Hypoglycemic cat - going to ER

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Sheli and Kitter

Sheli and Kitter

Member Since 2017
Hello, I am hoping someone is there now. My cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes and I have started giving him insulin a week ago. Tonight, just now, he started walking around and sniffing and was disoriented. I read that he is having a hypo glycemic attack. I gave him honey and am trying to get him to eat. He is still acting that way but not as bad. His eyes are now reacting to light.
Any suggestions?
 
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Sheli said:
Hello, I am hoping someone is there now. My cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes and I have started giving him insulin a week ago. Tonight, just now, he started walking around and sniffing and was disoriented. I read that he is having a hypo glycemic attack. I gave him honey and am trying to get him to eat. He is still acting that way but not as bad. His eyes are now reacting to light. Any suggestions?
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How long does it take for him to come completely out of it? Can I wait until morning to take him to the vet for a blood check?
 
Sheli said:
Hello, I am hoping someone is there now. My cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes and I have started giving him insulin a week ago. Tonight, just now, he started walking around and sniffing and was disoriented. I read that he is having a hypo glycemic attack. I gave him honey and am trying to get him to eat. He is still acting that way but not as bad. His eyes are now reacting to light. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Sheli, please answer Janet's questions so we know how to help you.
  • Do you have a bg meter at home?
  • What kind of insulin?
  • How long ago was his shot?
  • Do you have any higher carb food you can give, like something with gravy?
 
Jill & Alex (GA) said:
Sheli, please answer Janet's questions so we know how to help you.
  • Do you have a bg meter at home?
  • What kind of insulin?
  • How long ago was his shot?
  • Do you have any higher carb food you can give, like something with gravy?
Click to expand...
Oh good, glad you're here too as it's 1:45 am by me
 
Jill & Alex (GA) said:
Sheli, please answer Janet's questions so we know how to help you.
  • Do you have a bg meter at home?
  • What kind of insulin?
  • How long ago was his shot?
  • Do you have any higher carb food you can give, like something with gravy?
Click to expand...

Thank you all so much, I am panicking. It means more than I can tell you. No we haven't gone to the vet yet. I don't think this meter is working (just bought it tonight) is working. The first time it said it was a 245 and then the second at 30. The insulin is Lantus. His shot was 1.5 hours ago. I just gave him some higher carb food. Which he ate.
 
Sheli said:
Thank you all so much, I am panicking. It means more than I can tell you. No we haven't gone to the vet yet. I don't think this meter is working (just bought it tonight) is working. The first time it said it was a 245 and then the second at 30. The insulin is Lantus. His shot was 1.5 hours ago. I just gave him some higher carb food. Which he ate.
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He gobbled up the higher carb food (junk cat food - meow mix) that I feed the outside ferals).
 
In summary:
  • How many hours after the shot did you get the 30? How long ago was that?
  • How long ago did he eat the Meow Mix?
  • What is his Lantus dose?
Rub some honey or syrup on his gums.

 
  • He just ate the meow mix about 5 minutes ago.
  • 1.5 hour after the shot we got the 30. That was 30 minutes ago?
  • His lantus dose is 1 unit 2x daily
  • We did rub honey on his gums and he seemed to improve. Should I continue to do this every 15 minutes? That was 30 minutes ago too.
  • My husband is feeding him treats (greenies) just now and he is laying down now as my husband pets him.
  • His eyes are dilating now somewhat.
 
Sheli said:
  • He just ate the meow mix about 5 minutes ago.
  • 1.5 hour after the shot we got the 30. That was 30 minutes ago?
  • His lantus dose is 1 unit 2x daily
  • We did rub honey on his gums and he seemed to improve. Should I continue to do this every 15 minutes? That was 30 minutes ago too.
  • My husband is feeding him treats (greenies) just now and he is laying down now as my husband pets him.
  • His eyes are dilating now somewhat.
Click to expand...

Please test him again now and post the number.

I strongly suggest taking him to your vet or an Emergency vet because it's much too early in the cycle for him to be this low. They know how to keep him safe.
 
Hi All,

All your advice really helped, by the time I got him into the car, he was his regular sassy self, complaining about going and looking intently into my eyes like he does (I've never had a cat who is so focused on looking right into the eyes, so it scared me when he didn't even seem to recognize us). At the point that he was back to himself, I opted to not go to the emergency. instead I stayed up with him all night. His blood sugar came up to 60. But I have just have a cheap checker. I have researched and I will by the Alpha Tracker.

But one thing we are having such a hard time getting blood from his ears and the tracker to read. Poor, poor boy. Does anyone have any tips? The vet showed me and it looked so easy, but not in reality.

You all helped my boy, Kitter, and I am eternally grateful!:bighug:
 
Sheli said:
Ok, I found instructions on
to look for the marginal vein. Something my vet tech didn't share. This is a great demo.
Click to expand...
you actually don't have to hit the vein. My vet tech told me to hit the vein too... the problem with that is 1) it hurts them a lot more which could cause them to be reluctant to test, and 2) it bleeds a lot more 3) it will bruise more. You want to hit the area just to the outside of the vein.
 
Sheli, what kind of a meter do you have? A human meter works just fine and is far less expensive to use. You don't need to get an AT2 meter. We have reference numbers here that will keep kitty safe. Many folks here use either the Relion Micro or Confirm meters both of which need a small blood sample and have reasonably priced test strips. The strips for the AT2 meter will cost about a $1 per test which can get very expensive very fast especially in a situation like you experienced last night!
 
Happy to hear all is well, Sheli!
You've been given some great advice and tips for getting blood for tests. I hope you'll find it helpful.

You can go ahead and start a thread on Health (The Main Forum) if have more questions or need a little more help with hometesting. You'll get more input over there.

Welcome to the FDMB! Hope to see you posting often!
 
JanetNJ said:
you actually don't have to hit the vein. My vet tech told me to hit the vein too... the problem with that is 1) it hurts them a lot more which could cause them to be reluctant to test, and 2) it bleeds a lot more 3) it will bruise more. You want to hit the area just to the outside of the vein.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Janet! So good to know.
 
Sheli said:
Thank you, Janet! So good to know.
Click to expand...
Oh, ps, I have a CVS monitor, first I got a 30, then a 33, then a 60 that night that Kitter was so sick. I asked my vet what range should I be in with that monitor and they said they didn't know that meter. Their meter is set for cats and it's range is in the 6.0 as normal So a question for you all. Do you do the curve testing (hourly) in one day? Or spread it out over days?

You all are a terrific support group. I am also spending time in the forums reading, reading! :)
 
Sheli said:
Oh, ps, I have a CVS monitor, first I got a 30, then a 33, then a 60 that night that Kitter was so sick. I asked my vet what range should I be in with that monitor and they said they didn't know that meter. Their meter is set for cats and it's range is in the 6.0 as normal So a question for you all. Do you do the curve testing (hourly) in one day? Or spread it out over days?

You all are a terrific support group. I am also spending time in the forums reading, reading! :)
Click to expand...
On a human meter you don't want to see the number go under 50... under 50 is a hypo. It means get the BG up pronto with high carb food and honey/syrup/karoj. 30 and 33 are VERY low.
 
Sheli where are you located? There are two different scales of measure in use here and I'm wondering if you are in the US or elsewhere. A normal of 6.0 from your vet suggests to me that you are not in the US and that the 30 and 33 were high readings in mmol rather than mg. Please let us know so we are all "talking the same "language". :)
 
Hi Janet,

I am in the US, Hayward, CA. I may be confusing the vet's reading with the video I watched on how to draw blood, because that was done in the UK. I see the vet tomorrow, so I will double check. the CVS meter that I am using is a measurement in mg/dl. I am going to take my meter in and have them check using my meter and theirs both because when I called and talked to the vet tech, she didn't know what the human meter range should be.
 
One more question, please? I used to free feed my cats. It's been a week now since we started the insulin and 2x a day feeding every 12 hours. He (and my other cats) dashes for the kitchen each time I move around the house. While this is good exercise for him :D, I feel so mean :arghh: making him go hungry for a full 12 hours. Do you all run into this with your cats? What seems weird to me is that human diabetics are supposed to eat several small meals a day, right?
 
Sheli said:
One more question, please? I used to free feed my cats. It's been a week now since we started the insulin and 2x a day feeding every 12 hours. He (and my other cats) dashes for the kitchen each time I move around the house. While this is good exercise for him :D, I feel so mean :arghh: making him go hungry for a full 12 hours. Do you all run into this with your cats? What seems weird to me is that human diabetics are supposed to eat several small meals a day, right?
Click to expand...
And most of us feed multiple meals a day to our diabetic cats. Many vets say to feed twice a day in association with giving insulin but it doesn't work well in most cases. Some kitties here graze all day except for removal of food in the 2 hours before a pre shot blood glucose test is done.
 
I don't know if it suggests this in any of the links, but if you're having a hard time finding a vein, putting a flashlight against his ear will help you see where it is. I'm glad your kitty is OK. This was a scary read. You must feel exhausted.
 
Sam and Billy said:
I don't know if it suggests this in any of the links, but if you're having a hard time finding a vein, putting a flashlight against his ear will help you see where it is. I'm glad your kitty is OK. This was a scary read. You must feel exhausted.
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Thanks, Sam. Yes, it was terrifying and exhausting. I feel better now, knowing better what to do. A terrible initiation into this world of cat diabetes. Wow, Billy seems young to me to get diabetes. I guess you aren't too far behind me in this learning process having just been diagnosed a couple of months ago. I think Kitter got it because I had him on prednisone for chronic bronchitis for several years...or maybe because I fed him only dry food (though hi quality food) all his life, not too sure. I am now trying to do everything holistically.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
And most of us feed multiple meals a day to our diabetic cats. Many vets say to feed twice a day in association with giving insulin but it doesn't work well in most cases. Some kitties here graze all day except for removal of food in the 2 hours before a pre shot blood glucose test is done.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Kris!!:D And Kitter, Jazmyn and Kiley thank you too, because I made them all go on his schedule.:rb_icon:
 
Twice a day feeding is more useful with shorter acting insulins which may hit hard and need the food to buffer the glucose drop. Because they wear off sooner, feeding later can greatly increase the glucose level and make it skyrocket.

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Sheli and Kitter said:
I am in the US, Hayward, CA. I may be confusing the vet's reading with the video I watched on how to draw blood, because that was done in the UK. I see the vet tomorrow, so I will double check. the CVS meter that I am using is a measurement in mg/dl.
Click to expand...

Your meter is fine. Your measurements are and should be in mg/dl. :) You had quite the baptism by fire the other day. If you are concerned about your meter, try it on yourself. Some meters will give you strange readings (the 245 vs. 30) if there is an insufficient blood sample or the battery is weak so you might want to change the battery to be sure. See how big a sample your meter requires and consider a human meter needing a smaller sample if need be.

Sheli and Kitter said:
that gives me another question for the doc, is Lantus short acting insulin...
Click to expand...

Lantus is a long acting depot insulin so feeding main meals with shots and snacks in between shots often helps keep kitty on a more even keel. The snacks ensure there is food on board as the insulin is working throughout the cycle.
 
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