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wplymale

wplymale

Member Since 2012
My cat has had a hypoglycemic episode and even after corn syrup and food he still is not.all the way out of it. It started atleast 3 hours ago. I have tested his gl 4 times. The first one didn't register. The 2nd one was 44 the 3rd was 77 and the last one was 192. He is still disoriented and acting like he cannot see. Called vet and she said to keep giving him syrup and testing. Not very helpful.
 
Well he is finally coming out of it. It took so long though. Almost 4full hours. So here is the whole scoop. Scratch was diagnosed over a year ago. I changed his food to a wheat free canned food and as soon as we switched he went from 5 units of prozinc to 2units and the get also put him on glipozide a half pill twice a day with food. Last time he had this problem he was not on that pill. Could that be doing it? I have been doing my own glucose testing but am really unsure what to do now. I think that he is now on the high side for tonight. Should I wait and test him in morning before food and then what. Pill or no pill?
 
He had his insulin at 7 pm. He started acting strange at 1030 pm. We immediately coated his mouth with.corn syrup and continued that with a little food until just now and it is now 2am. His last reading was 192.
 
(Edited to add: For anyone reading this after the event, this message and the previous couple of posts have landed on the board out of sequence because we were all trying to post at the same time! :lol: )

Hi again,

Sorry for previous brief email. Just wanted to ask the important questions quickly.

You've got a steady blood glucose rise there, and as long as your cat is close to the peak of the insulin cycle (usually between 5 - 7 hours in many cats) then the blood glucose is unlikely to drop again. If there is still quite some time to go until the peak of the cycle then it is possible that he may drop again (syrup is quick acting and out of the system quickly). But that 192 looks like a pretty safe place to be. :smile:

Has your cat also eaten food? It's important to get food on board as well as syrup. As I said syrup is fast acting and out of the system fast, food is longer lasting.

The symptoms you describe are not uncommon after a hypo. They can often be temporary. So, I know it's hard, but do try not to worry. You may suddenly see that he's acting more normally.

How is your cat doing now?
 
Hi,

Phew! Well done, you! Good job!

The standard advice after a hypo is to skip the next dose of insulin. Your cat is going to be more sensitive to insulin after the hypo. I would think, in this case, that your cat should not have the Glipizide either. It works differently to insulin of course, but we've had cats on this forum hypo on Glipizide alone...

I'd suggest you leave him to recover tonight, regardless of how high his BG is.

And he is going to need his dose reduced too....

Welcome to FDMB!
 
Hi again,

(I think our earlier messages crossed! Sorry!)

So, you noticed hypo symptoms three and a half hours after the shot?

Did you get a test before giving insulin?
 
I cannot tell you how helpful you have been. Thankyou so much for your insight on this. I am going.to let him recover. I will check him pre food when he eats and also postfood. Do you think that skipping that insulin and pill and doing a gl when he is mid cycle will be a good place to start? I will look up more on what has been posted about that pill too.
 
Hi,

I've gotta tell you, we're not really fans of Glipizide here.... As I understand it, it works by forcing a tired/damaged pancreas to produced insulin... But because it's not used much on this forum I really don't know that much more about it.... Sorry.... And the combination of insulin and Glipizide is one I've personally never come across before....

But your cat will certainly need a dose reduction. I don't use your insulin and so can't give specific advice, but do post back here in the morning (when the US is awake!) and I'm sure you'll get some help with that then. My guess is that you may be advised to go back to one unit or to one and a half (and minus the Glip)... But see what your cat's blood glucose is like tomorrow.

You must be absolutely exhausted!

Again, well done. You may well have saved your cat's life tonight...

I'm going to be around this morning (it's 9.30am in the UK) and will check back in case you have any other questions. But I'm guessing you need to get some sleep!
 
I have never heard of giving both insulin and glipizide at the same time :shock: What was your vet's reason why both needed to be used? If you're not sure, call and demand an answer. You have the right to know what treatments your cat is on and why those treatments were chosen by the vet.

wplymale said:
My cat has had a hypoglycemic episode and even after corn syrup and food he still is not.all the way out of it. It started atleast 3 hours ago. I have tested his gl 4 times. The first one didn't register. The 2nd one was 44 the 3rd was 77 and the last one was 192. He is still disoriented and acting like he cannot see. Called vet and she said to keep giving him syrup and testing. Not very helpful.
Click to expand...

No, your vet was so not helpful at all. With those symptoms, your vet should have seen the cat immediately. Is there another vet hospital you can take your cat to for all future care? This vet does not seem very kowledgable about treating diabetes. What is your general area? There are people from all over the world here. Someone may be able to suggest a new vet near you.
 
You do not use Glip and insulin together.......one or the other. Majority of cats are started on insulin, not glip, and those that are started on glip do not do well so the vets end up stopping the glip and moving on to insulin. Cats also can hypo on glip and your kitty was being given both diabetic treatments at the same time.....dangerous. Stop using that glip......not needed because you are using insulin.
 
I do not think Glipizide is for use in cats as I think it can cause liver problems, but you might want to google that. I would not give the cat the Glipizide and the insulin. As others have suggested you might find another vet. I have never heard of using both of those together. I would give just the insulin alone and no pill.

Terri
 
Next question and update. I just tested scratch. He has not had insulin or glip for 16 hours. His bgl is 265. He is eating right now and then I will test him again. Should I still good off on insulin this morning if his levels are in a safe range after eating. What would you say that safe range is? Or do you think that I should give less.
 
No dosing advice from me, as I am a Lantus user, but I thought you might want to get a spreadsheet set up to track Scratch's numbers. If you look at people's signatures, you will see a link that shows what it looks like. It is a great quick reference to help those who give dose advice. If you would like, you can also post over on the Prozinc board for continued support. Many people post daily, but it's entirely up to you. Here's a link on how to set it up: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

Also, what is your name and where do you live?

You can take the 911 tag off the header and replace it with a question mark - someone with more experience will come along soon. Hang in there!

edit: I cross posted your thread in the Prozinc forum to get some more eyes on it
 
My cat was on Lantus as well, but I would not give the Glipizide. Please do post over on the Prozinc board for dosing advice as the dosing is different for Prozinc than for Lantus. I am glad he is eating, good sign.

Terri
 
There is a level called "Renal Threshold" where the excess sugar is high enough to start damaging the kidneys (and other organs)
This is around 250.
Mind you - the damage is slight and accumulates over time.
 
Hi and welcome to our group,

I think I would skip the insulin for this morning, the kitties are more sensitive to the insulin after a hypo.

Good for you for testing! Setting up a spreadsheet will be really helpful for you and us. It helps to see the patterns and people can see the history fast in an event like this.

How is kitty doing now?

You are welcome to come over to the PZI Insulin Support Group, although it hasn't been very busy lately or post here in health, especially in an emergency Health gets more traffic.

Robin
 
Hello you,
Just want to say that you did a brilliant job last night. But I am British and therefore considered to be prone to understatement!
How are things today?

Eliz in UK
 
thankful

confused_cat well. Here is what I did this morning. After much thought and testing in the last 7 hours and with all of your insight...I let him eat and tested him 15 minutes later. His bgl was 312. I made a judgement call to give him 1unit of insulin. he was high lastnight andagain this morning so I am cutting out the glipozide totally and figure this out with the spreadsheets and all of the advice. Scratch is my million dollar stray cat. He found me 3 years ago when I was going through a divorce. I was not a cat lover amd somehow I came out with the clothes on my back and......the cat . He has had hernia surgery, most of his teeth pulled because of severe feline gingivitis and became insulin dependent about a year ago. This cat has a lot of will in him and he has been there through thick and thin with me. It is so nice to find a group that understands this bond because there are not too many people that understand.
 
Based on last night, that sounds reasonable. Go with just 1 unit and give it a few cycles to stabilize, with mid-cycle tests to make sure he doesn't go too low again.

And good job handling the hypo! That first time is always so stressful. (Been there, done that!)
 
Wendy

Sounds like you are doing a great job of managing things. Keep up the good work. Hopefully someone will come along and help you with dosing. I think maybe many people went away for Thanksgiving weekend but should return. I think you made the right decision to do away with the Glipizide. Good luck with your kitty.

Terri
 
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