?Help? Dropping quickly?

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S&Boo

S&Boo

Member Since 2017
Boo recently had a little brush in with DKA. I've been watching him closely, testing his pee, and smelling his breath for any signs of it returning. So far, there have been no indications of it returning. However, today his blood sugar has dropped below 100 with no signs of DKA (thus far). I've been meaning to start lowering his insulin if I can to see if that helps him be more regular. I thought today would be as good a day as any to start. I lowered him 0.25 unit.

I decided to check his blood much earlier than normal to see if it helped, and it's even lower than before. I fed him a little and gave him water after checking. I'm waiting for him to pee so I can check ketones.

I would also note that while researching DKA on this site, I learned that I was injecting him all wrong. Prior to his DKA, I was administering insulin relatively close to the scruff. I switched to the stomach as prescribed.

Questions:
Could the change in position have such a substantial effect? Should I switch back to the scruff? Lower the dose? Feed more?
And what do I do in the interim? How do I keep him from dropping like a rock?

Note: cross-posted in Feline Health (Main Forum)
 
Update: Checked Boo just now. He had dropped to 60. I gave him a little syrup and will test him again in a few minutes. Any help is appreciated.
 
Update: Checked Boo's bg: 69. I gave him a little more syrup, as I'm worried that he'll drop without it.

What's almost more worrying is that he's been exposed to syrup before now and has always wrinkled his nose and turned away from it. I had a little in a bowl and he buried his face in it and lapped it all up.
 
Update: used syrup to get Boo up to 136. I'm giving him a tad bit of wet food to supplement this.
 
Hi there, just now seeing your post. Sorry no one else chimed in before now. Looks like the syrup did the trick. Not sure why Boo liked it so much but I guess it's a good thing?
Regarding the injection site influencing insulin intake, I have read contradictory things. For me, the jury is out but I don't use the scruff because I can't spread the injection areas around as much as when using the sides.
I hope more people will come along and give their opinions.
 
Thank you. I think most people haven't chimed in because it's late. And I wasn't sure if this was a 911, so unless I put that in there, I don't think people are going to watch it too closely.

Yeah. I wish I knew what triggered the hypo. If it was the recent DKA or switching the injection site. There's nothing else I'm doing...Weird.
 
Looks like you are using a human meter. If you are, Boo didn't have a hypo episode as above 50 on a human meter is typically not in the danger zone.
UNLESS of course you saw any of the following:

Symptoms of hypoglycemia: [in order of ascending severity]


  • abnormal hunger / complete disinterest in food
  • restlessness
  • weakness, lethargy
  • head tilting
  • shivering
  • staggering, uncoordinated movements
  • problems with eyesight
  • disorientation (yowling, walking in circles, hiding, etc.)
  • convulsions or seizures
  • coma

This list is by no means exhaustive; cats have also been known to be very sleepy, drool, vomit, or have glassy eyes. Be aware of behavior from your cat that is uncommon, but don't fret every time your pet gives you a single funny look.

All that being said since you are not used seeing Boo in those lower numbers AND he dropped to 60 at +3 (which is early on in a typical cycle)it was good you tried to slow him down. Next time maybe try a couple of teaspoons of high carb food and see how he responds.

Another consideration is that it looks to me like Boo's number's were already dropping when you gave the PM shot. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but because 88 is the lowest number (by kind of a lot) that you've ever shot so far AND his numbers were falling he went low. It's not surprising to me.

 
Sorry no one was about to help earlier.

Tonight's green numbers were a result of the depot of the 2u, it takes a few cycles for the effect of a reduction to be reflected in the numbers.
With the dka history, as he didn't earn a reduction (didn't drop below 50 on the human meter) I would stick with the 2u dose, not enough insulin in a cat that is dka prone can lead to a relapse.


You did great shooting that 80 today!! And on your own, cudos to you, it was the right call, as was getting that early test in and recognizing you needed to take action.

Those +1+2 tests can really give you the heads up to an active cycle, I'd continue to get those even when ps numbers are high.

I'm just at the salon on my phone, when I get home I'll write a little more about how you may be able to mitigate his fast drops.
 
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