Did I catch her in time? Help!

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Jeanne & Dottie

Jeanne & Dottie

Member Since 2016
I just took Dottie's BG and it read 55! I put a small drop of karo on her gums, then gave her a meal immediately and she ate about half of it. Is this a true emergency? She isn't showing signs of hypo but I had been wrestling with her for an ear stick for about a half hour. Did my fumbling cause her sugar to drop? Should I just watch her close? It's 7:30 am here and my doc doesn't get in till 9:15, (he's always late). She doesn't get another shot till 2pm in the afternoon so I hope I didn't mess her up.
 
She doesn't get her next insulin shot till 2 in the afternoon. I put a drop of Karo on her gums, let her eat two pieces of dry food and fed her a half ounce of wet food. (Friskies). She ate about half of the wet food. She's not showing signs of low sugar..is rather perky, in fact. But I need to go to sleep and I'm afraid to do it if she would drop low. I'd rather her numbers be a bit high for her next bloodpoke, than have her crash. It's snowing here and the roads are bad..getting to the vet could be hairy.

It's a human model meter...made under the CVS brand name. The pharmacist said it's extremely reliable.
 
Did you give her shot at 2am, and then caught the 55 at 7.30am, ie 5.5 hours later?
That may be OK depending on the insulin.
If PZI or Prozinc then Dottie may be at the peak of the cycle, or close to it.
If Lantus then you may have to monitor her for quite some time to come.

Do you know when Dottie usually reaches the peak (lowest BG number) of the cycle?
 
no, no...she gets her shot at 2PM in the afternoon. Right now it's 7:46 AM, and she has about 7 hours before she is to get her next injection. My schedule is a bit wierd. I'm a night person so when I wake up around noon or so, I watch her, then do a blood test, before feeding her to see where she's at..and then she gets fed, and after she's cleaned herself up, I give her the shot.

Insulin is PZI and her behavior is quite normal at the moment. She doesn't have a reliable cycle yet because she's only been on insulin for a coupla days
 
Who makes the CVS brand and what model is it. I ask because the first one I got a Walgreens brand true result made by Nipro (who makes other store brand meters) is very inaccurate for cats. It read really low.
 
That's what I have done. I gave her two bites of dry food, and a half ounce of wet, plus I took literally one drop only of Karo and rubbed it on her gums. She wasn't happy about that..she's still sore from having her teeth pulled, all of them. She ate about half of the wet food. Has 7 hours to go until her next shot.
 
I was having trouble getting a drop of blood from her when I did her test, and she was stressed, so perhaps she had a low dip from that? Anyway when should I test again?
 
No usual about it. She's just started insulin a couple of days ago. Vet started her on 5 units of PZI, then bumped it up to 7 units over the weekend.
 
I'm going to eyeball her for about 15 minutes and then try for another drop. Her fur is so fine around her ears...the drop quickly wicks into her fur.
 
Ok I cannot get another sample from her. Her ear is so wet the drops keep wicking into the fur.
She seems fine but is angry as heck with me. I will watch her closely for an hour or so and then try again. If I keep this up she won't ever let me get near her ears. She looks like a sieve.

Could the neosporin that is still clinging to her ears dilute the reading somehow? Or would an error show up on the meter?
 
And should I clean her ears up, with a wet rag? I swear if she's not allergic to her I'm going to take a creme depilatory to her ears, LOL. Just kidding..but her fine ear fur is a real problem...it acts like a wick to draw away the blood before I...OMG my hubby just announced he's going to go see his doctor for an appointment now and he's pissed I didn't say something comforting to him? REALLY?
 
Sorry to let that slip. Geeze. Anyway should I clean her ears up to try to get the neosporin off before I try to use a lancet again? thanks for hanging in there with me, guys. I've got to get better at the ear pokes. Would a larger lancet be in order? I can pick them up later when it stops snowing. We're almost at whiteout conditions here now.
 
Never done a paw pad yet. Just learning the ears. I am limited with one hand, not sure I can get a grip on her alone. Let me see if there's a youtube that might give me a visual.
 
Just looked that that one, lol. Ok she's eating again...I would think her sugar would come up by now, right? She's eaten about an ounce of food. As long as she doesn't look woozy maybe I can hold off a bit on the paw?
 
Info from felinediabetes.com:

"PAW STICKS:

You may need to stick with the lancet manually or use a lancet device that gives deeper penetration (e.g., SoftClix with adjustable depth) and larger lancets to get enough blood. Otherwise it shows real promise as an alternate site to give the ears a break. Our cat doesn't even move, like she doesn't even feel the stick.

First wipe off the large pad on one of the paws with warm water and dry it. Press the lancet device FIRMLY against the pad and release the lancet. Then squeeze the pad to get a blood drop. Continue as described with ear sticks."
.
 
She's really chowing down. Hasn't eaten this good since her before her surgery. So my guess is that she's feeling the low sugar. I'm not diabetic but I'm prediabetic and when I start feeling shaky I eat pretty quick. Do not test myself with a meter...meter is new to me.
 
Elizabeth, how late is it in the UK? We are ready for the day here, when you need to drop off.

Jeanne, at this point, how long is it since her last shot? Please tell us in hours, not time as we are all in different time zones. Is that last number you got the 55? How long ago in hours was that?

My thinking is that 7units of PZI is a large dose and it may take longer than the usual 12 hours to wear off. It is very good she is eating.
 
I have read not to use alcohol to wipe test sites - apparently it can interfere with the sample.

To remove excess ointment, try using a dry, folded-up piece of kitchen paper (or loo paper at a pinch) to wipe Dottie's ears. It's good for absorbing the excess ointment.

.
 
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