How low is too low??

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Robinbirdlady

Robinbirdlady

Member Since 2014
Sherman received his 1 unit of insulin this morning and tonight around 6pm (12 hours after) his BG read 51. He seems fine but I did notice he seems a little colder then normal. We feed him and checked him again a few hours later and he was at 59. Should I be worried? His attached chart is not up to date but I have been writing them all down in a notebook. At what BG level is too low?
Also on a side note my vet told me that it is never good for a diabetic cat to lose weight. But he has lost a about 2 pounds since all of this started. I can't see how he wouldn't given his diet change to low carb high protein. Has anyone else been told this by their vet?

Robin and Sherman
 
If kitty goes below 50, we say that they have earned a dose reduction. We have seen some non diabetic cats or those in remission in the 40's, but that gives no room for error. You should Sherman's dose to .5U or .75U. It sounds like 1 unit is too much.

As for losing weight, often diabetic kitties are overweight. You don't want them to lose weight quickly, but a little weight loss can be a good thing.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
If kitty goes below 50, we say that they have earned a dose reduction. We have seen some non diabetic cats or those in remission in the 40's, but that gives no room for error. You should Sherman's dose to .5U or .75U. It sounds like 1 unit is too much.

As for losing weight, often diabetic kitties are overweight. You don't want them to lose weight quickly, but a little weight loss can be a good thing.
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Thank you Wendy. I doing .5U for a while but it seemed to not be helping him lower too much so we went back to 1U and he was doing good on that but also not getting below 150 ever. So I thought we found that good balance….. until today. Not sure why this one is so low but we will continue to check and lower back to .5U for sure.

I have an appointment with a new vet that was recommended to me this Thursday so I will get a more reliable weight then.

Thanks again.
 
Try doing a .75U dose then, half way between the two. Cats are sensitive to small changes in insulin.
 
See my signature link Glucometer Notes for more information on what readings may mean.

And see Secondary Monitoring Tools, also in my signature, for some other assessments you can make to evaluate health, especially urine ketone testing. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many ketones may indicate diaabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially fatal, expensive to treat, complication of diabetes.
 
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