BG at 220, do I give injection?

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Rhonda T

Rhonda T

Member Since 2017
he was at 381 last night with his low yesterday at 133. I gave 1.5 units of Vetsulin last night. Do I skip it this morning?
 
Hi Rhonda-
Not sure if you're using a pet meter or human meter but these are the general guidelines for pet owners new to diabetes. It's also recommended that if you're at or below the "no-shot" number that you stall 20 minutes without feeding and re-test to make sure the numbers are coming up.
  • For those new to dealing with feline diabetes we recommend that no insulin is given if the BG is below 200 mg/dL [11 mmol/L] on a human glucose meter. (For more information on what these numbers mean see ‘Home Blood Glucose Testing’ information below.)
  • If you’re using a pet meter, such as Alphatrak 2, be aware that these usually give slightly higher readings than human meters, so you may wish to have a slightly higher ‘no shot number’.
 
I'm using a human meter that I read (customer review) that it tested very close to the vets office. I decided to skip his shot because of the drastic drops he'd been getting. If he's high tonight I'll give him one unit.
 
Rhonda T said:
I'm using a human meter that I read (customer review) that it tested very close to the vets office. I decided to skip his shot because of the drastic drops he'd been getting. If he's high tonight I'll give him one unit.
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I'd do 0.5 units just to be safe.
 
Ok, I went with my gut and didn't give a shot this morning when he was at 220. He ate breakfast right after I tested at 6:00 am. I just tested at 10:00 am and he's at 148. I was expecting an increase due to food / no insulin. Is this normal?
 
He might be experiencing a "sputtering pancreas" where the pancreas starts producing some insulin on its own. If your cat hasn't been diabetic for very long and you've made the switch to low carb, it's very likely that he has some pancreatic function left.
 
This is from http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Remission

"When a diabetic cat's pancreas begins again to produce insulin, that insulin production is seldom predictable or sufficient to immediately put the cat's blood glucose levels in a non-diabetic range. That is, a cat's recovering pancreas usually does not have a "full on" or "full off" switch. Achieving remission may take several weeks or months of careful monitoring and administration of insulin that is reduced in both timing and amount."
 
The diagnosis was about 10 days ago. I'd probably been seeing symptoms for a couple weeks. Maybe more - he's always been inactive compared to other cats I've had. I hope there was no permanent damage to his pancreas.
 
Rhonda T said:
Ok, I went with my gut and didn't give a shot this morning when he was at 220. He ate breakfast right after I tested at 6:00 am. I just tested at 10:00 am and he's at 148. I was expecting an increase due to food / no insulin. Is this normal?
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Just saw your post on FB. :)

As others have said, it looks like your cat's pancreas is producing some insulin of its own. So your gut instinct was spot on in this instance! Good call!
Here's hoping that those lovely numbers continue. But don't be disappointed if you see a rise in numbers later on. Sometimes a healing pancreas can only produce insulin for a little while before it 'gets tired'.

A few questions...
Have you reduced the carb content of your cat's diet recently (since the diagnosis)?
Has your cat had any steroid treatment in the recent past?
Has your cat had any infections recently (leading up to time of diabetes diagnosis)?

Eliz
 
I switched him from dry meow mix to canned food, mostly fancy feast or friskies pate and some boiled chicken breast. No steroid treatment, no infections that I'm aware of.
 
It seems like you caught it fairly early. Every cat is different, and not all cats go into remission, but by feeding low carb and monitoring BG so you can make dose adjustments when needed, you're giving him his best chance to heal!
 
We started at 326 this morning. I only gave one unit this morning and he's down to 71 four hours later (from prior curves I believe this is usually his low point of the day). Is this good or is it too big of a swing?
 
Rhonda T said:
We started at 326 this morning. I only gave one unit this morning and he's down to 71 four hours later (from prior curves I believe this is usually his low point of the day). Is this good or is it too big of a swing?
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That's a huge drop and it's possible he isn't finished dropping yet. The nadir can move around a bit day to day. For safety's sake, I'd test again at +5 and +6. He might spike quite high after this steep drop so don't be alarmed if PMPS is high.

Would you consider setting up a spreadsheet like we use here? It's helps us see trends over time and allows us to give better advice. BG numbers are always judged in context - over the day, week, month, after a dose change, etc.
 
I tried using the one you all do but I couldn't get it to work. I'm using a different one I found on the App Store.
 
Thanks. When I downloaded everything I had a read-only version. Maybe it's not iPad friendly?
 
Here are the spreadsheet instructions (click on dark blue to the left). I also developed them for using an iPad or other tablet but you have to scroll down in the instructions. I used my iPad all the time to enter numbers and never had any issues.

If you run through the instructions again and have any issues, please send me a private message by clicking on “Marje and Gracie” to the left and then “start a conversation”. I’ll be happy to help.
 
I've tried that three times - it doesn't allow me to put my info in. It says "read only" at the bottom. That's why I looked for a different one at the App Store and I'm making charts with that.
 
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