? Low blood sugar - dosing advice

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David - coco

Member Since 2022
Last night we dropped down to 52! Around 10pm (about +3) she started acting REALLY hungry. Its not unusual for her to do that but this was worse, she was sort of frantic looking. I decided to give a little wet food and a few pieces of kibble as a bed time treat but she was still frantic, eating crumbs off the ground. Figured I should test and saw the 52 number, she had no other symptoms. Gave some food and tested until we were in the clear. Is it unusual for it to drop this low with such a small dose (1U) so quickly? She ate fairly well initially (first 30 minutes) and finished her food about two hours after I gave her shot. Makes me wonder if she drops low often, especially when I'm at work. I haven't really noticed any other signs or symptoms of low BG the last few weeks. Side note, is there a number you like to see to feel comfortable coming off a low BG?

Fast forward to this morning, she was at 264 and she ate well, then gave her only 0.5U just in case. She finished her food by about 8:30. I tested her at 8.20 (+1) just in case before I left work work and she was down to 117. I gave her a little more food (about 1 tsp) and tested her again 30 minutes later, and she was 82! What's going on here? Isn't it unusual for a drop like this so soon after the shot? Now at +2 she’s at 85 so going the other direction now. I’ll test again in 30 minutes. I don't Know if I should reduce again tonight to 0.25U? Or just stick with the 0.5U or go back to 1U. UPDATE: Now at +3 we're at 91. Not really sure what to do.

you can look at my spreadsheet but at +4 she was at 103 so I left a little food and left for work.

Obviously as you can see on my spreadsheet, I haven't been testing during the day hardly at all recently so I really don't know what is normal for her drop but this just seems abnormal. The only thing I changed was she got a B12 shot Sunday morning, but again, I don't know if that's effecting anything since I don't know what her "normal" is.

Just seems weird for it to be this low so quickly with a full meal and a low insulin dose. The insulin should barely be kicking in at this point, right?

Any insight on this or recommendations? @FrostD @Bron and Sheba (GA) @Sienne and Gabby (GA) @Ale & Minnie (GA)
 
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David - coco said:
Is it unusual for it to drop this low with such a small dose (1U) so quickly?
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Not unusual and could mean that the cat is going into remission. However, I have seen that in my Wiggles, who is sensitive to doses and his dose is less than 1 unit but sadfully he is not going into remission.
I would reduce dose to ¼ for 3 days and see what happens but if still goes low reduce dose immediately, do not wait 3 days to reduce.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
Not unusual and could mean that the cat is going into remission. However, I have seen that in my Wiggles, who is sensitive to doses and his dose is less than 1 unit but sadfully he is not going into remission.
I would reduce dose to ¼ for 3 days and see what happens but if still goes low reduce dose immediately, do not wait 3 days to reduce.
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As much as I would love remission I doubt it. If you look at my spreadsheet, she's been in the yellow pretty consistently.

So your recommending to give 1/4U for 3 days, down from 1U? Do you think I'm safe to leave her alone for a while being at 91? Maybe leave her a little food?
 
Larry and Kitties said:
From your SS he is 103 now so going up and I say you can leave.
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Yes, I left a little food and left. Have to see what happens tonight. Per your advice and since for the second cycle in a row she dropped below 90, I’ll probably give a 1/4 unit. It’ll be tricky to measure it though. I do have the 1/2 unit syringes.
 
Bump. Hoping to get more can chime in on this . Thanks

there was also a photo floating around showing how to measure a 1/4 unit with a 1/2 unit syringe if anyone can post that? Thanks
 
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David - coco said:
Last night we dropped down to 52! Around 10pm (about +3) she started acting REALLY hungry. Its not unusual for her to do that but this was worse, she was sort of frantic looking. I decided to give a little wet food and a few pieces of kibble as a bed time treat but she was still frantic, eating crumbs off the ground. Figured I should test and saw the 52 number, she had no other symptoms. Gave some food and tested until we were in the clear. Is it unusual for it to drop this low with such a small dose (1U) so quickly? She ate fairly well initially (first 30 minutes) and finished her food about two hours after I gave her shot. Makes me wonder if she drops low often, especially when I'm at work. I haven't really noticed any other signs or symptoms of low BG the last few weeks. Side note, is there a number you like to see to feel comfortable coming off a low BG?

Fast forward to this morning, she was at 264 and she ate well, then gave her only 0.5U just in case. She finished her food by about 8:30. I tested her at 8.20 (+1) just in case before I left work work and she was down to 117. I gave her a little more food (about 1 tsp) and tested her again 30 minutes later, and she was 82! What's going on here? Isn't it unusual for a drop like this so soon after the shot? Now at +2 she’s at 85 so going the other direction now. I’ll test again in 30 minutes. I don't Know if I should reduce again tonight to 0.25U? Or just stick with the 0.5U or go back to 1U. UPDATE: Now at +3 we're at 91. Not really sure what to do.

you can look at my spreadsheet but at +4 she was at 103 so I left a little food and left for work.

Obviously as you can see on my spreadsheet, I haven't been testing during the day hardly at all recently so I really don't know what is normal for her drop but this just seems abnormal. The only thing I changed was she got a B12 shot Sunday morning, but again, I don't know if that's effecting anything since I don't know what her "normal" is.

Just seems weird for it to be this low so quickly with a full meal and a low insulin dose. The insulin should barely be kicking in at this point, right?

Any insight on this or recommendations? @FrostD @Bron and Sheba (GA) @Sienne and Gabby (GA) @Ale & Minnie (GA)
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@Suzanne & Darcy
 
Hi David,
Can you colour that +3 last night as lime green please so we can see it...thanks.
You definitely need to reduce the dose and start getting some tests in during both the cycles. Just getting the preshot tests in is not givnig us any information about how low she is going during the cycles.
Is she eating well during the cycles?
Hopefully @Suzanne & Darcy will be along in the morning to give you dosing advice.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi David,
Can you colour that +3 last night as lime green please so we can see it...thanks.
You definitely need to reduce the dose and start getting some tests in during both the cycles. Just getting the preshot tests in is not givnig us any information about how low she is going during the cycles.
Is she eating well during the cycles?
Hopefully @Suzanne & Darcy will be along in the morning to give you dosing advice.
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Just tested her +3 and was at 102 and 109 at +3.5 after giving 0.5u, her normal is 1u. She has been eating fairly good the last couple weeks, main issue is she usually doesn’t finish her food until about 2 hours +\- after giving her shot as she’s a slow eater.
And yes I know in order to give dosing advice I need more tests. I will try. I’m trying not to poke her ears to death or get obsessive about it. I work days so that’s tough and getting up in the middle of the night…well you know. You have to know I’ve only been at this for about 2 months now. I’m 30 years old and trying my best to balance this and a normal life. I’m not a retiree and am home all day or have a companion to help out at the moment.

We seemed to be in a good routine and rhythm the last couple weeks without issues that I saw as far as clinical signs, while having a tough time transitioning to a different food the last several weeks, see my other thread. I’m trying to get her on a consistent food so I can do a curve on her. But it’s been tough since she’s very picky.

Still, with the info I do have, is she dropping unusually low for such a small dose and a full meal? Just seems like a huge drop from 289 to 102 in 3 hours with such a small dose AND a full meal. Should I reduce the to an even lower dose than 0.5 for a while? I’m mainly concerned with the daytime when I have to work and leave her alone.
 
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David - coco said:
Just tested her +3 and was at 102 after giving 0.5u, her normal is 1u. She has been eating fairly good the last couple weeks, main issue is she usually doesn’t finish her food until about 2 hours +\- after giving her shot as she’s a slow eater.
And yes I know in order to give dosing advice I need more tests. I will try. I’m trying not to poke her ears to death or get obsessive about it. I work days so that’s tough and getting up in the middle of the night…well you know. We seemed to be in a good routine the last couple weeks without issues, while having a tough time transitioning to a different food the last several weeks, see my other thread.

Still, with the info I do have, is she dropping unusually low for such a small dose and a full meal? Just seems like a huge drop from 289 to 102 in 3 hours with such a small dose AND a full meal. Should I reduce the to an even lower dose than 0.5 for a while? I’m mainly concerned with the daytime when I have to work and leave her alone.
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You will need to test again after that big drop at +3. It will be interesting to see how low she drops and can help us with decisions about her dose moving forward
Did you give her a good snack at +3? if not I would give her one now.

I'm not a prozinc user and I don't think there are any around at the moment but I would reduce the dose down to 0.25 U until Suzanne looks in and gives you advise or we see that she is dropping much lower tonight. If you have been changing the food to lower carb, this would explain the need for less insulin.
DO you leave food out for her when you go to work?
If you are concerned you can always leave some higher carb food out for her when you leave for work.
 
David - coco said:
I work days so that’s tough and getting up in the middle of the night…well you know. You have to know I’ve only been at this for about 2 months now. I’m 30 years old and trying my best to balance this and a normal life. I’m not a retiree and am home all day or have a companion to help out at the moment.
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I know it is tough when you are on your own and having to work...I really get that!
You are doing a really good job with Coco...there is no criticism here at all. Only trying to work out ways to help you.
What are your shot times?
I was thinking you might be able to get a +2 before you go to work and that might tell you if you need to leave out some higher carb food.
And if you can get a before bed test in each night, that will tell you if you might have to get up later if its dropped a lot.
Do you leave food out for her at night as well?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
You will need to test again after that big drop at +3. It will be interesting to see how low she drops and can help us with decisions about her dose moving forward
Did you give her a good snack at +3? if not I would give her one now.

I'm not a prozinc user and I don't think there are any around at the moment but I would reduce the dose down to 0.25 U until Suzanne looks in and gives you advise or we see that she is dropping much lower tonight. If you have been changing the food to lower carb, this would explain the need for less insulin.
DO you leave food out for her when you go to work?
If you are concerned you can always leave some higher carb food out for her when you leave for work.
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I did give a little food and tested again 30 minutes later and was 109.
She was really sick a month or so ago and was only eating the hills ad food which is about 13% carbs I believe and the foods I’m trying to get her onto are a little less than that but I don’t think enough to make a huge difference.
Obviously since I haven’t been testing during the day/night, for all I know these drops have been happening a lot and just haven’t noticed I suppose. She would normally eat about half her food when I give it to her, then I would shoot. But she always finishes her food at about +2 - +3, maybe her blood sugar dropping is the reason she always finishes the food later at around the same time. You can read my issues with her appetite here:

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/changing-foods-appetite-issues.273872/#post-3045299

I'm pretty observational and the last month we've been on the 1u, I haven't really noticed anything that would suggest low BG. However I'm not home during the day to really notice anything but also haven't noticed anything when I'm off either. Not to say it has or hasn't been happening all along, since I haven't been testing I cant say for sure. The only things that have changed really the last week or is is she was given an antibiotic last Tuesday 1/7 and I gave her a B12 shot on Sunday 1/12 to see if it would help with appetite. I doubt either of those would be causing any issues?
 
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Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I know it is tough when you are on your own and having to work...I really get that!
You are doing a really good job with Coco...there is no criticism here at all. Only trying to work out ways to help you.
What are your shot times?
I was thinking you might be able to get a +2 before you go to work and that might tell you if you need to leave out some higher carb food.
And if you can get a before bed test in each night, that will tell you if you might have to get up later if its dropped a lot.
Do you leave food out for her at night as well?
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I usually check her BG at about 6:30 and feed her. Then giver her shot about 7-7:15 to give her a little time to eat as much as possible. I leave for work by 8:30 so o would need to feed and shoot by 6:30am to get a +2 which is possible but then it puts me in a tough spot for the evening as I get off at 5 and my commute can be anywhere from 25 minutes to and hour depending on traffic.
I have been trying to NOT give her any food when I leave or at night as to not give her a reason to not eat the next meal, as I explained in the link above, her appetite is already weird and she’s been picky with her food.
I have however been supplementing some dry food (1 tbsp ~) just to get some more calories in and it is a higher carb food (Royal Canin selected protein). Mainly because she just wasn’t eating a lot of the wet. She of course gobbles the dry food down which tells me she does at least has an appetite and is just very picky. I know the dry food is not ideal But I’m considering getting a lower carb dry and maybe continue to give her a little bit of it, again to just get more calories into her quicker.

Are her numbers dropping so low at only 0.5u, unusual? I don’t see very often on here people giving their cat much less than 1u as their normal dose. Is it possible that 0.5 or even 0.25 will be her normal dose? Her PS numbers have always been in the 200s pretty consistently, just doesn't make any sense why it would drop so low, so quick. Yesterday morning it went from 264 to 82 at +1.5!

What would you expect her number to drop to at +3 from mid 200s?

I'm pretty observational and the last month we've been on the 1u, I haven't really noticed anything that would suggest low BG. However I'm not home during the day to really notice anything but also haven't noticed anything when I'm off either. Not to say it has or hasn't been happening all along, since I haven't been testing I cant say for sure. The only things that have changed really the last week or is is she was given an antibiotic last Tuesday 1/7 and I gave her a B12 shot on Sunday 1/12 to see if it would help with appetite. I doubt either of those would be causing any issues?

I’m likely to reach out to my vet today just to let her know what’s going on as well.
 
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As an update. This morning we did the same routine, she ate well. I decided to give a 0.25U, as best as I could measure it. At +2 she had dropped to 67! What gives?? I worked her back up.....again and had to leave for work. Just a little lost a this point.

I talked with my vet (one of them at least) and he basically said its entirely possible she may be going into remission and may not need insulin right now. He said I can/should do one of two things. Either drop the dose to 0.5U over the next two weeks consistently and do a curve or fructosamine test. OR stop insulin all together and monitor her for symptoms and spot checks. He just said I need to find some consistency for at least 2 weeks before doing a curve or fructosamine test.

My only concern with the 0.5U is she is obviously dropping low, even the 0.25U dropped her low. And I cant keep being late to work in the morning having to monitor her low BG. Is taking her off the insulin really an option in your opinion based on things right now?

I talked with my other vet to get their perspective, this is an internal medicine vet I saw about a month ago. They got me then for $2000 for a full blood panel where they needed to send out samples to a couple Universities. There response was to bring her in on Friday for a curve and a few lab tests (fructosamine, PLI, urinalysis and a index chemistry) to determine if she's going into remission. That's only going to cost me $1100. She said otherwise I can take her to my family vet for the curve, but she wont accept a curve I do at home.

Its not even really the money, its the possibility of to many other variables that will cause it to be inaccurate. By the time I would need to leave the house, she wont have eaten nearly a full meal since she's a slow eater and that alone will cause in inaccuracy I would think.

As a note, I have checked the calibration on the machine and did a solution test and it came back normal, so I don't think its the machine.

I’m no expert but I don’t think it’s remission. If it was wouldn’t her PS #s be much lower?

I'm not really sure what to do now.
 
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First of all I would not take her in to get a fructosamine test done..to say she would not except a curve you do at home is outrageous!
You definitely don’t need a fructosamine test when you have the testing done every day. The fructose one test is just an average of the last few weeks BGs and does not tell you any highs or lows. It’s a test vets used to use before there was any home testing and it really is redundant now if the caregiver hometests.
It is very possible that the antibiotic has made a difference…we have seen this happen before….and I would not do what the other vet says and either stay at 0.5 for 2 weeks or just stop the insulin.
The 0.25 U dose has dropped the Bg to 61 today so you need to drop the dose further to 0.1u. More about that below.
I am going to tag @Suzanne & Darcy about the dose as she is a Prozinc user.
If the BG is too low to shoot I would skip the dose.

Re the food…if she will willingly eat dry food, and is still struggling to eat wet food, I would at least let her eat some dry. If you get one of the low carb dry foods that would be absolutely fine. And that would ensure she would eat. It is possible if you take away the high carb dry, she could go into remission.

the below photo is of a U 100 syringe but the 0.1 U dose should be the same for the U 40 syringe
 

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Hello there. You are getting excellent advice from Bron. Do not shoot .25 tonight no matter if the PMPS is high, please. The .10 dose that Bron has shown you is what you need to do. You still will need to do your excellent job of monitoring, of course. Normally, I would say get a +2, but looking at your SS, could you please get a +1 and then a +2. Coco is really diving early and you can perhaps head off problems if you can see the +1 and feed accordingly. It's possible the BG will remain high as a result of todays lows, so that also will not be unexpected. Do not shoot .25. Thanks!!
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
First of all I would not take her in to get a fructosamine test done..to say she would not except a curve you do at home is outrageous!
You definitely don’t need a fructosamine test when you have the testing done every day. The fructose one test is just an average of the last few weeks BGs and does not tell you any highs or lows. It’s a test vets used to use before there was any home testing and it really is redundant now if the caregiver hometests.
It is very possible that the antibiotic has made a difference…we have seen this happen before….and I would not do what the other vet says and either stay at 0.5 for 2 weeks or just stop the insulin.
The 0.25 U dose has dropped the Bg to 61 today so you need to drop the dose further to 0.1u. More about that below.
I am going to tag @Suzanne & Darcy about the dose as she is a Prozinc user.
If the BG is too low to shoot I would skip the dose.

the below photo is of a U 100 syringe but the 0.1 U dose should be the same for the U 40 syringe


Re the food…if she will willingly eat dry food, and is still struggling to eat wet food, I would at least let her eat some dry. If you get one of the low carb dry foods that would be absolutely fine. And that would ensure she would eat. It is possible if you take away the high carb dry, she could go into remission.
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I can understand not wanting to use my curve numbers, it may be a liability thing. I will try my best to do the 0.1u tonight.

Are you saying to take away the dry all together, she could go into remission? Or just to the lower carb dry option? The Orijen dry food brand are all at about 16-20% carbs ME. I'm thinking of trying one.

Based on my spreadsheet and whats been happening the last couple days, would you suspect she is trying to go into remission?

Suzanne & Darcy said:
Hello there. You are getting excellent advice from Bron. Do not shoot .25 tonight no matter if the PMPS is high, please. The .10 dose that Bron has shown you is what you need to do. You still will need to do your excellent job of monitoring, of course. Normally, I would say get a +2, but looking at your SS, could you please get a +1 and then a +2. Coco is really diving early and you can perhaps head off problems if you can see the +1 and feed accordingly. It's possible the BG will remain high as a result of todays lows, so that also will not be unexpected. Do not shoot .25. Thanks!!
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I will try and measure as best I can and will get a +1 and +2.

Suzanne & Darcy said:
This is definitely a possibility. Don't make any food changes like this too abruptly. It would need to be done gradually for safety of blood glucose levels. I know that Bron would counsel you to do this as well.
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Currently I only give her about 1 tbsp of the dry at each meal. The current food I believe is at about 38% carbs on a dry matter and the Orijen dry food I'm looking at is between 16-20% ME. Do you think giving that little amount, given the carb difference, I should still do it slow?

Based on my spreadsheet and whats been happening the last couple days, would you suspect she is trying to go into remission?
 
These are the low carb dry foods I am referring to.
Young again Zero carbs (5%)
Dr Elseys Clean Protein
Then there are the freeze dried raw food from Ziwi Peak and Stella and Chewy.
If you fed these, with some wet food as well, it is possible Coco could go into remission.
But only try these initially when you are around to test the BGs as feeding the lower carb food will most likely drop the BGs and you will need to be there to test.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
These are the low carb dry foods I am referring to.
Young again Zero carbs (5%)
Dr Elseys Clean Protein
Then there are the freeze dried raw food from Ziwi Peak and Stella and Chewy.
If you fed these, with some wet food as well, it is possible Coco could go into remission.
But only try these initially when you are around to test the BGs as feeding the lower carb food will most likely drop the BGs and you will need to be there to test.
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Are you saying the 17%~ carbs in the Orijen are to high as well in your opinion to make a difference?
She only been getting about 1 tbsp of the dry per meal, I may just start to ween that down a bit. She’s can/will eat a full meal of wet only, it just take her a couple hours as she’s a slow eater, at least that’s how it’s been the last month or so. Plus she’s been very picky as I’ve tried to transition her off the AD food and sometimes will eat a little less, that’s the only reason I’ve supplemented the dry for some extra calories

I know I’ve asked this but do you think she’s trying to go into remission? I’m no expert but it would seem her PS numbers are a little high for remission?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
It's just that lowering carbs can make BG go down a lot and so it is prudent to make changes slowly to prevent potential hypos.
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Based on my spreadsheet and whats been happening the last couple days, would you suspect she is trying to go into remission? Her pre shot number maybe seem a little high for remission?
 
There is very little data for during the cycles…all we can see are the pre shots. So we don’t know what has been going on during the cycles for the last several weeks. We don’t know if the pre shots are from bouncing from low numbers during the cycles or not. Only collecting some tests during the cycles will tell us that.
She is definitely needing less insulin for what ever reason. yes the pre shots look too high to be going off insulin just yet.
She may just need her dose adjusting.
If you want to transition her to the Orijen first then the lower dry food, that would be OK. The 17% carbs in Orijen are high carb food but better than the one you are using now.

I think the Bottom line is……yes I think if you went totally to a low carb diet…she could very well go off insulin.
She is not there yet.
And getting her to eat as much as she needs is more important than trying to get her off insulin.
So if you need to gradually wean her to the Orijen, then the lower carb food while getting her to eat the wet food that is fine.
If you can manage to get some tests in during the cycles, we will have a better idea of what is happening.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
There is very little data for during the cycles…all we can see are the pre shots. So we don’t know what has been going on during the cycles for the last several weeks. We don’t know if the pre shots are from bouncing from low numbers during the cycles or not. Only collecting some tests during the cycles will tell us that.
She is definitely needing less insulin for what ever reason. yes the pre shots look too high to be going off insulin just yet.
She may just need her dose adjusting.
If you want to transition her to the Orijen first then the lower dry food, that would be OK. The 17% carbs in Orijen are high carb food but better than the one you are using now.

I think the Bottom line is……yes I think if you went totally to a low carb diet…she could very well go off insulin.
She is not there yet.
And getting her to eat as much as she needs is more important than trying to get her off insulin.
So if you need to gradually wean her to the Orijen, then the lower carb food while getting her to eat the wet food that is fine.
If you can manage to get some tests in during the cycles, we will have a better idea of what is happening.
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Sorry for all the questions. Have to ask, is the 0.1u really going to do anything vs no insulin at all?? It is barely anything in the syringe…

So what would be your guys’ recommendation on what to do from here moving forward more long term?When or should I do a curve? I’m not really sure what to do. I’m definitely not taking her to the internal medicine vet for a curve in house. But my other vet is willing to work with me on at in-home curve and I’m sure I can do any lab work that’s recommended if need be with them.
 
Ask as many questions as you need to!
Yes the 0..1 U will make a difference. You would be surprised at how a tiny bit of insulin can make a difference. We see it here all the time.
I think you need to see how the 0.1 U goes.
Do a slow change over to the Orijen food and then the Low carb dry of that is your preference. Monitor closely with the change of food.
Just take it day by day.
Coco is in charge and we have to see what she is going to do.
I think you could do a curve anytime you have the opportunity.
Post daily for help and support. We are here to help you:bighug:
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Ask as many questions as you need to!
Yes the 0..1 U will make a difference. You would be surprised at how a tiny bit of insulin can make a difference. We see it here all the time.
I think you need to see how the 0.1 U goes.
Do a slow change over to the Orijen food and then the Low carb dry of that is your preference. Monitor closely with the change of food.
Just take it day by day.
Coco is in charge and we have to see what she is going to do.
I think you could do a curve anytime you have the opportunity.
Post daily for help and support. We are here to help you:bighug:
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thanks. I think I may try and ween off the dry all together but am intrigued by the Ziwi food. I wanted to try the wet but it’s so expensive. Just not sure about the “air” dried food.

One thing I forgot to ask. Is it unusual for them to drop so early in the cycle? I though it takes a couple hours for it to initially kick in, and with food it just seemed to drop her so fast.
 
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The air dried food is good, it’s not like dry food. It’s not high carb and is fine for diabetic cats.

Every cat is different. Some cats drop early in the cycle. Others later. I can see she has dropped quite a bit at+1 tonight. Did you offer her more food or hadn’t she finished the main meal?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
The air dried food is good, it’s not like dry food. It’s not high carb and is fine for diabetic cats.

Every cat is different. Some cats drop early in the cycle. Others later. I can see she has dropped quite a bit at+1 tonight. Did you offer her more food or hadn’t she finished the main meal?
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Just did her +2 and she’s at 123. She did have a little food left and she finished that a little after 8. Should I give a little food or wait to see what her +3 is before I hopefully go to bed.

she seems to be dropping pretty low even with the 0.1u, crazy.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
That’s good. Hopefully she won’t drop further. If you don’t want to test again I would leave out some of your dry food for her to snack on during the cycle.
It looks as if she has an early onset.
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With the dry food, they’ll be no snacking. She’ll eat it all in one sitting lol. But I may leave a little and go to bed.

last questions for the night.

I assume it’s recommended to stick with the 0.1u for a bit? I suppose I’ll need to decide what to do next. Sunday and Monday I’m off so maybe I should do a curve at the 0.1u and see what happens. I guess I’m just not sure where to go from here and what to do ultimately.

What do you recommend I do for the morning? I typically leave for work by 8:30 which means if I have her insulin at 7:00 or 6:45 at the earliest, I would only get a +1 and/or a +1.5 or so. I’d rather not be late again to work as I’ve had to stay home late everyday this week.
Thanks again.
 
I would give her some dry now so she has some more food aboard.
In the morning if she is high enough give her the 0.1 and test before you go. Maybe get up15 mins earlier so you can get a +2.
And leave her some dry food when you go to work.
I won’t be around in the morning your time as I live in Australia but you could try tagging Suzanne. If the Preshot is too low then skip the dose.
Yes stay with the 0.1 until coco tells you otherwise. And a curve on your days off would be great. well done tonight Dave and Coco!
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I would give her some dry now so she has some more food aboard.
In the morning if she is high enough give her the 0.1 and test before you go. Maybe get up15 mins earlier so you can get a +2.
And leave her some dry food when you go to work.
I won’t be around in the morning your time as I live in Australia but you could try tagging Suzanne. If the Preshot is too low then skip the dose.
Yes stay with the 0.1 until coco tells you otherwise. And a curve on your days off would be great. well done tonight Dave and Coco!
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Well in order to do a +2, I would need to shoot at 6:30 which is 30 minutes earlier than tonight, I thought you should only change it by 15 min each cycle?

when you say a little dry, how much we talkin? Like a few pieces? or 1/2 tbs? I know 1/2 tbs is about 10 calories. Can it be wet food instead? If so, about a tsp?

And what would you consider low PS to skip dose? Anything under 200?
 
David - coco said:
Well in order to do a +2, I would need to shoot at 6:30 which is 30 minutes earlier than tonight, I thought you should only change it by 15 min each cycle?

when you say a little dry, how much we talkin? Like a few pieces? or 1/2 tbs? I know 1/2 tbs is about 10 calories. Can it be wet food instead? If so, about a tsp?

And what would you consider low PS to skip dose? Anything under 200?
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Ok we’ll get as close to a +2 as possible.
I would leave a tablespoon of either food

I’m not a Prozinc user but I would say probably below 200 Preshot skip if you can’t monitor.
@Suzanne & Darcy might have another suggestion but she is asleep.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Ok we’ll get as close to a +2 as possible.
I would leave a tablespoon of either food

I’m not a Prozinc user but I would say probably below 200 Preshot skip if you can’t monitor.
@Suzanne & Darcy might have another suggestion but she is asleep.
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Since I was up I got her +4 at 128, so we went down a little. However I did not give her any food after the +3. I just have her some now.

and ideally in the morning I leave by 8:30 so that would only give me an hour and 45 minutes at the most. So I suppose if it’s under 200, I’ll just skip.
 
128 and134 are basically the same with meter variance.
If you get a test a +1.75 that would be useful for you. I’d leave some food for her when you leave even if she eats it straight away
 
Since you say that she will eat all of the food that you leave out in one go, you should consider buying a timed feeder to dispense snacks while you are at work. Can you leave wet food out (the K/D) that she would do more grazing on?

Her cycle last night was very good. Stick with the 0.1 dose unless she is below 200 (since you won’t be home.)

What time zone are you in? I will be on the road by 10 a.m. Thursday morning.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Since you say that she will eat all of the food that you leave out in one go, you should consider buying a timed feeder to dispense snacks while you are at work. Can you leave wet food out (the K/D) that she would do more grazing on?

Her cycle last night was very good. Stick with the 0.1 dose unless she is below 200 (since you won’t be home.)

What time zone are you in? I will be on the road by 10 a.m. Thursday morning.
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Pacific zone.

Sorry I need to update my signature, she’s not eating the kd at this point. About a month ago she was really sick and I could only get her to eat the Hills AD. Unfortunately she got stuck on that for a while now and have been try to transition her off of it but she’s been very picky. Right now it’s only about 1/3 AD food so we’re close.

And she typically isn’t a fast a fast eater and doesn’t eat it all in one go. Last night was actually the fastest she’s eaten in a while. She ate about 2/3 of her wet food meal in about 30 minutes when I fed her at 6:30, but didn’t finish the rest until a little after 8. She sometimes will only eat about half her food in one go then finishes 2-3 hrs later. I think her BG being lower the last few days has made her eat a little faster. Leaving wet food out may be ok but she likely would be inclined to eat it right away and not later. Maybe a timer for lower carb kibble or something but not sure about that.

Is the recommendation for the times feeder just for the purpose of her not going low? Otherwise won’t this just spike her glucose during the day? I guess if she eats a full meal by the time I leave I would think she would be good. Plus if there’s a chance at remission, not sure I’d want to mess with that. Wouldn’t this mess with any curve that’s done as well, as far as feeding during the day or night?
 
Hi there. It's what we call "feeding the curve" and it is for the purpose of smoothing out lows, yes. It's very important. Generally, we want it to be low carb wet food, but sometimes this is not always possible. And of course, higher carbs if the BG is low enough to warrant it. Multiple small meals throughout the day are what you need to do. We just recommend not feeding after nadir, as that can shorten the duration of the insulin. Most people divide up what they want their cat to eat for each cycle and split it into small meals given at specific points during the cycle -- again, if you aren't at home there are some solutions such as automatic feeders (that can accommodate wet food as well and some have room for ice packs.) Every situation is different, but we all just do the best we can.
 
What you don't want to do at this stage in your journey is to feed for two hours before the preshot test. That test should be a fasting BG number so you can make sure it's not "food influenced" and that it is safe to shoot insulin. If the number were inflated by food, kitty could drop back down after you give insulin and it would not be a good thing potentially. Hope this helps. I'm in a massive hurry now. Got to run. I would not shoot if AMPS is below 200 for today anyway (since you will be at work.) At other times, perhaps it would be okay. We need more data and you will accumulate that over time. :-)
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
What you don't want to do at this stage in your journey is to feed for two hours before the preshot test. That test should be a fasting BG number so you can make sure it's not "food influenced" and that it is safe to shoot insulin. If the number were inflated by food, kitty could drop back down after you give insulin and it would not be a good thing potentially. Hope this helps. I'm in a massive hurry now. Got to run. I would not shoot if AMPS is below 200 for today anyway (since you will be at work.) At other times, perhaps it would be okay. We need more data and you will accumulate that over time. :)
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I would love to do the smaller meals but just May not be feasible in my situation. Plus since her appetite has been a bit hit or miss (see my other thread) that would make a nervous for her to not be hungry the next meal. As you said, we do the best we can.
I always test before I feed her, then I will typically give her about 30 to 45 minutes tops to eats what she will, then give her insulin, knowing more times then not, she’ll finish her food. Her amps was 288 so I’ll give her the 0.1u again.
 
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would you say this about accurate for a 0.1u? I wasn’t sure and the other photo showing it is a little hard to see, I may have given her a tiny bit more than this, this morning.

this is how much I gave her this morning. Do you think it top or bottom image for 0.1. Splitting hairs but apparently makes a difference.

upload_2023-2-16_7-21-38.jpeg

considering her +1 was 116, I think I gave a little to much. Looks closer to 0.25 than 0.1. Crazy how it can drop so much with so little insulin.
 

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@Suzanne & Darcy @Bron and Sheba (GA)

Well if you want an update from this morning, you can see on my spreadsheet she dropped pretty low again this AM. However, as you can see in the above post, I may have given her a tad bit more than I should have. I just cant get over how LITTLE insulin is causing her to drop so LOW so QUICKLY, even with a meal. Just doesn't make any sense to me!

I'm assuming that the PS numbers are higher than I would expect because she may be bouncing?

I know its recommended to give the 0.1U, but that to me is so little that giving nothing to me wouldn't make a huge difference. I guess I'm curious, what would be the harm in not giving any insulin for a couple days and see what the numbers do?

It’s definitely getting nerve racking having to constantly monitor on such a low dose and worrying about hypo. I mean, you can’t go any lower dose lol.
 
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