Advice on BG readings

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LokiMo

LokiMo

Member Since 2021
I cannot get through to my vet. We have Loki his first dose of 1 unit of ProZinc this morning right after he ate and I told my daughter to test him around 2:30-3:00 (+5.5-6) and the 1st reading was “Lo”. I am borrowing this GlucoGauge from my vet while they wait for mine so I don’t have a book to see what that means on this gauge but I figure it’s either not enough blood or too low for the gauge. I had her give him honey and try to get him to eat a little. She tested him about every 30 mins and the readings were 87, 78, 85, and just now 58 (+8). What the heck is happening and if this is what the first shot does, how is this supposed to help him?
 
The BG can drop after the honey wears off,.
I can see 49 now in the SS, give some honey and some high carb food now

the dose is too high. You will need to reduce the dose….more about that later. Just let’s concentrate on getting Loki into higher numbers now.
 
*****It looks like the glucogauge meter is a pet meter!

******The 49 is very low on the pet meter. Please give some honey and high carb food and test again in20 minutes. Keep doing this until Loki is up over 68
Please keep me informed.
It is very important you get Loki up over 68 to be in safe numbers. At the moment he is not in safe numbers!
 
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My vet stayed after hours and had me bring him in. He was at 61 there when they tested him at 6:30. They want us to skip insulin tonight and feed him and check again.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have been worried.
61 is still not high enough. He needs to be up over 68 to be safe on a pet meter.
Keep testing at least hourly at the moment until he gets up over 100. please keep posting so we can help you monitor the situation.
I agree with no insulin tonight.
Tomorrow you need to reduce the dose.
I would go down to 1/2 unit (0.5unit) and only give it if the BG is higher than around 225 or 250 on the pet meter.
Please post here if you are unsure what to do.
I will tag @Panic and @JanetNJ to get their input as they are Prozinc users.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Thanks for the reply. I have been worried.
61 is still not high enough. He needs to be up over 68 to be safe on a pet meter.
Keep testing at least hourly at the moment until he gets up over 100. please keep posting so we can help you monitor the situation.
I agree with no insulin tonight.
Tomorrow you need to reduce the dose.
I would go down to 1/2 unit (0.5unit) and only give it if the BG is higher than around 225 or 250 on the pet meter.
Please post here if you are unsure what to do.
I will tag @Panic and @JanetNJ to get their input as they are Prozinc users.
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We are reducing the dose to 1/2 unit but they told me not to give him the shot unless he is over 150. Is that not high enough?

Struggling to get him to eat dinner. He only nibbled. Will test again and update spreadsheet.
 
LokiMo said:
We are reducing the dose to 1/2 unit but they told me not to give him the shot unless he is over 150. Is that not high enough?
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I am not a Prozinc user, but it is my understanding that you do not give the insulin if the BG is under a kitty 220 -250 on the pet meter when you are new. Hopefully @Panic and /or @JanetNJ will call by sometime soon .

Offer him whatever he will eat at the moment. Higher carb food is fine. We just need him to eat to get that BG up higher.
 
Just had to bathe his feet because when he peed in his box it must’ve flooded his feet. I didn’t draw blood for now because he is really really mad about the bath.
 
I wouldn't shoot unless he's over 200. I like the 0.5 dose, esp since he's not eating consistently.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I’m very glad to see he has come up to 76. That is good.
Does he normally refuse food?
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No, this is a recent thing over the last week. The vet gave us an appetite stimulant to get him eating regularly again. This morning he was at 145 AMPS and I am skipping the ProZinc and I fed him his can of food and he ate it all.

Testing is going much better using his toes. We were not getting enough blood from his ears and the vet suggested we back off on his ears and try his toes and it’s been better to test the last two times.

Is it normal for the very first dose of insulin to cause a reaction like this? My gut told me I wanted to hold off on the insulin and the vet and tech were insistent we needed to start to get his numbers down. I felt like we didn’t have enough data yet with him not wanting to eat and his numbers were all over the place. Now I’m wishing I wouldn’t have given him the insulin yesterday.
 
JanetNJ said:
Sounds good. Tonight move to 0.5 and we'll see how he does.
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So if he isn’t over 200, do I skip the pm insulin too? My vet told me if he is under 150 but I don’t want to ruin all of today’s progress (his numbers in normal range and a healthy appetite, seems in a better mood too).
 
LokiMo said:
So if he isn’t over 200, do I skip the pm insulin too? My vet told me if he is under 150 but I don’t want to ruin all of today’s progress (his numbers in normal range and a healthy appetite, seems in a better mood too).
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I had replied before but I changed my mind. I had originally advised 0.5 u over 200. Looking at how much that 1 unit dropped from the 400's I'm going to say 0.25 if it's over 200. It's like literally 2 drops. If it proves to not be enough over a few days you could always raise it to 0.5. Do you have syringes with half unit markings? When you have the 1 unit the other day, you only filed it to the first or second little line, right? Not to the 10 line? I ask because we've had people make that error in the past.
 
JanetNJ said:
I had replied before but I changed my mind. I had originally advised 0.5 u over 200. Looking at how much that 1 unit dropped from the 400's I'm going to say 0.25 if it's over 200. It's like literally 2 drops. If it proves to not be enough over a few days you could always raise it to 0.5. Do you have syringes with half unit markings? When you have the 1 unit the other day, you only filed it to the first or second little line, right? Not to the 10 line? I ask because we've had people make that error in the past.
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I do have half unit marked syringes. I will try to see if I can do .25 units. His +10 was 281, will check it again at +12 before dinner.
 
LokiMo said:
I do have half unit marked syringes. I will try to see if I can do .25 units. His +10 was 281, will check it again at +12 before dinner.
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Just do a tiny bit under the half mark. :). Your kitty seems sensitive to insulin. I'd rather err on the side of caution, ya know? If it's over 300 and you can test you'll probably be ok to do 0.5.
 
JanetNJ said:
Just do a tiny bit under the half mark. :). Your kitty seems sensitive to insulin. I'd rather err on the side of caution, ya know? If it's over 300 and you can test you'll probably be ok to do 0.5.
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Tested at +12 and it was 427 so we gave him a .25u dose while he ate his dinner. It was definitely under .5, really difficult to see that little of a dose but I did my best. SS updated. Should I test again tonight and at how many hours after the shot?
 
LokiMo said:
Tested at +12 and it was 427 so we gave him a .25u dose while he ate his dinner. It was definitely under .5, really difficult to see that little of a dose but I did my best. SS updated. Should I test again tonight and at how many hours after the shot?
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Amazing how even that tiny amount had almost 100 point impact in 3 hours.
 
JanetNJ said:
Amazing how even that tiny amount had almost 100 point impact in 3 hours.
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We even gave him another half a can of wet food with water and some dehydrated chicken treats at +2.5 last night because he was crying at us again.

Updated SS for this morning. AMPS was 317 so I did another .25u shot this morning. Hopefully that is right. He seems to be way hungry the last two days. I have to go to work but I’m going to leave him some rehydrated chicken to nibble on until my daughter gets home early afternoon to test him. I am most curious about where he reads at about +5-7.
 
Updated SS. Loki seemed to be hovering around the 300-350 range all day and was back up to 447 PMPS so I am trying 0.5u, will test him again tonight. Have learned so much from everyone on here already. I am freezing portions of wet food with a little water to leave out after I go to work and at night after bed so he has a snack. This info has been fantastic!
 
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