1/14/12 Daphne Help, PM +5 42 I panicked

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Daphne#5 GA

Daphne#5 GA

Member Since 2011
OK so I panicked, +5 42, lowest number I ever had, and instead of waiting the 20 min. like I was supposed to ( I read after I gave her a full can of Newman's Chicken/salmon 3oz. can, medium carb, had some oats, rice).

Question, am I supposed to give her syrup on her gums now?

I'll keep testing as long as I can stay awake. I guess I jinxed it…talked about all those great green numbers.

Confusing because in some things I read, you have to give HC food and/or syrup, but then I read to hold food, and test 20min….

Barb and Daphne
 
You did good. Do you know what % the carbs in the food you gave her are?

Have you tested again since she ate? You need to monitor closely right now. If you can get another test since she ate and she is coming up I don't think you need to give her syrup but I am not experienced in these situations.

Watch here. I'll be here for a while with eyes on you. Hopefully a real expert will stop by.
 
P.S. Try not to give her too much food b/c if she goes lower you need her to eat and you don't want her to be full.

Do you have any HC there w/gravy. Getting her to lick the HC gravy should help bring her #s up without filling her up.
 
I've had many times my kitty has come down that far. I only ever give food. Never needed the syrup. You will need to test a couple of times just to see that he's headed upwards for sure. Should only take an hour all up. If he's going back down then you will have to stay up longer! :o
 
Hi there,

Congratulations - Daphne earned a .25u dose reduction.

you'll need to monitor for a while. No need for Karo right now. Get a +5.5 and post that number.

Do you have plenty of strips?

I'll be here
 
Have a look at the information on How to Handle Low Numbers at the bottom of this document.
Print it out and keep it handy for future reference.

You want too keep kitty a bit hungry because it is still a bit early in the cycle. Just a teaspoon of HC is all that would have been needed, then a check in 20 min and repeat as needed until you get a couple tests in a row above 50.
 
Thank you, Thank you,
I will test her in 5min. that will be 30 from last one. I have plenty of strips. I feed her a whole 3oz. can, so I guess she won't be hungry if she needs more food, so maybe if number goes down or stays low, maybe I'll need to give her a little syrup. I didn't buy the HC food, but had some med.card food. Thats on my list for tomorrow!

thanks, I'll keep everyone posted!

Barb and Daphne
 
Ok, its up! @+5.5 69 (30 min. from last test and she also ate the can of food.) So I know I will have to check her after this food spick. Does anyone know how long a food spike last or starts with HC food?
She doesn't get the food spike from her LC food.

Thanks everyone for advice and staying up with me!

Barb and Daphne
 
Sandy, I did have it right next to me printed out, but I just didn't look at it, I just panicked.

Next time I will remember to do that. Easy now, I'm just supposed to give her little amounts, and test a lot. Simple enough... :?

Barb and Daphne
 
Daphne#5 said:
Does anyone know how long a food spike last or starts with HC food?
Click to expand...
It's an ECID (every cat is different) kind of thing. Looks like tonight you will be finding that out about Daphne ;-)
That's what we call "know thy cat". It takes time.
I would check again at +6 and take it from there. Maybe set your alarm for a check a bit later, depending on your +6.

Daphne#5 said:
Sandy, I did have it right next to me printed out, but I just didn't look at it, I just panicked.
Click to expand...
We've all been there :-D

Good catch on the 42. Remember - tomorrow mornings shot will be 1.75u.
 
:YMHUG: you did fine, barb! better to have daphne go too high than too low.

it might reassure you to hear that non-diabetic cats regularly seem to be in the 40's, so daphne wasn't in any danger - but you were smart to keep her from going lower.

i've helped other people with low numbers and still wanted reassurance when it was my own cat. :lol: just hits close to home, you know?! we love our babies.
 
The first time is always scary. Numbers in the 40s aren't actually dangerous, we just want to atop then going down further. The food you gave should take care of that. Next time just give a little. You want her to stay hungry in case she does go lower. The Karo is only for cats that go way down to the 30s or lower.

There is a difference be tween a low number at preshot and a low number mid cycle. If it is low at preshot we don't feed and retest 20 minutes later to have a preshot number unaffected by food. If she goes low mid cycle, feed small amounts of food. What you feed depends on your cat. for some a little LC will do the trick. Others need MC or HC to bring them up.
 
Thanks guys, you're the best! That info. makes things much clearer. I was confused about low numbers…. low numbers for PS and the difference with mid cycle.

Maybe I can get some sleep now.

Barb and Daphne
 
You did great last night! Just a couple of things to remember now that life is calmer.

  • First, read over the info on Handling Low Numbers when you're not in the middle of trying to deal with Daphne handing you low numbers. The vast majority of the time, there will be someone here who can help walk you through the process but it's helpful to have read through the basics.
  • Don't feed big amounts. As others pointed out, sometimes it takes a while to get numbers to stabilize so you don't want to over feed and either had Daphne refuse food or vomit because she ate too much or ate too fast.
  • You feed and test every 20 - 30 min. until you see 2 rising numbers without benefit of food. Remember -- numbers can wobble around once the HC or other food wears off. We sometimes call this, "lather, rinse, and repeat."
  • Remember to change your subject line so those who are helping you can see what's going on with Daphne's numbers. We look for those numbers to change.
Don't be surprised if Daphne bounces. It's a normal response to low numbers.

I also want to make a comment about using syrup. It's fine to use if that's all you have. There are some cats that are gluten sensitive or have medical issues like IBD that make it inadvisable to give a gravy-based food. (The gravy contains gluten.) I use either honey or corn syrup with Gabby. You just need a drop or two (literally).

The Newman's Own that you were feeding is 10% carb. You may want to stock up on food that is over 15% carb.
 
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