? ChipChip 1/20 AMPS 502 - I'm completely confused

[TrepTheSnake]

Hi I have a new spreadsheet. Thank you very much to Bandit's Mom...

So... if you take a look at my spreadsheet in my signature below, the readings I get are very confusing to me. It's my first cat with diabetes and I'm learning.

Unfortunately I don't have the previous readings to what is on the spreadsheet but I can't understand why the values are fluctuating so much. Is it bouncing (which is a theory my vet and someone here mentioned)?

Then why did it go so low with 2.0 unit to eventually go back to a high result? Food intake is always the same. I'm starting to feel terrible testing my cat so often, she can't catch a break for her poor ears. Still, today I'll get one or two extra reading to see if her BG goes down or hang around high levels.

Please I'm so lost. I called my vet 2 days ago but she did not call me back yet. We only have one clinic in our town and I know they have a vet shortage so I get it but I'm still worried. At least Chipchip is behaving normally ( a real contrast to before she was diagnosed).

Thank you for your help

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AxkHTtlY_BRy569XO8AWDg9pYKa0AlktmADLUefcp-4/edit?usp=sharing

 

[tiffmaxee]

Welcome to LLB. We link the previous condo to the new one for continuity.
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/can-be-deleted-please-ignore.273166/#post-3037094

Your previous post should not be deleted although the mods might move it to tge main forum where we ask new members to post their intro. Did your cat have ketones or was he DKA when diagnosed?

Bron gave you some very good information. If feeding dry food and especially high carb dry it will be more difficult to regulate. If living in the US we have some supposedly low carb dry foods but they still tend to yield higher bg for many cats.

Your cat is more than likely bouncing and that will probably continue until he gets used to normal bg. Here we suggest lowering the dose if the bg is under 90 which I see has happened 3 times at least according to your ss. Cats often go lower at night. On an AT meter 69 is quite low and it’s very important to feed and test again in 30 minutes to see if it’s going lower to not take any chance of a symptomatic hypo. I would reduce to 2.75 or even 2.5 and hold that dose for 7 days unless you catch another bg under 90.

 

[TrepTheSnake]

Thank you for your answer.

My cat has no other known health issue. Beside the diabetes her blood work came good according to the vet.

When you say to lower dose when BG under 90, it doesn’t matter when in the curve correct?

Also, what does AT means?

Also, I’m very grateful for your help and am certainly considering every advice but I wouldn’t feel comfortable going against my vet suggestions until I talk to her again. The problem is i can’t reach her right now, so do you think sticking to her plan and sticking to 3.0 could be problematic (she told me to give 3 u fil next week and 2.0 if BG between 4 and 6)? could she get used to that?

Thank you!

 

[Bandit's Mom]

There are low carb dry food options from the US which are also available in Canada - Young Again, Dr. Elsey’s Cleanprotein and Wysong Epigen 90. These are more expensive than "regular" dry food but I'm not sure how they compare with RC Satiety. Feeding high carbs and giving insulin is counter-intuitive. Like eating a cake after running for an hour. If you are able to switch her to a low carb diet, her blood sugar will improve and her insulin requirements will reduce. Some cats even go into remission after a change to a low carb diet. It's pretty much like human diabetes in that diet is an important part of treatment. A human diabetic should not be having sugar and a lot of carbs in their diet.

If your cats are not kibble addicts, it would be great if you can slowly switch all of them to a low carb canned diet. Most of us feed our own cats Fancy Feast Classics (called "pates" in Canada), Friskies Pates or 9-Lives Ground because they get less than 10% of their calories from carbs. The President's Choice pates are also popular among our Canadian members. They are also easy to find and affordable.

Here's the sticky on the dosing methods we follow here:
Dosing Methods: Start Low, Go Slow (SLGS) & Tight Regulation (TR)

Hometesting is the best way to keep her safe. It doesn't hurt them and it's just a matter of establishing a routine. Here's a post by another member with some testing tips:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/9-9-bailey-amps-117-5-62.252712/#post-2851043

Lastly, is there a reason you are using the AT to test? The strips are really expensive. That is why most of use human meters. The Bravo is a free meter available online in Canada and strips are only CA$40 for 100.
https://diabetesexpress.ca/products/bravo-meter?variant=29238347730

 

[Bandit's Mom]

When you say to lower dose when BG under 90, it doesn’t matter when in the curve correct?

so do you think sticking to her plan and sticking to 3.0 could be problematic (she told me to give 3 u fil next week and 2.0 if BG between 4 and 6)? could she get used to that?

Yes. A drop below 90 any time in the cycle is a reduction. I agree with Elise that you should go down to 2.75U and hold it for a few cycles to see what she does on the dose. Frequent changes to the dose confuses the depot and you do not know which dose is working. Glargine is not an in-and-out insulin like Vetsulin/Caninsulin.

Also, what does AT means?

It's an abbreviation for the AlphaTrak meter. Pet meters read a little higher than human meters. The normal range for pet meters is 68-120 mg/dl (3.8 - 6.7 mmol/L) whereas it is 50-100 mg/dl (2.8 - 5.5 mmol/L) with a human meter.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I totally understand your reluctance to go against your vet’s advice. I felt the same way at first. The collective knowledge here is way more extensive than what many vets have but you have to do what you feel comfortable doing.

Ketones in the blood can lead to dka which is life threatening if not treated. @Bron and Sheba knows a lot about this. (GA) it is caused by diabetes but not all cats are prone to it so it is worth asking if ChioChip had any at diagnosis.

If the bg gets too low a cat can go hypo and that too is life threatening if not treated. If caught before going to low high carb food or honey can bring the bg up. If you don’t know it’s happening and it gets way too low it means a trip to the very and being on an IV glucose drip.

AT is alpha track meter which I saw on your ss I thought. It should also be in your signature.