Fuzzy's BG dropping very fast and I'm scared... AMPS 430 to 85 at +3 (first time it is <100)

[kxk34]

I'm very scared right now.

We tested Fuzzy pre-shot this morning and her BG was 430. My partner mentioned that her appetite was less than usual, but he thought that because she still ate some food it would be fine. I did not see how much she ate, but as I'm pressing him on it now I am very concerned that she did not eat nearly enough food because he said she had a couple tablespoons of wet food and a few table spoons of dry food. We have not changed any of her dosing so she is still just on 1U of ProZinc insulin.

She's been a shakier than normal and somewhat reserved this morning and hasn't eaten much since getting her insulin. We started getting worried so we just tested her at +3 and her BG is 89. She has never once dropped below 100 before. We then tested again to make sure and it was 85. I know that this is a normal value, but given her conditions and how frail she is and how much it has dropped in only a few hours I'm very very very scared about it dropping lower since we're only at +3 now

Please help advise on how to best handle this. Should we be calling the vet? What do we do if she won't eat anything else? Should we give her the syrup even if she is not technically hypo? I'm very scared of her reaching that point she is so frail I don't think she could handle a big emergency )):

 

[kxk34]

We gave syrup because we were scared and checked again since it had been almost 15 minutes and it's now 76.. we're on hold at the vet I'm so scared

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

I had a similar bit of a scare myself a few days ago, having never seen numbers so low. I tested every hour for 5 straight hours, lowest I saw was 75 (human meter) and that was at +4, then he started to rise after that, but of course every cat is different. Looking at Fuzzy's sheet, often nadirs at +5 or +6 even. But I am using Lantus so probably a different situation entirely with how it works on the kitty.

if she's not showing any symptoms of a hypo, that's good. Let us know how it goes with the vet

 

[kxk34]

We couldn’t get her to eat anything and the syrup wasn’t going well because we accidentally got it stuck in her whiskers, etc. so we brought her in to the vet in case she needs to be stabilized. They said they checked her BG when we arrived and it was at 112 which they attributed to the syrup (but I’m a little worried is more likely from stress). They said they’re going to keep her there until at least past the +6 hour mark but that they’d be in touch then with an update unless anything came up sooner (and that no news is good news).

 

[Denver & Magic (GA)]

Magic dropped like a rock a couple of days ago. After talking with my vet and a buddy of mine who is a 'people' doctor we figured out what happened. If insulin accidentally gets injected into a muscle, instead of subcutaneous fat, it basically goes to work immediately and acts like a fast acting insulin without the time delay. In his case, he dropped almost 300 mg/dl in 2.5 hrs. - scared the crap out of me.

While he was rapidly dropping he didn't want to eat either. My buddy said that is most likely the massive drop made him feel awful and nauseous.

Ended up giving him some Temptations coated with Karo. He luckily did eat those and finally leveled off at 81.

I'm wondering if something like this is what caused Fuzzy to drop?

 

[kxk34]

Magic dropped like a rock a couple of days ago. After talking with my vet and a buddy of mine who is a 'people' doctor we figured out what happened. If insulin accidentally gets injected into a muscle, instead of subcutaneous fat, it basically goes to work immediately and acts like a fast acting insulin without the time delay. In his case, he dropped almost 300 mg/dl in 2.5 hrs. - scared the crap out of me.

While he was rapidly dropping he didn't want to eat either. My buddy said that is most likely the massive drop made him feel awful and nauseous.

Ended up giving him some Temptations coated with Karo. He luckily did eat those and finally leveled off at 81.

I'm wondering if something like this is what caused Fuzzy to drop?

We injected it into the scruff so I think it was probably that she didn't get enough food this morning ): I didn't see her eat this morning and my partner mentioned she didn't have as good an appetite, but that she did eat some of her food when he first prepared it so it seems he just didn't have a good grasp on how much less she ate than normal today...

She dropped by 341 in 3 hours and was much lower than her previous lowest point so I'd guess regardless what prompted it she probably felt terrible from the huge drop as well ): she did get cerennia this morning after she was not as hungry as usual, but it probably wouldn't have kicked in fast enough to do much before she started feeling bad...

 

[kxk34]

I had a similar bit of a scare myself a few days ago, having never seen numbers so low. I tested every hour for 5 straight hours, lowest I saw was 75 (human meter) and that was at +4, then he started to rise after that, but of course every cat is different. Looking at Fuzzy's sheet, often nadirs at +5 or +6 even. But I am using Lantus so probably a different situation entirely with how it works on the kitty.

if she's not showing any symptoms of a hypo, that's good. Let us know how it goes with the vet

I just realized that I was such a mess earlier that I didn't hit reply when I wrote a comment after your response. Sorry about that. Thank you very much for replying I really appreciate it.

She's at the vet now and we're expecting them to give us an update sometime after her +6 hour mark and then we'll assess whether she can come home sooner or stay until the end of the day today.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

We couldn’t get her to eat anything and the syrup wasn’t going well because we accidentally got it stuck in her whiskers, etc. so we brought her in to the vet in case she needs to be stabilized. They said they checked her BG when we arrived and it was at 112 which they attributed to the syrup (but I’m a little worried is more likely from stress). They said they’re going to keep her there until at least past the +6 hour mark but that they’d be in touch then with an update unless anything came up sooner (and that no news is good news).

112 is better, but did they use an AlphaTrak2 like many vets do? I know my vet does. And no worries about the missed reply!

 

[kxk34]

112 is better, but did they use an AlphaTrak2 like many vets do? I know my vet does. And no worries about the missed reply!

I believe so. I know they've used that in the past and that is what they taught us how to use. We've also been testing her at home with an AlphaTrak2 meter since that's what they suggested we order right when she was diagnosed so I would assume their readings there would be comparable if that is what they are using also.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

I believe so. I know they've used that in the past and that is what they taught us how to use. We've also been testing her at home with an AlphaTrak2 meter since that's what they suggested we order right when she was diagnosed so I would assume their readings there would be comparable if that is what they are using also.

oh right I knew you were using the AT2, got you mixed up with another person using a human meter

 

[kxk34]

We just heard from the vet and they said Fuzzy is good to come home.

Unfortunately it sounds like she's had a very stressful day there with them based on what they said about her behavior during her stay so really worried this could trigger a flare up with her IBD ): especially since it was already so weird that her appetite was unusually low this morning.

But for now just grateful that she's coming home and seems to be out of the hypo woods for this cycle at least. Hopefully we can get her to eat tonight.

Thanks for the support @Hendrick's mom and dad & @Denver — I really appreciate it <3

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

We just heard from the vet and they said Fuzzy is good to come home.

Unfortunately it sounds like she's had a very stressful day there with them based on what they said about her behavior during her stay so really worried this could trigger a flare up with her IBD ): especially since it was already so weird that her appetite was unusually low this morning.

But for now just grateful that she's coming home and seems to be out of the hypo woods for this cycle at least. Hopefully we can get her to eat tonight.

Thanks for the support @Hendrick's mom and dad & @Denver — I really appreciate it <3

Yay! So glad to hear she is coming home. And no problem, I know how it is! I am new to all this so may not always have the answer but I'll do what I can anyway.

 

[kxk34]

Magic dropped like a rock a couple of days ago. After talking with my vet and a buddy of mine who is a 'people' doctor we figured out what happened. If insulin accidentally gets injected into a muscle, instead of subcutaneous fat, it basically goes to work immediately and acts like a fast acting insulin without the time delay.

Sorry to ask this so delayed, but do you mind me asking where you usually inject Magic's insulin/where you think you might have accidentally hit a muscle? We give Fuzzy her shot in her scruff area (I've read some pages advise against that, but that is where the vet showed us how to do it and when we inquired about doing it elsewhere we were told it would be safest for us to do it there because of her poor body condition from being so underweight).

I ask because I just remembered that Fuzzy did kind of lurch forward slightly when she got her shot this morning. Sometimes she can randomly pull away if she's feeling a little fussy and catches me off guard so we assumed it was something like that, but now I'm wondering whether it's possible we might have stuck something too. I'm not sure how likely it is when giving the shot in the scruff area, but figured I'd ask just in case. Earlier it just seemed like the obvious culprit was her not eating as much as normal (which very likely contributed a lot to the situation) but after reading some more stuff online I'm a little doubtful that the amount of food she got was really *so* much less than what would be a sufficient amount that it would cause such a drop with just 1u of insulin. So now I'm wondering if it could be a combination of the two things..