Introduction & Advice Needed

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Valerie0116

Valerie0116

Member Since 2018
Hi everyone! A couple of weeks ago, our cat Merlin was diagnosed with diabetes. His readings were in the 500s, and he was about 9lbs, so our vet started him on 2 units of Vetsulin. We also gradually switched his diet over to all Fancy Feast classic pates, which he loves. We took him in again, and his fasting blood glucose readings were still in the 500s, so the vet upped it to 4 units. They did another fasting blood glucose reading on him, and it was upper 400s, so they upped it to 5 units total.

We bought an alphatrak and tested him once on the 5 units before his morning shot right after he ate, and his reading was 236. He seemed to be doing well on this amount and he was drinking and peeing less. However, when we took him to the vet Saturday morning, they told us to up it to 7 units, because it was in the 400s at the vet. We decided to give him 5 units last night, just in case of hypoglycemia, and then this morning at 7:30 am we gave him 6.5 units instead, just because we thought 7 units sounded like a lot.

He started acting weird at about 12:45pm and he ended up showing many signs of hypoglycemia (disoriented, stumbling around, etc.) I gave him karo syrup immediately, and took his reading and it said 27. I continued to monitor him, give him syrup, and gave him a can of wet food and added some dry food. He eventually perked up and is doing much better now and acting totally normal. We fed him a can of fancy feast tonight at about 7:15pm, and we weren't sure exactly how much insulin to give him tonight. We took a reading before the food and it was 536, similar to his original readings, so we decided to give him 4 units and call the vet in the morning (they are closed today).

Do you think he will be okay tonight with these 4 units? We weren't sure if we should skip the shot, but the vet said consistency is key.
 
Welcome! The only way to make sure he is okay is to test him during the cycle to see if he is going too low again. 27 is dangerously low. It is a good thing you had syrup on hand and knew what to do. Sometimes, after a cat has had a bad hypo episode, they can be more insulin-sensitive for awhile. So, I would definitely be monitoring him pretty closely.

To be safe, you need to be testing before EVERY shot (being sure he has no access to food for two hours prior). To know how the insulin dose is impacting him, you also need to get in mid-cycle tests when you can. The doses you mention are very large doses. If the vet is taking spot glucose checks in the clinic (which are going to be higher than normal due to the stress of the vet visit) and setting dosing according to that, it is very dangerous. At home testing is much more accurate. Also, insulin needs can change rapidly, so regular testing is important.

You can set up a copy of the spreadsheet we use here for tracking glucose test results and insulin doses given. It is a very valuable tool for managing this. Also, it would be helpful if you could set up a signature that gives basic info like date of diagnosis, type of insulin used, type of meter used, etc. Then, the info will show up any time you post, and you will not have to repeat the facts every time. You can get lots of advice and support here. It is usually best to post insulin dosing questions on the forum for the specific insulin you use. Other questions can be posted on the main health forum.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
 
Omg a reading in the 20’s with an Alphatrak is DANGEROUSLY low. honestly I'm surprised he didn't have seizures and go into a coma. No joke. My cat had a hypo to 44 and even as someone who at the time had been doing this for a year and a half I rushed her to the emergency vet where she spent the night. I want to warm you that after my cats hypo she was very sensitive to insulin and even though I have her less then half her usual dose she had a second hypo and was back in the er two days later.

Please check your cat every couple of hours.

Your vet had her on A VERY UNSAFE DOSE.
The recommended starting dose is 1 unit twice a day. That dose can be raised in 0.25-0.5 increments at a time as s needed every few days, but certainly not in 1-2 unit increments.

If it were my cat I would go back to 1 unit and test and go from there raising it slowly if needed. We can help you with the dosing on the main health forum. Your vet has NO IDEA HOW TO DOSE.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Welcome! The only way to make sure he is okay is to test him during the cycle to see if he is going too low again. 27 is dangerously low. It is a good thing you had syrup on hand and knew what to do. Sometimes, after a cat has had a bad hypo episode, they can be more insulin-sensitive for awhile. So, I would definitely be monitoring him pretty closely.

To be safe, you need to be testing before EVERY shot (being sure he has no access to food for two hours prior). To know how the insulin dose is impacting him, you also need to get in mid-cycle tests when you can. The doses you mention are very large doses. If the vet is taking spot glucose checks in the clinic (which are going to be higher than normal due to the stress of the vet visit) and setting dosing according to that, it is very dangerous. At home testing is much more accurate. Also, insulin needs can change rapidly, so regular testing is important.

You can set up a copy of the spreadsheet we use here for tracking glucose test results and insulin doses given. It is a very valuable tool for managing this. Also, it would be helpful if you could set up a signature that gives basic info like date of diagnosis, type of insulin used, type of meter used, etc. Then, the info will show up any time you post, and you will not have to repeat the facts every time. You can get lots of advice and support here. It is usually best to post insulin dosing questions on the forum for the specific insulin you use. Other questions can be posted on the main health forum.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
Click to expand...

Okay, my mom will stay up with him tonight for awhile and take his readings every so often and monitor his behavior. Hopefully the 4 units wasn't too much and he will be okay tonight.

Thank you so much for linking those things. After today we are definitely going to test him before every shot and that spreadsheet looks very useful. I will be sure to add a signature! Thanks.
 
Valerie0116 said:
Okay, my mom will stay up with him tonight for awhile and take his readings every so often and monitor his behavior. Hopefully the 4 units wasn't too much and he will be okay tonight.

Thank you so much for linking those things. After today we are definitely going to test him before every shot and that spreadsheet looks very useful. I will be sure to add a signature! Thanks.
Click to expand...
So glad you are testing at home. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.
 
JanetNJ said:
Omg a reading in the 20’s with an Alphatrak is DANGEROUSLY low. honestly I'm surprised he didn't have seizures and go into a coma. No joke. My cat had a hypo to 44 and even as someone who at the time had been doing this for a year and a half I rushed her to the emergency vet where she spent the night. I want to warm you that after my cats hypo she was very sensitive to insulin and even though I have her less then half her usual dose she had a second hypo and was back in the er two days later.

Please check your cat every couple of hours.

Your vet had her on A VERY UNSAFE DOSE.
The recommended starting dose is 1 unit twice a day. That dose can be raised in 0.25-0.5 increments at a time as s needed every few days, but certainly not in 1-2 unit increments.

If it were my cat I would go back to 1 unit and test and go from there raising it slowly if needed. We can help you with the dosing on the main health forum. Your vet has NO IDEA HOW TO DOSE.
Click to expand...

Thank God he's okay now. I'm glad I checked on him and was able to give him syrup right away and get him back to normal. I'm just praying we didn't give him too many units tonight. Hopefully he will be fine, and my mom is staying up with him for awhile so she can monitor him. We thought the vet was upping the dose too fast, but when you're new at this you just assume your vet knows what they are talking about. Ugh, thank you for your help!
 
Valerie0116 said:
Thank God he's okay now. I'm glad I checked on him and was able to give him syrup right away and get him back to normal. I'm just praying we didn't give him too many units tonight. Hopefully he will be fine, and my mom is staying up with him for awhile so she can monitor him. We thought the vet was upping the dose too fast, but when you're new at this you just assume your vet knows what they are talking about. Ugh, thank you for your help!
Click to expand...
How long ago was the shot? I would check about 3 hours after and see if it's heading down
 
Valerie0116 said:
Thank God he's okay now. I'm glad I checked on him and was able to give him syrup right away and get him back to normal. I'm just praying we didn't give him too many units tonight. Hopefully he will be fine, and my mom is staying up with him for awhile so she can monitor him. We thought the vet was upping the dose too fast, but when you're new at this you just assume your vet knows what they are talking about. Ugh, thank you for your help!
Click to expand...
I hear you. Unfortunately many vets don't get much training in feline diabetes or try to dose it like they do for dogs but cats aren't dosed the same as dogs. The collective knowledge and experience here is usually much more extensive. Glad you found this site. :)
 
JanetNJ said:
I hear you. Unfortunately many vets don't get much training in feline diabetes or try to dose it like they do for dogs but cats aren't dosed the same as dogs. The collective knowledge and experience here is usually much more extensive. Glad you found this site. :)
Click to expand...
I am in the eastern time zone. And yeah, I've been reading posts on here for recommendations on diet and things like that, so when this happened today I knew it would be good to finally make an account and post about it. :)
 
This is a welcome forum so let's start a new thread on the main health forum for advice going forward where more eyes will see it. I'll start one over there and tag you.
 
Just adding a bit here......I also use the AlphTrak and want to reiterate how dangerously low 27 is....having said that , testing every so often may not be enough. I am relatively new here, but have been doing this enough to say that every 2-3 hours is probably your safest bet for Merlin. The spreadsheets are an enormous help as well. I trusted my Vet as well when she said just give a Unit of Insulin every 12 hours and come back in a month ( no at home testing required) had I not found this site what wouldn't have been required was a one month check up. You have found the most supportive and knowledgeable people out there for Feline Diabetes.
 
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