Confusing start please help

G

Gabrielle90

Member
Hello..

Me and my cat Sam have only been on insulin for three days. First day went great it seemed.

Second day it seemed like his AM shot did nothing to lower his numbers and I’m almost positive it wasn’t a fur shot. His PM shot got him the lowest I’ve seen yet , however this am he was only 204 so im assuming low enough to skip AM shot.

He also had no appetite either despite not eating since 9pm last night. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xGIRa8qU0Ls9ExYYppASl1wfHhkbBnK4MadqIpbue84/edit

I’m concerned about what’s going on and maybe if he went too low in the pm? He wouldn’t let me test again, he was grumpy and I respected his feelings
 
Hi there! Welcome to the FDMB!
I doubt if her dropped too low last night because if he had, you likely would have seen a very high AMPS this morning. Don’t worry. You’re doing a good job getting started with testing him while giving insulin, and I am really happy to see you are using a ReliOn monitor. Are you giving him a little low carb treat at every single BG test? You need to try to keep the whole experience positive overall so some treat he likes should be given each time. It also helps to have a single “testing spot” for most of the time (especially in the beginning.)

He hasn’t had a tremendous response to the insulin yet, but I was happy to see the blue on his spreadsheet last night. That’s progress. I’m concerned that with the skipped shot this morning he will go high today, but if you can get a couple of tests in then we can see what he does without any insulin (and this can help our dosing decisions.). Also, you mentioned that he wasn’t eating well this morning so that’s also a consideration. I hope he’s eaten for you by now.

Do you happen to have his bloodwork from his diagnosis and/or have his Fructosamine number from that test (which I certainly hope the vet did run.)

I think a reduced shot would have been okay for this morning, but honestly, you are new and just gathering data on him, so we will save the reduced shots for when we have more data. I’m really impressed with the way you’ve jumped into this and are taking such good care of him.

Tell me about his diet. I see Sheba and Dr. Elsey’s. Is it the dry Dr. Elsey’s clean protein?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Hi there! Welcome to the FDMB!
I doubt if her dropped too low last night because if he had, you likely would have seen a very high AMPS this morning. Don’t worry. You’re doing a good job getting started with testing him while giving insulin, and I am really happy to see you are using a ReliOn monitor. Are you giving him a little low carb treat at every single BG test? You need to try to keep the whole experience positive overall so some treat he likes should be given each time. It also helps to have a single “testing spot” for most of the time (especially in the beginning.)

He hasn’t had a tremendous response to the insulin yet, but I was happy to see the blue on his spreadsheet last night. That’s progress. I’m concerned that with the skipped shot this morning he will go high today, but if you can get a couple of tests in then we can see what he does without any insulin (and this can help our dosing decisions.). Also, you mentioned that he wasn’t eating well this morning so that’s also a consideration. I hope he’s eaten for you by now.

Do you happen to have his bloodwork from his diagnosis and/or have his Fructosamine number from that test (which I certainly hope the vet did run.)

I think a reduced shot would have been okay for this morning, but honestly, you are new and just gathering data on him, so we will save the reduced shots for when we have more data. I’m really impressed with the way you’ve jumped into this and are taking such good care of him.

Tell me about his diet. I see Sheba and Dr. Elsey’s. Is it the dry Dr. Elsey’s clean protein?
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Yes it’s the elseys clean protein. I didn’t have the money to buy extra treats since I had to buy all this stuff just recently. I bought bento flakes but he didn’t like it and am planning on buying the approved frisky treats soon. I tried to do one more test in the PM before bed but he wasn’t happy and grumbled at me a few times so I left it alone. I ended up puncturing through his ear that night by accident :( so I can understand if he was a little fussy lol.

I work from home usually but have errands today so I will try to get a glucose reading at noon. He’s eaten but doesn’t seem as happy today. He’s usually very lovey and lots of head butts and kisses but I haven’t gotten any of those today. He did play with his laser pointer today this morning before I left. Not sure if he’s just not happy with me today or if he feels a little down
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
And you do have the U-40 syringes with the half unit markings?
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No I have the regular u-40.

my boyfriend was actually able to test him just now. He was at 271… how do I handle this the next time? All literature says skip at shot at 200 or less. I thought 204 was low enough.. should I shoot even at 204?


Im just so scared of a hypo incident especially when we work.

How would I handle this in the future?
 
Gabrielle90 said:
Yes it’s the elseys clean protein. I didn’t have the money to buy extra treats since I had to buy all this stuff just recently. I bought bento flakes but he didn’t like it and am planning on buying the approved frisky treats soon. I tried to do one more test in the PM before bed but he wasn’t happy and grumbled at me a few times so I left it alone. I ended up puncturing through his ear that night by accident :( so I can understand if he was a little fussy lol.

I work from home usually but have errands today so I will try to get a glucose reading at noon. He’s eaten but doesn’t seem as happy today. He’s usually very lovey and lots of head butts and kisses but I haven’t gotten any of those today. He did play with his laser pointer today this morning before I left. Not sure if he’s just not happy with me today or if he feels a little down
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He may not be feeling well with all the new changes. I am not sure about the Friskies treats, but the PureBites freeze dried meat pieces are usually very popular and also are great crumbled on top of food as an enticer. You could even just give him a few pieces o f the Dr. Elsey’s as a treat if he likes it.
 
Oh, and we’ve all poked through the ear a time or two.

Try to hold the lancet at a 45 degree angle instead of perpendicular to the ear. Hopefully you are just doing it free hand and not using the noisy lancing device.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Wow. That makes it really hard to eyeball the smaller doses. Like let’s say we wanted to try a .25 dose.
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I have what the vet gave me. I feel like I’m accurately able to measure the .5 by eyeballing but yeah I was nervous about the .25 units too

His vet wanted him at 2 units to start which freaked me out and I did a lot of research beforehand and decided not to start there. I can order the half unit ones no problem when I get paid though. His vet bills because he also had a uti and tooth issue just cleared out his medical savings for him
 
Gabrielle90 said:
No I have the regular u-40.

my boyfriend was actually able to test him just now. He was at 271… how do I handle this the next time? All literature says skip at shot at 200 or less. I thought 204 was low enough.. should I shoot even at 204?


Im just so scared of a hypo incident especially when we work.

How would I handle this in the future?
Click to expand...
It’s fine that you skipped this morning. You were alone and nobody was here to walk you through it and you said he didn’t want to eat. Not shooting at or below 200 is a guideline for new people who don’t have a lot of data on their cat. The goal is to be able to shoot lower numbers though as we get data to show us how he handles the insulin and what and when his nadirs are.

Important considerations are: will you (or someone else) be home to monitor and test during the cycle and does he have a good appetite. If you are not going to be home for a long period of time during the day, leave snacks out for him to eat while you are away. A lot of people buy the automatic feeders to dispense food at certain points during the cycle.

Another strategy when you are in doubt about shooting is to stall and DO NOT FEED your cat. Then retest again in 30 minutes or an hour to see if he’s on his way up (without the influence of food on his BG.). If he’s rising on his own with no food, then you can have more confidence in shooting.
 
Gabrielle90 said:
I have what the vet gave me. I feel like I’m accurately able to measure the .5 by eyeballing but yeah I was nervous about the .25 units too

His vet wanted him at 2 units to start which freaked me out and I did a lot of research beforehand and decided not to start there. I can order the half unit ones no problem when I get paid though. His vet bills because he also had a uti and tooth issue just cleared out his medical savings for him
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Believe me, I completely understand about the bills! Thank goodness for you did not start him at 2 units. That probably would’ve sent him into a hypo (based on what I am seeing on his spreadsheet!)
 
Since you are following SLGS, you should hold this dose for 7 days (as long as he doesn’t drop below 90) and then try to run a curve so we can see how low the .5 units is taking him. Are you good with that?
 
I’m also in Eastern time zone. What time will his shot be tonight?

Do you shoot early enough in the morning that you can get a +2 test before you leave? Or some test before you leave? Or …. I realize that you said most days you work from home so you probably can — no wonder you’ve been getting so many tests in :) This is for when he gets a little more used to the testing, of course, as I realize it’s early days.

Oh, and about the stalling procedure that I mentioned, this would be if you had time to stall and did not have to leave the house immediately for work, obviously. It would also possibly delay the next shot, depending on how long you stall.
 
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I hope everything is okay. I just was checking in on y’all since I didn’t hear back from you. Sam’s spreadsheet isn’t showing anything since the 271 this afternoon.
 
Hi there. I just am checking in on some of my ProZinc people. I don’t understand the dose adjustments that you have been making between .5 and .75 units. We could get better, more consistent numbers with holding the dose and seeing what the nadirs are on one dose.
 
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