Dosing Help - Big George is Home and first dose by myself

S

Sbaker4205

Member Since 2026
Hey there! I was unable to complete his spreadsheet this AM due to going back to work but picked Big George up from the vet this evening which did not go anything like I had hoped or thought that it would go. We tested my meter to the vet's meter and when there his BG was 121 at 5:36pm. The vet does not test before but just makes sure that he eats and then gives his insulin. He would not eat while there and they were rushing us and just said that he could eat and we could give him his dose at home. We are home and I checked his BG again at 7:31pm and it was 117. I took it again immediately since I thought that maybe I didn't get enough blood and it was 118. I'm still not good at the ear pricks. Took it on the Keto Mojo meter to just make sure the ReliOn was okay and it was 121. He had a couple of licks of food while at the vet (FF LC) and I have not dosed him. His does is still 4 units and from reading and looking at my notes a PS number should not be below 200. I am going to work on getting his numbers entered and am still waiting on today's numbers from the vet since they wouldn't just let me take a picture of his chart...but I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing. I'm very overwhelmed right now and don't want to undo what we've spent days trying to get under control.

It's also already 2 hours past the vet's dosage time.
 
How long ago was the 121? Are you still deciding to shoot tonight? I’m nervous to give advice because I have zero experience with Prozinc… but DKA they need insulin so I’d be thinking about at least something tonight if he’s at a reasonable level.

If Suzanne isn’t around maybe @Marje and Gracie is still up.
 
Tim & Pookey said:
How long ago was the 121? Are you still deciding to shoot tonight? I’m nervous to give advice because I have zero experience with Prozinc… but DKA they need insulin so I’d be thinking about at least something tonight if he’s at a reasonable level.

If Suzanne isn’t around maybe @Marje and Gracie is still up.
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Thank you for tagging someone else! I was just scared of the 4 units and that he wouldn’t eat earlier! I can dose tonight but don’t know what is reasonable! And do I just go ahead and feed him!
 
I’ll try to talk it through with you… I don’t think I feel great about 4 units, just with the recent food change and the pretty low pre-shot number tonight. On the flip side you don’t want to lose progress on the ketones. What do you feel comfortable with? You’ve got all the hypo supplies, honey or karo, etc. and can get a few tests later tonight?
 
Yes, I have honey and Karo, a mid carb food and a higher one and kibble! I will stay up all night to keep testing him! My mom came to my house to help me too! I need to dig out some syringes to able to syringe feed him if needed and I have a bulb thing! Thank you so much!
 
I have not fed him! He licked the food like 3 times maybe when we were at the vet but wouldn’t eat! I took it at 9:03 with the ReliOn and it was 112!
 
If he hadn’t just been in the hospital for ketones, I’d have you skip but that’s not a good idea with ketones.

Do you have supplies…lots of strips, HC wet food or honey, and can you stay up and test as long as you need to?

If so, I would suggest you just give him 2u but I am not able to stay up late and help you past 2.5 more hours. Normally if we suggest you shoot a low number, we stay up with you but I’m not able to. Will you be ok if he doesn’t come up within 2.5 hours? I can instruct you until then. We just can’t afford to skip with a cat with recent ketones

If all that is ok, you can shoot the half dose and then feed him a higher carb meal. Don’t let him get too full as he might need more food during the cycle. Test him before you shoot and then 30 mins after he’s done eating. We usually test, feed, shoot one right after the other.
 
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I have lots of strips, Karo and honey, FF Gravy Lovers Chicken Feast in Gravy (15 carbs, I thought more)! Is this high enough carbs?
 
I need to give him a break because we haven’t been able to get it! He’s just trying to bite us and is very angry! I’ve watched the first video and will watch the others! I’m sorry I couldn’t get this one quickly!
 
Be sure the bevel is up. You might need to burrito him in a towel.

I’m going to have to go to bed soon as I have to be up really early tomorrow so I’ll leave you some instructions.

HC food effects wear off in two hours so, unless he rockets to 300, you’ll want to be sure you retest in two more hours to be sure he’s up safely.

If he’s not up on the test you are trying to get now, you want to feed him a little more and retest. What you feed him and when you retest depends on how low he is.

If he’s around 150 or so, I’d give him some LC and test him in another hour. If he’s still hovering around 120, I’d give some more HC and test him in another hour.

We are not going to be able to give you the best dosing advice if we can’t see what his BG has been so if you can really focus on getting as much data as you have into the SS tomorrow, that will help. Start with the most recent and work back. I have a suspicion that 4u is way too much insulin for him but we need to see the data to tell.

If he drops below 90 tonight, please definitely reduce his dose tomorrow to 3.75u every 12 hours.

I’m not sure how late you ended up shooting tonight but I wouldn’t shoot at your normal time if he was more than an hour late. If he was two hours late with his shot. You can shoot at +11 (11 hours after he got his shot tonight). If he was three hours late, you can shoot at +10 from tonight’s shot but I wouldn’t put it any closer than that.

An example: if you normally shoot at 7/7 but you shot at 9 tonight, you can shoot at 8/8 tomorrow and then 7/7 on Wednesday.

Let me know if you have questions and I’ll check back quickly before I get in bed.
 
Sbaker4205 said:
I just gave him some more HC food
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Please be sure you stay on top of the testing and feeding until he is up and stays up. You’ll have to put on some coffee but please don’t miss getting up if you try to rest.

I mentioned earlier to drop his dose to 3.75u tomorrow so please don’t forget even if he bounces really high.

If you are fighting low numbers all night, I’d drop the dose to 3.5u every 12 hours and see how that does.

I’m truly sorry I can’t stay up with you but my husband has minor surgery tomorrow and we have to be up at 5:30.

I emailed a member in Australia to see if she can pop in on you. Hopefully, she will see it.

And I hope he will let you test him. If not, keep up with the HC, a tsp or 2 every couple hours. Better he’s too high than too low as he will come back down in the next few cycles.

If you can’t get his numbers to stay up, please take him to the ER and they can put him in a dextrose drip.

Good luck. I hope he comes up soon.
 
I truly appreciate all of your help! I have the hypo notes and your notes here! Thank you and I hope all goes well tomorrow with your husband’s surgery! I will definitely take him if I can’t get him up!
 
I tested at 1:37 am and it was 67! We just tried again (had been trying) and couldn’t get enough blood for the tests to read! I just fed him 2 more tsp of HC food since it’s been another hour since the 67 and I couldn’t get a reading! I will try again but he needed a minute! He ate almost all of it and is grooming!
 
Well done. You are doing a great job keeping Big George above 50.
That’s great he is eating!!
Can you tell me how long it is since you gave the insulin dose please?
As we all live in different time zones we use + the number of hours since the dose. For example if it is 4 hours since the dose, say +4
Let me know when you get the next reading with the + number of hours since dose. Thanks 😀
You can try letting him eat something while you test
 
Finally got enough blood! At almost +5 his BG was 91! We gave him another tsp of HC as a treat/trying to get blood! Do I need to give him another tsp or wait since he had 2 tsp an hour ago and GB is only 91?
 
Well done getting the BG!!
HC food wears off in 2 hours so I’d give him 1 more teaspoon now then see what the BG is +6

We don’t want to fill him up too much as we may need him to eat down the track.

Hopefully the BG will start to rise slowly now.
I’ll be around for the next 4 hours and will watch for your next reply.😀
 
I have not tested since being home but at the vet right before we left they where .7! At +6 it will have 11 hours since being tested! Do I need to try to test at +6
 
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