Hyperglycemia in Insulin dependent cat

[Toshe]

Hi
My cat is 13 years old, and was diagnosed with Diabetes 5 years ago. Since then we started using Lantus experimenting with the dosage at the beginning, and the settling on two IU every 12 hours. Everything seemed fine, the blood sugar level was regulated. We continued monitoring on random intervals and blood glucose was usually around 9-12mmol/L depending when the measurement was taken.

In the past few weeks we noticed some behavior changes and started measuring again..We were surprised to see levels of 20-30mmol/L. Blood work shows no other issues. We increased the dose to 3 IU, but again usually in the morning the blood glucose level is approx 20mmol/L.

If anyone has an answer for this that could point us in right direction would be much appreciated

 

[Connie & Parker & Moonie]

Has your kitty had a dental exam recently? For Moonie at least, getting her extractions was a big help in regulating her blood glucose, and I know dental inflammation is one of the more common ways kitties can come out of remission / regulation.

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Hi, welcome! What's your cat's name?

Do you have any blood glucose data to share? This post has some information about setting up a signature and spreadsheet. If you could take care of those two items, that will help the others give you better advice.

I will say going from 2 units to 3 units is a decent jump. On this forum, increases are usually done in 0.25 unit increments. Sometimes 0.5 unit increments.

What do you feed and what's your feeding schedule? Has anything changed in that regard?

@Wendy&Neko @Marje and Gracie do you have any input?

 

[Toshe]

Has your kitty had a dental exam recently? For Moonie at least, getting her extractions was a big help in regulating her blood glucose, and I know dental inflammation is one of the more common ways kitties can come out of remission / regulation.

Thanks for the suggestion. We went to the vet, but they didn't mention anything about that. He seems fine when eating kibble if that is any kind of indicator

 

[Toshe]

Hi, welcome! What's your cat's name?

Do you have any blood glucose data to share? This post has some information about setting up a signature and spreadsheet. If you could take care of those two items, that will help the others give you better advice.

I will say going from 2 units to 3 units is a decent jump. On this forum, increases are usually done in 0.25 unit increments. Sometimes 0.5 unit increments.

What do you feed and what's your feeding schedule? Has anything changed in that regard?

@Wendy&Neko @Marje and Gracie do you have any input?

Thanks. My cat name is Gabriel. We did measure regularly when we first started with Lantus, but now we are not doing regular measurements or keep a spreadsheet. Usually morning glucose level is the highest, above 20mmol/L. During the day it falls below 10.
He eats mostly royal canin diabetic, but occasionally we also give him gourmet. Nothing is really changed in the past 5 years in his feeding routine

 

[Connie & Parker & Moonie]

Thanks for the suggestion. We went to the vet, but they didn't mention anything about that. He seems fine when eating kibble if that is any kind of indicator

Usually the vet will do a quick visual dental exam when you’re there, so if you haven’t heard anything, it may not be an issue. Cats are pretty good at eating through dental pain though and even my cat who ended up needing 13 teeth extracted ate kibble just fine before the procedure!

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Thanks. My cat name is Gabriel. We did measure regularly when we first started with Lantus, but now we are not doing regular measurements or keep a spreadsheet. Usually morning glucose level is the highest, above 20mmol/L. During the day it falls below 10.
He eats mostly royal canin diabetic, but occasionally we also give him gourmet. Nothing is really changed in the past 5 years in his feeding routine

Welcome to FDMB.

I agree jumping from 2 to 3u is pretty drastic. It is even possible 2u might be too much for Gabriel because it “might” be causing him to drop low and then that triggers the liver to release hormones that drive the BG up which we call a “bounce”.

Or his insulin needs could have changed and he might need more insulin. But without data, we can’t know. If you could please do the spreadsheet and signature as Tim suggested and linked and start collecting some BGs, we could be much more helpful. If you could always get a preshot test no more than 15 mins before you give insulin and then a +2 each cycle plus a test around +6 during the day and a before bed at night, we could figure out what’s going on.

Is that possible?

 

[Toshe]

Hi
This is the spreadsheet with measurements
Gabriel

Btw he shows no behavior changes, and this is the 6th year we are using Lantus

 

[Toshe]

Welcome to FDMB.

I agree jumping from 2 to 3u is pretty drastic. It is even possible 2u might be too much for Gabriel because it “might” be causing him to drop low and then that triggers the liver to release hormones that drive the BG up which we call a “bounce”.

Or his insulin needs could have changed and he might need more insulin. But without data, we can’t know. If you could please do the spreadsheet and signature as Tim suggested and linked and start collecting some BGs, we could be much more helpful. If you could always get a preshot test no more than 15 mins before you give insulin and then a +2 each cycle plus a test around +6 during the day and a before bed at night, we could figure out what’s going on.

Is that possible?

Hi
Here is the spreadsheet: Gabriel

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Hi
Here is the spreadsheet: Gabriel

We will need you to do our spreadsheet, please. All members need to use the same spreadsheet. If every member had a different SS, it would be difficult for us to give timely advice. Also, our SS is set to auto update.

If you need help doing it, please let me know by sending me a direct message. Thank you.