I went to take my cat's BG 5 hrs post morning insulin & noticed him wobbly. It read so low with symptoms of hypoglycemia & I immediately followed protocol. Can I please get dosing help. he is on Lantus 2 units 2x a day since 9.26.26. I am giving raw honey & HC to boost it. He is due for his next insulin around 19:30-20:00. I am in NY, USA
I went to take my cat's BG 5 hrs post morning insulin & noticed him wobbly. It read so low with symptoms of hypoglycemia & I immediately followed protocol. Can I please get dosing help. he is on Lantus 2 units 2x a day since 9.26.26. I am giving raw honey & HC to boost it. He is due for his next insulin around 19:30-20:00. I am in NY, USA
Hey usually 911 is reserved for urgent medical emergencies only. He seems stable now based on what you described with his BG going up with food intervention? I'd replace it with "?" unless you're seeing that he's dropping again and showing symptoms?
It's all good! It's totally fine to change it if you genuinely feel it is a urgent medical emergency. But usually the 911s are for genuine medical emergencies - symptomatic hypos, very low numbers (below 30 on a human meter), and/or very sick cats potentially needing ER care. Hopefully you will never need to use it!
Welcome. The change in diet to lc can drastically change the amount of insulin needed. to bring down the bg quite well. He was started on a high dose. When feeding any dry we suggest starting at one unit. Would it be possible to fill in your spreadsheet with all information including units given each test. The night chart is empty so does that mean you have not taken any tests after injecting? How many hours until the next test? Rather than giving time we use +1 meaning one hour after insulin, +2 which would be two hours after shot etc.
Lantus kicks in about 2 hours after injecting so it’s good to test then. The initial dose is usually held a week and then you do a curve testing every 2 hours for 13 hours or every 3 hours for 28 hours. I think that starting dose was too high. Was that advice given to you by your regular vet or at the ER? Were you feeding a lot of dry then? What size lancet are you using? You want them for alternate areas as that way more blood will be drawn easier. At night until you see the reaction to insulin get a before bed test at least. Cats often go lower at night. If the test at night+2 or later is dropping by much you might need more tests.
Post about an hour before insulin time and ask for advice then. You do not want to feed 2 hours before injecting unless you have to because the bg is low.
Hi! I think I updated the sheet to the best of my abilities. The Lantus dosage was given from the vet that admitted him. The ER vet suggested to put him down...
Before I discovered the diagnosis, he was being combo but more wet since he had a urinary blockage & trying to prevent it from occurring again. I read how that feeding that in addition to him being a indoor cat contributed to him becoming diabetic. Size 28 lancet. I do alternate paws.
I took his pre PM insulin reading & it's 63. I do not believe I should give Lantus if his numbers don't go up right? It's due technically in a half an hour but was going to wait the full hour.
I took his pre PM insulin reading & it's 63. I do not believe I should give Lantus if his numbers don't go up right? It's due technically in a half an hour but was going to wait the full hour.
You are still giving him some dry food so you would not shoot under 90. Being new to insulin you don’t want to shoot under200 but due to dka I would say some insulin at 150 but not the whole new dose. Ask for advice. Sorry but I am just seeing this. Usually you stall without food and retest in 30 minutes. So skipping is needed. Feed now and test in an hour. The new dose will be 1.75 in the morning if the bg is high which it will likely be.
If the bg is low in the morning stall without food and post. You might even need to drop down to 1.5 even if high because I think the starting dose was too high. In any event ask for advice in the morning as there are several possibilities as to what to do given being so new and having been in dka.
Ok. I did retest & gave some HC food to boost it. It has risen to 140 since I last took it. I just need a few min to update in sheets. I am planning on monitoring him through the night & send a message in the morning about his BG level pre AM dose
You do not need hc any more as you did not give any insulin. 140 is good and safe. Even 90-100 is good.. I totally understand your concern though. If you gave insulin you would have a very busy night.
Thank you! I figured once it was above 100 for me personally he was safe. I'll monitor him through the night a bit as much as I can & again test pre shot & see how it is. If its above 200, give the lower dose recommended? I tried to call my vet a few times but either got disconnected or was told id get a call back so I am going to try in the morning too with that
If you can monitor and over 200 yes give the reduced dose. I need to clarify something. How long has he been on lantus? Since 9/26 or just since 10/10? We would have started him on 1 unit so I might consider 1.5 even instead if 1.75 if just started this week.
He was sent home on lantus on 9/29 but i was told the hospital was giving it to him since he was admitted so 9/27 & I was given those instructions. They said he needed to be on a hugh dose for a bit until he ketones came down which I was able to take a urine test today & believe they are significantly down if I read it correctly
Was he diagnosed with ketones or DKA when he got the feline diabetes diagnosis? If so, that is important information that needs to go into the signature as it impacts what we suggest for dosing. What were his ketones level and what were they today? Tips to catch and test a urine sample
Ketones test looks good tonight. Whenever you do a ketones test, could you add that and the results to the Remarks. That is something we will be looking for in a recent DKA cat.
Good morning (it’s about 11am where I live)
As advised, I took my cats BG this morning & had a reading of 239. I gave him 1 unit of Lantus. Accidentally ate a few bites of FF HC gravy lovers. I waited 1 hour to retest. I got a reading of 270. Gave 0.5 unit of Lantus as I was afraid to leave him alone up to 4 hrs with no testing. Waited another hour & retested & got a reading of 140. Still waiting on vet to call back as they said they have had a few emergencies.
I’m glad you gave some insulin. I am on the west coast so just seeing this. I think Bron told you how best to manage ketones in one of your previous posts. He needs a lot of food and water and tge correct dose of insulin. Just giving a huge dose will not fix things. I am not an expert on ketones but Wendy and Bron are. The 2 units dose is still effecting the bg but the fact that it is still so good further shows that the dose was too high and you want a dose you can give to keep the ketones at bay. Good they have come down. @Bron and Sheba (GA)@Wendy&Neko
THIS ISREALLY important. You never want to inject twice. That gives you two nadirs, low points. Do I understand that is what you did? Even if you give a fur shot you never inject a second time and wait 12 hours.
Food and water are your friends now. Feed whatever he will eat and at least twice his usual amount and right now how much he consumes is more important than the carbs. He needs to be able to get insulin so he can’t go too low that you need to skip. . If not drinking add as much water to the food as possible but not so much he won’t eat it. You might ask for sub-q fluids to give at home. Have you ever given them? If not the vet can have someone show you how.
Okay. I do see. I didnt give the usual 2 units as it was recommended to lower little by little since his BG was low. I was totally unaware to not give it 2x & now I feel so extremely horrible!!!
He restarted drinking water yesterday evening & I mixed his LC with water. I will give more food & continue to watch his water intake when possible.
I know you were not aware about shooting twice. Your vets like so many have not educated you. We will help. Don’t worry just get a test an hour after and let’s see what the first shot did to the bg ad it has onset by now. Thanks for putting the units in your spreadsheet and in comments.
Sorry to bump this again but wanted to check in on Chip. Ariel, were you able to grab another test? I’m just concerned with the symptomatic hypo yesterday and double shot today that it’s probably a good idea to keep a close eye on him today.
Hi! I am so sorry I was in dialysis then right after had to run to get my preschooler then rushed back to him. I just took it literally 5 mins ago! I just am unable to put it in the SS due to my 2 little guys (kids)
It was 147. He was alert, waiting for me on the bed. Got SUPER excited to see me grab the BG bag to test since I give boiled chicken pieces as a treat so happy hes associating it in a positive way.
I am doing this from my phone & will get onto my computer in a bit.I'm not seeing the option to copy for me to start a new thread? I forgot how I did it to start the other
Ok good to hear he’s safe! Sorry you’ve had such a busy day for yourself!
To start a new thread you go to the Lantus / Levemir / Biosimilar and click the orange button at the top that says “Post Thread”
To copy the link for this thread on the mobile app is at the bottom, looks like 2 stacked pieces of paper. Between the home button and refresh button. I hope that helps
That’s really good there were no ketones in the urine. Please test daily at the moment and make sure to put it in the remarks column. As you have a lot written in the remarks column maybe write the ketone result in red so we can easily see it.
Keep up the extra food and fluids and try and get a mid test this cycle so we can see how low the 1.5 dose took him. Post for help with next dose.
