Nigel and I need help.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well he’s at 296 now. I should say that I misread the instructions on the Karo earlier and he may have gotten a bit more than 1/4 tsp.
 
Well I dipped a finger into it and tried to rub it on his gums and tongue and that didn’t work very well so then I let him lick a a tsp of tuna mixed with it. I’d guess maybe 1/2 tsp.
 
Alright then, I think it's safe to say that the sugar should be wearing off by now. Just trying to compile a list of reading times and actions. Be with you shortly.
 
It’s at 363 now, so not dropping quite yet. I’m feeling pretty exhausted. You think I need to stay up and keep an eye on him?
 
Here is a summary of the evening. We need to get the spreadsheet updated so this info is clear for anyone helping. It's a good idea to keep the sheet as up to date as possible but I know it's late right now so it can wait till tomorrow.

Summary
PMPS - 115
@ +.25 - 108
@ +1 - 78 ( a little more food given)
@ +1.5 - 79
@ + 2 - 70
@ +2.25 - 65 (given 1/2 tsp of karo mixed with low carb food given)
@ +2.75 - 74
@ + 3 - 105
@ + 3.25 - 154
@ + 4 - 296
When we do more than one test in any given hour we stack them so they look like this in the spreadsheet.
Wally.PNG
Put notes about the food given and karo in the comments section.
Sugar should have worn off now. Looks like Nigel may have had a long cycle today. He should be fine. He may be bouncing now from those lower readings earlier. Sorry for the wait. It's after 2am here and my fingers are getting slow. Sleep well. :)
 
Good morning Grant. I think I'd be inclined to stick with 0.5u for this cycle for a couple of reasons.
You have started lower carb food (11 down to 6%) and it looks like those higher BGs on the 28th could have been stress influenced (Libre install = vet stress) and or a bounce that we couldn't predict due to lack of data. Last night looks like the stress subsided and/or a bounce was breaking, thus the considerably lower readings. I also assume you are working today and will not be available to monitor intensely like last night.
 
majandra said:
The one thing that my human friend said about the meter is that there is a 15 min delay between the blood reading, and the interstitial fluid the Libre reads. That may be why they recomend being able to test with a regular meter.
Click to expand...
That would throw a bit of a monkey wrench into their use with cats who cannot tell us they feel off due to dropping/low BG and in knowing what to do (Low vs. medium vs. high carb food) when dropping BG is detected with a reading. o_O
 
I just went ahead and gave him 1u before seeing your post. I hope that ends up being OK. Yeah, I’ll be here with him for a couple of hours but then I have to head to work.

So how many times a day do you feed your cat? Are two cans of FF/day enough? I need to figure out another food for him today and I’m not sure if it’s worth giving another type of Friskies a try when he wouldn’t even taste the chicken version.
 
You said Nigel is a big cat so I think he may need more than 2 cans of FF per day. How much does he weigh? My girl who is about 18 lbs, gets about 3 to 3.5 cans FF per day to maintain her weight. I calculated her needs at around 300 cals per day.

1u is a normal starting dose so he should be fine but to be honest, I'm hesitant to guess what he's going to do today given last night's drop. Test him in an hour post shot and let's see what this cycle is looking like.
 
He’s at 283 now.

Yeah, he’s a little over 15 pounds. Hmm, yeah I’d rather not have to feed him three times a day. Maybe I’ll try getting a variety of Friskies pates and seeing if he takes to any of them.
 
I'm a bit confused. You said he was 265 in post #113 when you asked about dose. I'm guessing the 321 in the AMPS box on the SS was another reading just before his shot but after Nigel ate? The 283 would then be his +1 reading. Is that correct?
 
I take it he ate a reasonable amount this morning with no issues.
I'd test him before you leave and if his number is down, leave some food out for him to eat if he needs it later. When do you get home today?
 
I couldn’t get him to eat too much but kept putting him back in front of the bowl to see what I could do. I think he just prefers the dry food that he has been eating before, unfortunately. I don’t get home until 4. Hope he’ll be OK. He’s hiding under the bed now so I’m gonna have to drag him out before I go.
 
If you leave food out he'll go eat if he needs to. I'd make sure he has a full meal available to him just to be on the safe side. He seems to be a grazer which is good because multiple small snacks help keep food in his system for the insulin to work with. Does he usually hide under the bed?
 
Grant sorry to hear you had a rough night, how lucky you had the Freestyle libre to give you readings I guess a lot of things got combined and thanks @MrWorfMen's Mom for your help during the night hope the both of you can have a nice night tonight

He will probably be a bit high for some cycles as a response his body has for being low, is what we call bouncing it usually takes about 4-6 cycles to clear the bounce but we do not know yet how Nigel will act so keep an eye on him but do not get alarmed if he's a bit high, do try and type all the readings you got when you have a chance because it will be valuable information later on

When you can, start practicing making a test with the other meter because from what I researched when I did my failed attempt at using the freestyle libre is that is precisely on the low numbers when it has the most inaccuracies so you may need to double check next time (hopefully not any time soon)
 
So, I just got home to him being at 63. Looked like he hasn’t really eaten much all day and that his numbers were dipping down over the past hour. Do I need to give him Karo again?
 
93 now after I got him to eat a little bit of his food.

So far all Friskies and FF flavors have struck out. He just “buries” them without a taste.
 
Last edited:
Given his tendency you may want to consider a time feeder so that he gets something to eat mid day when you are out so that he's not completely without food when you arrive and that may help him not to go down so much, you can divide the food he's getting into three or four parts, there are some that you can even get some ice or a cold pouch under the tray to keep it ok

This one is similar to the one I have, there are other more nicer ones you can get since you are in the US if your budget allows https://www.amazon.com/WOpet-Automatic-Multicolor-Arbitrary-Combination/dp/B07HSX1CY8/ref=sr_1_40/140-2629459-2775421?ie=UTF8&qid=1548891481&sr=8-40&keywords=time feeder cat
 
He’s generally not without food but yeah I might have to get him a feeder.

He’s at 80 now. Should I give him a half unit tonight?
 
I don't think it's a good idea to give Nigel ANY insulin tonight at a reading of 80. I'd skip insulin tonight and see what he does given the huge drops he has been showing us over last night and today's cycles. Both suggest that if indeed he does need insulin, the 1u may be too high a dose.
 
It's Ok we can work with it. I'm glad though you didn't give him the full 1u dose.
Lantus is a depot insulin., That means that each time you give a dose, a certain amount is kept in reserve for use even after the 12 hour cycle has passed. Lantus therefore works best if dosing is done consistently....same dose for a number of cycles to get a good picture of how the dose is working. It seems the 1u dose may be too high. Hard to say with the little bit of data we have yet with stress factors being in play but the events of last night and today are suggesting that the 1u dose may be too high.
Get a +1 and +2 reading tonight. How are you holding up? It was a long night last night and I know you were getting really tired by the time we called it.
 
Last edited:
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
It's Ok we can work with it. I'm glad though you didn't give him the full 1u dose.
Lantus is a depot insulin., That means that each time you give a dose, a certain amount is kept in reserve for use even after the 12 hour cycle has passed. Lantus therefore works best if dosing is done consistently....same dose for a number of cycles to get a good picture of how the dose is working. It seems the 1u dose may be too high. Hard to say with the little bit of data we have yet with stress factors being in play but the events of last night and today are suggesting that the 1u dose may be too high.
Get a +1 and +2 reading tonight. How are you holding up? It was a long night last night and I know you were getting really tired by the time we called it.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I’m still pretty exhausted and fried feeling.
 
If you have a higher carb food, you could give a teaspoon to encourage him to surf safely, and test again in half hour.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top