GA 911 Newly diagnosed with diabetes and everything is wrong

J

Jin662

Member Since 2026
My cat collapsed suddenly trying to jump yesterday and we took her to the vet. Bloodwork all the work ups she is diabetic and they’re starting her on insulin. They gave her first dose yesterday at the vet. At pickup they told us to give her 4 units of insulin 2 times a day of lantus. Everything I am reading here says that’s way way too large a dose. She weighs 9.1 pounds. They installed a cgm and sent us home. Told us to do the insulin at 10 no other info. Since her cgm wasn’t working I didn’t feel comfortable with that so I took a manual reading from her ear her blood glucose was at 72. That was at 5 pm. She presented yesterday at over 400 they gave her one dose of insulin at 10 am. Her glucose has dropped all night to below 70 on a relion meter. She can’t support herself. I’ve done karo on her gums she won’t eat at all this is day one. I know she doesn’t feel well. But I did not give her that insulin last night the needles they gave me were u-40 and the medicine is u-100 something is wrong and I am just scared and waiting on the vet to open to get her back.she hasn’t and won’t eat or drink anything this started very suddenly 5 am yesterday I checked her glucose at 408 am and it was 62 I did some karo because she wasn’t responding to me she’s up to 72 15 minutes later her vet doesn’t open until 8 I am so scared.
 
Last edited:
Yikes! You have U40 syringes???? Those are completely the WRONG syringes :eek::eek::eek: Completely NOT your fault since you're new to all of this. This is the vet's fault for giving you the wrong syringes and you need to make the vet aware of this.

DO NOT give any insulin until you get the correct U100 syringes. The ideal ones to use are 3/10 cc with half unit markings. Your vet will need to write you a prescription to purchase U100 syringes from any pharmacy (CVS, Walgrees, WalMart, etc).

And yes, 4 units is a HUGE dose of any insulin to start with. This board recommends starting at no more than 1 unit twice a day, although there may be some exceptions for cats with DKA and other conditions.

2025 guidelines to manage diabetes in cats: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X251399103 Read through it and share with your vet.

Normal cat blood glucose levels are roughly 60 to 150 mg / dl. How many hours after last night's insulin did you get the 62 this morning?

Karo works but is too short acting. Gravy based canned cat food will have a longer effect on low blood glucose levels. The Fancy Feats Gravy Lovers ones are good.

Jin662 said:
My cat collapsed suddenly trying to jump yesterday and we took her to the vet. Bloodwork all the work ups she is diabetic and they’re starting her on insulin.
Click to expand...

Did your vet have any why your cat collapsed? Diabetes in general doesn't cause a cat to just collapse. Have you noticed your cat having difficulty walking lately? Any common symptoms of diabetes? What bloodwork did the vet do? Regular bloodwork includes a blood glucose level test but that test only shows what the cat's blood glucose level was at the time of blood draw. Many cats hate being at the vet and are super stressed out so their blood glucose levels are super high. A fructosamine test will show what the cat's blood glucose levels have been over the past few weeks and is a better indicator of diabetes. This test has to be specified when submitting the blood sample.

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) @Wendy&Neko @Christie & Maverick
 
Update! We went back to the vet this morning with all of the info we gathered here (thank god for all of you) and stood our ground and asked all the questions. They treated too aggressively yesterday on her first dose. They’ve reeled that in now to one unit twice daily. She’s now supporting her head and trying to walk. She ate! I have a new at home monitor test strips and lancets. I downloaded my spreadsheet to start tracking and I am just so thankful for all of the information we found here so that we went in armed with knowledge, that we did not give her insulin last night because of everything we read here. Just thank you.
 
Oh, I am so sorry to hear this sad news. :bighug::bighug::bighug:. You did all the right things you could to fight for your furbaby.
 
I’m so very sorry for your loss. How tragic 😢💔
You did everything you could!
May her memory be a blessing. Fly free sweet girl 🙏🫂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top