Beau BG 55 after 1st dose of insulin - HELP

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lmkitties

lmkitties

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We've been trying to manage Beau's high BG level w/low carb food. His numbers were going down. Initiallly it was over 450. Low carb food got it down in the low 300s, sometimes in the mid 200s. But vet said he needed insulin yesterday. Gave us ProZinc. Said to start w/3ccs but we argued with him and we agreed to 2ccs, with food. He also put Beau on a unique protein diet for his alleged food allergy that is causing a seemingly painful skin condition around his ears and face. I should have known better than to try and treat both. Beau started eating his new food w/rabbit meat but decided to switch bowls with another cat when I wasn't looking. I figured he was eating good so I gave him his injection. He ate a good sized portion but wanted more. When I gave him him the rabbit food, thinking he liked it so much the first time, he refused to eat it. At that point, I should have just given him something, anything more to eat but I didn't. Then his sugar dropped to 53. I gave him dry food, as much as he could eat. A half hour later, BG was 55. I rubbed some maple syrup inside his mouth and gave him more dry food, which he nibbled on. He is not exhibiting any symptoms except for lethargy. I have no faith in this vet who wanted to start with 3ccs and told me I didnt' need to test every day. Once a week is fine, he said. Don't worry, he said, I deal with these cats all the time. Yeah right. I feel like throwing away this bottle of insulin. The low carb diet was working. Does he really need insulin? Any advice on what to do now? Should I retest every hour? At what BG level can I stop panicking?
 
If your kitty was still in the 200s with the diet change, then he does need insulin. It just may be that 2 units is too much for him. We usually like a starting dose of 1 unit twice a day for that reason. How many hours after the shot was the initial 55? I'd bring the dose down to 1u for your next shot.
 
The 55 reading was about 2 hours after the injection. But he'd been lethargic for about an hour before I tested him.
 
For today, keep an eye on him and keep testing. 55 is too darn low for a +2 test. What was his pre-shot number?? Here is the link with information about hypos: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1122. Print it out and keep it handy. Come back here with numbers and questions.

For tonight, if he were my cat, I would test before his next shot, and not give anything if it's 200 or below. And then only give 1 unit (It's units, not ccs, by the way).
 
The good news is that your instincts are great and you've discovered the power of low-carb food and you questioned your vet on the high dose of 3 units. First, remember that some cats are really finicky in regard to diet change. You may need to try a gradual change to all low-carb. And there are some great canned varieties to try if you decide to discontinue the rabbit food. It will also be greatly beneficial to have all your cats on a low-carb diet so that you're assured that your diabetic kitty will always be fed correctly.

I hope that your numbers have gone up since you initially wrote. Without more info, it's hard to advise accurately, but it sure seems like the 2 unit dose is too high for your cat. As others have said, the best dose to begin on is 1 unit BID - then further testing throughout the entire cycle(s) will help you determine where to go from there. Perhaps you'd like to try 1 unit for the next few cycles (provided that kitty numbers haven't gone into hypo numbers since) and test several times to create a "curve"?

If you post those numbers, there are wonderful experts here who can advise you further.
 
Keep checking BG and initiating more hypo foods as needed. Maisey put me through this twice on small doses and it is scary. My vets said to bring her in, and they could administer I.V. - we manged on our own, because I had lost faith in them and felt confident that I could deal with it. But you may really want to consider I.V. since the number is 55 at 2 hours.
 
Make sure you have plenty of test strips if you're going to treat at home --

test often and give small amounts of high carb food / syrup until several tests show a rise.

Then skip the insulin tonight -- and start over tomorrow at a very low dose, like 0.5u.

There are syringes available with half unit marks -- I like these:
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... 40030.html

some cats only need a tiny dose -- my Tiggy is well regulated (normal BG most of the day and night) on low carb food and a dose of 0.5u BID.
 
Beau's BG went up to 68 as of an hour ago. He ate a lot of dry a couple of hours ago and doesn't seem interested in lunch. I'll try and give him some more dry a little later.

He seems to like the low carb food well enough. He'd rather have his crunchies but he'll eat the some of the Wellness grain free and even the Hills SO, which is pretty low carb. My other cats are on all wet food. I'm still waiting to hear from PetGuard on the carb count for what they eat. Luckily, Beau has no interest in the food the other five cats eat.

He seems to be drinking alot again so maybe it's gone back up since my last test. I hate to keep poking him but will test a few more times today. He seems to be less lethargic. He's cleaning himself at least and walking around a bit.

Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate everyone's feedback.
 
lmkitties said:
I'm still waiting to hear from PetGuard on the carb count for what they eat.
Click to expand...
What flavors of PetGuard are you feeding? I have the as-fed values for a few of the flavors because I used to feed it to Gabby.
 
lmkitties said:
I feed them PetGuard Premium Feast.
Click to expand...
I believe I have those as-fed values saved on my computer at work...I'll post them Monday. If I remember correctly, it was diabetic safe. It was too high in phosphorus for Gabby (she was a CRI kitty) so I never fed it at my house.

FYI, these are the two flavors I fed that I had posted here because they were low in phosphorus:

Chicken & Beef:
Prot.: 37%
Fat: 48%
Carbs: 14%
Fiber: 1g/100kcal
Phos: 141mg/100ckal

Fish, Cx, Liver:
Prot.: 35%
Fat: 57%
Carbs: 7%
Fiber: 1g/100kcal
Phos: 195mg/100ckal
 
Beau's BG rose to over 450. If he's not hungry, should I give him an injection anyway? I think he ate too much dry food. This is a roller coaster!
 
It's not surprising that he rose to 450 - given the dry food and other things you may have fed him.

My suggestion if you want to give him a shot is to give him 1 unit no more than that - you may even want to do a token dose of 1/2 unit. and then test him at +2 and +4 to see how he is doing.

I do recommend that whenever you decide to shoot be it tonight or in the morning - that you start over at 1 unit, test and get BG data, let this dose settle in and then after several cycles if needed can increase the dose by .5 or 1/2 unit increments.

Make sense?
 
the 450 is completely expected after all the high carb food -- but he needed it to prevent siezures and coma from too much insulin.

He will probably be very sensitive to insulin so start at no more than 1u -- and possibly lower.
 
He was hungry last night. We gave him a .5 unit dose. BG went down to 385 after an hour. This morning is 395 before breakfast. He ate a lot of Wellness grain free and we gave him another .5 unit dose. He seems to be doing very well today. Alert, playful, stalking the other cats and not guarding the water dish. BG after 4.5 hours is 306. Going in the right direction, at least. Will do another .5 tonight w/dinner.
 
Maisey was very insulin sensitive after going hypo, so stay low for at least a few more cycles. Glad he's acting well.
 
With those numbers in the 300s and taking down the dose so much you really need to be testing for ketones right now just in case. Those things can sneak up really quickly. Most any pharmacy will have bottles of strips that you stick in the pee stream to test. Some will have these behind the counter and you have to ask for them. I believe they run around $11 for a bottle of 50. If those numbers don't come down in the next day, then I would go right up to 1u, which is the normal starting dose. I understand being cautious though.
 
Here are the values for the Premium Feast...I didn't calculate the percentages for this one but if you need help send me a message.

As Fed values for PetGuard Premium Feast

Premium Feast
Protein: 11.1
Fat: 5.2
Carb: 3.8
Fiber: 1
Phos: 0.26
Water: 78
Ash: 1.5

247.5 cal per 5.5 oz Can
 
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