Give insulin or not?

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dione

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Hello. I am new to this forum and not sure how it works. My cat Ricky was diagnosed a few months ago and I'm having a heck of time figuring out how to manage this. His BG levels were all over the place originally (mostly very high). I am using Glargin insulin - 1 unit morn and night. I recently experienced a Hypo event that really scared me -- it went down to 37 but he wasn't seizing or anything...just lethargic. I followed the recommendations for this with the Karo syrup, food, etc and he went back up. My new vet said to cut back the insulin 1/2 unit. I was doing spot checks with a BG meter and have decided I wanted to try an actual BG curve or partial curve like the website suggests. Here is my dilemma....early morning check (at 1:20 am) the BG was 102. My vet had told me that if the range was 120 - 130 to only give 1/2 shot and if it was 180 - 200 give full unit. BUT WHAT DO YOU DO IF IT IS AT 102? This is outside the range the vet gave me. SO I JUST DIDN'T GIVE HIM ANYTHING. IS THIS DANGEROUS? And at 12:00 noon today I did another BG monitor test and it was at 109...and that is after not giving him any insulin at 1:20 am (the first test). I'm afraid if I give him the insulin he will go down too low and have another HYPO episode. I've called the vet but he is out of the office and they can't reach him. The other vets on staff are not up on my cats situation. Anybody out there have thoughts? I'm going to do another BG test shortly (it's been about two hours since the last one) and I still haven't given him any insulin since yesterday afternoon (thats about 24 hours and it was 1 unit). Sorry for the long question....Thanks, Dione and Ricky
 
PLEASE DO NOT GIVE INSULIN!

WHew!

Ok, now, the good news is that your cat is showing non diabetic numbers AND you are testing AND you haven't given a shot.

My advice? No insulin unless you get a 200. This number can be lowered as you gather more testing data.

Can you give us more info like how your cat was diagnosed, what food you are feeding, other medical conditions, etc.?
 
You are doing it exactly right. We tell newbies not to shoot under 200, but to test again in 30 minutes to make sure the number is rising. If 12 hours later, your kitty is only 7 points higher , you are certainly within the range of a regulated, non diabetic cat. Here is our general guideline:

Treated but not regulated [often above 300 (16.7) and rarely near 100 (5.6), poor clinical signs]
Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
Normalized [60-120 (3.3-6.7) except perhaps directly after meals -- usually not receiving insulin]

Your kitty would fit in the normalized category, without insulin. Some kitties off insulin do range in the 40 -90 range, but for a newly diabetic cat, yours is doing great!

This is GOOD news! Keep testing. As you get more data, you can fine tune a smaller dose as needed.

So having reassured you ( I hope) we need details. Dose you were on/ how long on insulin/how diagnosed/ was fructosamine test done in the beginning?
 
Hi Dione, and welcome. You don't have to provide any info other than the basics, but the more info you provide about your cat, the more precise the advice will be that you get. We want to help you and we all know how tough it is at the beginning. As we like to say, "take a deep breath..."

Best,
Rebecca
 
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