First Test - What does it mean?

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Bandit and Beth

Member Since 2012
Bandit has been on insulin for a week and a half now, but today I finally got my first successful BG test.

He is on Lantus, 2u/twice a day. He weighs about 10.4 lbs and eats 100% fancy feast classic pate.

I tested him on the ReliOn prime meter and his pmps reading was 43. He is eating now and should get his shot in 15 minutes.

What does is this 43 supposed to mean? I know I need to get another reading at +6 hours, but can anyone explain to me what I should be expecting? I don't want to change his dosage right now since he has been doing really well the last 1.5 weeks since his diagnosis, but I know everyone will tell me his dose is too high right now. confused_cat
 
No shot right away wait 15 minutes and test again to see if his numbers are going up. Do not shoot if the number is under 200.
 
I would not shoot tonight. I can't imagine him getting up to 200 in enough time to shoot.

According to the dosing protocol, any number below 50 is an automatic dose reduction. Since the lowest number of the cycle is usually the +6, he was probably much lower than 43 earlier, and that is very scary. You definitely need to decrease the dose.

Did you see my comments in your other thread? Here they are again:

One thing that concerns me is that your vet has already overdosed your cat and does not seem to be familiar dosing Lantus. You don't mention how much he weighs now, but the starting dose for a 10 lb (4.5kg) cat is 1u of insulin, not 2u. The starting formula is .25u per kg of ideal weight. If the cat is underweight, it is .25u per kg of actual weight. I would strongly recommend dropping the dose down to 1u twice a day. Since it doesn't seem like your vet is familiar with how to dose lantus, I would print out the protocol I linked above, the American Animal Hospital Association Diabetes guidelines (see p. 218), and the article I've attached on Lantus and bring them to your vet. Unfortunately, many vets are not current with feline diabetes treatment and need to be educated right along side yourself through this process. For yourself, I would read through the Diabetes in Cats wikipedia page because it contains a lot of good, basic information to give you some base knowledge.
Click to expand...

I understand that you think the 2u has helped him, so you don't want to lower the dose, but overdosing him is going to be counterproductive. When a cat drops to low, their liver releases glucose into the bloodstream which then causes high numbers. So chronic overdosing is dangerous--no only are you risking a deadly hypoglycemic situation, but you will also go nowhere trying to regulate him. Please, drop the dose down to 1u twice a day. Cats do not show hypo symptoms until the hypo has already reached potentially deadly proportions, so you have no idea how many other incidents he's had so far. Please drop the dose down to 1u, or at the very least 1.5u if you are testing him frequently in both cycles.

Did you remove the dry food yet? If you did, that will also reduce his need for insulin.
 
You do not want to shoot tonight.

I would shoot 1u and hold that dose at his next shot. If you've gotten rid of the dry food, that dose will likely be effective.

Because of the rebound effect caused by low numbers that I explained earlier, don't be surprised if you see some really high numbers tonight and tomorrow. Don't freak out and shoot 2u again--the glucose will clear from his system in 24-72 hours. Lantus doses need to be held for 3-5 days, and adjustments are not made based of any single number or day, but rather the nadirs over a period of several days.

It is better to be too high for a few days, than too low for a second. This is very important.
 
Yes, he hasn't had any dry food since Nov. 30th. Prior to that he was getting canned food 3 times a day with a small bit of dry food for grazing and to keep me sane, but we are now 100% wet food and he is only getting the wellnes pure delights treats for helping with testing and shooting.

ok, I won't give him a shot tonight, but what how often should I be testing him? He's doing really good with all of this, but I don't want to abuse my good luck and tick him off! :?
 
AM & PM before feeding, and sometime mid-12 hours to see how high he goes.

Feed mini-meals if he bolts his food, otherwise just leave it out for him to graze.

Put a dab of Neosporin ointment with pain relief on the ear before testing. Wipe off, then test. It will slightly numb the ear and reduce the annoyance of being tested. Also helps the blood bead up too.
Always give a low carb treat (or other desired attention such as brushing) after testing - it rewards the testing process.
 
I have not given any insulin, but he did have some wet food at about 8:45. Then I did another test at 10:10 and he is even lower at 37!

Should I be really worried? After testing he went and ate a good amount of food, over 1/2 can, but I'm nervous so I gave him some of his old greenie treats and put 1/2 tsp. of maple syrup on his food, which he just started eating as I'm typing this.

Could I be doing something wrong with the testing, this is my first day of actually getting a number? He is acting normal and I just had him chasing around the laser pointer to see if he was lethargic, but he seems to be playing good...
 
Any insulin effects from over 12 hours ago should be waning.

If he'll eat, I would follow the instructions here

And a thought - are you using US measurement on your glucometer, or international?
US / 18 = international value
 
He's been eating, but won't eat very much of the food mixed with syrup. I think because he's already full.

I don't see a setting anywhere to switch between units. Right now it's giving me readings using mg/dL.

I put the food away for now and am going to set my alarm to give him another test in an hour.
 
Its OK to leave out food for him to eat; it will let him eat if he is low/hungry.
 
With lantus you want to test at least 3 times a day ( but more random tests are always helpful if you can get them). You want to test before each shot, and then a test about halfway through either cycle. Those mid cycle tests (nadirs) are what you base dosing decisions on. Most cats are ornery about testing the first week or two, but the more you do it and reward them, the sooner they chill and accept it as part of their routine.

How is he doing now?
 
I could not get a test last night at midnight. Bandit was behaving well, but any time we would get a tiny bit of blood he would shake his ear and lose it...

So I did another test this morning before feeding and it read: 42. I did not give him any insulin again. I put out the usual amount of food and he only ate about half, but I think that's because he was eating during the night, my other cat didn't eat too much either. This morning he seemd quieter than usual, but this might just be because he wasn't hounding me for food like usual, or could it be that he's not feeling well? I just don't know what to think.

This whole thing has me so stressed out and feeling sick! I even tested myself this morning to see if the meter is working and got a 111, this seems normal right? I'm just upset that for the last week and a half he has seemed so happy and playful and now I'm messing with things and causing more problems for him and me!
 
Beth,

You aren't messing a thing up in fact this should be something to celebrate...a 42 with no insulin at all is a GOOD THING!!! You may very well have a diet controlled kitty. dancing_cat flip_cat

Just keep testing him periodically through out the days ahead and if he can keep his BGs between 40-120 on a human meter for 14 days we will be throwing him an OTJ (off the juice) party!!! party_cat

But remember even if he does stay in that range for 14 days he is still a diabetic he is just a diet controlled one so no high carb foods every again. My own Maxwell went into remission in two short weeks of being on insulin with just a diet change and he just celebrated 2yrs without insulin on November first. Here is hoping the same for Bandit.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
For the time being, leave the insulin in the fridge, do not give any syrup or sugary items and just keep testing him! Like everyone said, you may not need insulin any longer.

And yes, testing yourself is a good way to be sure the meter is working correctly. Some meters even come with testing solution, so you can use that as well to be sure of the accuracy of the numbers.

Test him before the designated shot times, and at various times throughout the day/night. If he stays low like this, then as Mel said, in 14 days, we may officially celebrate!

This is good news! I know it seems freaky and way too soon, but there are lots of cats that when caught early and with an immediate food change may not need insulin at all or only need it for a very short period of time.
 
Thanks everyone, that makes me feel so much better!

I was about ready to tell my boss that I needed to go home for the rest of the day to watch my cat sleep. :oops:

I will definately keep up with testing several times a day and recording the numbers on a spreadsheet. The cats are actually preferring the lo carb canned food diet since that's their favorite anyway, so we will be sticking to that. The only problem with the food is that both cats are always begging for food, but maybe that's because they weren't getting enough before. Last night I gave them more than usual and a frozen cube for over the night and surprisingly they didn't wake me up this morning. This worried me at first, but I guess they were just full for a change! :-D
 
With our 14 cats I feed about 16 cans a day (5.5oz) since we have them ranging in weight from 6lbs to 17lbs, but on average it works out to about 1 can per day per cat if that cat is between 6-12lbs give or take.

And yes, the cat food store loves me...lol

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
I thought I had done the math and figured that he needed about 220.5 cal/day which worked out to be 2 cans of the small fancy feast per day.

I think I need to increase this though since even after a feeding, both cats act like they are starving!

My vet actually told me about ordering cat food from Amazon, subscribe and save. I really like this, you get a 5% discount and free shipping. This is great for me being in the city, now I don't have to carry home the heavy boxes from the store.
 
I just wanted to say you're doing great, Beth! Hopefully Bandit can be controlled with diet alone. Good thing you started testing or you could have really been in trouble - BRAVO! If you buy from Amazon, be sure to use the link at the top of the page so some money can come back to this site. Keeping fingers and paws crossed for your sweet Bandit!
 
Thanks Tara!

I just wanted to give another update. I did his pmps test and he was at 65 so again no shot. I'm happy the numbers higher than before, I feel more comfortable now.

I'm going to keep testing and of course watching him like a hawk! We go to the vet saturday for a 2 week post diagnosis check up so I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions for them. :-D
 
Congratulations and good luck w/ the continued trial!

I think you are right on them wanting a little more food. The FF pates are 82 to 91kcal per can (except for the salmon which is 97), so 2 cans would only be 164 to 182 kcal a day. Check out Wag,com (another link on the top of the page) to compare prices too. Those sponsored links don't cost you anything, but FDMB gets a commission to help keep us running.
 
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