Do some cats do well on VERY low sugar?

[Nancy and Pasha]

Sorry for all the posts at once; they've been pent up, I guess!

OK, are there some cats who do best on VERY low blood sugar?

In December, after six months of trying unsuccessfully to get Pasha's blood sugar down, it finally happened on about 3 units of PZI, 2x/day. He got SOOO much better, felt better, stopped drinking too much, got his energy back, got his LEGS back and could run & jump normally again.

The problem was/is, we really don't know what his blood sugar is! We could never get morning readings--we'd try twice and always come up with error message #1 on the Alphatrak. I tested the meter twice (months apart) with the control solution and the meter seems to be working, and I'm sure we were getting a good blood drop--so I feel almost sure his sugar was too low to register. A test later in the day (midafternoon or evening, I'm working from vague memory) would reveal only something like 145.

But since he was doing so well, we just kept at the same dose. Playing with fire, probably, but he has NEVER, EVER shown even a single symptom of low blood sugar. He has behaved perfectly normally, eats fine, etc. This has been going on for many months. We stopped trying to do curves at home or take him into the vet for curves and only did a spot check very occasionally--always coming up with either no reading or a very low one, under 150.

Is it possible that some cats simply do well on such low blood sugar??

Prior to his dental procedure (it will be this Thursday), last week the vet measured his fructosamine, which I guess is an average of blood sugar for the past 3-4 weeks. It was too low for her, so we reduced his insulin half a unit. They will check him before and during the dental anesthesia.

Nancy

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Not checking while giving 3 units sounds scary too me. We were doing it, scared the crap out of us and that is how I found this site. We came off that dose extremely fast once we actually could see what was going on and actually off of insulin little over a month after joining.

Under 150 is not an *extremely* low number for a regular BG. Fructosamine tests are different and will have a different scale, but for the tests with your glucometer the range for a non-diabetic cat is 60-120.

If the alphatrak is giving error messages, I'd recommend going out and getting a regular human meter and strips and testing with that. Its good that your vet is doing a fructosamine so you have at least some idea of the average BGs, but after-the-fact numbers aren't very useful if there's a problem.

 

[tuckers mom]

You might want to try a different meter. Accu Check Aviva sips really well and fast even with smaller blood droplets. This may avoid your error readings.

150 is not a low number, so I wouldn't worry about that. Regarding the vet and the fructosamene, many vets, including my own prefer their clients have BGs in the 200 range because they fear hypo episodes. Folks who don't do their research and learn about FD and food also don't always catch hypos early enough to avoid injury to a cat or even prevent hypos, so my vet told me, she prefers the higher BGs.

I would really consider trying the Accu Check. Even if you only use it a few times, I think you'll find the test strips sip so well you'll be able to get more testing done.

 

[LaurieL]

150 is not a low number, so I wouldn't worry about that. Regarding the vet and the fructosamene, many vets, including my own prefer their clients have BGs in the 200 range because they fear hypo episodes. Folks who don't do their research and learn about FD and food also don't always catch hypos early enough to avoid injury to a cat or even prevent hypos, so my vet told me, she prefers the higher BGs.

.

The other day I did our first home blood glucose curve and emailed the results to the vet. I thought she might increase the dose because of the 200's but since I also sent in the lowest number (161 at +5 hrs) from earlier in the week she didn't want to raise the dose from 1U to 2 because of the chance of hypo.

One of my non-diabetic cats always shows up at testing time and acts like he's missing out so we decided to let him have a turn getting his ear poked. His BG was 61 and if that's considered low it doesn't bother him at all.

 

[Venita]

...she didn't want to raise the dose from 1U to 2 because of the chance of hypo.

Regardless of the type of insulin you are on, a raise from 1U to 2U is a 100% increase. That could be dangerous. Smaller increases, such as .25U or .5U (especially when you are at a low dose and getting a peak of 161), are usually recommended here.

 

[tuckers mom]

61 is a wonderful number for a civvie (non-diabetic cat - civilian :mrgreen: ) I have tested some of my civvies and have gotten numbers from 40-100, but finally stopped bothering them

Laurie, you're using Lantus, right? 200s to 100s is not bad, as you probably know, Lantus likes consistency and if you continue to see numbers stay the same, talk to your vet about an increase to 1.5U BID. Have you been able to put together a spreadsheet? If you can do that you'll get some great advice on the Lantus ISG, I'm sure folks there would help you set up a spreadsheet if you need that.

 

[Nancy and Pasha]

Jennifer & Melanie, thanks for the suggestions on a different meter. I THINK the AlphaTrak is working OK... it always worked when I tested it with the control solution, and we DO get readings on him sometimes.

I think the 145 number was a PRE-SHOT number. So theoretically we shouldn't have given him a shot, or at least not a full one. But we had gotten so exhausted with the SIX MONTHS of testing and adjusting and still being unable to get him regulated, and he seemed to be doing so VERY well at last (legs and weight and strength all improving) that we just settled on "3 units and a hair" and stopped testing except very sporadically. It takes two of us to test him so has to be done when my husband's home. As I said, he has NEVER shown any signs of hypoglycemia.

After the fructosamine test, we dropped him a quarter unit and then another quarter and he is still doing fine (not drinking more). The vet said we want to get to the lowest dose possible without getting clinical signs. So far so good.