Hypo / low numbers all day

Katie & Max

Katie & Max

Member Since 2021
Max’s +6 hour test number was 1.7 . I brought him up to the vet and he tested 2.7 on the pet meter there , I fed a small amount of some high carb a/d canned food and tested 15 minutes later and it went up to 3.1 . His eyes are slightly glazed but he isn’t super lethargic . Is still moving around the house with me . It’s 10 hours in and I will be continueing to test until shot time but I don’t know what to do if he is still low like this . I know his chart isn’t great He is my mom’s cat , she has tried and can’t test him . I work out of town so test when I am home .
 
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Hi there and welcome! Good job catching that low number today and feeding the HC. Hopefully you gave karo as well. Are you familiar with the procedure of giving karo/high carb and testing every 20-30 minutes to make sure kitty doesn’t drop back down? And as the numbers rise you can spread the tests out gradually a little longer. It’s very important to keep testing for 2 hours after giving HC.

Going forward, I would reduce his dose by at least .5 units down to 2.5 units and carefully monitor him. We need to see if an even greater reduction may be warranted by numbers.

You will get a preshot test tonight correct? You need to know if it is even safe to shoot. If you can tell me what time that will be (with time zone) I will make a point of being here to assist you. Now he may be bouncing high from that lime green, but we should find out.

Shooting insulin without knowing where the cat is with his BG is dangerous, as today has shown. We have no idea what his preshot number was this morning but it looks like a reduced dose was perhaps in order.

It’s also very important for our ProZinc kitties to get small snacks of a couple of teaspoons of low carb food during their cycles but before their typical nadir time. good times to give a snack like is +2 when theProZinc typically onsets and again at +4 and it cam be done again at +6 but not usually after that time. No food for two hours prior to the preshot tests.
 
Thank you for your response Suzanne .

I just gave him the high carb food at +6 and +8 hours in What is Karo ?
I just tested him again and he has dropped a bit lower . His shot time is in 1 hour ( 5:30 pm Pacific standard time )

Should I give him some more food now and see if it increases and then test every 20 minutes ?

I will be home and able to continue testing untill tomorrow morning . I am in a course all day but can bring him into the vet if his numbers are still low and he needs to be monitored untill I get back in the afternoon tomorrow .

My mom gives his shot at 5:30 am typically and leaves for work at 6:30 so would only be able to give him a snack one hour after injection . In the evening she can give the +2 and +4 hour snacks .

I have tried so hard to teach my mom to test and she can’t get the hang of it and gets frustrated and then doesn’t want to try again . She has carpol tunnel and is in pain rite now but I will continue trying to get her to test . I know how important it is and dangerous for Max
 
And I am sorry. Karo syrup is corn syrup (used in cooking, usually desserts). It is used to bring blood glucose up very quickly in cats - in hypoglycemic situations. Corn syrup rubbed on the cat’s gums works very quickly to raise BG but it will wear off quickly so is best to give some HC food like Fancy Feast gravy lovers as well. You can also use real maple syrup or honey.
 
Then keep testing and giving more corn syrup or honey or pure real maple syrup and small amounts of HC food if you have it available until he stays up above 68 on his own. Do not give insulin tonight. We will talk about tomorrow later. Right now you need to bring him up!
 
I will update my bio that I am using human meter now and only feeding raw food . Should I still follow this same game plan for tonight using the human meter ?

so do not give him his raw rite now for his dinner but instead syrup and high carb canned food ? And continue testing every 30 minutes untill his numbers raise ? And no insulin even if the numbers get high tonight , correct ?
 
Based on his number rite now do you think it would be ok to feed him dinner and continue testing every 30 minutes ? Or do you think he needs the high carb food still ?
 
Okay so we have too many messages crossing and I hope there will not be any confusion between us. I apologize but I was driving my car for the last 30 minutes and couldn’t be here.

If he is at 94 now and it’s shot time and even if he had not eaten for 4 hours before you got that 94, I still think that he is too low to shoot tonight. We don’t have any data to really hazard a guess as to what would be a safe dose to give him at these numbers. Okay?
 
Yes it is shot time . I just fed him his raw food dinner now . I’m not sure how food influenced that number is . The last time I gave him food was 4 hours ago . It was about a teaspoon or so of weruva bff gravy lovers . I’m not sure the exact carbs but I thought would be high because of all the gravy ( I just went out and bought the HC ff I used to have but he hasn’t had it yet today )

if you think he is too low I agree it is better to be safe . I can continue testing him hourly and see how it looks in the morning
 
I honestly think that he’s had a really rough day. I would skip the shot for tonight. We just don’t have a lot of data to support our decision-making. If you test him now and he’s gone up a lot, you might try a dose, but I would have to see what his number is. He’s almost an hour late for his shot now so that will throw his morning off.
 
Omg it is on that list and only 8% carbs ‍♀️ i feel terrible . Thank god he didn’t keep going lower
I bought the ff delights with cheddar tonight though to keep on hand .
He is at 117 now after being fed . I was looking back to his 2023 spread sheet and he had some low days but never this low so consistently all day long . I was using a pet meter then too and he was on a much lower dose
 
Yes. That is a low carb food. That’s why he didn’t go up very much. Just make sure that you and your mom have some corn syrup or maple syrup or honey on hand and some Fancy Geast Gravy Lovers cat food which is high carb.

It’s going to be okay. We need to work out some system that will work for Max and keep him safe. I see you have your hands full and are trying to help. If he can’t be tested much right now, we need to keep him a little higher for the time being to keep him safe. Maybe we can gain data gradually.
 
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Oh, his numbers for today are, I think, posted on the wrong day. I think they’re on April 16 and not April 17. If you can, would you move them down to the correct day? I see he’s going up some now. I feel relieved. He had a close shave today. If you were not there to test I don’t know what may have happened.
 
Oh thank you . I switched it to the proper day now and will run back up to Walmart and stock up on those specific foods . He has dropped back down a bit in the last hour .

so just to clarify incase he continues going lower when using a human meter at what number do I initiate the HC and syrup ?

what is a safe minimum number to shoot ?

sorry for all the questions ! I appreciate your time and help so much
 
Katie & Max said:
so just to clarify incase he continues going lower when using a human meter at what number do I initiate the HC and syrup ?
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You give high carb food when he is at or below 50 on a human meter. Prior to that, you can steer hos numbers with anything under 10 percent carbs. It’s important to use very small amounts of HC food at a time so that you can keep him hungry in case you need to give the HC again (and again). If he gets filled up it’s not as easy to manage the numbers, but you can always give Karo/honey if necessary. Food is better as it will last a bit longer than the straight syrup.
 
I haven’t . Im on the fence if I should give 1 unit . ( I will adjust his evening dose to 12 hours from now
 
His eyes still seem somewhat glazed over . Not overly lethargic but just his eyes don’t seem rite . My gut is saying not to go to high .
I’m going to have my mom leave him with my friend at the vets from +2 until +6 so she can test him for me
 
Yes , she will test him hourly for me . No I will give them his raw food to give him a bit of at +4 . He is at 255 rite now after eating an hour ago . Do you think maybe just 1.5 for now ?
 
If he’s going to be at the vet then it’s perfectly safe to give him more than 1 unit since he started out in yellow and is now probably higher than 202 where he was as AMPS. They can monitor and keep him safe.
Okay just saw your message above. I agree with the 1.5. They can gather data for your spreadsheet. :)
 
Okay perfect . I will do this . Thank you . Yes I will shoot again at 7:15 pacific time . My syringes are the specific ProZinc syringes
 
Katie & Max said:
Okay perfect . I will do this . Thank you . Yes I will shoot again at 7:15 pacific time . My syringes are the specific ProZinc syringes
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Okay. Hopefully with half unit markings. It’s way easier than eyeballing half units and easier for .25 units as well. Have a good day. TYYL.
 
Hey , so today went pretty well ! He did have a couple snacks , on a typical day my mom is at work so can’t really give snacks though . I will be here untill tomorrow afternoon to continue testing him .
do you think we should give 1.5 again ?
 
Looks pretty good for the time being! We can talk about your goals for Max later, but yes, I would try the 1.5 again tonight and gather as much data as possible.
 
Another excellent cycle last night. Fantastic nadir at 92. I hope you did not get scared. :D I would keep him at the 1.5 dose for now. Hold for a total of 7 days.
 
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