? +2 reading very low but getting better

[skullknight237]

Update: +3 110
AMPS 185, +2 49, +2.5 91
Our first low low reading, no symptoms.

At +2, I made him eat more kibble, gave him more of his wet food, and tried to get a little honey in his mouth. I’d say he has eaten a very normal amount of food at both test times.
I believe this is happening because he only ate a few bites of his dry food PS and ate wet food, not his normal ratio.
How long are we in the trouble zone? At this point how often would you advise testing? Would honey be recommended again or is that for just immediately after very low reading once?

 

[CORKY]

@Suzanne & Darcy
Dosing advice

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Nice job of getting a +2 test. You did great! I'm linking a post on the Lantus board regarding how to handle low numbers. While it's geared toward Lantus, the basic principles are the same for pretty much any insulin. You want to test fairly often since the initial bump from higher carb food can raise numbers can wear off and numbers may slide back down.

There's no one "right" way to intervene. It depends on how low numbers have dropped, how fast they've dropped, how your cat responds to high carb food, and other factors like if you're going to be home for a while to monitor (and likely some other factors I'm not thinking of). One thing to keep in mind is that many cats get tired of DM -- especially the dry DM. The quality of the ingredients isn't wonderful. If your kitty is liking canned food better, the shift in numbers can be dramatic given that the dry DM is high in carbs. I'd encourage you to get more tests. If you're not testing at mid-cycle or where ever your cat's lowest point in the cycle falls (i.e., nadir), you may be missing lower numbers. Given your getting more tests during the PM cycle, I'm guessing you may be out of the house during the day.

Given the drop to 49 this morning, I'd suggest dropping the dose to 0.75u at PM shot time.

 

[skullknight237]

Nice job of getting a +2 test. You did great! I'm linking a post on the Lantus board regarding how to handle low numbers. While it's geared toward Lantus, the basic principles are the same for pretty much any insulin. You want to test fairly often since the initial bump from higher carb food can raise numbers can wear off and numbers may slide back down.

There's no one "right" way to intervene. It depends on how low numbers have dropped, how fast they've dropped, how your cat responds to high carb food, and other factors like if you're going to be home for a while to monitor (and likely some other factors I'm not thinking of). One thing to keep in mind is that many cats get tired of DM -- especially the dry DM. The quality of the ingredients isn't wonderful. If your kitty is liking canned food better, the shift in numbers can be dramatic given that the dry DM is high in carbs. I'd encourage you to get more tests. If you're not testing at mid-cycle or where ever your cat's lowest point in the cycle falls (i.e., nadir), you may be missing lower numbers. Given your getting more tests during the PM cycle, I'm guessing you may be out of the house during the day.

Given the drop to 49 this morning, I'd suggest dropping the dose to 0.75u at PM shot time.

Thank you very much. We will be home all day today and tomorrow, so he will be very safe. We will get many tests. I’ll be picking up HC food today.
I’m glad he’s liking the wet food, but how do I better balance this transition to all wet? This morning I offered a serving of wet and serving of DM. I wasn’t suspecting of a big change in BG. Maybe next cycle, I’ll try to have him eat a small portion of his dry before offering him the wet? He’s not super food driven so I have to sit on the floor and baby him to eat.
Or feed him higher carb wet for a few days? I don’t want him to fall in love with the gravy lovers and then quit it.
Because he Is more of a grazer, I am having trouble actually following how much of each serving he is eating. Most often there’s chunks of the wet left to dry out.
Also yes we will do the reduced dose next cycle, thank you.

 

[CORKY]

Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The Fancy Feast gravy lovers is a high carb food. You don't want to use that unless your kitty is in low numbers. Fancy Feast Classics are among the lower carb options. Do you have a link to Dr. Lisa's food list? It's a bit dated by most of what's on there is accurate and available. There are lots of options!

It's mostly a matter of making a slow transition. If dry food has been a main part of your cat's diet, a slow transition is particularly important. If you switch too quickly, your cat's GI tract may rebel for a few days.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Thank you very much. We will be home all day today and tomorrow, so he will be very safe. We will get many tests. I’ll be picking up HC food today.
I’m glad he’s liking the wet food, but how do I better balance this transition to all wet? This morning I offered a serving of wet and serving of DM. I wasn’t suspecting of a big change in BG. Maybe next cycle, I’ll try to have him eat a small portion of his dry before offering him the wet? He’s not super food driven so I have to sit on the floor and baby him to eat.
Or feed him higher carb wet for a few days? I don’t want him to fall in love with the gravy lovers and then quit it.
Because he Is more of a grazer, I am having trouble actually following how much of each serving he is eating. Most often there’s chunks of the wet left to dry out.
Also yes we will do the reduced dose next cycle, thank you.

Looks like he’s bouncing tonight from that low. He took a big drop.

One thing you can also try is to feed him LC canned food and crumble his dry on top of it. You can slowly decrease the amount of dry.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Please reduce Skully’s dose to .75 units immediately. Scully earned a reduction by going lime green and I see that you gave .75 units last night, which was correct, but also the new dose going forward is now .75 units. You don’t raise up the dose back up to 1 unit at this point in time. You will need to hold the .75 unit dose for a total of seven days and then we take a look at the numbers and make decisions from there on the dose, We can’t risk Scully dropping into lime green numbers again on the 1 unit dose. So that is why we will hold the .75 unit new dose for seven full days, okay?

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Next time you have a lower preshot number, please post here and tag me and please also post for assistance on the ProZinc forum where I am more likely to see it. Make sure to change your subject line to show you need help quickly. Put a question mark in the title and entitle it some way that makes it clear that you have a low pre-shot number and you need help. Also, if you encounter low numbers that are either dropping too low or in the lime green, please do the same with regard to posting.

 

[skullknight237]

Please reduce Skully’s dose to .75 units immediately. Scully earned a reduction by going lime green and I see that you gave .75 units last night, which was correct, but also the new dose going forward is now .75 units. You don’t raise up the dose back up to 1 unit at this point in time. You will need to hold the .75 unit dose for a total of seven days and then we take a look at the numbers and make decisions from there on the dose, We can’t risk Scully dropping into lime green numbers again on the 1 unit dose. So that is why we will hold the .75 unit new dose for seven full days, okay?

Thank you, I’m seeing this now. My partner was updating the spreadsheet while I was away from the computer, that’s why you were seeing updates.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Thank you, I’m seeing this now. My partner was updating the spreadsheet while I was away from the computer, that’s why you were seeing updates.

I just noticed earlier today that the spreadsheetsaid that the dose was 1 unit this morning and so that got my attention because it should’ve been .75 unit. I just want to make sure your Skully will be safe. Today he was bouncing from the low, but we still hold the .75 dose for seven days (or 14 cycles total) and then we see where we are.

 

[skullknight237]

I just noticed earlier today that the spreadsheetsaid that the dose was 1 unit this morning and so that got my attention because it should’ve been .75 unit. I just want to make sure your Skully will be safe. Today he was bouncing from the low, but we still hold the .75 dose for seven days (or 14 cycles total) and then we see where we are.

We will do the .75 dose for the week, thank you! How long do will we see the effects from the bounce? Our +2 reading is higher than the PMPS.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

We will do the .75 dose for the week, thank you! How long do will we see the effects from the bounce? Our +2 reading is higher than the PMPS.

It can take up to six cycles for a bounce to clear and when it does, it can involve fast drops. You can slow the drops with a bit of MC/HC food depending on whether he is carb sensitive.

If you’d like to start posting in the ProZinc ISG now, that’s fine.