and hope that will work ok. Gonna try to come back here on my lunch break to check up on her
 
HI Matt! Sorry I wasn't around at all yesterday...we've been having some problems at home.

I think 1.25 is good. I know it's a high number, but that is more thank likely a bounce (meaning she got low numbers last night...her body was concerned and released extra...glycogen?...I think...and therefore, her numbers are much higher). BJ explains it best. I think of it like a defense system. Like when you get something in your eye that hurts, your eye tears up a lot to try to get it out...but it's overkill. Same thing here...the body sees low numbers and wants to pull them up...but it goes too high because of that. Anyway, it's common, and not a concern. The thing is, you don't want to shoot a higher number into a bounce...you want to let it clear. The 1.25 should be good to keep her safe.

As a side note, we don't really talk in times here (unless we're asking someone to be around at a specific time! I sometimes try to get times from folks for early morning since I am usually the early one on this board). Since we're all in different time zones, discussing a specific time of day is difficult. If you talk in AMPS (morning preshot test), PMPS (evening preshot test) and + number (the number of hours since the last shot of insulin), we can communicate better. We have to know number of hours since the last shot to give any real advice about lower numbers since we know roughly when numbers should start to go up...and roughly when the lower numbers are a concern or warrant further testing.

Let me know if anything I said makes no sense. I've not had much sleep in the last 2 days and I'm following my cats around like a maniac to check on them...so I may be speaking gibberish!
 
It's ok. Thanks for the concern. Yes it's all gibberish to me still. Still to new at this. And lack of sleep from everything and stress. I do apologize
 
Haha I get that...lack of sleep is my friend right now!

To simplify...a bounce means the cat had a higher preshot number, went pretty low during the cycle...and "bounced" back up to a higher number. The whys of that can wait...but we see it all the time. It's nothing to be concerned about. :)
 
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