Help? #s dropping

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Rochelle and Mulligan

Rochelle and Mulligan

Member Since 2021
? HELP ? Took a reading for the first time yesterday 3 hours after eating and 2u of Lantus and was 228 on the Nova Max Plus. He was at the vet today for a curve. Idk what he tested. Tested at home tonight 2 hours before he is due for next dose and I got 164. Retested at 8pm after he had 1/4 can Friskies pate and it was 90?! I did not give his insulin yet. He hid under the bed which is VERY unusual. I'm starting to freak out with these numbers!! Could it be me and being new to testing? Should I maybe be considering the emergency vet to check him?? I have Friskies gravy but that's all for higher carb. I posted in the FB group as well.
 
I'm fairly new to all of this but test every 20 mins and update this thread with the 911 prefix if the number gets down into the 60s. You're not in the danger zone yet. And in my experience my cat did not feel well when his numbers first started getting down into the 90s which I think is because they're not used to it yet. But it's not the danger zone. Yet. But don't give any insulin until you've heard from an expert on this board!
 
I saw @Chris & China (GA) advising you on FB. I don't want to conflict with anything she may say, so please take what she says over my advice if there's a conflict.

It is not you being new to testing! The number is the number, although I'll do another test or two if I think I got a funny number/bad strip (like I would have double checked the 203 you just got).

If that 203 is right, he's likely bouncing from that 90.

Does he have a history of ketones or DKA? You'll also want to get set up to test for ketones (click for link) at home when you get a chance. If he does, then we do not want to skip the shot.

If he does have a history of those, and you have plenty of test strips, a hypo kit and are comfortable/successful with home testing, I would give 1.75U to be safe (but keep reading next paragraph before you do!), although he technically did not meet the requirement for a reduction. But without more data I'd rather err on the side of safety

If he has a history but you're low on strips/struggling with testing/no hypo kit, I'd give 0.5-1U, whichever you're comfortable with

No history, I'd skip the shot for tonight and resume in the morning so.youre not off schedule.

Edit: the numbers you're seeing are perfectly safe, by the way. Depending on the dosing method we reduce below 90, or below 50. You really only need an emergency vet if for whatever reason he's very low, showing hypo symptoms, and/or you can't get him up with high carbs, honey, etc. Which is very very rare if you follow the guidelines here.
 
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Also - are you withholding food for 2 hrs before preshot test time? Did you feed anything when you got the 164 or 90? If you did the 203 could also be partially a food bump
 
FrostD said:
are you withholding food for 2 hrs before preshot test time? Did you feed anything when you got the 164 or 90? If you did the 203 could also be partially a food bump
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She said "He ate 15 minutes prior to shot time. I didn't give shot and tested at 90. 1 hour later he's 203" so I think the 203 is at least partially due to a food bump.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
She said "He ate 15 minutes prior to shot time. I didn't give shot and tested at 90. 1 hour later he's 203" so I think the 203 is at least partially due to a food bump.
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Thank you. My last post before heading to bed - we generally recommend you do not shoot under 150 on Lantus when you're new (some people even say 200). Since the 203 is likely partially food influenced, I would lean towards no shot (again, a history of ketones/DKA changes that a bit, but wait for others to advise if thata the case)

Also, please be sure to feed after testing from now on. And no food for two hours before the preshot tests.
 
If there's no history of ketones, I think it would be safe to go ahead and skip tonight and get back on schedule tomorrow.

In the future, you want him to not eat anything for the 2 hours immediately before shot times so that when you do the Pre-Shot test, it's not influenced by food. If you get a number under 200 (at first) you should Stall, DON'T feed and test again in 20-30 minutes to see if that number comes up without food. That makes a difference in the advice you'd get.

Use that stalling time to post here and make sure your subject line is very clear like "STALLING! NEED HELP!"....once you have somebody's attention, you can go back and edit the subject line and put the usual information. We usually like to see the test numbers in the subject line....like AMPS ###, +3 ###, +6 ###, etc.....as you get new tests, add them to the subject line. That way the people who scan the board for problems can quickly see how each kitty is doing.

Once you get a little more data and are home testing more, that "stall point" drops to 150 and you gradually learn to shoot lower and lower numbers. I did Tight Regulation with China and eventually got to where I'd shoot the scheduled dose if she was above 50 (but that was after a LOT of experience and data...and truly understanding how MY cat responded to both food and insulin).

I'd try reducing the dose tomorrow to maybe 1.5 and start gathering test data and let's see how it goes!
 
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