BG and insulin questions (general)

[Steph & Quintus & L & O]

As Quintus is racing down the BG scale (and insulin doses) I am musing about BG and insulin. Do we have examples of what the daily evolution of BG for a healthy (non-diabetic) cat looks like? I guess it's not a curve. I guess it's pretty flat. Or maybe spiked? How much does a non-diabetic cat go up when it eats?

The other thing I'm wondering about is: what happens if you give 0.25ui or 0.1ui of insulin to a healthy cat. Do they go into hypo? Can they "manage" it? If yes, how much "outside insulin" can a healthy cat deal with?

Thanks for any answers, pointers, or ideas!

 

[JanetNJ]

As Quintus is racing down the BG scale (and insulin doses) I am musing about BG and insulin. Do we have examples of what the daily evolution of BG for a healthy (non-diabetic) cat looks like? I guess it's not a curve. I guess it's pretty flat. Or maybe spiked? How much does a non-diabetic cat go up when it eats?

The other thing I'm wondering about is: what happens if you give 0.25ui or 0.1ui of insulin to a healthy cat. Do they go into hypo? Can they "manage" it? If yes, how much "outside insulin" can a healthy cat deal with?

Thanks for any answers, pointers, or ideas!

Everyone's bg fluctuates with food, stress, and activity. People too. It's not a flat number.

 

[Steph & Quintus & L & O]

Everyone's bg fluctuates with food, stress, and activity. People too. It's not a flat number.

Yes, of course -- sorry I wasn't clear. By "flat" I meant what we'd consider "flat" when we test our kitties. +/- 1 or 2 (mmol/l). Flattish. I did read somewhere that cats had much less of a food spike than humans, but not sure where it was and can't remember what the underlying explanation was.

 

[JanetNJ]

Yes, of course -- sorry I wasn't clear. By "flat" I meant what we'd consider "flat" when we test our kitties. +/- 1 or 2 (mmol/l). Flattish. I did read somewhere that cats had much less of a food spike than humans, but not sure where it was and can't remember what the underlying explanation was.

Probably because their metabolism is faster than ours.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

We've had the odd non diabetic kitty here get insulin. Example, someone gave insulin to the wrong black cat. Fortunately, the caregiver noticed right away and started testing. That particular one was a non-event because of the monitoring, but no guarantees. We've also had kitties go hypo on those tiny doses. ECID.

 

[Steph & Quintus & L & O]

We've had the odd non diabetic kitty here get insulin. Example, someone gave insulin to the wrong black cat. Fortunately, the caregiver noticed right away and started testing. That particular one was a non-event because of the monitoring, but no guarantees. We've also had kitties go hypo on those tiny doses. ECID.

Yikes, wrong black cat! Would be curious to know what dose and how it played out.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Do we have examples of what the daily evolution of BG for a healthy (non-diabetic) cat looks like? I guess it's not a curve. I guess it's pretty flat. Or maybe spiked? How much does a non-diabetic cat go up when it eats?

A non-diabetic cat has a functioning pancreas and cells that respond normally to insulin....as their glucose goes up, more insulin is produced to regulate it and as it comes down, it produces less and less.

The body does an excellent job of keeping the glucose under control, so a "normal non-diabetic" should be pretty darn flat

When we're the ones providing the insulin instead of the pancreas, we can only hope to get the same results. We'll never be as good as "the real thing" though