1/24/15 Keiko AMPS 375

[KeikosHuman]

Last post:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/1-22-15-keiko-amps-112.131860/

Hi all,
Keiko is visiting the stratosphere with his BG unfortunately. I did an Alphatrak curve yesterday for the vet. He got very low, I gave him food twice, including HC wet food, and his BG climbed but too much. This was on 10 units. The curve was more like a roller coaster ride. Alphatrak curve numbers are above the turquiose line in the ss. I was thinking 10 units was a place to keep him but (?). I can't tell if he needs an increase or a reduction. He's even higher this AM.

All advice appreciated.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Keiko got really close to the AlphaTrak reduction point, 68, so I'd think about taking him down to 9.5U for safety. He must have gotten lower to bounce so much. Nice curve yesterday though, what did the vet think of it?

 

[KeikosHuman]

I haven't heard from the vet yet.
Should I have fed him? If I hadn't I could have seen if he would increase on his own or not. But then I was concerned he would go lower. He seemed just a tad "tipsy" when he was low, sort of clumsy but it was subtle. I or people on this board might notice but not most.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

The line where you need to intervene is supposed to be 68 on an AT. Intervening at 73 - i wouldn't criticize it but don't know if you needed to. Cats are all so different, but typically, you wouldn't see signs of hypo until a cat is much lower than that. On a human glucometer cats in the 30's typically don't have symptoms - i'm not sure what that translates to on an AT, because the AT & human glucometers tend to be closer in #s when the numbers are lower.

Still, you were there, you saw something that concerned you and you intervened. You have to trust your gut and what you see. It might be that you didn't need to give as much in the way of carbs, but . . . i know with bigger doses it can take more carbs in some cats, so again, you gotta do what you need to do.

I guess the bottom line that i'm thinking is that i wouldn't second-guess yourself for what you did yesterday. No harm was done. His zoom back to 300's+ may have been as much from a response to getting in green numbers as it was to the high carb food you gave. Either way it will come down. One thought would be to document what you did - how much you gave him of what % high carbs, and next time try giving less - you just want to keep him over 68. The longer he spends in healthy numbers the better for him.

don't beat yourself up, though. He's lucky to have you, maria!!!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Learning what to feed a kitty when lowish requires experimenting. We all had to go through this as cats are all different in how sensitive they are to carbs. As Julie says, just write down what you fed and how much so you can refer to it next time. Next time you can try a little bit less food or maybe try medium carb food instead. Some people find that just feeding a little bit of the regular low carb food will help kitty surf along the greens.

We've had other people here notice that their cats weren't quite right when they get to lowish numbers, but not where we'd normally intervene. Unless you had bloodwork done before Keiko became diabetic, you may not know what his normal BG's were and what he was used to.