? New home tester-getting strange readings

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felicia__nicole

felicia__nicole

Member Since 2018
Hi, I'm new here!
My cat Benny was diagnosed back in July. We are just now starting home testing. I received my test kit yesterday and was going to attempt a 12 hour curve today.

I tried 3 tests yesterday for practice. He tested back-to-back at 82 and 85. This did not concern me too much as he was showing symptoms of being low earlier in the day.

I tested again around 6 hours later and got a reading off 286.

This morning I tested him directly after feeding and insulin and got readings of 59 & 60. This doesn't seem right to me. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, maybe I'm not getting enough blood? I'm having a hard time getting a bead. Any suggestions?


-Benny is almost 18 and weighs about 14.5lbs
-he is currently on 3 units of Vetsulin 2x a day
 
felicia__nicole said:
Hi, I'm new here!
My cat Benny was diagnosed back in July. We are just now starting home testing. I received my test kit yesterday and was going to attempt a 12 hour curve today.

I tried 3 tests yesterday for practice. He tested back-to-back at 82 and 85. This did not concern me too much as he was showing symptoms of being low earlier in the day.

I tested again around 6 hours later and got a reading off 286.

This morning I tested him directly after feeding and insulin and got readings of 59 & 60. This doesn't seem right to me. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, maybe I'm not getting enough blood? I'm having a hard time getting a bead. Any suggestions?


-Benny is almost 18 and weighs about 14.5lbs
-he is currently on 3 units of Vetsulin 2x a day
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Are you using a pet meter or a human meter? The 82/85 yesterday are as low as you want him to be on Vetsulin. The 286 you got 6 hours later could be from the insulin dose wearing off if that 6 hour mark was toward the end of the time between AM and PM doses. It could also be a rebound from the low BGs earlier if it was elsewhere in the cycle (cycle - the 12 hours after a dose is given).

This morning's 59 and 60 are very close so they're likely to be proper readings. We always say to retest when a reading is low or out of place. That said, this is too low and you should not give insulin when his BG is at this level.

It's great that you're now home testing! :) It's the best way to keep Benny safe and to see what his insulin dose is doing. We can help you figure all this out if you want to try things the FDMB way.
 
I'm using a pet meter, the AlphaTrak 2. Home testing is very frustrating as it takes like 3 pricks to get a blood sample :( I'm testing again in about 20 minutes so we'll see how it goes.
 
felicia__nicole said:
This morning I tested him directly after feeding and insulin and got readings of 59 & 60. This doesn't seem right to me. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, maybe I'm not getting enough blood? I'm having a hard time getting a bead. Any suggestions?
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Try to warm the ear first. Some people warm up a sock filled with rice, or you can just massage until it’s warm. You can use just a smear of Vaseline or neosporin ointment that will help the blood to bead. Also after you poke gently massage upwards from the poke to squeeze the blood out.
Definitely get another test ASAP. If the 59-60 were correct and you gave insulin you will need to be on top of him for the entire day to control his drop. Make sure your hypo kit is ready. Karo syrup, honey, even maple syrup will do if you have it. High carb food. Be prepared to intervene with small high carb snacks continuously. Keep them small so he stays hungry and keeps eating for you.
Glad to see you’re home testing!
 
Ugh...just tested again (2x) and he's at 30 so I just fed most of a can of wet and a 1/4 of dry food which is about 2x what he normally eats, even though he usually doesn't get fed again until 5ish. I just don't understand why he is running so low all of a sudden. We were running fructosamine tests on him at the vet prior to home testing and they were always high (his last one was is the 500's as was his spot check at the vet). Since we changed him to wet food 2 weeks ago he seems to be having problems.

I have tried the vaseline, which helped a little, and warming the ear, but it is still taking me at least 2 pricks and he is getting very angry as I have poked him at least 7 times today :(

I just ordered more test strips and lancets from amazon as I have already used over 10 in less than 24 hours trying to get this right...I didn't realize home testing was going to be so expensive and stressful!
 
I suspect your dose is too high. If you were concerned he was showing signs of being low yesterday that is for sure a sign that you need to lower the dose.
 
JanetNJ said:
I suspect your dose is too high. If you were concerned he was showing signs of being low yesterday that is for sure a sign that you need to lower the dose.
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How can it be too high if he's running in the 500's? The vet actually upped it from 3u to 4u after the last test due to the high readings, but then we moved it back down after a week as he went low about a week after the change. This is so confusing! We recently changed his diet so maybe that's contributing, but I don't see how that would make it go from 500 to 30.

I'm sorry if I'm rambling, I'm just stressed over all this (and I have a another kitty who just had dental surgery so I'm juggling a lot right now). I do thank you all for your posts.
 
felicia__nicole said:
Ugh...just tested again (2x) and he's at 30 so I just fed most of a can of wet and a 1/4 of dry food which is about 2x what he normally eats, even though he usually doesn't get fed again until 5ish. I just don't understand why he is running so low all of a sudden. We were running fructosamine tests on him at the vet prior to home testing and they were always high (his last one was is the 500's as was his spot check at the vet). Since we changed him to wet food 2 weeks ago he seems to be having problems.

I have tried the vaseline, which helped a little, and warming the ear, but it is still taking me at least 2 pricks and he is getting very angry as I have poked him at least 7 times today :(

I just ordered more test strips and lancets from amazon as I have already used over 10 in less than 24 hours trying to get this right...I didn't realize home testing was going to be so expensive and stressful!
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If he’s that low you have to stay on top of him today. You’ll need to check constantly and feed him a lot. I wouldn’t go more than 30min without testing until you start seeing steady safer numbers.
After this, you may want to look into using a human meter. The numbers run a little lower, but the cost is better. A lot better!
The fructosamine test is more of an average. With a dose that’s too high like this, he’s probably bouncing into way higher numbers and that can last several cycles. Testing regularly will show you what’s really going on. Do you have any Karo syrup? Or honey? If the food doesn’t bring him up you need something that will. Also, if he ate that much, but stays too low, he may not want to eat for you over the next few hours and the Karo you can just rub in his mouth for a quick boost.
 
Yes, changing from dry to wet food can dramatically change the amount of insulin needed.

Which wet food are you feeding?

What dry food did you switch from?
 
Heres some info on bouncing that @Kris & Teasel gives out

Here's an explanation of what we call "bouncing". It explains why a kitty's BG can go from low to sky high:
  1. BG goes low OR lower than usual OR drops too quickly.
  2. Kitty's body panics and thinks there's danger (OMG! My BG is too low!).
  3. Complex physiologic processes take glycogen stored in the liver (I think of it as "bounce fuel"), convert it to glucose and dump it into the bloodstream to counteract the perceived dangerously low BG.
  4. These processes go into overdrive in kitties who are bounce prone and keep the BG propped up varying lengths of time (AKA bouncing).
  5. Bounce prone kitty repeats this until his body learns that healthy low numbers are safe. Some kitties are slow learners.
  6. Too high a dose of insulin can keep them bouncing over and over until the " bounce fuel" runs out and they crash - ie., have a hypo episode. That's why we worry so much about kitties that have had too high a starting dose prescribed by the vet and the owner isn't home testing.
 
Smokey and Jessica said:
If he’s that low you have to stay on top of him today. You’ll need to check constantly and feed him a lot. I wouldn’t go more than 30min without testing until you start seeing steady safer numbers.
After this, you may want to look into using a human meter. The numbers run a little lower, but the cost is better. A lot better!
The fructosamine test is more of an average. With a dose that’s too high like this, he’s probably bouncing into way higher numbers and that can last several cycles. Testing regularly will show you what’s really going on. Do you have any Karo syrup? Or honey? If the food doesn’t bring him up you need something that will. Also, if he ate that much, but stays too low, he may not want to eat for you over the next few hours and the Karo you can just rub in his mouth for a quick boost.
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1. Yes, the vet said it was average which is why she suggested home testing, but his spot check was still really high as well.
2. We do have honey I can give him if needed.
3. I just spent $50 on this meter, so I don't think I want to go though the expense of buying another. I just hope that I can get to the point where I don't have to a) prick him 2-3 times to get blood and b) feel like I have to test 2 times each time. That's 4-6 lancets & strips per test which is what is really adding up.

If I prick him and don't get any blood do I have to use a new lancet or can I use the same one again? I've been using a new one but if I can try again with the same one that would be helpful. I tested him at 8:45 ish so I'll go test him again now.

Thank you so much everyone for sticking by me though my insanity and million questions!
 
felicia__nicole said:
I'm using a pet meter, the AlphaTrak 2.
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felicia__nicole said:
Ugh...just tested again (2x) and he's at 30 so I just fed most of a can of wet and a 1/4 of dry food which is about 2x what he normally eats, even though he usually doesn't get fed again until 5ish.
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30 on a pet meter is far too low. You are probaby going to need to keep feeding him to boost his blood glucose. He's eaten quite a bit so he may not be hungry for a while, so that may mean using straight sugar, in the form of Karo syrup, honey, maple syrup, anything you have.

I know it's a pain to test right now, but please try to get another test 30mins or so after you got that 30. Hopefully he'll have started to move up after his chow-down.

How many hours is it since you gave him his shot?
 
The good news is, now that you're home testing, you are catching these lows! I think Janet is right, Benny likely needs much less insulin than his current dose. If you're very very lucky, he might even be on his way to remission (anti-jinx)!
 
felicia__nicole said:
1. Yes, the vet said it was average which is why she suggested home testing, but his spot check was still really high as well.
2. We do have honey I can give him if needed.
3. I just spent $50 on this meter, so I don't think I want to go though the expense of buying another. I just hope that I can get to the point where I don't have to a) prick him 2-3 times to get blood and b) feel like I have to test 2 times each time. That's 4-6 lancets & strips per test which is what is really adding up.

If I prick him and don't get any blood do I have to use a new lancet or can I use the same one again? I've been using a new one but if I can try again with the same one that would be helpful. I tested him at 8:45 ish so I'll go test him again now.

Thank you so much everyone for sticking by me though my insanity and million questions!
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I believe for human meters you can buy 100 strips and they’ll give you a meter free. Lancets can be any brand from any pharmacy Walmart wherever just try to stay in the 26-29 gauge range. They’re bigger like the AT size so you get blood easier.
I’ve poked up to 2-3 times before no harm as long as it’s still sterile not rolling around or rubbing on something. I wouldn’t try more that that- it’ll get dull quickly and be painful. It’s not actually recommended to use more than one poke but if it’s still in my hand and I need to I have. Lancets you can find cheap though like $3-$7 box of 100 I believe? I’m not in the states so I don’t know for sure.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Yes, changing from dry to wet food can dramatically change the amount of insulin needed.

Which wet food are you feeding?

What dry food did you switch from?
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He was on Royal Canin Glycobalance 1/4c 4x day
He is now eating fancy feast (different flavors) 1 3oz can 4x/day

For 2 weeks we transitioned so he was eating 1/4 cup dry 2x/day and 1 3oz can wet/2x a day. We just changed to all wet this weekend.
 
I just tested again and he was even lower so I put a little honey on his gums (I wasn't sure how much to use) and gave him some of my other cat's Iams dry cat food as I figured that would bring up his sugar faster. Was that good? I've never dealt with lows before, only highs.
 
felicia__nicole said:
I just tested again (got blood the first try!!) and he was even lower so I put a little honey on his gums (I wasn't sure how much to use) and gave him some of my other cat's Iams dry cat food as I figured that would bring up his sugar faster. Was that good? I've never dealt with lows before, only highs.
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Yes good. I would repeat in 10-15 min
How long since you gave insulin?
How close is your vet?
Is he showing any symptoms? Leathargic? Wobbly? Twitchy?
 
You're doing great!

The Karo will give the quickest boost, but the dry will help because it will have more staying power.

Please do put the 911 up, it will help attract some more Vetsulin folks here. I believe that you have a couple hours more in which the insulin will be acting strongly, although pretty soon the carbs you fed and Benny's own defenses (the bouncing phenomenon) will probably start to kick in with him going so low.
 
Welcome! When I first joined the group my vet had prescribed to high of a dose 4u 2x a day and I had crazy numbers so we (Kris from forum and i) started all over we began at a lower amount and adjusted till we were getting it closer to right amount, he had went from 4u 2x a day to .5 2x a day, I just recently changed insulin and we are still at .5, it was hard for me to understand how all that worked but by lowering it, it seems to be working out better and the hypo numbers have gone
 
Smokey and Jessica said:
Yes good. I would repeat in 10-15 min
How long since you gave insulin?
How close is your vet?
Is he showing any symptoms? Leathargic? Wobbly? Twitchy?
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Insulin about 3 hours ago
Emergency vet is about 15 minutes away
He was shaky earlier, but not anymore. No lethargy, he's wobbly, but has atrophy in his back muscles and a bit of arthritis in his back so this is normal and hard to tell what it is from. How much honey should I be giving him?

How do I add the 911?
 
It worked! You should see some more people chime in now so stay posted! If he’s not shaken anymore probably that food is starting to kick in!
 
At this point I wouldn’t worry about too much. You just need to keep him stable until the insulin wears off and he’s in the clear. Then there are people that can help you work on lowering his dose so this doesn’t happen again. High is better than low right now.
 
You definitely don't want to give tons of honey at once, because the risk is they'll throw up, so starting with a pea-sized amount is good. You can probably risk a bit more than that, actually, but let's see where he is at the next test first!
 
...I have Alphatrak 2 as well... sounds like high dose worked when on dry food BUT not anymore!!!

Sounds like the dose needs to come down and really great you are now feeding wet low carb food. It explains why you previously had such high numbers at the vet and now after changing food and not at the vet, numbers are much lower and kitty doesn’t need that high of a dose
 
On a pet meter, 68 is the cutoff for "take action" and giving high carb. When you get the next reading, if you are higher than that you can relax a bit (but test again in 30), if it's still lower then a bit more karo (especially if it's really low, in the 40's or lower).
 
Oh my goodness. 30 is extremely low on a pet meter. My cat hit 44 and I rushed him to the emergency vet where he stayed on an IV overnight. You are only 3 hours in with potential 3 more hours to drop. Personally if it were my cat I’d bring him in.
 
Also have you run the meter test in your kit? That will help reassure you that the meter is accurate :)

First meter test I ran came in 138. Second meter test (new strips required resetting the code from the strip container). Anyway 2nd meter test with new bottle of strips came in 145

It’s reassuring to test your meter and make sure it’s all within range
 
Btw he may be very sensitive to insulin for the next week so dose very conservatively. When my cat hypoed to 44 two days later I have him less then half what we normally would give and she hypoed a second time.... So 2 er trips in three days.
 
AMPS 56/60 (AlphaTrak)
+2 30 (most of a can of FF + 1/4 c glycobalance dry)
+2.5 lower than 30 (honey, pea-sized amount + dry Iams)
 
felicia__nicole said:
How can it be too high if he's running in the 500's? The vet actually upped it from 3u to 4u after the last test due to the high readings, but then we moved it back down after a week as he went low about a week after the change. This is so confusing! We recently changed his diet so maybe that's contributing, but I don't see how that would make it go from 500 to 30.

I'm sorry if I'm rambling, I'm just stressed over all this (and I have a another kitty who just had dental surgery so I'm juggling a lot right now). I do thank you all for your posts.
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Because mid cycle she's too low. Way too low. Then she's bouncing back up to the moon.
 
You are going to test every 15 -20 minutes. If under 60 rub karo, honey or maple syrup on gums. Just a little. Give a smidge of cat food (not dry). You don't want to fill him up, you will need to keep feeding until he holds the glucose on his own. You keep doing this until you reach 60, then the process changes just a little.

Do you have cat food in gravy or sauce? Anything other than the rx food?
 
Please do another test right away and post the number. Testing is saving your cat's life.

Honey and carbs last for a very short time.
 
I know you said he was cat napping in your last post but you’ve got to wake him up and test if you haven’t already. Post as soon as you can. We’re all here with you!
 
When my cat went slightly hypo at 58 on alphatrak she slept comatose-like... it’s a sign of extremely low glucose...
 
I'm still here. I tested and it came up lo he was picking at food so I gave him honey and tested 20 min later. He's up to 35 now and eating dry iams. I'm about to put out wet food and will test again in 20 min. my husband should be home by then and if it is not up we are taking him to ER. Sorry it took so long to post. I had to give other cat pain meds and take care of his dental needs as well so I haven't been able to post. I will update when i can.
 
Please add more Karo to the wet food. He's been running in the 30's for a while now, he needs the boost.

If/when you go to the ER, bring the karo with you in case you need to apply it along the way. These are worrying numbers.
 
felicia__nicole said:
I'm still here. I tested and it came up lo he was picking at food so I gave him honey and tested 20 min later. He's up to 35 now and eating dry iams. I'm about to put out wet food and will test again in 20 min. my husband should be home by then and if it is not up we are taking him to ER. Sorry it took so long to post. I had to give other cat pain meds and take care of his dental needs as well so I haven't been able to post. I will update when i can.
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It was recommended above keep giving the honey for anything below 40. Keep testing and giving snack and honey and post an update if you go to the vet if you can! It’s after midnight for me but now that I know you’re hanging in there and some other people have checked in I’m going to try to get some sleep.
 
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