? Answered: Low BG Incident

Tinker's Mom

Tinker's Mom

Member Since 2017
Hi, I apologize in advance for not updating Tinker's sheet for a while. His numbers have been in the 100 range lately and he's at 1.5 units.

We went to a Christmas party last night and I stupidly thought it would be ok to give his shot 3 hours early at 4 pm instead of 7pm. His BG is usually very stable and I thought it would be Ok. We got home from the party at 10pm and he was at 44 and then 36. I was up most of the night testing, feeding him stuff and mixing in honey and icing. I tried some of the emergency gravy food I had on hand at first but he threw it all up 40 minutes later like I knew he would. His tests all night were from 66 and 77 down to 46 again. Through it all he was asymptomatic and normal if a bit hungry.

Last test was at 4:30 am and he's back up to 140. Add to this that we are going out of town today and the cat sitter is only coming twice a day starting tonight. Should I give his morning shot at 7am (in 1 hour) if he tests at about 150 or more? Or are there ongoing effects of a crash?

Thanks for helping me in my dumb moment.
 
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Could you please update the last several days on your SS please? It is very hard to give dosing advice without the data.

Giving a dose three hours early is like an increase in dose.

How long are you going out of town for?

Is the sitter testing the BG levels before dosing?

Are you going to leave the sitter with higher carb food if needed?

Is the sitter going to leave food out during the cycles, both night and day, for your kitty?

I am just heading to bed and I can’t help
you until we get answers to the questions, so I will tag a couple of people to help you.
We normally suggest a reduction in dose when a sitter is looking after the kitty.
I would give a reduced dose of 1 unit of insulin for the morning dose if the BG is high enough and wait for what the others suggest for the rest of the time after we get more information.
Make sure you leave food out for him to graze on during the cycle
@Marje and Gracie
@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
 
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Thank you so much...

How long are you going out of town for? 1 week

Is the sitter testing the BG levels before dosing? Yes, and I told her not to shoot if he is 80 or less. She is a vet tech.

Are you going to leave the sitter with higher carb food if needed? I only have one kind of food. He has a very sensitive stomach.

Is the sitter going to leave food out during the cycles, both night and day, for your kitty? Yes, he is always left out a full plate of wet food.

I will try to update SS now.
 
Tinker's Mom said:
Add to this that we are going out of town today and the cat sitter is only coming twice a day starting tonight. Should I give his morning shot at 7am (in 1 hour) if he tests at about 150 or more? Or are there ongoing effects of a crash?
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IS there any way in the world you can take Tinker with you?

I wouldn't be comfortable leaving with this situation....
 
Here is his data, I am going to try to enter some of it now.
 

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I am realizing I can't update his SS before we leave. I apologize for not doing it better. I am dealing with some health issues myself plus an intense new job. :(:(:(

I have been giving him 1.5 units. But I think that going to 1.25 units while we are away is a good idea. Looking back, 2 days ago he was at 51 which should have earned him a reduction.

Thank you so much... I will test until we leave.
 
Tinker's Mom said:
I am realizing I can't update his SS before we leave. I apologize for not doing it better. I am dealing with some health issues myself plus an intense new job. :(:(:(

I have been giving him 1.5 units. But I think that going to 1.25 units while we are away is a good idea. Looking back, 2 days ago he was at 51 which should have earned him a reduction.

Thank you so much... I will test until we leave.
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Check with what the others think before you tell the vet tech.
Tinker earned a reduction in dose down to 1.25 units with the low numbers overnight and as we suggest a reduced dose for vacations ... the dose would probably be 1 unit. But see what the others think.
 
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Frankly, without more data to know for sure what Tinker's numbers look like, I would drop your cat's dose to 1.0u. Unless you have a VERY experienced cat sitter, having someone try to measure a dose that is not on a line on the syringe is more complicated than you want. It is far better to under dose your cat if you're not home to test than to worry. I always reduced Gabby's dose when I was traveling and I have vet techs who I've used as my cat sitters. There's also no guarantee Tinker will let someone else test. In addition, some cats do not eat well if you're gone.

For the future, please keep your spreadsheet up to date. Murphy's law dictates that something will be amiss if you need help with Tinker's FD. It's really hard for those of us who rely on the big picture of the trends in your cat's progress to give you the help you need if we don't have up to date spreadsheet information. Maybe it's something you can do while traveling???
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Frankly, without more data to know for sure what Tinker's numbers look like, I would drop your cat's dose to 1.0u.

It's really hard for those of us who rely on the big picture of the trends in your cat's progress to give you the help you need if we don't have up to date spreadsheet information. Maybe it's something you can do while traveling???
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Ok 1 unit sounds like a plan. You are right about Murphy's law. I will get SS up to date and try to keep updated. Maybe my wife can help. It gives me a headache looking at the little numbers. :(

Thank you SO much and Happy Holidays :bighug::cat:
 
One other suggestion...

If your sitter is not very comfortable with giving shots, I'd leave a sample syringe or leave a close-up photo of what the dose looks like. We've had more than one instance when a sitter drew up the wrong dose. (Worst case was when the sitter drew up a 5.0u dose vs a 0.5u dose because the person didn't know how to read the syringe markings.)

Have a lovely holiday season, as well.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
One other suggestion...

If your sitter is not very comfortable with giving shots, I'd leave a sample syringe or leave a close-up photo of what the dose looks like. We've had more than one instance when a sitter drew up the wrong dose. (Worst case was when the sitter drew up a 5.0u dose vs a 0.5u dose because the person didn't know how to read the syringe markings.)

Have a lovely holiday season, as well.
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That is exactly what I was worried about. I alreadt marked on a used syringe with a sharpie!! But she's a vet tech, she knows. Thank you!!!
 
I am glad you are leaving a marked syringe. One of my vets told me a story about one of his soon to be former vet techs doing a demo on giving insulin to pet parents. Instead of showing them two units, she showed them 20! :eek::eek: Vet found out ages later when they commented they were running out of insulin way sooner than they should have been. Thankfully, sort of, the cat had acromegaly and needed a larger dose.

When filling in that spreadsheet, it’s the previous two weeks that are of most interest.
Tinker's Mom said:
We are flying many states away. It's not possible.
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For future reference, totally doable. Dyana flew JD to California from New Jersey every year to visit family. I flew Neko to Denver and back from Vancouver, including customs clearance across the border. Penelope is flying in a couple days from Oregon to France with Macka. Amanda flew Mowgli from Alberta to Nova Scotia and back. Should you wish to fly with Tinker in the future, there are lots of people who can give suggestions on flying with a diabetic kitty.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
For future reference, totally doable. Dyana flew JD to California from New Jersey every year to visit family. I flew Neko to Denver and back from Vancouver, including customs clearance across the border. Penelope is flying in a couple days from Oregon to France with Macka. Amanda flew Mowgli from Alberta to Nova Scotia and back. Should you wish to fly with Tinker in the future, there are lots of people who can give suggestions on flying with a diabetic kitty.
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OK good to know. I just don't think he would adjust well to staying at my parents' house or my brother's house. Not to mention what my family would say about having a grandkitty visit, having to buy a litter box etc. They would not be fans of the idea! Lol
 
Tinker's Mom said:
OK good to know. I just don't think he would adjust well to staying at my parents' house or my brother's house. Not to mention what my family would say about having a grandkitty visit, having to buy a litter box etc. They would not be fans of the idea! Lol
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Luci's done her share of traveling - by air and by car - our car trips are 2-4 days - Luci has gotten used to it apparently and seems to enjoy the ride. I buy the disposable liter boxes and put the box and all into a trash bag (that I pack) so the whole thing goes quietly into a large garbage can - no muss, no fuss. I do a little tidying in the hotel rooms to sweep up the liter that sometimes gets kicked out...but I think traveling with a cat is a lot easier than traveling with a dog...IMHO.
 
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