Diagnosed a month ago, working to get control

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Dagmar Usta

Dagmar Usta

Member Since 2019
Our cat was diagnosed with diabetes on December 22, 2018. We went through a Ketoacidosis crisis and he was able to recover and come back home. Our diagnosis took a long time because test were not conclusive enough for the vet to prescribe insulin.

He was started at 2 units of insulin twice a day, after home testing and a fructosamine test at the vet we have reduced the amount to 1.5 units twice a day. Today we noticed him being very restless so we tested his glucose and it was low, we immediately provided food and honey.

We have noticed that his body usually gets used to the amount of insulin roughly every 2 weeks, causing us to reduce it a bit more after confirming with the vet. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Is it possible that we still have too much control over his glucose?

It will be great if I could receive some feedback from the community.
 
Welcome!
Can you tell us what type of insulin you are using please? And how much are you reducing the dose each time?
Also what type of monitor are you using?
Are you feeding a low carb diet?
Can you tell us what some of the blood sugar levels have been please?
We can help you but would like some information please.
Bron
 
It is really good you are home testing the blood glucose levels.
You did well today spotting that he had dropped low and feeding him and giving honey is the correct treatment. Can you tell us how low he dropped?
You will need to reduce his insulin dose after he has dropped low. We recommend reducing (or increasing) the dose in 1/4 unit (0.25) increments so you won’t miss the best dose and you will keep kitty safe.
We also recommend you test before EVERY insulin dose to make sure the blood sugar level is high enough to give insulin. Then if you test about 4 to 6 hours later to see how low the dose is taking him.
Yes as the pancreas starts to heal, the amount of insulin needed starts to reduce. That is why it is so important to be testing every day.
Keep testing before every shot and during the cycle.
If you could answer the questions in the above post it will help us help you.
Keep asking us questions. We are very happy to help.
 
Hello Bron,

Thank you for the reply.
we are using Lantus Glargine for coco, reducing it by 0.5 and measuring his blood glucose with Alpha Track.
We are feeding a low carb diet, he was on raw food previously and he really only likes to eats that. After his crisis we tried feeding him the food recommended by the emergency doctor but after consulting with his regular vet they recommended we give him what he likes as it will ensure him having a schedule and controlled meals. Also his food is very los carb which works with a diabetic cat.

His measurements have been all over the place, taking into consideration that he came from a crisis and wasn't eating properly at the clinic. once he arrived home we got high measurements and then he went into a somogyi effect which was another surprise. We measure his BG at home and made the decision to skip some injections until we got the hold of it, ultimately we reduced his 2 units every 12 hours to 1.5 units every 12 hours which was working for around 2 weeks until yesterday when it went really low.

Last Wednesday we took a BG curve and these were his results:

January 23, 2019 BG Insulin shot
6:30 AM 22.1 Meal at 6:00 am
7:30 AM 22.2 7:00 am 1.5 units
8:30 AM 19.4
9:30 AM 14.8
10:30 AM 9.8
11:30 AM 8.2
12:30 PM 6.4
1:30 PM 5.6
2:30 PM 6.7
3:30 PM 11.4
4:30 PM 18.7
5:30 PM 23.4 Meal at 6:00 pm
6:30 PM 26.8 7:00 pm 1.5 units

We though that we were on the right track but were surprised by yesterday's incident, luckily we noticed his behavior changing and acted accordingly. Yesterday he went as los as 3.2 and there was a possibility of his BG getting even lower as he had still one or two hours to hit lowest point according to his previous curve.

Let me know if you need more information, and thank you for the feedback.
 
Hello Kris,

Thank you for the information I have created the spreadsheet for our coco. I am going to fill it in so you guys can get a better idea of what is going on.
 
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