Continuation from 09/02/2026 post.

Shwayna

Shwayna

Member Since 2026
Hi all,

This is the previous post: Near miss Hypo? STABLE!!!

Thank you to everyone who responded to that previous post and helped me through that mess!

I have moved the post here as requested by Suzanne & Darcy, as the other post was beginning to get quite long!

TLDR for previous post; My cat, Jojo, was bumped from 1u to 2u by the vet, and he had gotten what felt like was very low glucose alarm. That was my first time having a low event alarm go off, as I was relying on the Libre due to Jojo's ears nor paw pads bleeding at the time. I learned he was actually in a safe area by everyone who helped me out. He also has gotten his feeding schedule finalized (although he's not fully used to it), and he is being fed at +2 and +4 for AM and PM.

Per the advice from Suzanne & Darcy, I have gone back to 1u while I order half marking insulin syringes. Jojo is doing far better with getting pricked, along with his paw pads bleeding very nicely with 30g lancets already. I did not know that ProZinc should slowly be increased by 0.25u, and I put faith in my vet to not be guiding me the wrong way. I have learned my mistake thanks to everyone who helped me out! Concerns have been emailed to my vet.

Thank you!
 
I am very glad you are feeding at +2 and +4. It’s important because, for most cats, the PrpZinc will onset (start lowering BG) at about +2. The snacks don’t have to be large. They can be a spoonful or two — or some people choose to split the amount they want their cat to eat and just divide it between the main meal and the snacks. I’m happy. Sometimes it takes me a long time to persuade caregivers to feed those snacks! It’s usually after their cat takes a deep dive early in the cycle.
 
Did you see this? I want to make sure…..
Shwayna said:
Thank you!

Jojo seemed to be quite stable last night. Those two meals at +2 and +4 did really help out. I'm still going to bring up the concern with my vet, but I thought I'd just give an update with how he did throughout the night!
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Yes. That’s because Jojo is bouncing.

It’s a good time to talk about bouncing. High numbers do not necessarily mean more insulin is required.

A bounce is where the cat's body reacts to lower numbers that he is not used to being in anymore... since becoming diabetic. It's a protective mechanism where the cat's central nervous system perceives either a steep drop in blood glucose or simply the cat being in lower numbers - and it releases adrenaline, cortisol, glucagons and growth hormone, all of which create insulin resistance and can keep numbers high for up to six cycles (the bounce). Bounces don't have to last that long, but in some cats they do. Over time, many cats will start to clear the bounces more quickly. When the bounce does clear, the BG numbers will come back down and give us an accurate picture of what a dose is doing for the cat.
 
Shwayna said:
He read 420 on the Relion. The Libre app has been refusing to reconnect, so I am having to trust my Relion. I gave him just 1u this morning and he'll be checked at +2 and +4 (along with snacks at those times!)
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Okay. Can you put 420 in the AMPS cell. I saw the NA and I was not sure if you got a BG. Good job getting it with the ReliOn.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Did you see this? I want to make sure…..

Yes. That’s because Jojo is bouncing.

It’s a good time to talk about bouncing. High numbers do not necessarily mean more insulin is required.

A bounce is where the cat's body reacts to lower numbers that he is not used to being in anymore... since becoming diabetic. It's a protective mechanism where the cat's central nervous system perceives either a steep drop in blood glucose or simply the cat being in lower numbers - and it releases adrenaline, cortisol, glucagons and growth hormone, all of which create insulin resistance and can keep numbers high for up to six cycles (the bounce). Bounces don't have to last that long, but in some cats they do. Over time, many cats will start to clear the bounces more quickly. When the bounce does clear, the BG numbers will come back down and give us an accurate picture of what a dose is doing for the cat.
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Yes I did see! I have brought this concern up with my vet. I also brought up that on the Libre, it shows him dropping quickly within an hour (going from 400 to 298), and then on the Libre graph, his glucose seemed to try and climb after being fed but would also have dips as it rose.
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Okay. Can you put 420 in the AMPS cell. I saw the NA and I was not sure if you got a BG. Good job getting it with the ReliOn.
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Sorry about that! I have two different graphs for the spreadsheet, I totally forgot to put the 420 in the Libre graph, even though I put a note I got that with the Relion.
 
Shwayna said:
I have two different graphs for the spreadsheet, I totally forgot to put the 420 in the Libre graph, even though I put a note I got that with the Relion.
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You don’t need to keep two separate sheets—that’s a lot of work! You can put all of the numbers on one sheet. Relion and Libre are both human meters so the reference ranges (and color coding) are the same.

If you want, you can notate which numbers come from your “secondary” meter. For example, if the Libre is your primary source of data, you can just put those numbers in the cell. For any numbers from the Relion (your secondary meter), you can add a notation (such as the letter “r”) in the cell to to indicate it came from the Relion.

Good job getting started. The early days can be the hardest.
 
Yes. You can put an R after the ReliOn readings or you can put an asterisk or something. You said you were going to switch to the ReliOn eventually anyway. No worries.
 
Thank you both! I would reply to you both but I don't wish to make messages or the forum overly long by giving my thanks lol!

I spoke with my vet, and she's completely set on keeping him at 2u. She said his numbers aren't concerning enough yet, and that she wants him to continue at 2u for longer so we can get a more accurate reading. She mentioned that his ideal range would be 70-170 and that he's still not even close yet, and that he's not showing symptoms when it gets low. I feel like I'm stuck in a hard place.

It's hard to go against the word of any medical professional, but it's also hard to follow their word when I know it could be dangerous! I'm worried that if I go against her word, she will fire me, and the vet office she's at is the cheapest practicing vet in my area, so I can't really afford to lose her or the vet office in general. I'm also worried if I follow her word that Jojo may risk dropping into a dangerous area.

I have noticed that the snacks definitely help with his blood sugar dropping so quickly, but there's also the fact he could be in a bounce and be given inaccurate high numbers. At least my vet is accepting of the Relion, I guess. At least I know I'm not the only person who dealt with this same scenario!

Again, thank you both!
 
Let’s see if he comes down from this bounce today.

Normal blood glucose numbers for a cat are between 50 and 120 on a human meter. So that is the ideal, blood glucose range, but for beginners who are following the start low go slow method of dosing, we have a target range of between 90 and 150. This is for beginners. After you have gathered several weeks of data on how your cat is handling the insulin, and most importantly, what his nadirs are, you can make adjustments to your dosing protocol.

I understand that this is a hard place to be with your veterinarian telling you to give two units of insulin which already put him into blood glucose numbers that are lower than the range your veterinarian specified if 70 was the lowest number that your vet specified.

Do you have to contact your vet every day about the numbers that you’re getting? Or when are you supposed to get back in touch with your vet? Will the vet notice if you don’t call for a week or two? with some vets, it’s better to involve them in the process as little as possible. After a while, you can check in with them, but since you have the insulin and you know how to test you’re pretty much in control now. I would try to avoid having the vet micromanage your insulin dosing.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Let’s see if he comes down from this bounce today.

Normal blood glucose numbers for a cat are between 50 and 120 on a human meter. So that is the ideal, blood glucose range, but for beginners who are following the start low go slow method of dosing, we have a target range of between 90 and 150. This is for beginners. After you have gathered several weeks of data on how your cat is handling the insulin, and most importantly, what his nadirs are, you can make adjustments to your dosing protocol.

I understand that this is a hard place to be with your veterinarian telling you to give two units of insulin which already put him into blood glucose numbers that are lower than the range your veterinarian specified if 70 was the lowest number that your vet specified.

Do you have to contact your vet every day about the numbers that you’re getting? Or when are you supposed to get back in touch with your vet? Will the vet notice if you don’t call for a week or two? with some vets, it’s better to involve them in the process as little as possible. After a while, you can check in with them, but since you have the insulin and you know how to test you’re pretty much in control now. I would try to avoid having the vet micromanage your insulin dosing.
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Apologies for the late response!

I can contact my vet if needed, but otherwise, I am supposed to wait for her to contact me. She is able to see Jojo's glucose with the Libre app, along with any notes I put. I have been very thorough with my notes, such as how much he ate, carbs, behavioral changes (so far positive ones), etc. She seems to want to wait about 7 days before she contacts me about his blood glucose no matter the amount of Insulin he's getting.

Knowing she's monitoring him is some added stress, because there's no way I can do adjustments without her noticing. I gave Jojo 1u this morning, and honestly, I think he's coming out of a bounce. The Libre has been on and off working today, but he's lower than usual for just 1u. It's been a gradual decrease throughout the morning, with the snacks helping him not drop more. It's only now beginning to rise again. Previously, Jojo was constantly between 380-400+ on the Libre with 1u, and now his lowest with 1u was likely around 220.

Jojo was on 1u previously from 8/26/2026 up until 9/01/2026, so about six days. I will mention, between that time, I hadn't realized he was supposed to get snacks. So he was consistently like that without snacks. Now, if he didn't get any snacks today, he probably would've gotten under 200 on the Libre with just 1u. I'm going to see what his PMPS is tonight and heavily debate if I think 2u will send him down too fast. I wish the half marked syringes would come in sooner, but of course my vet requires I send in paper scripts for outside pharmacies, which just slows the process down. I'd love to test 1.25u, but I don't want to just blindly guess where that'd be.
 
Shwayna said:
Apologies for the late response!

I can contact my vet if needed, but otherwise, I am supposed to wait for her to contact me. She is able to see Jojo's glucose with the Libre app, along with any notes I put. I have been very thorough with my notes, such as how much he ate, carbs, behavioral changes (so far positive ones), etc. She seems to want to wait about 7 days before she contacts me about his blood glucose no matter the amount of Insulin he's getting.

Knowing she's monitoring him is some added stress, because there's no way I can do adjustments without her noticing. I gave Jojo 1u this morning, and honestly, I think he's coming out of a bounce. The Libre has been on and off working today, but he's lower than usual for just 1u. It's been a gradual decrease throughout the morning, with the snacks helping him not drop more. It's only now beginning to rise again. Previously, Jojo was constantly between 380-400+ on the Libre with 1u, and now his lowest with 1u was likely around 220.

Jojo was on 1u previously from 8/26/2026 up until 9/01/2026, so about six days. I will mention, between that time, I hadn't realized he was supposed to get snacks. So he was consistently like that without snacks. Now, if he didn't get any snacks today, he probably would've gotten under 200 on the Libre with just 1u. I'm going to see what his PMPS is tonight and heavily debate if I think 2u will send him down too fast. I wish the half marked syringes would come in sooner, but of course my vet requires I send in paper scripts for outside pharmacies, which just slows the process down. I'd love to test 1.25u, but I don't want to just blindly guess where that'd be.
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Amazon sells the syringes without a prescription. Well… at least I just ordered them and they were sent right away.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Amazon sells the syringes without a prescription. Well… at least I just ordered them and they were sent right away.
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You are indeed right! I honestly just assumed they would require a prescription since everywhere else does. They'll be here tomorrow.
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Maybe your Libre will fail and that will take care of the problem.
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Sadly, or maybe thankfully, my vet would likely email me if she noticed the sensor wasn't reading, or didn't seem to be reading properly. Yay for attentiveness, boo for it being harder to do what I believe is right.

If this was my blood sugar I was dealing with, I'd honestly probably do the 2u to prove my doctor that I'm right. But considering this is Jojo's, I'm not going to risk it! With how this morning and afternoon went with 1u, I think 1.25u would be a better fit.
 
I’m sorry for so much stress on you!

I am not saying that 1.25 is necessarily going to be enough, but I strongly believe— after years of doing this and working with many cats, that it’s best to safely work your way up to a better dose.

At least you can monitor him closely and can intervene if necessary.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I’m sorry for so much stress on you!

I am not saying that 1.25 is necessarily going to be enough, but I strongly believe— after years of doing this and working with many cats, that it’s best to safely work your way up to a better dose.

At least you can monitor him closely and can intervene if necessary.
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I do agree 2u is likely too much to just jump. The 1u seemed to have done a good job this morning and afternoon, and I believe 1.25u is definitely a better fit. Thankfully, I can monitor him closely since he's so horribly clingy, and he actually doesn't mind getting his blood checked. It's more of an issue that he doesn't like having his feet or ears grabbed and touched. Plus, AM can be difficult cause my boy gets excited for breakfast.

I will say, I'm almost tempted to get an Alphatrak3, but that's only because I'm having the doubts with the Libre and Relion. For +2 PM, the Libre read 341, while the Relion read 413. I believe that when the numbers are this high, it doesn't matter a whole ton, but I'm a statistics and number type gal, and it just irritates me that I can't have the luck to have both read closer together. I suppose I just like to complain too lol! I have a feeling if I did have an Alphatrak3, it'd likely read more around the Relion anyways.

Anyways, thank you so much for your help! You and so many other people have been amazing and so patient and kind towards me. It's nice being able to express concerns, ask questions, etc, without the fear of being slammed with hatred.
 
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