Hypoglycemic episode question -- help please!

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sochag75

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My 7 year old cat Dexter is having a hypoglycemic episode and I've never experienced this before ... he was diagnosed with diabetes 2 and a half years ago.

Earlier today I noticed he was disoriented, sniffing the ground, not paying attention if I called him. I checked his sugar and it was only 48. I called the vet and they said give him maple syrup. After a little on his gums, his sugar was up to 61. Gave him some more, he ate some food and at last check it was 162 (about an hour ago).

He's lying around kind of out of it, but is acknowledging me if I call him.

He's on Lantus, 2 units, twice a day. I'm wondering do I give him his second shot at the full dosage?

A little more background info: About a month ago he had a bunch of teeth removed and had been used to munching on dry food (wellness core high protein) plus 1 can of Fancy feast a day, but had to stop for a while to recover. So he was switched to eating 2 cans of Fancy Feast a day. Yesterday I gave him a little of the dry food in the afternoon in addition to the wet food in the morning and night, and today is when I started noticing the hypoglycemia.

Thanks in advance for your help! The vet said basically just to keep an eye on him and bring him in after the holiday..
~sc
 
absolutely do NOT give that second shot right now ok. i am going to see if i can get some more help as to whether you'll be giving it at all tonight, even if the levels go higher, but don't do anything right now other than monitor, test, and love him.

do you have access to a 24 hour vet tonight?
 
That 162 is influenced by the higher carb dry food and syrup you gave. After a symptomatic hypoglycemic episode, cats can be a little more insulin sensitive than normal. So if you don't have a history of ketones, I personally would skip the shot tonight.

Do you regularly home test your kitty? If so, do you have sets of numbers from the past few days? The safest way to give insulin to a cat is to treat them like you would a diabetic human. Test before each shot at the very least, and optimally test at least once mid way in between the shots.

Though Wellness Core is a high quality dry food - no dry food out there is really low enough in carbs for our diabetic kitties. It would be best to feed only the low carb canned food varieties (less than 10% carbs) found on Janet and Binky's food charts (this includes the "classic" varieties of Fancy Feast). Only do this switch if you are home testing your kitty's glucose. Lowering the carb content can lower the insulin needs, which is probably why you saw the hypoglycemic symptoms today.
 
I think considering the situation and holiday weekend, it might be safest to skip the shot for tonight.
Can you tell us when your shot times are and time zone? What time did you get the last test?

More questions, but wanted to get this out there right away...
 
Thanks for your quick responses!

I tested him again (at 11:30pm) and it was 182 -- before I read these replies we gave him an insulin shot -- a little under 2 units. (I got nervous that it was going higher) Then he ate a little more wet food.

I'm on the east coast and usually give him wet food + insulin 9am/9pm.
 
so you gave 2u 2hrs past your usual time and fed?
How often do you usually test? Can you test in 1-2 hrs again?

ETA: Do you usually test before you give insulin? What is the average BG you get before shooting?
 
ok. hmm

they can be insulin sensitive after a hypo episode so you're going to have to do some monitoring thru the night i think. do you have enough test strips to test alot if need be? and we might as well think way ahead just in case. do you have any cat food in the house that would be considered high carb, aka: bad for a diabetic cat? something diced or chunked up in a bunch of gravy is usually high carb for instance.

i'm thinking we're looking at testing at least an hour and two after the shot was given and then what we get at that point will determine how much more testing you'll have to do as the night wears on.

i'm on the west coast and it's early here still so i can check in on you for several more hours
 
Make a pot of coffee ... it's gonna be a long night. Have put the word out for later time zone peeps to keep an eye on this thread.

Don't overfeed right now in case you need him to eat later. Remember that this shot won't kick in for a couple of hours yet.

What a start to a new year, eh? Happy 2011 and good luck!
 
I'm up too... But please... don't go to sleep. You will have to stay up to test and monitor behavior for quite a few hours. No more shots. Do not give a morning shot until someone here has had time check out your data from tonight.
 
I'm up too.. us west coasters are still here, waiting for midnight still. :)

Do you have any new #'s yet? PLEASE don't go to bed yet, until you know your kitty wont' go too low!
 
Sorry for the double post but I had to get that first bit in.

I'm not sure how much you know about logging the data but it would help a lot if you would list your data as follows:

AMPS = BG# - # units and type of insulin
+1 - BG#
+2 - BG#
+3 - BG#
etc.
PMPS = BG# - # units and type of insulin
+1 - BG#
+2 - BG#
+3 - BG#


AMPS = Morning preshot
BG = Blood glucose

If you gave the second shot later, then you would indicate that by adding to PMPS the +14 to indicate 14 hours after the first shot. Does that make sense to you?

We list it this way because the people answering you are from all over the world. It's easier than you telling us the time of day and where you are in each post and then having everyone figure out how long it's been since the shot and so on.

I apologize if you've already been told this or there is another way of doing it now which you prefer.
 
I hope you are able to get some more tests tonight to make sure your kitty is safe.
I hope there will be some folks around to help you out if there is a problem.
Please post again as soon as you can. Im sure Im not the only one concerned about you and kitty.

Happy New Year to you!
 
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