Light greens

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Lily-Fish

Lily-Fish

Member Since 2016
If the cat goes into the light greens, but is asymptomatic and is eating fine, is this okay?

Lily just threw me a 40 at +3. She came out and ate though, which suggests to me that she is self regulating. I obviously will not always be here at +3, but I'm thinking that if she is sorting herself out with a mild hypo she should be okay in the future?

I will retest at +5 as I really must go to uni this afternoon
 
No, it's not okay at all, Becka.

You need to intervene with carbs to bring Lily's numbers back up and you need to monitor her closely for the time being. You need to get 2 consecutive rising numbers ABOVE the nominal hypo threshold that are not influenced by food to make sure she is safe before you can leave her. It is still very early in the current cycle and the Lantus may not even have fully kicked in yet.

If you're using a human meter you need to get Lily over 50 and STAYING over 50.

If you're using a pet meter (e.g. Alphatrak) you need to get her over 68 and STAYING over 68.

Do I understand you correctly that she has eaten since you got the 40 reading?

Before you answer this post, please can you test Lily STRAIGHT AWAY to see if she's back above the correct threshold for your type of meter and then post the results in your reply.

Also can you please confirm which meter you're using when you reply.


Mogs
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Hi, I am using a medisana human meter. I retested and she was at 38. I have tried to bring her back up, I have a feeling this amount of lantus is too much? (0.5 BD). Day by day her numbers are starting to come down - But too low. I did retest as she got a 22(Turns out there was not enough blood)
 
I have about 50 more strips. I have just put roughly a tsp on her gums and on her lips, she has been licking it off

If this is how low the lantus is putting her I think she needs a different dose. She is very sensitive to it clearly.
 
Great that you are here, Mogs!

Becka, just so you know, if Lily starts to seizure then you won't be able to adminster honey orally. But you can still administer it up her bum.
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Lily-Fish said:
I have about 50 more strips. I have just put roughly a tsp on her gums and on her lips, she has been licking it off

If this is how low the lantus is putting her I think she needs a different dose. She is very sensitive to it clearly.
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Lantus is very different to the likes of Caninsulin because it is a depot insulin. It stores a little 'tank' of insulin inside the cat's body. If you increase the dose then it takes time for the tank to fill up so you won't know the full effect of the increase for several 12 hour cycles after implementing the dose increase. That's why it's so important to get mid-cycle tests to know how the cat is responding to the dose increase.

This is the fifth 0.5IU dose you've given so the depot has filled up a lot by now. It's taking Lily too low. Yes, you do need to immediately decrease the dose starting at the next dose. You'll need to post asking for dosing advice before giving insulin this evening.


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Lily-Fish said:
but I'm thinking that if she is sorting herself out with a mild hypo she should be okay in the future?
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Nope. Not the case.
If the insulin is working faster than the cat is able to take in food/sugar to compensate then the cat will hypo.
Some cats simply succumb to the hypo. Others have varying ability to release stored glucose from the liver in order to lift the cat out of danger. However, because this happens once (or more) this does not mean it will continue to be the case. The body can use up it's glycogen stores and cease to be able to provide extra glucose when needed.
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Critter Mom said:
You need to intervene with carbs to bring Lily's numbers back up and you need to monitor her closely for the time being. You need to get 2 consecutive rising numbers ABOVE the nominal hypo threshold that are not influenced by food to make sure she is safe before you can leave her. It is still very early in the current cycle and the Lantus may not even have fully kicked in yet.
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Ditto to all of the above....
 
She is still eating drinking etc. She seems a little more needy than usual but seems okay, I am just waiting for the sugar to take effect. I am feeding her prawns. She seems to enjoy them. She is at 128 now after the honey
 
Lily-Fish said:
I am feeding her prawns. She seems to enjoy them.
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Don't fill her up with low carb food, Becka, you may need her to be able to eat higher carb food later.

Do you have any high carb food available? If so, what?
The honey works quickly but can also wear off fairly quickly.
Food takes a bit longer to kick in but generally lasts longer in the system.
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I have some A/D here, Is that going to be good enough? I don't have any more high carb food.
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Don't fill her up with low carb food, Becka, you may need her to be able to eat higher carb food later.

Do you have any high carb food available? If so, what?
The honey works quickly but can also wear off fairly quickly.
Food takes a bit longer to kick in but generally lasts longer in the system.
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Click to expand...
 
Good that Lily's back into safer numbers but the boost from the honey will wear off quite quickly.

DON'T FREE FEED Lily right now (and that includes the prawns). It is vitally important that Lily doesn't get full right now. You need to control her food intake at the moment so that you can give her the right amount of food at the right carb levels to steer her up to safe numbers and keep her there.

Have you got any cat food with gravy?


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Lily-Fish said:
I do have some food with chunks in gravy however I'm not entirely sure she will eat the chunks. She will probably lick the gravy though
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Bingo! It's the gravy we're interested in. :)

Can you tell us the brand and variety of food so that we can check the carbs for you?

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Hill's a/d is 12% cals from carbs (I think!) according to Dr Pierson's chart. So, 'medium' rather than 'high' carb.

But I see that Becka has food in gravy. Gravy is good...
 
Lily-Fish said:
It is purina gourmet gold with turkey and duck

Shall I feed her that now?
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Becka, what you need to feed Lily will depend on how her numbers are going and on how long you are going to be around to monitor her.

As Judy says, there may be no need to feed right now. Let's see how Lily is at the next test.
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Just checked the UK Gourmet Gold Turkey & Duck in Gravy - 25% kcals from carbs so should be OK for steering.

@Elizabeth and Bertie, @Judy and Boomer - So glad that you're both able to watch over Becka and Lily. :) (Always feel awful when I can't stay. :( )

@Lily-Fish - Becka, you're in good hands. Will check back in on you and Lily later on. (And be sure to post early this evening to get dosing advice - you DEFINITELY need to reduce.)


Mogs
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I just don't know how you all do this and still manage to work and leave the house from time to time. I am meant to be at uni for a seminar in ten minutes - It isn't going to happen. I missed a really important lecture this morning and I feel as if I will never leave my flat again. This is a nursing degree, so I really can not miss any hours at all (I know, I should know more about treating hypos in cats or what to do, but when it is your own family, you forget everything). I'm sorry to vent, I just really want Lily to be happy and I really want to qualify. I am in third year, so a very important one and it just feels as if Lily will never be able to be alone again.
 
Lily-Fish said:
I just don't know how you all do this and still manage to work and leave the house from time to time. I am meant to be at uni for a seminar in ten minutes - It isn't going to happen. I missed a really important lecture this morning and I feel as if I will never leave my flat again. This is a nursing degree, so I really can not miss any hours at all (I know, I should know more about treating hypos in cats or what to do, but when it is your own family, you forget everything). I'm sorry to vent, I just really want Lily to be happy and I really want to qualify. I am in third year, so a very important one and it just feels as if Lily will never be able to be alone again.
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When you get onto a good dose things will become a LOT more straightforward, Becka. It might not seem like that right now but you are well on the way to getting Lily onto a good dose. :bighug:


Mogs
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Lily-Fish said:
.....I am in third year, so a very important one and it just feels as if Lily will never be able to be alone again.
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(((Becka)))... I know this situation is challenging, but it won't all be 'fire fighting', honestly! :bighug:
There are plenty of folks here managing their cats' diabetes and holding down a job also. It can be done...

Lily's insulin dose is too high. When she's on a more suitable dose, and safer, things will be a lot easier....
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She ate a couple of prawns twenty minutes ago, before that she ate some low carb (wainrights complete salmon and veg) and half a tin of applaws senior tuna with mussels. So I would say a ballpark of about half an hour thirty five minutes ago
 
She is free fed usually, so she will come out and nibble throughout the day as and when. This seems to suit her
 
If she keeps slipping back do I just keep giving her honey? I know that sounds stupid but if I'm not supposed to feed her for a while I surely need to stop her dropping down like that again
 
Use honey in an emergency....it brings the level up quickly. But unfortunately it doesn't last very long so it's best to stop the levels from dropping in the fist place. We can use food for that. I'm not familiar at all with the foods you are giving her but usually food takes 30 to 60 minutes to kick in.
 
So I should test in ten minutes, then based on how far she has dropped, feed or not?
Judy and Boomer said:
Use honey in an emergency....it brings the level up quickly. But unfortunately it doesn't last very long so it's best to stop the levels from dropping in the fist place. We can use food for that. I'm not familiar at all with the foods you are giving her but usually food takes 30 to 60 minutes to kick in.
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I've been looking at Lily's spreadsheet....did she actually have a hypo a couple of days ago? I see you've recently switched from another insulin to Lantus....I assume she was not responding to the other insulin?
 
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