Need a quick answer ..scary

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Cat mom

Cat mom

Member Since 2017
My cat has been staggering, more so than usual.

I had a hell of a time getting blood from his ear, 10 pokes it felt crusty and he jumped at every poke, it hurt!

I finally got a reading .... 70. Scary. It's been near 500 and now a sudden plummet.

What is a hypo number when do they need Karo syrup?

He's been on insulin a week w/o much change. I stopped all dry several days ago. Could it all be taking effect now?

I just fed him some canned food w/carbs in it. Hoping it helps bring up his BG now.

This is so crazy.

Nervous. This is too much.
 
I'm not a pro, like others on here. but in case they dont respond . i have dealt with that as well. Did you increase the insulin, give it early, or change his diet?
I would make sure he eats and recheck his blood sugar in 20 min or so. When time did you give him the insulin?
 
Bronx's dad said:
<50 with a human meter is when you usually have to keep a close eye & use food to steer. what meter are you using?
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Alphatrak 2
Deb14 said:
I'm not a pro, like others on here. but in case they dont respond . i have dealt with that as well. Did you increase the insulin, give it early, or change his diet?
I would make sure he eats and recheck his blood sugar in 20 min or so. When time did you give him the insulin?
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Last time he had insulin was 7 hours ago. This insulin (Novolin) didn't seem to be working at alll. I've been doing 1 unit twice per day for about 5 days.
We are close to 72 hours OFF dry food. He was a dry food junkie. Now I can't help but wonder if he needs insulin at all and if being off dry food is enough.

To EVERYONE I cannot get blood from his ear! He also hates it, you can tell it really hurts. I don't know what to do. It took about 10 pokes to get this last reading. I am just torturing him.

Anything else? How often should I check BG levels now that he ate? Can his BG keep going down??
 
Stopping dry food might be the reason. Waiting to know which meter you are using. <50 on human meter, like Bronx's Dad said. <68 on pet meter. What dose is he on? Can you get your signature setup? It helps us be able to respond with these situations, along with a Spreadsheet of all your test.
Signature: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/
Spreadsheet:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
It is scary, but you did the right thing giving him food. How is he acting now? Try to get another test and be sure his ear is really warm and you are relaxed.
 
Yong said:
Make sure his ear is warm and you are not poking the vein. That can actually be painful. Also, breathe :bighug:. Wait 20 minutes and retest.
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I can't breathe, this is scaring me to death, I've never seen his BG lower than 296 after he was diagnosed and after his very first insulin shot.

Yong, can it keep going down at this point after food and I know Novolin has to be peaking by now it's been 7 hours since his last shot.

Stopping dry food may be enough. I am not giving him a shot tonight if I make it through this moment.
 
it will be ok take a deep breath. Cats experience a 1-2 hour onset, a peak of 4-6 hours, and a total duration of 8-12 hours maximum. So he shouldnt go down much lower .
It looks like he possibly needs less insulin, which is a good thing. How long has your kitty been on novolin?
 
You're not alone :bighug:. Have you figured out when his nadir (lowest number in cycle) is? Are you dose twice a day? Are you doing Preshot tests? They are the most important. Novolin is a faster acting insulin so nadir *should* be between 4-6 hours. Usually lasting 8-10 hours. After you do the test, you should firmly hold his ear between your fingers for as long as you can - 30 seconds. Helps ensure bleeding stops, reduce bruising, and I haven't had any crusty (assuming dried blood) on my kitty's ears. Sorry for the bombard of questions :oops:. I know you hate it but he needs you to test again. Also, you shouldn't plan on skipping the shot tonight just based on this but please please do a preshot test tonight. Once we're through this, make sure he does not eat 2 hours prior to the test. So 2 1/2 hours before shot time.
 
I was testing twice per day. I simply cannot do it anymore, if you saw his ears, they are crusty, bloody and painful looking. We've only done this for a week and his ears look destroyed! I've been very careful too.

I cannot get blood from him right now. I looked at his ears with a flashlight and looks horrible along the edge of his ear. I am going to have to watch him and pray he gets through this.

He won't let me near his ears, he tries very hard to get a way and I can see why, they look horrible.
 
I hope you and your kitty are ok. i know you hate to bother your baby while he's sleeping. but try to take his Blood sugar in a few min. at least you will know if its starting to go up and it will ease your mind. Try a warm washcloth and put it in a zip lock or small plastic bag and put it on the ear to warm it up. The blood will flow much easier. Try this website it shows you pics to help you with taking kittys blood sugar from his ear. http://www.petdiabetes.com/pdorg/ear_prick.htm
 
im so sorry your going thru this. If you cant take his blood sugar can you get him to eat some more. Hugs
 
anyone reading this am i allowed to give out my personal email, so i can give cat mom my telephone number ?? i feel horrible and want to help out cat mom
 
I got it, God knows how...it's 79. Does this mean it will continue to increase???

With a flashlight his ear capillaries look flat, not normal/round inside his ear, injured looking, like no blood is flowing through, it's from being poked so many times. I wish I could post a picture of how bad his ears look.

I was very lucky to get this sample. Don't know what to do from here. Is there ANYWHERE else to get blood? Paws? Sounds horrible.
 
thats awesome great job. . :)
it sounds like its going up possibly, maybe the food. you can also still do his ear just dont go so close to the edge. the blood isnt as easy to flow out, but it does work and prick where it isnt so red. it does heal quickly. i have been there where ive taking my cats blood sugar 6-7 times in day when she had some crazy numbers, and yes her ears where so sore it killed me to do it. yes you can take blood from his paw. check out this site. you tube
 
Yes you can poke his paw for blood. Try to make sure it's clean. At least wipe it clean then put some Neosporin ointment on after or while he's sleeping. You can try to poke a little further in and up and down the ear. Warming will help. Is he dehydrated?
Continue to test when you can. 79 is better but It's probably food influenced. If you can't keep testing at least feed him a tsp of food every 20 to 30 minutes till you can get a test, if he's not symptomatic try to get a test before more food.
All the food and the lower number might make him bounce into really high numbers.
 
Deb14 said:
anyone reading this am i allowed to give out my personal email, so i can give cat mom my telephone number ?? i feel horrible and want to help out cat mom
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You can send her a PM with your contact information. Just go to the Inbox (next to your name in the dark blue banner) at the top of the page.
 
Cat mom said:
Alphatrak 2

Last time he had insulin was 7 hours ago. This insulin (Novolin) didn't seem to be working at alll. I've been doing 1 unit twice per day for about 5 days.
We are close to 72 hours OFF dry food. He was a dry food junkie. Now I can't help but wonder if he needs insulin at all and if being off dry food is enough.

To EVERYONE I cannot get blood from his ear! He also hates it, you can tell it really hurts. I don't know what to do. It took about 10 pokes to get this last reading. I am just torturing him.

Anything else? How often should I check BG levels now that he ate? Can his BG keep going down??
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Get a small flashlight and hold it on the hairy side of the ear and look and you can see where all the little sweet spot veins I do my poke at kind of an angle. Three out of four times I get it on the first try but I was poking the heck out of my cat before I got the flashlight
 
It's really important that we know what type of meter you are using for testing. Is it a human meter or a pet meter? Is your kitty still staggering? What other symptoms does he have?
 
I believe alphatrak 2. She said it in the beginning of her post that was quoted before your comment. I'm assuming that means she's using it. I could be wrong:oops:
 
StephG said:
I believe alphatrak 2. She said it in the beginning of her post that was quoted before your comment. I'm assuming that means she's using it. I could be wrong:oops:
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I thought she said AlphaTrak but couldn't find it when I went back to look for it. Thanks!
 
Sharon14 said:
Yes you can use the paw pad
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Thanks for that video. His ears need time to heal. I don't understand why they aren't healing after each prick. Do you know if the paw pad hurts? I will have to try it regardless.
Squalliesmom said:
I hope everything is okay , wish she'd post again!
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Deb14 said:
we havent heard from you. hoping you and your kitty are doing ok
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I had to use a little Karo on his gums to just be sure. He's rebounding now. Thank God!

I think I've realized a couple of things. #1 I cold turkey stopped dry 3 days ago and I REALLY believe this alone dropped his BG big time. I wonder if insulin at all will be necessary. I've read Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins protocol and every diabetic cat she had was linked to "dry food junkies". Summer was a dry food junkie. One member mentioned her cats BG dropped over 200 just from removing dry food. #2 I've been doing 1 unit 2x's per day of Novolin. His BG was not budging....until I removed the dry food and I couldn't test as regularly the past few days because his ears are so messed up. So, the insulin + dry food gone put him nearly into hypo. I NEVER want to go there again.

I am going to follow the protocol of Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins and see now w/o insulin for a day or two and NO dry food if his GB stabilizes.

Interesting thing, my dad had a diabetic cat he refused to give injections, he stopped dry food, gave him all the canned food he wanted and he lived to be 18+ and never had an insulin shot.

I hope I am able to monitor his BG closely to see if he simply gets in the normal range less the insulin and canned food only.

Thank you for all your help...that was a heart stopping hour and half.

He's doing well now and no more staggering or falling, his eyes look good, his response is great.

Lastly, just last night my vet emailed me and said to double his dose of insulin starting today since the GB was stubbornly staying high. My gut told me "no", thankfully I did not double the dose, he might be dead. My vet did NOT believe dry food had this major of an effect. Believe me I will be telling her.

I think it takes several days for GB to stabilize after removing dry food and it is the FIRST thing vets should tell you to do before ever starting insulin. After a few days off dry, if they are still high you can always add insulin.

Just my lesson learned. I will let you know how it goes from here.
Hugs - thank you <3
 
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Cat mom said:
Thanks for that video. His ears need time to heal. I don't understand why they aren't healing after each prick. Do you know if the paw pad hurts? I will have to try it regardless.



I had to use a little Karo on his gums to just be sure. He's rebounding now. Thank God!

I think I've realized a couple of things. #1 I cold turkey stopped dry 3 days ago and I REALLY believe this alone dropped his BG big time. I wonder if insulin at all will be necessary. I've read Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins protocol and every diabetic cat she had was linked to "dry food junkies". Summer was a dry food junkie. One member mentioned her cats BG dropped over 200 just from removing dry food. #2 I've been doing 1 unit 2x's per day of Novolin. His BG was not budging....until I removed the dry food and I couldn't test as regularly the past few days because his ears are so messed up. So, the insulin + dry food gone put him nearly into hypo. I NEVER want to go there again.

I am going to follow the protocol of Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins and see now w/o insulin for a day or two and NO dry food if his GB stabilizes.

Interesting thing, my dad had a diabetic cat he refused to give injections, he stopped dry food, gave him all the canned food he wanted and he lived to be 18+ and never had an insulin shot.

I hope I am able to monitor his BG closely to see if he simply gets in the normal range less the insulin and canned food only.

Thank you for all your help...that was a heart stopping hour and half.

He's doing well now and no more staggering or falling, his eyes look good, his response is great.

Lastly, just last night my vet emailed me and said to double his dose of insulin starting today since the GB was stubbornly staying high. My gut told me "no", thankfully I did not double the dose, he might be dead. My vet did NOT believe dry food had this major of an effect. Believe me I will be telling her.

I think it takes several days for GB to stabilize after removing dry food and it is the FIRST thing vets should tell you to do before ever starting insulin. After a few days off dry, if they are still high you can always add insulin.

Just my lesson learned. I will let you know how it goes from here.
Hugs - thank you <3
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So glad to hear from you! And glad to hear that your kitty is doing better now! Good that you knew how to handle a hypo and could get right on it. Keep an eye on him, just to be sure he doesn't start to drop again, although if it's been 12 or more hours since his last shot it shouldn't be a problem.

You may be one of those lucky few whose cat's bg can be controlled entirely by diet. Just keep checking (testing - I know you don't want to but it's the only way to know for sure) to make sure his bg is at an acceptable level. We actually have a procedure for an OTJ (off the juice) trial, I'm sure someone would be glad to help you with it, if you are interested. It's probably the best way to make sure your kitty makes a safe and happy transition off of insulin.

Best of luck! Ask questions or post for help if you need it! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
such great news. Im glad he is doing better. your such a great mom to your kitty. Im glad you followed your gut, we know are kitties better than anyone. I'm not sure what food you feed your kitty a great one and very low in carbs is Weruva cats in the kitchen...they have several varieties. This is excellent high quality food, with no carragean (typo)or preservatives. This is not sold at pet stores, but pet specialty stores. im not sure where you are from ,but check out there website, or contact them by phone (i have ) such nice people, they will tell you which ones have the lowest carbs. my cats love the food. I hope the low carb diet works and no more insulin.. best to you and your kitty. hope you can sleep now . take care
 
Squalliesmom said:
Good that you knew how to handle a hypo
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Thanks to this forum. I actually studied it before I joined and learned about it. I got Karo syrup in the house right away. It was my biggest fear and it happened! Unreal!
I would not have known about hypo, but because of this forum I was informed. THANK YOU!

I know I will have to keep a close watch on BG now for sure. I hope I can get it from his paw until his ears heal.

It would be an absolute amazing thing if the dry food was the main culprit and I have a tendency to believe it, because he never liked canned and ate dry food all day long. Out of my 4 cats he was the "junkie" the rest like canned food, although they'd nibble dry from time to time.

All 4 are off dry food now. One of my cats has diarrhea now, she was a dry food nibbler. Can taking away dry food and switching to canned cause diarrhea if done quickly?

He's been off dry completely for about 72 hours. Would it take that long for BG to change/stabilize at a lower level? I always thought stopping dry food even for a day would change things, but it seems it takes a few days before it lowers from stopping dry? Am I right? Would it take a few days off dry to see a drop in BG?
 
Cat mom said:
Can taking away dry food and switching to canned cause diarrhea if done quickly?
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Yes, it can. Any sudden diet change can cause digestive upset.
Cat mom said:
He's been off dry completely for about 72 hours. Would it take that long for BG to change/stabilize at a lower level? I always thought stopping dry food even for a day would change things, but it seems it takes a few days before it lowers from stopping dry? Am I right? Would it take a few days off dry to see a drop in BG?
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It might. He probably has had a steady decrease for a couple of days, culminating in tonight's hypo.
 
Squalliesmom said:
It might. He probably has had a steady decrease for a couple of days, culminating in tonight's hypo.
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Exactly my thoughts and the worst part, yesterday I couldn't get blood from him. So there was an apparent drop going on and I didn't catch it by missing ONE day of BG testing. Wow.

I just hope the blood from the paw method is an answer for now. I know I must get blood from him. I wish I could post a picture of his ear, it looks horrible, so sore.
Squalliesmom said:
diet change can cause digestive upset
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Ok makes sense. My poor other cat is having digestive issues due to the quick change, then ugh.

Hoping all starts to stabilize and become easier. It's been a super stressful week :(
Thank you for you help!
 
Cat mom said:
Exactly my thoughts and the worst part, yesterday I couldn't get blood from him. So there was an apparent drop going on and I didn't catch it by missing ONE day of BG testing. Wow.

I just hope the blood from the paw method is an answer for now. I know I must get blood from him. I wish I could post a picture of his ear, it looks horrible, so sore.


Ok makes sense. My poor other cat is having digestive issues due to the quick change, then ugh.

Hoping all starts to stabilize and become easier. It's been a super stressful week :(
Thank you for you help!
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You are very welcome! Any time you have a question just sing out, somebody here will be glad to help. :)
 
Cat mom said:
Exactly my thoughts and the worst part, yesterday I couldn't get blood from him. So there was an apparent drop going on and I didn't catch it by missing ONE day of BG testing. Wow.

I just hope the blood from the paw method is an answer for now. I know I must get blood from him. I wish I could post a picture of his ear, it looks horrible, so sore.


Ok makes sense. My poor other cat is having digestive issues due to the quick change, then ugh.

Hoping all starts to stabilize and become easier. It's been a super stressful week :(
Thank you for you help!
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To help prevent the ear from bruises in the future...

1. Don't poke the vein... It bleeds more and then pools up... Only poke the outside edge

2. After a reading squeeze a cotton cosmetic round on the ear for about 10 seconds

3. Apply neosporin ointment with pain relief
 
JanetNJ said:
1. Don't poke the vein... It bleeds more and then pools up... Only poke the outside edge
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I have been poking the edge. Is the vein located near the edge of the ear? When I put a flashlight to his ear I see one (not sure if it's the vein) that runs around the outside of the ear.

I have to say it is impossible to guess where to poke along the edge even the "sweet spot" is not so sweet. I was able to get blood from his foot this morning, but not much, his paw pads are soft and squishy and just barely enough blood came out from a poke.
 
Cat mom said:
I have been poking the edge. Is the vein located near the edge of the ear? When I put a flashlight to his ear I see one (not sure if it's the vein) that runs around the outside of the ear.

I have to say it is impossible to guess where to poke along the edge even the "sweet spot" is not so sweet. I was able to get blood from his foot this morning, but not much, his paw pads are soft and squishy and just barely enough blood came out from a poke.
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What size lancet are you using? 28 or 31?
 
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