? 53 Too Low?

[Sebastian]

I was under the impression 53 was too low? He hasn’t had any insulin since 12-12-18 at 10:00am eastern time.

He was playing before his test for a little less than an hour and he didn’t eat before his test.

I’m using a relion prime meter, should I be assuming his actual glucose is higher or lower being I’m using a cheap meter not calibrated for cats?

If I don’t get enough blood on the strip is it possible to get an inaccurate reading or would it just give me an error?

He doesn’t seem symptomatic yet and I gave him his food after the test so he can only go up from here being he hasn’t had any insulin

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

53 is an excellent reading for a cat who's been off insulin for several days. Sebastian will not go hypo when you have not given any insulin. Some non-diabetic cats have BG levels as low as the 40's. While his BG if measured on a pet meter would be higher, it would still be well within normal range.

 

[Sebastian]

Thank you so much for the quick response.

My guess at this point is switching him to the low carb wet food put him in remission since we caught it early.

When he was first diagnosed he also had a UTI. Is it possible he was never diabetic in the first place and only seemed to be because of the UTI?

What I don’t know is what to do moving forward, should I continue testing every other day or start testing less like every two or theee days?

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Our protocol would be to test twice daily at normal pre-shot times without food for 2 hours prior for a period of 2 weeks. If Sebastian remains in normal numbers (preferably 50-80 most of the time and definitely 120 or below, then you can declare Sebastian is in remission. After 14 days, test once weekly for a month and then monthly so as to catch any trending increase in BG quickly.

Whether or not Sebastian ever was diabetic given the UTI is definitely a valid question. Infections can raise BG substantially so it is possible Sebastian isn't really diabetic. Some diabetics can be diet controlled so that might also be what is going on with Sebastian. A mystery I'm not sure you'll ever get an answer to. Please keep us posted. We love success stories.