Help! Is her glucose too low for a shot?

[Kristin Fiore]

I have only had my cat for a week. She is an 11 year old diabetic. I have an Arkray human glucose tester, which I think replaced the ReliOn meter. It has not been too accurate with test strips, coming in at 96 and then 84 right after each other. It has said my cat is 53 (at time of dose, which I cut from 1 to .5 units), and 74 2 hours before another dose.

I am moving him for his former diet of Royal Canin wet and dry, mostly dry, to half-and-half Royal Canin wet and Fancy Feast chicken Pate. Eventually I will move him to half Fancy Feast and half another high-end brand that is low in carbs. So obviously it should be dropping.

He is also a recently diagnosed diabetic. I am wondering if he will go into remission. But right now I am wondering if I should keep his dose at half a unit or less. I'm bringing her to my vet on Monday so we can both test her.

Tomorrow I am going to run a curve. I am not sure if this meter runs low, or if I should be too concerned. Please help! Thank you.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

It has not been too accurate with test strips, coming in at 96 and then 84 right after each other.

That's pretty normal.….All meters are allowed a 20% variance so even if you test the exact same drop of blood at the exact same time, you can get numbers that are up to 20% different.

It has said my cat is 53 (at time of dose, which I cut from 1 to .5 units)

53 is too low to be giving insulin until you have a lot more data and experience!! We don't suggest giving insulin if they're under 200 (at first) and then gradually reducing the limit that you're willing to shoot.

How long ago was that 53? Have you tested again? If not, please do now!

It looks like Button may just need the diet change to go into remission.

 

[Kristin Fiore]

53 was last night, just before her other dose, which is why I lowered it to at most 1/2.

I divided my human glucose numbers by .65, which is apparently how you translate from human to cat glucose levels, and they are 113 and 81. So that's feels safe. Maybe I will skip glucose for the next feeding and just see how she does. When where would her highest number be? Like 3 to 4 hours after being fed? Thanks for the reply

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

There's actually no direct correlation between human and cat numbers. You should be putting whatever number you get on your meter into your spreadsheet.

The only guidance we have is that "under 50" on a human meter is the "time to act".....it's under 68 on a pet meter.

Our protocols were all written using human meters so just put the number you actually get onto your spreadsheet.

As for when she'd have the highest numbers, generally, we'd expect them to be highest at Pre-shot times but they can bounce around a lot, especially at first