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Jennifer & Sparky

Jennifer & Sparky

Member Since 2017
Hello everyone. Our Sparky has been recently dx'd with diabetes. He started on 1 unit of Vetsulin which did the trick for about 2 months. Then, he started peeing all over the house and guzzling water. Our local vet did 3 BG tests on him over 3 hours and his levels ended up over 563 by +5. We changed his dose to 2 units. He appeared to be doing pretty well. I took him to our regular vet for a check-up and his BG was over 200 at +4 so the vet recommended adjusting his Vetsulin to 2.5 units.

I finally decided to test at home... just wanted to be able to keep an eye on things. If I did it right, his spreadsheet is in my sig line.

The more I read, the more confused I'm getting. When do I give insulin? When do I hold off? When do I give a reduced dose? My head hurts! :)
 
Welcome to the best place ever for advice and support! :) Please post all your questions on the main health forum where they'll be seen by more people. A quick note: I'm glad you dropped his dose this AM after that 57 last night.
 
Hi Jen! Welcome to the forums! There's so many fantastic people here with a lot of knowledge. My cat Bandit has been diabetic for 8 years now (and only needed insulin for less than 2 of those years at various times), so this is definitely something that can get better with the right treatment--the right food, the right insulin, and home testing.

It's great that you're home testing (that's one of the big three factors in successful treatment), and your signature looks great! Can you also add when he was diagnosed, and what food(s) he's eating, and the type of meter you're using to home test to your signature? It will help head off a lot of repeat questions. :) As Kris mentioned, you'll want to post your insulin questions in the Health forum, so you can get lots of advice there.
 
Thanks all.... so far I'm NOT too happy that I started testing. The more I read and test the more confused I am becoming. <sigh>
 
Welcome.... Good call dropping the dose. 2.5 was too much. For now we say hold off when the preshots are under 200 until you have more data. If it's lower then normal (say the preshot is 220 when normally it's 350, you may want to reduce). When in doubt you can post here and we can give you our opinions. Good job getting the ss up already! Try to always get a preshot number, and mid cycle numbers whenever possible.
 
Jen900 said:
Thanks all.... so far I'm NOT too happy that I started testing. The more I read and test the more confused I am becoming. <sigh>
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What is confusing you? Home testing is the best way to keep your cat safe and know if a dose needs to be adjusted.
 
I don't know when to give a shot, when to not give a shot... if I can give his shot a little early or a little late...

I guess I didn't really know what I was getting myself into with testing him. I just wanted to make sure he didn't go too low or too high. I'm frustrated... :(
 
Jen900 said:
I don't know when to give a shot, when to not give a shot... if I can give his shot a little early or a little late...

I guess I didn't really know what I was getting myself into with testing him. I just wanted to make sure he didn't go too low or too high. I'm frustrated... :(
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Ah, ok. Well your cat is in vetsulin.... Same as my cat was. Insulin is dosed 12 hours apart, but one good thing about vetsulin is it's a little bit more flexible then other insulin in that you can adjust the time an hour here or there if needed.
For preshot testing:
The order is test, then feed, then shoot, with no food at least 2 hours prior to the preshot test.


So if you plan to shoot 7am/pm then test at 6:30 am/pm, then feed, then shoot at 7.

For now until you have more data the no shoot number is under 200. So for example if you get a preshot test that is 175, no insulin. This advice will change once you have more data.


Vetsulin usually peeks 4-6 hours after the shot, so tests in that time are very helpful. And occasionally do curves every two hours to get a more complete picture.
 
Jen900 said:
I don't know when to give a shot, when to not give a shot... if I can give his shot a little early or a little late...

I guess I didn't really know what I was getting myself into with testing him. I just wanted to make sure he didn't go too low or too high. I'm frustrated... :(
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You did that. You caught the 57 and lowered the dose the next day. That was exactly what we would have recommended.
 
Ok, I tested at 5:30. Yes, it was early (+10). Fed at 6:00. Still haven't given a shot because his level was 186. Too late to give a shot now if I wanted to give him 1 unit? :)
 
Jen900 said:
Ok, I tested at 5:30. Yes, it was early (+10). Fed at 6:00. Still haven't given a shot because his level was 186. Too late to give a shot now if I wanted to give him 1 unit? :)
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So you normally shoot at what time? (what time zone are you in?) I see you put 1.5 on the spreadsheet... is that what you ultimately shot?
 
I have a feeling even 2 units is a little higher than your cat needs. Next time before you shoot try to get that second preshot number. You want to not feed for two hours prior to the preshot so that the number is not food influenced. (it's ok to feed anytime after that though, just not two hours before.)
 
I did shoot 1.5. I'm in Ohio so, EST.

The problem with feeding is sometimes he saves some dinner for overnight/early morning.

My husband does the a.m. feeding and insulin. The time varies between 6 and 7 a.m.

I usually do the evening routine. Sometimes he eats as early as 5:30 with a shot right after. Sometimes I can wait a little longer for a full 12 hours. But, it just depends on what is going on that day.
 
Jen900 said:
I did shoot 1.5. I'm in Ohio so, EST.

The problem with feeding is sometimes he saves some dinner for overnight/early morning.

My husband does the a.m. feeding and insulin. The time varies between 6 and 7 a.m.

I usually do the evening routine. Sometimes he eats as early as 5:30 with a shot right after. Sometimes I can wait a little longer for a full 12 hours. But, it just depends on what is going on that day.
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If you could get your hubby to be more consistently doing the morning test/feed/shoot closer to 6, then doing the evening stuff at 5:30 or 6 would be fine.
 
Finally got the husband to learn how to test. Poor guy was so frustrated this morning... I told him to check it later... didn't want him to be so stressed. :(

But, it's looking like Sparky's nadir is around 4 hours. Hubby fed him a snack after getting the 51 reading. Kitty never really shows any symptoms of being low. He's so stoic!
 
Jen900 said:
Finally got the husband to learn how to test. Poor guy was so frustrated this morning... I told him to check it later... didn't want him to be so stressed. :(

But, it's looking like Sparky's nadir is around 4 hours. Hubby fed him a snack after getting the 51 reading. Kitty never really shows any symptoms of being low. He's so stoic!
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I strongly suggest you lower your dose to 1 or at most, 1.5
 
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