? Why would a cat's blood sugar tank on some days and not others?

[PirateLuke]

Pirate Luke's blood glucose rapidly tanks some days. Today it dropped from 21.4mmoll (385.2 US) to 12.2 (219.6) within an hour. Nothing has changed. Nothing is different. He generally eats 2% carb food for meals and snacks with a few 1.6% and 2.7% here and there).

I have raised his insulin dosage recently, but I doesn't matter how high or low the dose is. We've gone as high as 3 units and as low as 0.7 units. Sometimes his blood glucose plummets a few hours after his shot. But sometimes, it doesn't do it at all.

I haven't updated my spreadsheet; I have a continuous glucose monitor and the missing days are all pretty flat red and high pinks, so nothing to see there. (I have attached his Libre data for 22nd and 23rd Feb if you do want to look)

I have given him some 4.1% carb food to level things out now. It just makes it difficult to plan for when I'm out and using a timed feeder because sometimes he will need a higher carb snack and sometimes he won't. I don't want to raise his numbers unnecessarily with higher carb food, as his glucose has been overall high for a week until today's sudden drop.

It's just very strange how some days he tanks and other days, not. Is this just the pancreas sometimes working and sometimes not? Thanks

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Is this just the pancreas sometimes working and sometimes not?

I think this could be true.

I do think that you should give the higher carb food anyway— even when you’re not home. I doubt it will spike him much because it’s still low carb. Have you fed him the 4.1 percent and checked the difference in numbers one hour later? You would need to do this on different occasions to verify any food bump. I hope you still have some food that’s in the 7-9 percent range.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

I have attached his Libre data for 22nd and 23rd Feb if you do want to look)

I can’t tell a whole lot from the Libre data since I would have to multiply each number by 18 — but in general it looks like he stayed pretty high without too much variation.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Now, looking at his spreadsheet…. I see he had some nice blues today on the 1.5 unit. That looks so good. Keep going Pirate Luke! I do understand that he did dive too quickly… I am just happy that he did level off in blue for a few hours and that you were able to slow him down. What happened with the 4.1% and then the 7? What were you able to discern about his response. I assume the 4.1 didn’t slow the drop much so you moved to the 7.

 

[PirateLuke]

Now, looking at his spreadsheet…. I see he had some nice blues today on the 1.5 unit. That looks so good. Keep going Pirate Luke! I do understand that he did dive too quickly… I am just happy that he did level off in blue for a few hours and that you were able to slow him down. What happened with the 4.1% and then the 7? What were you able to discern about his response. I assume the 4.1 didn’t slow the drop much so you moved to the 7.

Thanks for replying, Suzanne. Yes, the 4.1% slowed things down, but only for a brief time and then he started dropping again and this was still early in the cycle.

So I fed him 7%, which did a much better job without bumping him out of the blues until about 4 hours after feeding it when he went into the pinks and then back up to red. So I think around 7% is our sweet spot for anti-diving food!

Sadly he had some diarrhea afterwards and then vomited in the night, which is unusual for him. So I guess I'll be giving teaspoons of the new food mixed into his normal food. It should still give the same effect, right? My Libre pooped out on me at 4am (about +7 after his evening shot), but he stayed on pinks and reds until then.

I finally spoke the the main vet on his case a couple of days ago and she agrees that I should not just let him drop fast like that. I am seeing her next week about a potential switch to Glargine since he always starts and ends his cycles on high numbers and only seems to achieve any good numbers by tanking!

But in the meantime, I'll arrange to get another Libre fitted and give a little 7% food as routine.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

when managing lower numbers a strategy we often employ is to feed small amounts of food at regular intervals (every 30 minutes to an hour depending upon the numbers.) So sometimes it’s more about the frequency of food administration than the carbs. I know you will figure it all out though!

But what I really came online for this morning was to ask you how Pirate Luke is doing. I looked at his spreadsheet but it’s not been updated for a couple of days. I hope your Libre is working.

 

[PirateLuke]

when managing lower numbers a strategy we often employ is to feed small amounts of food at regular intervals (every 30 minutes to an hour depending upon the numbers.) So sometimes it’s more about the frequency of food administration than the carbs. I know you will figure it all out though!

But what I really came online for this morning was to ask you how Pirate Luke is doing. I looked at his spreadsheet but it’s not been updated for a couple of days. I hope your Libre is working.

The Libre stopped working. So we went in today to get it refitted and have switched him to Glargine. I hope it helps resolve the tanking and high numbers at the end of cycles. Paws crossed!

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

The Libre stopped working. So we went in today to get it refitted and have switched him to Glargine. I hope it helps resolve the tanking and high numbers at the end of cycles. Paws crossed!

Me too!!