New Member 12/9/2020 Cat Had Hypoglycemia Last Night

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Alec John Belle

Member Since 2020
Hello everyone,

So I'm a new member here on the forum. I was referred here by the Feline Diabetes group on Facebook, and was told multiple times this was the best place to ask questions.

Last night my cat Citrine had her first hypoglycemic episode and I almost lost her. I was completely and totally unprepared for what to do, but managed to save her life with my glucagon pen (I'm also diabetic and had one on-hand. I used about 1/4 of it). Her sugars went from "low" to 55 to 49 to 83 to 95 and then to 108. This morning when I checked her, she was at 220.

She's currently on 4 units of Vetsulin twice a day, which I have been told is WAY too much for her. I just gave her some good and I guess I'm just wondering how much insulin I should give her. Some people have said unit, but I fear even that will be too much! Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I'm so scared I'll have to relive what happened last night all over again.

I also feel like I should add that I have Lantus on-hand because my dad and I are both diabetics as well and we have TONS of it. I've seen so many people telling me I should maybe switch her to 1 unit of Lantus and see how she does. I'm just scared I'll do something wrong and kill her.

I hope I can get some support here. Thanks for this forum!
 
Hypo happen to best of use sometimes. It happened with my Nalos and I test before each shot. I tested her and her BG was consistant with previous preshot BGs so I gave her her normal dose of about 1 unit Levemir. About 4 hours later it was treat time and she was not out I found her in a cat tube making strange noises. I tested her BG and it read Lo on my heman meter. I syringe fed Karo syrup mixed with canned food and she recovered. Shortly after that she no longer needed insulin.

Yes, I wouod change to Lantus, much better than Vetsulin. One unit is a standard starting dose but maybe Citrine needs less.
 
So I ended up giving her one unit of the Vetsulin for today so far after she ate. I felt like that was the best thing to do at the moment until I get more opinions on the Lantus.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
Hypo happen to best of use sometimes. It happened with my Nalos and I test before each shot. I tested her and her BG was consistant with previous preshot BGs so I gave her her normal dose of about 1 unit Levemir. About 4 hours later it was treat time and she was not out I found her in a cat tube making strange noises. I tested her BG and it read Lo on my heman meter. I syringe fed Karo syrup mixed with canned food and she recovered. Shortly after that she no longer needed insulin.

Yes, I wouod change to Lantus, much better than Vetsulin. One unit is a standard starting dose but maybe Citrine needs less.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely keep that in mind! I'm thinking of making the switch, I guess I'm just nervous to.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Hey Alec! Glad to see you over here!

From what I remember from last night, Citrine was just diagnosed a month ago?

With the severe hypo she had last night, I'd probably only start with .5 of Lantus today. I'm surprised she's not higher this morning.

After a symptomatic hypo like she had, she may be very sensitive to insulin now so better to start low
Click to expand...

Oh gosh, I wish I had seen this earlier! I already gave her one unit. I'll keep that in mind for later though. I'll check her here in a little bit and see where she's at.

Also, I wanted to mention that she's losing clumps of hair today...is that normal? I guess she did go through something very stressful. It just alarmed me a bit to see how much hair she's losing.
 
Alec John Belle said:
So I ended up giving her one unit of the Vetsulin for today so far after she ate. I felt like that was the best thing to do at the moment until I get more opinions on the Lantus.
Click to expand...

OK.....get another test at +2 (2 hours from the shot). We need to get a spreadsheet set up for you and it will help if you'll do your "Signature" here too.

To do the Signature, click on your sign on name (top right) and there's a drop down menu. Choose Signature and a new box will pop up. Enter information like:

Your name/Cat's name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health problems or meds? ....and then when you have a spreadsheet link, you'd add that at the end.

That way we don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
OK.....get another test at +2 (2 hours from the shot). We need to get a spreadsheet set up for you and it will help if you'll do your "Signature" here too.

To do the Signature, click on your sign on name (top right) and there's a drop down menu. Choose Signature and a new box will pop up. Enter information like:

Your name/Cat's name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health problems or meds? ....and then when you have a spreadsheet link, you'd add that at the end.

That way we don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again.
Click to expand...

Okay, I just added my signature! I'll check her again soon. Thanks for the help!
 
In a little over two hours, I will be feeding Citrine again. I'm really nervous to give her any kind of insulin but I'm thinking that I will give her 0.5 units instead of 1 because the 1 brought her down to 87 earlier, a super low jump from 220. I don't want to give her insulin and have her drop low in the middle of the night. I'm just so nervous I'll wake up to the hell I went through last night. Does 0.5 units sound like a good idea for later?
 
Omg I read your posts this morning and was so relived when I read she was ok!! I'll tell you cats can be really sensitive for a few days after a hypo like that, so you are good to be cautious.
 
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