Dosing Advice needed- Novilin. Blood test 297.

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Matt in AR

Matt in AR

Member Since 2016
I couldn't get blood last night and went ahead and gave Foxy his insulin 3 units of Novalin 70/30. About 3 hours later he had what I believe was a hypo event. He was restless, started meowing and when I tried to pet him he tried to bite me. This cat never bites. He got a bath last week and didn't even try to scratch. I quickly gave him some food and he ate it up. He calmed down and was his normal self the rest of the night. Again I tried to get blood this morning and was unsuccessful.
But after last night I decided not to give him any insulin until I got a blood test. I fed him this evening and 1 hour later, I tried again to get blood. after much pokes bribes of turkey and trying both ears I finally got enough blood to test. The ReliOn prime meter gives me a reading of 297.
That's above 200 but I'm not sure I should give him a full dose of insulin after last night. Will it harm him to only give him half of his dose?
 
I don't use Novolin, but if in doubt, you're always going to be safer giving less insulin

If you think he went too low today, I definitely wouldn't give the same amount again until you can reliably test
 
Hi Matt

I've not used your insulin but there is one thing that holds for all insulins: if a dose makes a cat hypo it's too high and needs to be reduced, so you definitely MUST NOT give him 3 units.

It's a bit quiet on the board tonight. If you change your thread title (top right above opening post) to include "Dosing Advice Needed - Novolin" and set a question mark as a prefix it will draw members' attention to the help you need. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.


Mogs
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It's also important that you test before feeding so the number isn't influenced by food....I know with Novolin it's more important that they eat 20-30 minutes before shooting so there's food "on board" before the insulin "hits", but you want to take food up 2 hours before testing....then test, feed and if he's high enough, shoot 20-30 minutes later
 
Useful links:

How to Treat Hypos - Print this Out

Hypo Toolkit

One thing I do know about Novolin N is that it can drop BG levels hard and fast early in the cycle. If at all possible it would be helpful to you to get tests from 1 hour (+1) after the injection onwards. Don't leave it later than +2 hours to check where the dose is taking Foxy. Also, have a look at the spreadsheet below for Woody - one of the cats here who arrived here on too high a prescribed dose of Novolin. Of course every cat will have their own response to an insulin but by looking at the BG numbers for Woody it will give you some idea of the action profile of Novolin (when and how quickly it can drop blood glucose levels, etc.). If you do get low numbers again, post for help on Feline Health and set a 911 flag against the thread title.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...A-DrW14sM0REb3YwQqQ0kMQwJs/edit#gid=361360320


Mogs
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Thank you I did change the title. I've been feeding him 1 hour before giving him the insulin. The vet has him on 2 doses of 3 units a day. I'll just go with half dosage tonight and test him again tomorrow before feeding then 1 hour after before giving him any more insulin.
 
If there's a big drop test again at +2, etc. If you haven't had a chance to read the hypo document now's a good time! ;) Being serious, it really helps to read it through several times so that you can mentally rehearse in advance what to do should there ever be an emergency, and that helps keep one a bit calmer.

If Foxy starts heading down under 100 make sure you've got everything prepared. If he gets closer to 50 post for help and advice (and have the honey/karo, etc., on standby).


Mogs
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Yes, you never want to shoot until you know exactly what his blood sugar is before his meal. Especially Novolin. We are switching to lantus from Novolin because it does have that dangerous tendency to drop BG like a rock out of absolutely nowhere. I agree that 3u seems to be too high for him--basing my opinion off of what you've described in your post. I would call my vet and explain that you can't get blood from him every time, describe those signs you observed in him, and ask how you should proceed.
 
Remember that foxy could be bouncing from hypos. Woody did that as you can tell on the spreadsheet. Before I started testing him at home I believe he was hypoing at every shot. I was free feeding dry w/d on the advice of my vet :mad:. Thankfully there were some wonderful people here that saw what was happening and was able to guide me to get him out of hypoing. I didn't change his diet until he was almost completely off insulin. I think my cats are unusual that they both went OTJ within weeks of each other. I am still testing Woody and will continue to do so for the rest of his life. I test Buzz once every 2 weeks and if I start seeing his numbers climb he'll be joining his brother. Please do not expect the same results that I experienced.
 
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Thank you! I sure hope Saoirse is doing well today. I've been keeping up on the board and reading so I'll have knowledge if there is a next time with my fur babies! Here's some hugs for you :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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