? Blood Glucose Curve

[Blue Eyes]

Hello,
My cat had a blood glucose curve run at the vet's yesterday, which showed higher numbers than his previous curve run about 6 weeks ago. The bg fell quite a bit at +4 (135, see below) and then bounced right back up. Has anyone seen that happen?
Here's the background:

1. Bailey is nearly 21 years old (I know that adds to the complexity but he's worth it and we just want him as comfortable as possible) and was diagnosed in 12/2020 with diabetes and pancreatitis.
2. He has had pancreatitis recently and has had a mild heart murmur for many years.
3. His diet consists of roasted chicken (that's all he's ever wanted to eat for most of his life). Just recently, he's been enjoying cans of Tiki Cat food.
4. He was on 1 unit of Vetsulin twice a day (other types of insulin caused hypoglycemia when he was first diagnosed at the ER, so his regular vet chose Vetsulin.
5. No, I don't regularly test at home.

Starting a few days, vet suggest increasing his dose to 1.5 units twice a day because his sugar was super high at the ER last week and when I tested in the afternoon one day this week. I have not gone higher than 1.3 units because he became hypo at the vet's back in January at the 1.5 dosage.
So, here are his bg curves done at the vet's:

1/25/2021
+2: 456
+4: 236
+6: 237
+8: 355
+10: 345

3/11/2021
+2: 499
+4: 135
+6: 452
+8: 484
+10: 657

Thank you.

 

[SashaV]

That's just how vetsulin works. It doesn't last that long. He would most likely do better on a different insulin. And home testing is necessary. Stress can raise the BG, so the curves at the vet are false at most, and definitely not reliable.

 

[Blue Eyes]

That's just how vetsulin works. It doesn't last that long. He would most likely do better on a different insulin. And home testing is necessary. Stress can raise the BG, so the curves at the vet are false at most, and definitely not reliable.

Right. He did seem a little frazzled when he came home, the poor guy. I just find it odd that the low number is almost like an outlier. I would expect the numbers to be lower for a little longer as was the case for the 1/25/2021 bg curve.

I finally decided to post here because the vet support is lacking. The ER vet staff is not as helpful as they could be (after discharge, you can only speak with vet techs, not the vet) and my own vet is strictly by the book without much thinking outside the box. It’s frustrating, to say the least.

 

[SashaV]

Right. He did seem a little frazzled when he came home, the poor guy. I just find it odd that the low number is almost like an outlier. I would expect the numbers to be lower for a little longer as was the case for the 1/25/2021 bg curve.

I finally decided to post here because the vet support is lacking. The ER vet staff is not as helpful as they could be (after discharge, you can only speak with vet techs, not the vet) and my own vet is strictly by the book without much thinking outside the box. It’s frustrating, to say the least.

Sounds awful!
If you're ready to give it a go, get another insulin, and start posting here.
I've just talked today with my vet, for the first time since summer last year. We do dosing differently, and when you're all set up, you won't need your vet anymore. Besides for prescriptions, of course.
We go slow and safely here

I've even read that a vet visit can up the BG with 200 points. And if yours is stressing at the vet's, I don't want to think about his numbers when he's at home

If you look at my spreadsheet, all the way to the top. See the difference between then and now?
You can do this!!!

 

[Marina & Chico]

I will second Sasha on criticizing Caninsulin/Vetsulin, we started Chico with Caninsulin/Vetsulin as well, he was swinging every single cycle he wasn't bouncing. This insulin was developed for dogs and since cats have a faster metabolism it doesn't last them too long (even though i read somewhere that caninsulin is not recommended even for dogs ). You can check Chico's spreadsheet at the top as well and see the difference Lantus has made for his BG compared to caninsulin.

Another second to Sasha is that i believe as well that the BG curve at the vet is really not representative at all and that it only makes sense to measure at home. Additionally seeing a single BG curve in a month can be very misleading. Look for example Chico's AM cycle on the 9.03. If we chose to do a BG curve at the vet for this cycle we would have considered him not progressing at all and we would have decided to increase the dose but if you look at all the other days around it you can see that that specific cycle was a bounce (his body "protection" mechanism kicking in because of all the low numbers it saw in the previous cycle) and on the contrary it would have been very dangerous to increase the dose.

And third second to Sasha D) is that our communication with the vet regarding diabetes is minimalized as well, vets don't have any real experience with managing diabetes so their advise most of the time is "by the book" and is not practical.

We are very new to FD journey as well but finding this forum has been a Godsend, there is no way we would be doing so much progress without it. I definitely recommend buying a human glucometer and start testing at home, i won't lie: it is challenging in the beginning but it is the only real way of keeping our kitties safe. The most important is that it becomes so much easier so quickly

Good luck with your journey and decisions

 

[SashaV]

I will second Sasha on criticizing Caninsulin/Vetsulin, we started Chico with Caninsulin/Vetsulin as well, he was swinging every single cycle he wasn't bouncing. This insulin was developed for dogs and since cats have a faster metabolism it doesn't last them too long (even though i read somewhere that caninsulin is not recommended even for dogs ). You can check Chico's spreadsheet at the top as well and see the difference Lantus has made for his BG compared to caninsulin.

Another second to Sasha is that i believe as well that the BG curve at the vet is really not representative at all and that it only makes sense to measure at home. Additionally seeing a single BG curve in a month can be very misleading. Look for example Chico's AM cycle on the 9.03. If we chose to do a BG curve at the vet for this cycle we would have considered him not progressing at all and we would have decided to increase the dose but if you look at all the other days around it you can see that that specific cycle was a bounce (his body "protection" mechanism kicking in because of all the low numbers it saw in the previous cycle) and on the contrary it would have been very dangerous to increase the dose.

And third second to Sasha D) is that our communication with the vet regarding diabetes is minimalized as well, vets don't have any real experience with managing diabetes so their advise most of the time is "by the book" and is not practical.

We are very new to FD journey as well but finding this forum has been a Godsend, there is no way we would be doing so much progress without it. I definitely recommend buying a human glucometer and start testing at home, i won't lie: it is challenging in the beginning but it is the only real way of keeping our kitties safe. The most important is that it becomes so much easier so quickly

Good luck with your journey and decisions

Hahaha lol
And you're right, it becomes as easy as scratching yourself