Hypo kitty! Could this be a sign of remission?!

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kittycat88

Member Since 2013
I checked my cats sugar 2 hours after his shot and his sugar was 3.5 (63) so I got him to eat the rest of his food just to be safe. Rechecked again at +3 hours and his sugar is 2.2 (39.6). I tried putting honey in his mouth using a syringe because he wouldnt lick any up. I got a bit into him but he was fighting like crazy. I'm worried his sugar will drop even lower since he is only +3 hours after his shot. I fed him some yogurt because it is the only thing he would eat and I've read dry food takes to long to kick in. Hopefully yogurt is okay for cats :s ... Is there anything else I do to get his sugar up or should the yogurt raise it? I will keep checking his sugar!
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Do you have food in gravy?

If so you can give small amounts of the gravy only with a few drops of syrup or honey added, and then re-check at 15 min intervals.

How are things right now?
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

If it seems that you're not going to be able to feed your way out of this then you will need to take your kitty to an emergency vet. Phone in advance. Give syrup before you go, and take someone else with you if possible.

Any update?
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

I checked his sugar again at +3.5 after feeding him the yogurt and small amount of honey. His sugar was 2.3 (41.4). Rechecked again 20 minutes later and his sugar was 4.7 (84.6). I will test again in half an hour without feeding to see what his sugar is. I hope I didn't give him too much sugar as that is quite a quick jump. (Better high then low though!) He's just been becoming more regulated lately so I hope this doesn't throw it off.

I had switched him to canned food a few weeks ago (decreased his insulin from 6 units caninsulin to 2 units because of the diet change.) He was doing good on 2 units for a while and then I decreased it to 1 unit, and the last couple days .5 units. (he gets insulin 2x daily - 12 hours apart)
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

kittycat88 said:
I hope I didn't give him too much sugar as that is quite a quick jump. (Better high then low though!) He's just been becoming more regulated lately so I hope this doesn't throw it off.

I had switched him to canned food a few weeks ago (decreased his insulin from 6 units caninsulin to 2 units because of the diet change.) He was doing good on 2 units for a while and then I decreased it to 1 unit, and the last couple days .5 units. (he gets insulin 2x daily - 12 hours apart)
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You're doing a great job!

The sugar/syrup will raise the blood glucose fast but also wears off quickly, so don't assume that because the numbers have come up they are going to stay that way. Keep checking.

Do you know when you're kitty reaches insulin peak? Caninsulin typically peaks at around +4.5 to +5 I think... So you should soon be 'out of the woods' if yours is a 'typical kitty'.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

I think he usually peaks around 5 or 6 hours. I'm not sure how much insulin I should be giving him from now on! This is the most drastic drop I have seen for him with only .5 units of insulin. The other day his sugar was 7.9(142.2) preshot so I gave him .5 units and monitored him .. 6 hours after the shot he was 5.7(102.6) and at the time for next shot he was 7.4(133.2). So I'm not sure why the big drop tonight. He ate all his food like usual.

I just checked his sugar again (after another half hour) and it is 6.8 (122.4) now.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

kittycat88 said:
He's just been becoming more regulated lately so I hope this doesn't throw it off.
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This is just one insulin cycle. So don't worry.

kittycat88 said:
I had switched him to canned food a few weeks ago (decreased his insulin from 6 units caninsulin to 2 units because of the diet change.) He was doing good on 2 units for a while and then I decreased it to 1 unit, and the last couple days .5 units. (he gets insulin 2x daily - 12 hours apart)
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Your kitty may well have earned a further dose reduction... What was his pre-shot blood glucose today?
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

His preshot BG was 7(126) today. I decided to still give him the .5 units because his BG only went down to 5.7 (102.6) at peak last time so I thought he would be okay. Glad I checked though. Its hard enough to measure .5 units on my syringe since there are no half markings. Not sure how I will guess for .25! lol
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

I didn't get much honey into him so it must have been the yogurt that really raised his BG. I know honey wears off quickly ... anyone know how yogurt would affect a cat? (I'm guessing I'm the only one who feeds my cat yogurt but I couldn't get the honey in and opened the fridge and decided to try it! lol turns out he loves it! Hopefully it wont hurt him!)
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

kittycat88 said:
His preshot BG was 7 today. I decided to still give him the .5 units because his BG only went down to 5.7 at peak last time so I thought he would be okay. Glad I checked though. Its hard enough to measure .5 units on my syringe since there are no half markings. Not sure how I will guess for .25! lol
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'7' is a normal number! This is NOT a number that requires insulin.

Most people do not give a shot below 8.3. And the advice for people new to diabetes is not to give a shot below 11. (Some people practicing TR with gentle insulins do give shots at pretty low numbers, but these are generally the exception to this rule).

It is quite possible that your cat is going into remission... nailbite_smile ;-)

If it is the case that he still needs insulin then you can measure low doses by using U100 syringes and a conversion chart.

Oh, re yogurt. How much it raises the blood glucose will probably depend on how much sugar it contains.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

13 grams of sugar in the yogurt container ... I gave him half.
I have tried not giving insulin when his numbers are around that before but then his sugar jumps really high again. But since he dropped so low tonight I think I will try skipping the shot next time his numbers are around that range and see how he does!
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Just checked his BG after another half hour (+5). His sugar is now 10.3 (185.4). I'll have to remember to feed yogurt instead of honey incase his numbers are really low again.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Hi again,

Here's the link to how to deal with Hypos. It's really worth printing this out, reading through it, and then keeping it somewhere where you know you can grab it in a hurry if you need it. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

Well done for today. And thank goodness you can hometest! You've also learned something really useful; that the yogurt in your fridge could be your best friend in another potential hypo situation! :lol:

Which food are you feeding your cat? I'm wondering whether it's possible to reduce the carb content further...? Are you in OZ? UK?

And what is your cat's name? And your name?

Eliz
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Yes it's definetely good to know since getting honey into him is very challenging lol! I am feeding him EVO 95% Chicken and Turkey canned food. I live in Canada! My name is Tamara and my cat is Kittycat (creative, I know. I didn't name him haha)
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Hi Tamara (and kittycat!),

I don't know the food you're using but there will probably be some other Canadians on the forum who can advise on that. If it is the case that your cat is trying to go into remission then sometimes tweaking the carb content down a bit can make a lot of difference (especially if the kitty is carb-sensitive).

I really think it would be good to get some experienced eyes on your insulin dosing after this, and it could be useful to do a new post something along the lines of 'dosing help needed after hypo situation' (or something like that).

Kittycat's numbers may be higher than usual today after this; partly because of the sugar, but also her body may react to those lower numbers by 'bouncing' up to higher ones. And if she did hypo then she may be even more sensitive to insulin after this episode.

We're keeping fingers and paws crossed here that remission might be on the horizon for Kittycat...

Eliz
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

I beleive the food I am using is only about 1% carbs. I'm hoping this is a sign of remission! :) I just thought I would check one more time before going to bed and his sugar is all the way up to 15.8 now (284.4). I guess I went a little overboard on the yogurt! haha Thank you for all your help!
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

You did great with your first low number. Wonderful that Elizabeth was here to help.

I just wanted to say that he is likely to be high again this am, because all the sugars and carbs may raise his numbers. That most likely will be temporary. I would be cautious going forward. I wouldn't shoot under 200 but would feed small, frequent meals. And even over 200, I would reduce the dose.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

Hi Tamara,
Congratulations for handling that episode successfully! We learn through every experience. :-D Keeping fingers and paws crossed that remission is in Kittycat's near future!
:RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT

Phyllis (and Star) >^..^<
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

I checked Kittycat's BG this morning before feeding and it was quite high from feeding him carbs last night to get his sugar up. It was 22.2 (399.6). I did give him insulin because it was so high and checked again after 5 hours to be safe - it was 16.9 (304.2). Now tonight before feeding him (12 hours after his shot) I checked it again and it was 5.8 (104.4) so I just fed him and did not give any insulin. I'm really hoping this means he might be going into remission! I don't think he has ever had a number that low at shot time. Does this seem like a sign of remission?! :)
Thanks to everyone for being so helpful!
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty! Could this be a sign of remission?!

It certainly CAN!! When Ragnar went OTJ in 2009, his BG was suddenly only 45. No symptoms - but for more than a year after that, is was around 70 on his own insulin.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

kittycat88 said:
I checked his sugar again at +3.5 after feeding him the yogurt and small amount of honey. His sugar was 2.3 (41.4). Rechecked again 20 minutes later and his sugar was 4.7 (84.6). I will test again in half an hour without feeding to see what his sugar is. I hope I didn't give him too much sugar as that is quite a quick jump. (Better high then low though!) He's just been becoming more regulated lately so I hope this doesn't throw it off.

I had switched him to canned food a few weeks ago (decreased his insulin from 6 units caninsulin to 2 units because of the diet change.) He was doing good on 2 units for a while and then I decreased it to 1 unit, and the last couple days .5 units. (he gets insulin 2x daily - 12 hours apart)
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Don't overdo the sugar, or you could goof up a remission! When my guy was 45, I did nothing, and he simply didn't need another shot for more than a year. Sometimes canned food and a short time on insulin is enough to cure them.
 
Re: Help! Hypo kitty!

kittycat88 said:
I didn't get much honey into him so it must have been the yogurt that really raised his BG. I know honey wears off quickly ... anyone know how yogurt would affect a cat? (I'm guessing I'm the only one who feeds my cat yogurt but I couldn't get the honey in and opened the fridge and decided to try it! lol turns out he loves it! Hopefully it wont hurt him!)
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If it's sweetened yogurt it might wear off quickly - if unsweetened, not so quickly. But it would still have milk sugar in it... some of his wet cat food would give him a longer lasting, safer boost.

Good luck!!!
 
Hi Tamara,

Giving small frequent meals rather than large meals could help the pancreas to recover it's strength without overwhelming it at any one time.

Keeping fingers and paws crossed for you here! :smile:

Eliz
 
Wow! :shock:

How scary! You dealt with this really well!

It's also exciting, though! That's a HUGE change in insulin dosage after a swift transition in diet!

I will keep my fingers crossed for you two as well! Best of luck.

Juliet
 
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