First blood glucose home test

funkyou

funkyou

Member Since 2022
Just received my lancets in the mail and tested Meika for the first time. She's at 406.8 and has been on 0.5u of Glargine for almost a month now. Am I okay to increase her dose to 1u to see if that helps? The vet wants me to bring her in, but I feel like he'll just tell me to do what I'm asking about right now, so should I really waste the money? Or cancel the appointment and just increase her dose and see how it goes?
 
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Hi and welcome to you and Meika to the forum. I see you live in Australia.
I live in Sydney.
As this is the first test you have done, I would not increase just yet until we can see a few days data. The reason for this is because we don’t know if she could be dropping low and bouncing back up high. Bouncing can happen if the blood glucose (BG) levels drop too fast, too low or lower than she has been used to lately. Her body then panics and dumps stored glucose and regulatory hormones into the system and that sends the BG up high. Bouncing can last from 1 to 6 cycles and there is nothing you can do except wait it out. Bouncing can look as if she needs more insulin so that’s why we need to see a few days data. In all likelihood she does need an increase but it is much safer to have the data to confirm that.
Try and always get in the preshot test….so the routine is test, feed and shot one after the other. If the preshot BG is under 200 (11) at the moment I would recommend stalling, dont feed and test again in 20 minutes to see if it is rising. Post and ask for help as well. The BG number you can shoot will fall as we get more data. Does that make senses?

We can certainly help you and teach you how to increase and decrease the dose. Most of us here, once we are hometesting and have the insulin, don’t go back to the vet about the dose. We have very experienced people here and we have all had diabetic cats which we have looked after 24/7. This is a very supportive and knowledgeable community. I would cancel the appointment and save the money.
We increase the dose in 1/4 unit increments in most cases unless the BGs nadirs (lowest point in the cycle) are really high.

I can see you have entered the data onto the US SS chart. The thing to do is to enter it onto the world chart and it automatically puts it into the US chart. I’ll ask @Bandit's Mom just to have a look at it to make sure it’s fixed properly. Well done setting the SS up.
I’m going to give you a link to HELP US HELP YOU which also has the signature and hypo links plus other useful information.
Can you tell us what you are feeding Meika? And what type of mete you are using.

Also here is another link to Aussie information which you might find useful
INFORMATION FOR AUSSIE CAREGIVERS
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to you and Meika to the forum. I see you live in Australia.
I live in Sydney.
As this is the first test you have done, I would not increase just yet until we can see a few days data. The reason for this is because we don’t know if she could be dropping low and bouncing back up high. Bouncing can happen if the blood glucose (BG) levels drop too fast, too low or lower than she has been used to lately. Her body then panics and dumps stored glucose and regulatory hormones into the system and that sends the BG up high. Bouncing can last from 1 to 6 cycles and there is nothing you can do except wait it out. Bouncing can look as if she needs more insulin so that’s why we need to see a few days data. In all likelihood she does need an increase but it is much safer to have the data to confirm that.
Try and always get in the preshot test….so the routine is test, feed and shot one after the other. If the preshot BG is under 200 (11) at the moment I would recommend stalling, dont feed and test again in 20 minutes to see if it is rising. Post and ask for help as well. The BG number you can shoot will fall as we get more data. Does that make senses?

We can certainly help you and teach you how to increase and decrease the dose. Most of us here, once we are hometesting and have the insulin, don’t go back to the vet about the dose. We have very experienced people here and we have all had diabetic cats which we have looked after 24/7. This is a very supportive and knowledgeable community. I would cancel the appointment and save the money.
We increase the dose in 1/4 unit increments in most cases unless the BGs nadirs (lowest point in the cycle) are really high.

I can see you have entered the data onto the US SS chart. The thing to do is to enter it onto the world chart and it automatically puts it into the US chart. I’ll ask @Bandit's Mom just to have a look at it to make sure it’s fixed properly. Well done setting the SS up.
I’m going to give you a link to HELP US HELP YOU which also has the signature and hypo links plus other useful information.
Can you tell us what you are feeding Meika? And what type of mete you are using.

Also here is another link to Aussie information which you might find useful
INFORMATION FOR AUSSIE CAREGIVERS
Click to expand...

Right now I'm feeding her Fancy Feast grilled varieties, and Ivory Coat indoor dry food (waiting for Welness Core to arrive). I have a LifeSmart 2TwoPlus meter
 
The fancy feast grilled varieties are all medium carbs 12-15 carbs.
You need to look for foods that are 10% or under carbs for diabetic cats. Most of us feed around 4-7% carbs.

Is the Wellness core food a canned food or a dry food? If it is a dry food it will be high carb and not suitable for diabetic cats at all.
There is no dry food in Australia which is low carb as far as I am aware.

Before increasing the dose I would get her onto some lower carb foods first because lowering the carbs will reduce the BG quite a bit. And you don’t want to be doing two changes at once. Once you have done the swap to a low carb diet, you may find that the current dose of insulin is enough. If it’s not then you can do an increase.

There is a food chart in the information o gave you for Australians although the Weruva is no longer available at the moment.
Also here is another link to a food chart for US people. You may find some foods in that . Especially FF.
FOOD CHART
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
The fancy feast grilled varieties are all medium carbs 12-15 carbs.
You need to look for foods that are 10% or under carbs for diabetic cats. Most of us feed around 4-7% carbs.

Is the Wellness core food a canned food or a dry food? If it is a dry food it will be high carb and not suitable for diabetic cats at all.
There is no dry food in Australia which is low carb as far as I am aware.

Before increasing the dose I would get her onto some lower carb foods first because lowering the carbs will reduce the BG quite a bit. And you don’t want to be doing two changes at once. Once you have done the swap to a low carb diet, you may find that the current dose of insulin is enough. If it’s not then you can do an increase.

There is a food chart in the information o gave you for Australians although the Weruva is no longer available at the moment.
Also here is another link to a food chart for US people. You may find some foods in that . Especially FF.
FOOD CHART
Click to expand...

Bugger, I put her on the grilled ones because I could have sworn it was one of the low carb options. And I read somewhere that Wellness Core dry food was low carb too.
 
funkyou said:
https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-grain-free-indoor/dp/37139#Nutritional-Info

Not sure how to figure out the carbs from this info...
Click to expand...
You can estimate it by looking at the nutrition info and adding up the % numbers then subtract what you get from 100.

Also, there are usually questions about carb content on chewy if you look through them. For this one they answered: This recipe contains approximately 27.00% Carbohydrates on an As-Fed basis (approximately 29.35% Carbohydrates on a Dry Matter basis).
 
Can you take a photo of a couple of the grilled FF ones you feed and post them? You will need to copy and paste them and the upload a file is not working.
 
Do you know if Felix is okay? I still have a heap of sachets left... And I heard Whiskas is low carb too?
 
funkyou said:
Do you know if Felix is okay? I still have a heap of sachets left... And I heard Whiskas is low carb too?
Click to expand...
This is the UK food list. Felix and Whiskas are available there as well.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml

Usually pates and foods in jelly are low carb. Those with gravy are not.

You can use this carb calculator to get a rough estimate of carb%. Look at Dry Matter Carbohydrates at the very end.
http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html
 
Than
Bandit's Mom said:
This is the UK food list. Felix and Whiskas are available there as well.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml

Usually pates and foods in jelly are low carb. Those with gravy are not.

You can use this carb calculator to get a rough estimate of carb%. Look at Dry Matter Carbohydrates at the very end.
http://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html
Click to expand...

Thankyou! I have heaps of those too so at least until I (hopefully) find a dry food she can eat, she won't get sick of the same thing all the time
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
You will struggle to find a dry food that is low carb in Australia. The lowest one ass far s I know is the prescription dry Hills glucosupport M/D which is 18%carbs which is high carb.
Would she eat the air dried food that is low carb
Click to expand...

It's really not fair that there's so many things we can't get here :(
 
greetings from the states @funkyou and welcome to the team

we've got someone from NSW, Victoria, my wife is from QLD...halfway there just need someone to rep WA, NT and Tasmania :joyful::D
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
You will struggle to find a dry food that is low carb in Australia. The lowest one ass far s I know is the prescription dry Hills glucosupport M/D which is 18%carbs which is high carb.
Would she eat the air dried food that is low carb.
Here is an example https://www.petcircle.com.au/produc...VdZhmAh2kUgJnEAQYASABEgJnOfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Click to expand...

I think I got a sample of these a while back, can't remember if she liked them or not... They're so expensive though, maybe I'll give her 3 wet meals and 1 dry (air-dried) meal instead of the other way around. I'm worried she'll think they're treats and just eat a few and then reject them! :nailbiting: She usually gets a crunchy stuck in her teeth for a while after eating, do you think this style dry food would do the same or be worse than normal? She had her teeth cleaned last year and apparently there's no issues there
 
funkyou said:
Hey! :) I'm from Victoria myself. I thought there'd be heaps of Aussies on here since it's such a big group, am I mistaken?
Click to expand...
Yes we have lots of Aussies here. Not all at once but I’ve met a lot.
Most members come from the US, then there are a lot from Canada. UK, Australia, Europe, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, and a lot of the Asian countries and the Scandinavian countries. I think we’ve had a few from the Middle East as well.
 
funkyou said:
I think I got a sample of these a while back, can't remember if she liked them or not... They're so expensive though, maybe I'll give her 3 wet meals and 1 dry (air-dried) meal instead of the other way around. I'm worried she'll think they're treats and just eat a few and then reject them! :nailbiting: She usually gets a crunchy stuck in her teeth for a while after eating, do you think this style dry food would do the same or be worse than normal? She had her teeth cleaned last year and apparently there's no issues there
Click to expand...
What do you mean ‘do the same or be worse than normal’? Do you mean get stuck in the teeth?
They are low carb and healthy. Some people use them for treats. Some of them look like little crunchy logs and not just pieces of dried meat. To be honest, I only got a sample of the dried meat ones to try with my cats who are fed a homemade raw diet and when I gave them the dried food they didn’t know what to do with it. They didn’t recognise it as food. But a lot of people say they are great.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
What do you mean ‘do the same or be worse than normal’? Do you mean get stuck in the teeth?
They are low carb and healthy. Some people use them for treats. Some of them look like little crunchy logs and not just pieces of dried meat. To be honest, I only got a sample of the dried meat ones to try with my cats who are fed a homemade raw diet and when I gave them the dried food they didn’t know what to do with it. They didn’t recognise it as food. But a lot of people say they are great.
Click to expand...
Yes, sorry. Was talking about it getting stuck in her teeth, haha. I tend to go off on tangents a lot :woot:
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
You will struggle to find a dry food that is low carb in Australia. The lowest one ass far s I know is the prescription dry Hills glucosupport M/D which is 18%carbs which is high carb.
Would she eat the air dried food that is low carb.
Here is an example https://www.petcircle.com.au/produc...VdZhmAh2kUgJnEAQYASABEgJnOfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Click to expand...

I did see these in Petbarn the other day but the bag is tiiiiiny for the price. I don't know about the shape and size of them either, but they might be easier for her to eat than jerky *shrugs*
https://www.petcircle.com.au/product/feline-natural-lamb-and-salmon-freeze-dried-cat-food
 
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Hendrick's mom and dad said:
I didnt do any calc on this because I couldnt find the GA or As-Fed info but I'm guessing it is higher carb just from the ingredients alone. Tapioca? Chick Pea Flour? Apple? Suspect.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I answered my own question above ^^^ along with a list of what I ended up ordering :)
 
funkyou said:
Think they're no good actually, looking at the ingredients :(

I ended up ordered a pack of Ziwi Peak (chicken), a pack of Meat Mates (lamb), and a packet of Feline Natural (beef), see how we go with 1 dry meal a day because these packets are SMALL! :blackeye:
Click to expand...
That’s a good start. Keep an eye on the BGs when you start that food as the BG could drop with the removal of the higher carb foods.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I’m not sure about this one. It only has 82% from meat sources. It says real meat but on the ingredients it is called chicken meal and turkey meal which can mean not top quality food and it has pea flour and tapioca so can’t be really low carb
Click to expand...

Yeah I think you're right. The price was too good to be true, should have guessed! I ended up ordering Ziwi Peak, Meat Mates and Feline Naturals *fingers crossed*
 
Feeding her in 10 minutes so tested her and she's at 297, so a drop but not enough yet. For future reference, is there a certain place we have to post or thing we have to do if we just want help with monitoring results?
 
Just keep posting here …. you may need to change the subject line to reflect your issue. Once we have you set up properly with food, SS, signature we can get you to start posting on the Lantus page but at the moment we like you to stay here to get sorted properly first. Ask as many questions as you like
 
154.8 before lunch. I've stopped giving her dry food (since yesterday afternoon) until her low carb stuff arrives in the mail
 
Yeah, that was before she ate and got her shot. Is that the wrong column? I don't know what AMPS are :oops:
 
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