Glucose Reading

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

Hi! I am fairly new to this group. My cat was diagnosed in May. I was wondering how soon would the numbers change once my cat starts to eat. He had a high reading this morning 522 and I should have grabbed another test from him, but the mornings are so frantic with my 2 cats wanting to eat, so I try to test him and then feed them quickly because they are so hungry when I get up in the morning. I decided to test him again while he was eating and the number dropped to 430 so I was wondering if eating can make things drop that quickly or if my Alphatrak is giving me correct readings. He has been eating the same food-Weruva Paw lickin chicken so we are good there. It has only been the last few days that his numbers have climbed. Also wondering if antibiotics can affect the numbers. He had an ear infection and received a shot last Thursday and the Thursday prior. His ear is a lot better now and I can tell he is feeling so much better. Also, we us Lantus, 1 unit twice a day.

 

[Sarah&Soph]

It probably takes around 15-20 minutes for food to have an effect on blood glucose readings, so that likely wasn’t an issue. Meters can have a 15-20% variance in readings, so those readings are within that range. They are both very high numbers so it wouldn’t make a difference anyway in how you dosed.

If he had an infection and/or discomfort, antibiotics could cause lower numbers once the infection cleared and he started feeling better

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Hi Raquel!

can you please add the insulin, meter and food to your signature? What insulin are you on is most important when asking questions because they are all very different

thanks!

 

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

Hi Raquel!

can you please add the insulin, meter and food to your signature? What insulin are you on is most important when asking questions because they are all very different

thanks!

Thanks for that tip, I just added these to my signature!

 

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

I just checked him again and he's at 521 so I'm stumped. His numbers weren't even this high when we first started giving insulin so I don't know what to think.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Looks like he is overdue for an increase. I don't give dosing advice. I'll tag a few experienced members for you.

The first thing they will ask is if you are following the TR (tight regulation) protocol of the SLGS (slow low, go slow) protocol.
You can find information about these protocols here.

@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

[Wendy&Neko]

The night of the 14th, the PMPS cell is blank. Did you shoot or skip that dose? A skipped dose would explain some higher numbers. If you do skip, put in "skip" or NS for no shot, so we know it was a deliberate skip and not just a missing entry.

Regardless of dosing method, and your spreadsheet says SLGS - it's good to repeat that in the signature, it's time to increase the dose to 1.25 units.

A tip going forward, you night want to try getting a test before going to bed most nights. Most cats go lower at night (nocturnal natures maybe?), and we determine how to change the Lantus dose based on how low it takes the cat. Hence the interest in seeing what is happening at night.

 

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

The night of the 14th, the PMPS cell is blank. Did you shoot or skip that dose? A skipped dose would explain some higher numbers. If you do skip, put in "skip" or NS for no shot, so we know it was a deliberate skip and not just a missing entry.

Regardless of dosing method, and your spreadsheet says SLGS - it's good to repeat that in the signature, it's time to increase the dose to 1.25 units.

A tip going forward, you night want to try getting a test before going to bed most nights. Most cats go lower at night (nocturnal natures maybe?), and we determine how to change the Lantus dose based on how low it takes the cat. Hence the interest in seeing what is happening at night.

Good eye! I didn't skip, just forgot to enter it. He is definitely not feeling 100% today, he has just been laying around sleeping all day and looks like he doesn't feel good. My syringes don't have .25 marks so should I eyeball it or wait and get some different syringes?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

As long as you half syringes with half unit markings (1/4 unit ones don't exist), you can eyeball the 1/4 unit. This Sticky Note in the Lantus forum has some pictures on the smaller doses.

Being in the high numbers must feel awful for them. I hope he comes down soon.

 

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

As long as you half syringes with half unit markings (1/4 unit ones don't exist), you can eyeball the 1/4 unit. This Sticky Note in the Lantus forum has some pictures on the smaller doses.

Being in the high numbers must feel awful for them. I hope he comes down soon.

Thank you! He was still high tonight so I did give him 1.25 units and we'll see how he does.

 

[Raquel-Mugzee's mama]

Thank you! He was still high tonight so I did give him 1.25 units and we'll see how he does.

Well, this mornings read was 506, gave him another 1.25 units, hopefully we are headed back down. Poor guy, seems like he just can't catch a break lately. I know I need to be patient with the numbers also. Thank you all for your help!