We tried to do our cat's glucose curve at home today. The readings were all over the place... could they be going up due to stress? He was ok in the morning but started to get very angry with the testing halfway through the day. The vet actually suggested we do it at home because we might get more accurate readings than when we take him to the vet (he's had his curve done twice at the vet now). He is on 2.5 cc of U40 insulin. Readings, in mmol/L: 8:30am - 9.1, had breakfast immediately after test 10:00am - 10.6, had insulin immediately after test 11:30am - 11.4 1:30pm - 9.7 3:30pm - (initially 4.1 which seemed wrong as he wasn't hypo, so we retested) 11.9 (cat was quite stressed) 5:30pm - 16.4 (cat was again very stressed) 6:30pm, had dinner 7:30pm - 14.1 (cat stressed) We're not doing anymore readings today as the cat is so upset He will have his next insulin shot at 10pm. When he has his curve done at our vet, they test him every hour from 8AM to 6PM. Our vet suggested testing every 2 hrs at most.
The short answer is every cat is different. This doesn't necessarily look like stress to me, it looks more like not enough insulin. But one day of data isn't enough to make dose changes. Have you though about setting up a spreadsheet like I have in my signature? If you track at home, there's no need to go to the vet for curves or fructosamines.
OK thank you, that's good to know. Our vet always changes the dose based on one day of having the curve done at the vet...
We do recommend a curve once a week on Vetsulin. But it's ideal to get a smattering of tests throughout the cycle over time just to make sure the dose isn't taking him too low, that you're getting decent duration, etc. Vetsulin can be a bit unpredictable, so what happens one day may not be the same as the next
