Help- numbers dropping too fast?

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Orangey

Orangey

Member Since 2015
Today Mellows numbers started out at 26.6 AMPS so I gave the usual 2.5 of Caninsulin. His numbers after were;
+4 21.1

+6 22.2

+4.45 22.8

PMPS 21.9 This seemed low so I reduced the Insulin to 2.0 but at + 3 he's dropped to 13.1

Is this too fast?

We have been changing him to wet food (Butchers classic Meat about 8% carbs) but may have done it too fast though he seemed fine yesterday.

I gave him some Go Cat kibbles with honey on them and some Gourmet Gold Chicken and Liver in gravy at + 3.40.
 
Hi, I understand your panic when you are not used to seeing that big of a drop at once. You reduced his dose for PM and gave him some honey, so I am sure he is going to come up a lot. Get another test in 20 from the time you gave him the honey and kibble then post.
 
He probably would have been fine at 238, it's just that you aren't use to seeing him in the pinks or yellows. With the Alphatrak hypo starts somewhere around 69 so he did have a ways to go. Next time keep testing to monitor and when he get nearer 69 then you can give the higher carb food and honey. Again, I understand how anxiety producing it is when you see a drop and a lower color that you are not use to seeing. How is he now?
 
Just tested and he's 8.3 at +4.33. Yikes. I hope he goes up next test. He's eating more kibbles and Gourmet with a little honey at the moment and seems ok in himself. I am so glad this site exist. Its re-assuring to have you guys around.
 
I'm sure he is going to be fine. He is still a far away from a hypo event and you have your finger on the pulse of everything. Keep testing 20 minutes from the +4.33 test. He's probably loving all the extra food right now. :)
 
I don't know the formula to convert your numbers to the ones we use, so I can't help on that front, but as a Vetsulin (Caninsulin) user I can tell you that sharp, fast drops like the one you experienced after your PM shot are typical of this insulin. It would be a good idea to talk to your vet about it, and show him/her your numbers, he may want to reduce your kitty's dose a little bit.
 
It can take up to 30 mins after eating for it to show in the BG testing. Stay with it and I am sure he will come up. Do you have any higher carb wet food with gravy? Bet he is enjoying the extra food. :)
 
If his numbers indicate that he's at risk of hypoglycemia, gravy from high carb canned food is most helpful, it will bring his BG up but won't fill him up in case you need to feed more. When my cat had a problem, I mixed the gravy with some Karo or honey, and he ate it right up. Kibble takes much longer to bring BG up. After you feed him test again in about 15-20 minutes and repeat if necessary. Keep us posted!
 
His numbers have been quite high recently but started to come down since I started a new bottle of insulin on 1/10. We also started him on wet food recently but he likes to lick the jelly off and not eat the meat as quick. I dont have any higher carb than the Gourmet Gold- thats supposed to be 25%. Doesnt seem to have much gravy though.
I'll test again now.
 
It appears that your SS equates your AT readings with human meters, please plug in the last reading you got so I can see what the number is.
 
Squalliesmom said:
I do, Bobbie, but I use it so infrequently that those numbers don't really mean anything to me; I usually use my Relion, sorry.
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NO problem, I ask Orangey to plug the number into the SS. If you look at his SS it equates the AT reading she gets to one that I understand. Apparently, he dropped again....
 
Okay, I just looked at your spreadsheet and if I'm reading it right, he is not currently hypo. Hypo on an Alphatrak is 68 or below (our numbers, don't know what Orangey's equivalent is).
 
The US equivalent numbers are
236 + 3 (uk 13.1)
149 +4 (uk 8.3)
193 +5 (uk 10.7)

So last one a bit higher. Whew.
 
His last reading at 10.7 at +5.14. so he is actually coming up. Yes, he is not in hypo, he had a big drop from PMPS at +3, bigger that she has seen and in lower colors and got a bit anxious.
 
Okay, he's coming up. Maybe another 2 test 20 minutes apart to make sure he continues to come up so that you will be able to know he isn't going to plummet on you. I don't think I would give anymore honey or kibble at this point unless 20 minutes from now he started to drop but I don't think that will happen
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Okay, he's coming up. Maybe another 2 test 20 minutes apart to make sure he continues to come up so that you will be able to know he isn't going to plummet on you. I don't think I would give anymore honey or kibble at this point unless 20 minutes from now he started to drop but I don't think that will happen
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I agree, I don't think you need to give any more right now. I think you are well out of the dangerous range. Those hard, fast Caninsulin drops in BG can be very scary, I know, I've been there, too. That is how that particular insulin functions, though; it has a fast-acting component, which can cause drops like the one you had today, usually around the +3 to +4 time frame, and it also has a longer acting component that kicks in to try and get optimum duration. This second component can cause another drop but usually not as sharp or as fast, sometime around +7 hrs, give or take.

Just remember, with your Alphatrak meter, he's safe unless he hits a BG of 68 or less. If he starts to get close to that number, I would recommend testing him fairly frequently so you can make sure he doesn't cross that line. :)

I know it's nerve wracking! Good job being alert to his numbers and asking for advice, you're a very good kitty Mom! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Ok . Thanks Bobbie, Squalliesmum and Sue484. I was just worrying at the speed he was dropping and wanted to prevent a hypo. I have enough strips for a few more tests tonight- I have 7 left but I need to keep at least 2 for tomorrow and 2 for Monday. I may have to buy more from the vet on Monday. I only ordered some online earlier today as I thought I was getting low! (And I wasted one on the last test as Mel shook his head so I didnt get enough! )
 
Maybe ration out those few strips for the +7 +8 tonight for when Lucy said another more gentle drop can occur. And right now, he is in a good number to be able to go down some without concern.
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Maybe ration out those few strips for the +7 +8 tonight for when Lucy said another more gentle drop can occur. And right now, he is in a good number to be able to go down some without concern.
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Ok- good idea. Thank goodness its Sunday tomorrow and I can catch up on my sleep!
 
You did the right thing giving him his dose because of his preshot number. How much? I don't know because I am not familiar with caninsulin. Maybe post o that forum and let them guide you.
 
I wonder whether I should have given him any at all now though
.[/QUOTE]
How long ago did you give him his shot?
 
He's probably not going to drop a whole lot more, but it would be a good idea to check him a few times just to be sure, every cat is different (ECID, you'll hear that a lot here, lol). I would suggest you may want to reduce his dose tomorrow, if you are short on test strips. Better one day with higher numbers than risk a hypo.

I'll be checking in on and off, if you have any more questions, although I imagine it's well past bedtime in your part of the world!
 
Squalliesmom said:
He's probably not going to drop a whole lot more, but it would be a good idea to check him a few times just to be sure, every cat is different (ECID, you'll hear that a lot here, lol). I would suggest you may want to reduce his dose tomorrow, if you are short on test strips. Better one day with higher numbers than risk a hypo.

I'll be checking in on and off, if you have any more questions, although I imagine it's well past bedtime in your part of the world!
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Latest reading 23.6 (US 424) at + 7 !! Must be the Honey and Gourmet Gold finally kicking in. Well I feel safe enough to go to bed now. I will test him again before his 8am shot. Thanks for your help Lucy. Goodnight. :joyful:
 
Orangey said:
Latest reading 23.6 (US 424) at + 7 !! Must be the Honey and Gourmet Gold finally kicking in. Well I feel safe enough to go to bed now. I will test him again before his 8am shot. Thanks for your help Lucy. Goodnight. :joyful:
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Good night, hope you get some good sleep, now! :)
 
Also, I just have to mention that 424 is actually pretty high. You probably need to talk to your vet about the numbers he'd like to see your kitty start to come down to. :)
 
Hi there, Tracey! (I realize you may not read this for awhile, given the time difference between you and southwest U.S.;))
I'm a longtime AlphaTrak2 user. You did just fine with Mellow, and I totally understand your concern about the hard & fast BG drops that may occur when using Caninsulin. That said, those yellow and two blue BG# you saw in tonight's cycle are actually very good numbers; not so low as to cause concern about an impending hypogycemic event. But it's great that you're staying on top of the monitoring - good job!:)

For future reference: On an Alpha Trak2, although the usual "be careful" BG # is anything less than 69 (between less than 3.8-3.9 in U.K. #s) , I'd say that if you see your kitty starts dropping to around a BG of 80 (4.4 in U.K #s) on your AlphaTrak - giving you an added measure of safety here - that's when you'd want to start steering with a some food to bring the BG number up.

You may see a bit higher AMPS in the morning as result of dropping at nadir more than 50% from his PMPS (& the syrup + higher carb food could factor in, as well) - but that's ok. If this were my kitty: I would probably stay the course with that 2.0U again in the morning, just to see where he goes mid-cycle during the day - since Mellow did experience a nice drop in the p.m. cycle 3/10/15 after you lowered the dose. And in taking a look at his daytime cycle 3/10/15, I have to wonder if the reason Mellow was staying high and flat through his daytime mid cycle could have been that the dose was a little too high? As sometimes a kitty's #s will stay high and flat when getting a bit too much insulin: This may provoke compensatory hormones to release stored glucose (glycogen), which raises the blood glucose level high - making it appear like more insulin is needed when it is not.

Just some thoughts here ... hope these may be helpful to you. :) - Robin
 
Robin&BB said:
Hi there, Tracey! (I realize you may not read this for awhile, given the time difference between you and southwest U.S.;))
I'm a longtime AlphaTrak2 user. You did just fine with Mellow, and I totally understand your concern about the hard & fast BG drops that may occur when using Caninsulin. That said, those yellow and two blue BG# you saw in tonight's cycle are actually very good numbers; not so low as to cause concern about an impending hypogycemic event. But it's great that you're staying on top of the monitoring - good job!:)

For future reference: On an Alpha Trak2, although the usual "be careful" BG # is anything less than 69 (between less than 3.8-3.9 in U.K. #s) , I'd say that if you see your kitty starts dropping to around a BG of 80 (4.4 in U.K #s) on your AlphaTrak - giving you an added measure of safety here - that's when you'd want to start steering with a some food to bring the BG number up.

You may see a bit higher AMPS in the morning as result of dropping at nadir more than 50% from his PMPS (& the syrup + higher carb food could factor in, as well) - but that's ok. If this were my kitty: I would probably stay the course with that 2.0U again in the morning, just to see where he goes mid-cycle during the day - since Mellow did experience a nice drop in the p.m. cycle 3/10/15 after you lowered the dose. And in taking a look at his daytime cycle 3/10/15, I have to wonder if the reason Mellow was staying high and flat through his daytime mid cycle could have been that the dose was a little too high? As sometimes a kitty's #s will stay high and flat when getting a bit too much insulin: This may provoke compensatory hormones to release stored glucose (glycogen), which raises the blood glucose level high - making it appear like more insulin is needed when it is not.

Just some thoughts here ... hope these may be helpful to you. :) - Robin
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Good morning all.:) Thank you Robin. I did wonder why the numbers were a bit 'flat" yesterday in the day. This mornings AMPS reading at 7.18 am was 31.7. (I inject at 8am) Its a new bottle of Insulin that I started on 1/10 so dont know if the previous one was not the same strength or if it was the change to wet food, but his numbers began to come down out of the 'blacks' into the 'reds' .

I think I will stick at 2.0 u this morning. I havent many strips left and Mellow is beginning to struggle when I test. I nearly didnt get enough blood this morning as he flicked his ear and I had to stab him again poor thing.
 
I slept for a few hours so didnt test until +7.15 He was at 39.6 (712) !!! :eek: Mellow was sleeping on the bed with me so I dont think he ate between 7.30 am and 2 o'clock.(+6). He had eaten a bit of low carb wet food ( Butchers Classic- 8% carb) and a few kibbles at 7.30 ( WHY did I give him kibbles- I dont know what I was thinking!!! Still in panic mode from last night I expect as he didnt seem to want much of the wet food and I knew he needed to eat before I gave him his AM shot.). Then he slept from 11 am until 1.30 and then ate some low carb wet food -no more kibbles.
I am making a real mess of things. I feel like I dont know what I'm doing or why .
I dont have enough strips to test again before his PM shot now. Should I withold any more food until then?
 
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