Should we start insulin?

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Jen & Cosmo

Jen & Cosmo

Member Since 2018
Good morning. We are on day 4 1/2 of all wet food. His morning BG is running around 177 (was that both yesterday morning and today), Last night before dinner his BG was 166. I fed him breakfast, ran and did some errands, checked his BG before I came to work it's 183. I'm finding he eats more & better if we feed him twice a day. I try to give him 3 oz and increase it a little bit each time. I read he needs 200 calories a day to maintain his weight, but we'd like him to gain. I wish he'd eat more, but I don't want to force feed him and stress him out.

Overall, I think he's feeling better. He's up moving around more. Do you think I should start insulin? Should we give his body a couple more days to adjust to the low carb diet? Any advice is appreciated.
 
Those numbers are still kind of high, but I get your hesitation -- lots of diabetics would be happy to get those numbers with insulin. Just to check, you're using a human meter?

What insulin would you be using, if you started insulin?

It might be interesting to try and get a few more spot checks in. I think that given you just switched food 4 days ago, it can be worth waiting a bit more, given his numbers aren't that high, and see how things evolve.
 
Stephanie & Quintus said:
hose numbers are still kind of high, but I get your hesitation -- lots of diabetics would be happy to get those numbers with insulin. Just to check, you're using a human meter?

What insulin would you be using, if you started insulin?

It might be interesting to try and get a few more spot checks in. I think that given you just switched food 4 days ago, it can be worth waiting a bit more, given his numbers aren't that high, and see how things evolve.
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Hi Stephanie,

Sorry yesterday was a crazy day in the store. We would be using novalin N. We are using a Relion confirm meter. His number before breakfast was 177 (3 days in a row now), 3 hours after breakfast 203. I'll check again when I get home. Last night I fed him and then realized I forgot to check his numbers. He's gained a bit of weight since Saturday, so now i feel like he may be getting enough to eat. I'm trying to make sure he has at least 200 calories a day.
 
Jenefer said:
Hi Stephanie,

Sorry yesterday was a crazy day in the store. We would be using novalin N. We are using a Relion confirm meter. His number before breakfast was 177 (3 days in a row now), 3 hours after breakfast 203. I'll check again when I get home. Last night I fed him and then realized I forgot to check his numbers. He's gained a bit of weight since Saturday, so now i feel like he may be getting enough to eat. I'm trying to make sure he has at least 200 calories a day.
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If you're game try to eyeball 0.25 u on your syringe. I wouldn't go any higher right now. I would also wait until you have a day off and can monitor because you have no idea how he'll respond.
 
Kris,

I agree. I don't give any meds, unless I can be home to monitor especially the 1st time. When we do start, I probably will bring him to work with me for the 1st few days. I have a crate set up in my back room. I've been thinking of closing the store so I can focus more on rescue. I think Cosmo is going to help me make my decision. I just have to give them mall 60 days notice.
 
Good Morning! Just took Cosmo's BG and he is at 125! We haven't started insulin, the plan was to start today. Should we still? This is his before breakfast number.

My plan is to get him breakfast and then check him again in a couple hours. What do you think?
 
Jenefer said:
Good Morning! Just took Cosmo's BG and he is at 125! We haven't started insulin, the plan was to start today. Should we still? This is his before breakfast number.

My plan is to get him breakfast and then check him again in a couple hours. What do you think?
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Awesome!!! That is a wonderful number!! I definitely would not give any insulin today. I would just get another test later to see what Cosmo's BG is doing.
 
Okay, so we are just shy of 2 hours after breakfast and he's 195. He is eating again. As long as he wants it I'll let him have it. I put Parmesan on at breakfast but this time I just added a bit of warm water. I'm gonna try to come home during the afternoon to check again.
 
What can be interesting if he is eating well enough is to try and get a test 3 hours after last food. Food will make the numbers go up, the three hours later test will tell you how well they come down
 
Stephanie & Quintus said:
What can be interesting if he is eating well enough is to try and get a test 3 hours after last food. Food will make the numbers go up, the three hours later test will tell you how well they come down
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Okay, so I will have my daughter feed him at 5:30 tonight. I will test him as soon as I get home.
 
So my daughter fed him at 5:30, but he didn't eat much. Then later he acted hungry, I told her to feed him. Just took his BG is 243. It's not been this high since he was at the vet. He's eaten in the last hour. Normally I give him food this time of night, but he seems okay. I'm going to recheck before I go to bed, probably in 2-2 1/2 hours.
 
His number before bed was 224. This morning it was 146. I fed him at 6:30, he was still eating at 7:00. He's a slow eater. Checked his BG at 9:30 it was 269. Tomorrow. I'm getting up at 5:45, checking his BG, feeding him by 6:00, so he should be done by 6:30. Then I can check him again 9:30 before I come to work. Of course my vet isn't in the office on Fridays. My plan is to watch his numbers all weekend. I'm closing my store on Monday and will be home to start insulin if we feel he needs it.

I'm sure it's common for his BG to go up after eating, but should it go up that much?
 
That seems like a big jump. But remember the variance in the meters too. That 146 could have been 116 or 176. That 269 could have been 215 or 326. I'm no expert, hopefully someone else will weigh in. Have you done a curve yet? That would help to see where he's at after meals, snacks, whatever.
 
Oh, that just means you take a reading every 2 hours for 12 hours, or every 3 for 18 hours. So before he eats, and then every 2 (or 3) hours after. Since he's not on insulin yet, you can kind of tell how food affects his numbers.
 
I really am not sure how high a cats numbers can get without being diabetic. I know normal range is 70 to 170, but not sure if they 100% need to stay in that range always. Also, need to remember that the 70-170 is just an average of cats. Each cat is different.
 
Sean & Rufus said:
Oh, that just means you take a reading every 2 hours for 12 hours, or every 3 for 18 hours. So before he eats, and then every 2 (or 3) hours after. Since he's not on insulin yet, you can kind of tell how food affects his numbers.
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I will do this on Monday. I'm taking the day off. I need to get his situation figured out. If I have to take Tuesday off, I will.
 
Sean & Rufus said:
I really am not sure how high a cats numbers can get without being diabetic. I know normal range is 70 to 170, but not sure if they 100% need to stay in that range always. Also, need to remember that the 70-170 is just an average of cats. Each cat is different.
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When he was diagnosed on 2/14, his number was 535. Vet said start him on insulin, 1u twice a day. It was overwhelming. I started reading and didn't stop for 3 days. I found the forums (What a god send). On 2/15 I started him on a high protien low carb all wet food diet. His numbers dropped quite a bit. They've been hanging under 200 most of the time. He is eating more than he was, so maybe that is why we are seeing such a spike in his numbers?

Anyway, we will do the curve on Monday. I have a vet appt at 9:00 am for Kenny, to see if his RBC has gone up. Praying it has! After that, my day belongs to Cosmo
 
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