BG 44 on Libre

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Lauren and Loki

Lauren and Loki

Member Since 2022
Here is my first thread for reference, the last few posts are about tonight:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...ki-intro-where-to-begin-lost-confused.272082/


@FrostD and others who were helping me with Loki:

I don't know if this is a proper 911...I gave his insulin tonight at 7pm, I lowered the dose from 2U to ~1.75U, and his BG was 212 @ injection. I lowered it because I had to leave for work and he was being injected almost 2 hours early, but his BG looked good to shoot, and he ate a good amount. He was 223 @ 9pm. My dad just scanned at 10:30pm and he is 44, but seems okay. I told my dad to give Loki a FF Gravy Lovers food. I am not there, what do I do? Again, he's on the Libre, so I don't know if he is actually that low, but he's obviously lower and things can change. He also went to 65 earlier today before his PM shot. I have SS updated

Thank you!
 
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Hi Lauren,
That was the right thing to do to tell your dad to give Loki some gravy lovers food.
Did your dad test again? If not can you get him to do so now so we can see what is happening to the BG?
The libre can be a bit unreliable when low but he is most likely lowish and needed the high carb food.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Lauren,
That was the right thing to do to tell your dad to give Loki some gravy lovers food.
Did your dad test again? If not can you get him to do so now so we can see what is happening to the BG?
The libre can be a bit unreliable when low but he is most likely lowish and needed the high carb food.
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Hi Bron! He tested just now, he is @ 53
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I would get your dad to give another snack of the gravy lovers food and test 20 minutes afte that and post result please.
Are you testing for ketones still?
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Ok he is getting that food for Loki now. I'll update with the test number.

I have yet to be around when Loki pees in order to do a ketone test at home. He is just not peeing nor drinking water near as much! Which is great but also preventing me from pee testing. I am going to order a ketone reader for blood testing. I am still learning how to blood test at home. On Christmas Eve, I had to take him in, and his ketones were 0.9. I have a tech appointment scheduled tomorrow to take him in to get his Libre sensor changed, and do a ketone and kidney values test.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
We like to see ketones tests very regularly if possible because that tells us if we have the right insulin and food balance. It is the food and insulin that keeps the ketones at bay.
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I definitely understand! I've realized waiting for him to pee isn't a great way to do it, because I'm either at work or sleeping, life etc. So that is why I am going to order the blood test one, (NovaMax someone recommended), and do it when I want to instead of waiting.
 
BG is 55, he's still snacking on the second can of FF, as in he didn't scarf it down like the first one. My dad just put it in front of him to entice him to eat more. He might be full?
 
Lauren and Loki said:
BG is 55, he's still snacking on the second can of FF, as in he didn't scarf it down like the first one. My dad just put it in front of him to entice him to eat more. He might be full?
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We don’t want him to get full incase we need him to eat later. He doesn’t need to eat the whole can. Just a couple of teaspoons. Was it the higher carb food?
I can see 62 at+4 on the SS now so he has come up a bit further. Your dad will need to keep testing him for a while to see he doesn’t drop back down again. Is that OK?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
We don’t want him to get full incase we need him to eat later. He doesn’t need to eat the whole can. Just a couple of teaspoons. Was it the higher carb food?
I can see 62 at+4 on the SS now so he has come up a bit further. Your dad will need to keep testing him for a while to see he doesn’t drop back down again. Is that OK?
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I just updated SS; his last reading is 55 @ +4.5. You advised me to feed him a second can of FF Gravy and then update number after 20 minutes, and that's the 55. He didn't scarf down the second can like he did the first, which is why I was saying he might be full..I don't know how to keep him from not getting full after two cans of Gravy Lovers lol :smuggrin: Oh NO unless he shouldn't have been given the whole can!!?? Dang it! My brain and this learning curve is on complete overload

My dad is fine testing him for awhile, yes!
 
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A bit of a miscommunication I think …..when a cat drops low and we say to feed a snack of high carb food….we mean to give them a teaspoon or two of the high carb food only and then if more is necessary, give some more. We don’t want to fill them up too much in case the BG drops and we need him to eat more. It’s OK though, I’m sure Loki is enjoying the extra food!

With that drop to 44, Loki earned another reduction in dose down to 1.5 units. I’ll tag @FrostD just to confirm that as I’m not a Prozinc user. It will be good to get a ketones test done soon as we want to keep him on as much insulin as is safely possible because of the recent DKA.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
A bit of a miscommunication I think …..when a cat drops low and we say to feed a snack of high carb food….we mean to give them a teaspoon or two of the high carb food only and then if more is necessary, give some more. We don’t want to fill them up too much in case the BG drops and we need him to eat more. It’s OK though, I’m sure Loki is enjoying the extra food!

With that drop to 44, Loki earned another reduction in dose down to 1.5 units. I’ll tag @FrostD just to confirm that as I’m not a Prozinc user. It will be good to get a ketones test done soon as we want to keep him on as much insulin as is safely possible because of the recent DKA.
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I literally realized what you meant by "snack" when I was typing my response! Doh!! :facepalm: In retrospect, it's completely obvious! Oops!! Ok well, he got alot of food then...

I also tagged the same person in my initial post since they were helping me earlier tonight and they use ProZinc as well. I will try to pee test for ketones if I get home and see him going to pee, but either way he is going in for a tech visit tomorrow and they are testing his ketones. So we will know something then.

Thank you for being here, @Bron and Sheba (GA) !!! I TRULY appreciate you! Do I keep updating the numbers here until no longer low? When do I take the 911 off the thread?
 
Lauren and Loki said:
I literally realized what you meant by "snack" when I was typing my response! Doh!! :facepalm: In retrospect, it's completely obvious! Oops!! Ok well, he got alot of food then...
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No problem…it is a learning curve in the beginning….we all do it!

Lauren and Loki said:
also tagged the same person in my initial post since they were helping me earlier tonight and they use ProZinc as well
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Melissa will be asleep now and she has a very tiny baby as well but I’m sure she will looking in the morning .
Lauren and Loki said:
I will try to pee test for ketones if I get home and see him going to pee, but either way he is going in for a tech visit tomorrow and they are testing his ketones. So we will know something then.
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That will be very helpful
Lauren and Loki said:
Thank you for being here, @Bron and Sheba (GA) !!! I TRULY appreciate you! Do I keep updating the numbers here until no longer low? When do I take the 911 off the thread?
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Very happy to help you anytime.:)
Yes, please keep updating the numbers while low…I’ll keep an eye on them.
Yes, you can take the 911 down now please but if you need it again put it back up so we know you are in trouble.
 
@Bron and Sheba (GA) Ok so now his BG went down from 76 to 60 in a matter of 10 minutes. This isn't a horrible number, but I'm concerned that it's going down again. My dad put some of the food in his face and he's just chillin trying to sleep. My dad has to go to bed soon, in like 30 minutes, so the last reading will be at 2am. I won't be home for another 7-8 hours.

Edit: Latest reading is 66 @ 1:45am (+6.75). Maybe he's just hanging out in this range before heading back up. I'll be getting one more reading from my dad in 30 minutes.
 
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Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Can your dad try and get him to eat something… even if it’s higher carb food. It’s going to be several hours before you will get back
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SS is updated. Just talked to him, Loki's BG was 101 as of 2:15am (+7.25). Lol, kitty is gonna give me a heart attack! My dad said he started to eat some of the FF Gravy food after the last time we spoke 30 minutes ago, so that must have helped. My dad has to go to bed, so I am having to hope he's okay till I can get there. My dad says he's still got food out, two bowls - one with the gravy and one with his regular FF pate. Also, he says that Loki isn't displaying any physical hypo signs, that he seems okay on the outside. Just to note.
 
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Lauren and Loki said:
SS is updated. Just talked to him, Loki's BG was 101 as of 2:15am (+7.25). Lol, kitty is gonna give me a heart attack! My dad said he started to eat some of the FF Gravy food after the last time we spoke 30 minutes ago, so that must have helped. My dad has to go to bed, so I am having to hope he's okay till I can get there. My dad says he's still got food out, two bowls - one with the gravy and one with his regular FF pate. Also, he says that Loki isn't displaying any physical hypo signs, that he seems okay on the outside. Just to note.
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The gravy probably helped. Hopefully he will eat if he drops again. It’s not unusual for kitties to wobbly about like that if they have dropped low early on.
I think if @FrostD hasnt got back to you before the next shot I would reduce the dose to 1.25 units. He’s taken quite a while to get back up tonight.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
The gravy probably helped. Hopefully he will eat if he drops again. It’s not unusual for kitties to wobbly about like that if they have dropped low early on.
I think if @FrostD hasnt got back to you before the next shot I would reduce the dose to 1.25 units. He’s taken quite a while to get back up tonight.
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Thankfully, Loki has always been a good eater; that is the one thing making this easier on me (and him), is that he's not very picky. Almost like a dog! Interested in everything lol. He usually doesn't have an issue searching for food, so I think that part should be okay.
I definitely agree about the dose. If @FrostD hasn't responded by the next shot, I'll reduce to 1.25U, and then update this thread. Looking back, I can't believe I was dosing him with 4 units this past year...I feel awful..AND that's what they wanted his normal dose to be after his recent hospital stay! Geez, I'm glad I had read enough on this forum by that point, and went with my gut to start with 2U, and now even that is probably too high! I can't believe how extremely off it can be! It's truly shocking. But I am really trying this time around and can only look forward now. I hope I can do right by Loki. This forum is truly priceless. Thank you so much again, @Bron and Sheba (GA) !!! :cat: <3<3<3
 
You are doing right by Loki. He is a very lucky boy.
You would be surprised how many people we get in the same position as you….prescribed too much insulin and mostly told not to hometest!
 
My dad was woken up by the Libre alarm lol..Loki was 355 @ 5am (+10). High spike but at least he's definitely not low anymore :)
 
FrostD said:
Sorry I wasn't around. Great job!

Yes I agree with the 1.25U. The bounce is normal.
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No worries! It was late at night. @Bron and Sheba (GA) really helped guide me!! I gave 1.25U this morning, but had to take him to the doctor to get his sensor changed, and ketones/kidneys values checked (ketones were 0.8! :)) So he’s been HI all day; finally came under 400 just before PM shot time. He ate really well, and has been playful. Just gave another 1.25U dose now, and we’ll see how he responds! I’ll update his SS soon.
Not a great visit with the vet, their recommendations go completely against some things here and I’m struggling trying to advocate for Loki, bc I’m still learning. I may make another post about it later. Thanks y’all!
 
Woo hoo on the ketones!
If you don’t agree with the vet, just nod and smile and then do what you think is best for Loki. He is your kitty.
Loki has been hi because he is bouncing because of the low green BG last night. Perfectly normal. Just stay with the new dose. It could take up to 6 cycles for the bounce to resolve.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Woo hoo on the ketones!
If you don’t agree with the vet, just nod and smile and then do what you think is best for Loki. He is your kitty.
Loki has been hi because he is bouncing because of the low green BG last night. Perfectly normal. Just stay with the new dose. It could take up to 6 cycles for the bounce to resolve.
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Yes woohoo on the ketones!!
Nod and smile is pretty much what I had to do lol..I wasn’t even supposed to see the vet today, it was just supposed to be a tech visit. But when the tech started asking me questions about his dose and food, and wanted to upload the Libre data, I knew the vet was gonna come out and talk to me, which is exactly what happened lol. Geez I felt like I was a rebel or something, ridiculous haha! The convo with the doc was pretty much about “we want to see him on this prescription diet” & “we don’t want Loki to have the sensor on forever.” I literally don’t understand what’s wrong with having a sensor on..and it’s not because they’re recommending to manually test for more accuracy, no, they don’t want me doing that either! Makes ZERO sense! She said it’s hard for her to interpret data if I keep changing the dose, and I said “well if there’s no readings there’s no data to interpret.” :rolleyes: That’s about as spicy as I got lol..
I’ll stick with this dose so his body can adjust. If any issues I’ll post here. :cat:
 
Sigh! You are hardly keeping on changing the dose. It would be madness not to change the dose if the BG drops as low as it did. And if she can’t interpret the results because you changed the dose then she needs to read up more on FD. I think it is scary how little some vets and vet techs know about FD.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Sigh! You are hardly keeping on changing the dose. It would be madness not to change the dose if the BG drops as low as it did. And if she can’t interpret the results because you changed the dose then she needs to read up more on FD. I think it is scary how little some vets and vet techs know about FD.
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Exactly! You took the words right out of my mouth! (Literally I was going to say it’s madness lol). I thought to myself, “yeah well it’s hard for me to save his life if I don’t change the dose.” :banghead: It’s not like I’m changing it all over the place up and down everyday..I’ve lowered it based on his low number data she apparently can’t interpret. It truly is scary the more I learn. I feel like a human who is diabetic could help me more than a vet at this point. Like why are diabetic humans treated differently than animals? Humans wear the sensor or test everyday, multiple times a day. Why is that wrong for the animal? Same with the diet. Expecting me to feed Loki only twice per day is insane.
 
To add, she also tried to brush the low numbers off by saying the Libre isn’t as accurate, and can be less accurate the last couple days it’s active. I’m like okay, all the more reason to home test!! Lol
 
Unfortunately vets don’t get a lot of training about FD at university and the information they get about the food is from the big manufacturers who make all the prescription foods.
And new insulins have come on the market and not all vets are up to date with them or how to feed the cats with the new insulins.
Many vets do not like home testing … maybe they think that people won’t want to test and will put down their cats… I don’t know, but there are vets out there that are keen to learn more about FD and are open to listening to the CGs who are learning through sites such as this.
 
We often find there just isn't as much education for them (general practice vets), it's a small part of what they learn. And, morbidly, there's a much better chance a caregiver will opt to treat with insulin if all they have to do is give a shot or two each day. If all of a sudden you throw all these things at them (diet, testing, supplies), they're more likely to euthanize or surrender the animal and at least in the US there's a huge strain on shelters, fosters, etc. So from that aspect I understand.

What I always have trouble understanding (I mean, not really lol) is that when a caregiver comes yo a vet wanting to do MORE, really do what's best for the animal, they're met with these same arguments. "Home testing is too stressful the cat will hate you" "prescription diet is needed"...well hundreds of people here can tell you otherwise, and you'd think that low carb food for a diabetic would be common sense...

I am thankful for my current vet because he's just as willing to learn as I am, and it's always a really good discussion and sharing of info.

Ah well, I digress. It's great that you're on top of this!
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Unfortunately vets don’t get a lot of training about FD at university and the information they get about the food is from the big manufacturers who make all the prescription foods.
And new insulins have come on the market and not all vets are up to date with them or how to feed the cats with the new insulins.
Many vets do not like home testing … maybe they think that people won’t want to test and will put down their cats… I don’t know, but there are vets out there that are keen to learn more about FD and are open to listening to the CGs who are learning through sites such as this.
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It’s just an unfortunate reality that makes me all the more grateful for all of you here, and all the information that’s been put together. The amount of care and effort blows me away! This disease is not a one size fits all and it shouldn’t be treated that way. I hope that can change one day, and hopefully I can eventually find a vet who is more open or knows more.
 
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FrostD said:
We often find there just isn't as much education for them (general practice vets), it's a small part of what they learn. And, morbidly, there's a much better chance a caregiver will opt to treat with insulin if all they have to do is give a shot or two each day. If all of a sudden you throw all these things at them (diet, testing, supplies), they're more likely to euthanize or surrender the animal and at least in the US there's a huge strain on shelters, fosters, etc. So from that aspect I understand.

What I always have trouble understanding (I mean, not really lol) is that when a caregiver comes yo a vet wanting to do MORE, really do what's best for the animal, they're met with these same arguments. "Home testing is too stressful the cat will hate you" "prescription diet is needed"...well hundreds of people here can tell you otherwise, and you'd think that low carb food for a diabetic would be common sense...

I am thankful for my current vet because he's just as willing to learn as I am, and it's always a really good discussion and sharing of info.

Ah well, I digress. It's great that you're on top of this!
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You put it wonderfully, that’s definitely my observation, as well. I wish for it to one day be better for owners who want to do more. I’m glad you have found a vet you can share information and ideas with! That’s amazing!
And thank you, I’m trying! Thanks for all the help!
 
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