Giles AMPS 278, updated to 2.25 last night

Giles'Mom

Giles'Mom

Member Since 2019
Last night was her first dose at 2.25, so I'll monitor for a few days and keep the spreadsheet up to date.
 
Hi Giles, good to see your post today!

Just one thing I noticed that concerns me - you gave insulin to Giles after your meter read 'fail'. That is not advisable. I would never, ever give insulin without getting a reading. Some of the others may want to weigh in - but it's extremely dangerous to administer insulin without knowing what the BG reading is.

Perhaps you would want to consider getting another meter - to keep as a back up for when the first meter fails to get a reading. You really need to have some idea of what number you're shooting. There are times when Giles' blood glucose may be too low to shoot...and could set you up for a hypo situation.

Please, please, please...do not give insulin without getting a pre-shot test.:bighug:
 
Sue and Luci said:
Hi Giles, good to see your post today!

Just one thing I noticed that concerns me - you gave insulin to Giles after your meter read 'fail'. That is not advisable. I would never, ever give insulin without getting a reading. Some of the others may want to weigh in - but it's extremely dangerous to administer insulin without knowing what the BG reading is.

Perhaps you would want to consider getting another meter - to keep as a back up for when the first meter fails to get a reading. You really need to have some idea of what number you're shooting. There are times when Giles' blood glucose may be too low to shoot...and could set you up for a hypo situation.

Please, please, please...do not give insulin without getting a pre-shot test.:bighug:
Click to expand...
Totally agree with Sue
 
I want to strongly reinforce what our other members said above. Our goal is to help you get your kitty into good numbers. But we want to help you to do that safely. Shooting blind is not safe. Just as a case in point, you didn't retest (enough) to get a PMPS on 10/28. Your next meter reading was at +3 with a 78. You don't know if you shot a PMPS of 40 or 240. Good luck only goes so far and no one wants to see a kitty have a symptomatic hypoglycemic event when its preventable.
 
Sorry, just seeing all of these messages. When I write "fail" it's not a failure of the meter, it's a failure of me and the cat. The tests are not getting easier and she is really not liking them and now she's on to me. So after I ruin 3 or 4 test strips and have poked her in the ear half a dozen times and gotten scratched up pretty good... i get to the point where I give up. She is all claws and there's no way i'm getting a reading. I also appreciate that I need to get as many +1/+2's as i can, but I am not able to do it in the morning. I can't move her shot time up any or i won't be able to give it to her in the afternoon, and I can't stay home afterwards and get it. The few times I've asked my husband to give her the shot in the evening while I am away, he hasn't done it and I've had to do it when i get home later and anyway, none of this is going smoothly. I appreciate the advice and will do my best. If I can't get an evening blood draw, do you recommend I wait an hour and try again and give her the shot late? (Just also a note on my logic at the time, I didn't think it was a problem to give her the shots even without the number since I'd been giving her 3 units all summer and she hadn't had any issues, i thought it'd cause more damage not to give it to her on time).
 
Giles'Mom said:
it's a failure of me and the cat.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry it's not getting any easier to test Giles. Believe me...I know exactly how you feel. However, I would absolutely not give any insulin until I knew what the pre-shot number is. If that means waiting and trying again when Giles calms down...then that will have to be the case...you may get off schedule and when that happens ask the forum for help to get you back on track. If it comes right down to it, you may miss a shot - but if you give her insulin and she's already low - then she may go into hypoglycemia and this could be life-threatening. It would mean a trip to the ER - and that's not where you want to find yourself.

You may have gotten away with it this last Summer...because you didn't know the risk you were taking...but the day will come when the insulin is going to take her lower...and that'll be the day you've dreaded...it's just too risky IMHO...I wouldn't do it.

Hopefully you can work with her some more with the testing..keep giving her treats and loving...she'll come around...I promise. I had a demon cat initially...but now she purrs through the whole thing...I never thought I'd say those words!

Keep trying to test...it's important.

Take care and enjoy your day :)
 
Just a quick question, for anyone who can answer... I thought i read that the more you poke their ears, the more vessels develop, and easier they bleed... i'm finding the opposite seems to be happening, i have to poke her 4-5 dif times in different places before one draws blood... and even then it's a tiny amount... it makes me worry i'm building up scar tissue.... or something.. thoughts?
 
What size lancet/needle are you using?

I currently use 25G needles from my vet but I know many poke with smaller needles like 33G. I've also found that certain brands of needles aren't as sharp or as good as other brands. It might be worth experimenting with different size and brands of lancets. Or even asking for needles from your vet or pharmacy (needles without syringes).

FYI I'm using SUR-VET brands of needles. I once ordered a cheaper brand at work (I work at a vet hospital) and those, while cheaper, were not as sharp and I had to poke many times to get blood.
 
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