Help! To give insulin or not

Status
Not open for further replies.
Rex_Rescue_Momma

Rex_Rescue_Momma

Member Since 2014
I'm debating on if I should go ahead with Dax's insulin shot, or maybe only give him a half unit instead of a whole tonight. His BG this morning was at 58, I wasn't at all concerned since he didn't eat great the night before. This morning he ate really well, but his BG tonight is at 35 - Getting a little low for my comfort. He usually gets 1 unit of Lantus twice daily, but since I got him a few days ago I have switched him onto a higher quality canned food. For the last 2 days his BG has been in the 200s, last night it was at 165, so it dropped pretty quickly.
 
A 35 right now? No! Don't give the shot! In fact, make sure he eats NOW and test again in a half hour. When was the last shot you gave and how much? And what meter are you using?
 
Okay, good. Feed him a little bit more if he'll eat and then test again in another half hour.

When did he last have an insulin shot?
 
He has been on a unit twice a day since I got him early Wednesday morning. His last insulin shot was at 9 am this morning (currently 11 pm here). I just offered another can of food and he didn't want much of it, so I'll put it away and offer again in a little while.
 
Okay, so you gave him 1u on a 58 this morning?

No insulin tonight! Hopefully he'll still be higher when you test again, otherwise you may need to bring out the Karo syrup and/or high carb gravy. If he's over 60, test him again in an hour. We want him to stay above 60 for the next couple of hours so we know he's going to be safe. I'll stay up with you.
 
All right, great! Check him again in another hour and if he's still over 60, we're probably safe for the night. Try to get him to eat a little more at that time and leave some food out for him overnight (you can add water to it if you're not already to keep it from drying out). I'll be checking on you. ;-)

Tomorrow at shot time, if he's under 200 do not give a shot and post here first with his number. If he's over 200, reduce the dose in half for right now to 0.5u. There isn't enough data yet to know if that's too little, but right now because he's been running such consistently low numbers on the 1u and probably is not yet at full appetite since the move, it's better to be "too high for a day than too low for a moment."
 
Okay, sounds good! Make sure you leave a bit of food out for him in case he starts dropping again. He might be higher tomorrow from the skipped shot and possibly a bounce. Resist the urge to give 1u and only give .5u if he's over 200 tomorrow at shot time.
 
Been watching his numbers closely, he did not get insulin again this morning, his numbers where to low - 27 this morning at the time he would normally have gotten it, 35 an hour later, 29 at the time he would normally have gotten his evening shot so I skipped it again and fed him a canned food with plenty of gravy in it. BG was 85 an hour after that, then dropped to 66 in the next hour. I just checked him again, would be about 6 hrs since he would have normally gotten a shot, and he's at 76, so I'm thinking that is probably a sign his body is starting to regulate on it's own again and he may not need any more insulin, really going to watch his levels and patterns in BG close for the next few days and see how he does, but there shouldn't be any insulin left in his system by now, so I'm really pleased to be seeing those numbers, and to see the slight drop and then slow rise without any insulin. Praying this pattern continues and I can just check him 1-2 times a week to make sure his sugar levels stay where they should be!
 
Rex_Rescue_Momma said:
... 29 at the time he would normally have gotten his evening shot so I skipped it again and fed him a canned food with plenty of gravy in it. BG was 85 an hour after that, then dropped to 66 in the next hour....
Click to expand...

Glucose dropping after food definitely suggest the pancreas is kicking in. If he doesn't get insulin and nothing else is wrong (ex vomiting) there's no need to give higher carb food.

Also note that meters only have to read within 20% of what a lab might get, so any test actually represents a range of possible vaues higher and lower.
Ex a test of 50 represents a range of 40 to 60, a 20 mg/dL range
Ex a test of 250 represents a range of 200 to 300, a 100 mg/dL range

Its good enough for home monitoring. We're most concerned about low numbers due to the risk of hypoglycemia when on insulin.
 
Makes sense. Been watching him close today, his numbers are slowly creeping up so we may not be ready to stay off insulin quite yet, he was at 108 when I checked him at 5 (he's been on at 9 am and pm insulin schedule), I'll check him again at his normal time at 9:00 and if it's at or over 130, I'll give him half a unit instead of a whole and continue to monitor him closely. I'm actually having surgery on the 7th of March, it'd be AWESOME if he where off insulin that soon, then I could trust my roommate to feed and care for the boys, if not I'll leave him with my vet while I'm in the hospital, not taking chances!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top