Interesting BG Levels This AM & PM!

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dsmithkma

Member Since 2013
Hello-

I have been down with a flu/sinus crud and was not really functioning yesterday. My wife isn't comfortable testing Kitten yet and just fed him yesterday. She did not give him any insulin.

This morning I'm feeling a bit better so we tested Kitten and his BG was 78. The last time he ate was appx. 12 hours ago. I just fed him and will test in an hour. Obviously, I will not shoot this AM.

He's been off the dry junk for 1.5 weeks, eating only LC wet.

Is it possible he is already going into remission due to simply going off the dry? I don't want to get too excited yet but it is encouraging.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

Is it possible he is already going into remission due to simply going off the dry? I don't want to get too excited yet but it is encouraging.
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Yes, it's possible that the food change made all the difference. Also, because your vet thought the diabetes was steroid induced can mean much quicker OTJ. As the effects of the steroid wear off, the BG numbers come down.

To test this, you want to take a BG reading in the morning and in the evening, about 12 hours apart. If the numbers stay between 80 and 150 with the Alphatrak (40 and 120 w/Human meter) for 14 days, Kitten would be considered to be Officially OTJ and we have a party.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

Is the 78 this morning considered low?

Or not since has has not had ANY Lantus since Wed morning.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

Since Kitten has not had any insulin since Wednesday AM, there is no possibility of the number going too low and your cat having a hypoglycemic episode. So in this case, the 78 is not too low. If he were still on insulin, yes we would be getting concerned.

That 78 is a very good number. Normal non-diabetic cat number to put it in perspective. Healing pancreas number. Way to go Kitten number!!!! :RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT

80 and 150 with the Alphatrak (40 and 120 w/Human meter) = normal non-diabetic BG (blood glucose) number.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

Deb & Wink said:
Since Kitten has not had any insulin since Wednesday AM, there is no possibility of the number going too low and your cat having a hypoglycemic episode. So in this case, the 78 is not too low. If he were still on insulin, yes we would be getting concerned.

That 78 is a very good number. Normal non-diabetic cat number to put it in perspective. Healing pancreas number. Way to go Kitten number!!!! :RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT

80 and 150 with the Alphatrak (40 and 120 w/Human meter) = normal non-diabetic BG (blood glucose) number.
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Hot dog!

Since he just ate 3 oz. of LC food this AM, should I test him some more today? Say an hour after eating or two or...??
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

No need to test until tonight, about 12 hours from his last check. Unless you really want to get some practice with the ear pokes. ;-)
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels

Deb & Wink said:
No need to test until tonight, about 12 hours from his last check. Unless you really want to get some practice with the ear pokes. ;-)
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I had quite a bit of practice on Wed. thank you very much :lol:

I've been feeding his a mid afternoon snack, since he lost some weight. So...

1. Do we not need to know hist BG after eating or is that not important data?
2. Should I feed him his afternoon snack?
3. I test him prior to his evening feeding, correct?

Deb, thank you SO much for the help over the last few days!!!
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

1. Do we not need to know hist BG after eating or is that not important data?
2. Should I feed him his afternoon snack?
3. I test him prior to his evening feeding, correct?
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1.The food usually spikes the BG up around 30-50 points for most cats. If we thought Kitten was going to need more insulin, we might want to see how the LC food affects the BG. Not a huge factor to know in this case.

2. Yes, go ahead and feed him his afternoon snack. He needs to gain weight and we don't want him hungry and bugging you all day. "Daddy, Feeeeddd Mmmmeeeeee! I'm starving! I can't remember the last time I saw food"

Is his appetite better these days or are you still coaxing him
to eat?

3. You got it! Yes, test prior to his evening meal.

Deb, thank you SO much for the help over the last few days!!!
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You're very welcome.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

Deb & Wink said:
Is his appetite better these days or are you still coaxing him to eat?
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My wife said he ate a whole can of FF last night and another can this AM.

I belive that he, along with our other 4 cats, are starting to realize the 24/7 buffet is gone and we are having 2x a day meal feedings so they better eat while the eating's good. Even our dry food addict is starting to come around.

I've been doing a lot of research and am going to start making our own raw cat food. Not only is feeding 5 cats Fancy Feast expensive, I'll know exactly what I'm feeding them.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

Glad to hear Kittens' appetite is improved.

How is yours? When I had the flu bug this spring, I didn't want to eat. Take good care of yourself. Good that your wife is helping out.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

Deb & Wink said:
Glad to hear Kittens' appetite is improved.

How is yours? When I had the flu bug this spring, I didn't want to eat. Take good care of yourself. Good that your wife is helping out.
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My wife is making me eat, LOL.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

Lol!
In some cats a hypo precedes remission so paws crossed. You can help sustain the pancreas will small frequent meals instead of a few big ones.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

Wendy&Tiggy said:
Lol!
In some cats a hypo precedes remission so paws crossed. You can help sustain the pancreas will small frequent meals instead of a few big ones.
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Yes...paws crossed! I've been feeding him 4-5 times/day. His appetite is certainly improving.

Thanks, Wendy!
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

I think it is great that you are going to go raw. My sugarcat and one of my civvies love it. I got another civvie to start eating raw food this week by putting FortiFlora on it. My third civvie is too old and stuck in her ways so she gets grain-free canned food. What I did notice though is that when I removed the 24/7 buffet (dry food), I had to add a third meal right before bedtime because they tend to misbehave when they are hungry and the middle of the night is not the ideal time for that. I didn't realize how much dry food they were eating to sustain them between meals. You might want to watch for hunger behaviors to figure out if you need additional feedings. I am starting to see softer fur and smaller, less-smellier stools and no other oral contributions mixed with fur or other things laying in wet piles on my floor. Going Raw was the best decision I ever made. I hope you see that too.

Here's hoping for a successful remission with no hypo event.
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

RobinCot said:
I think it is great that you are going to go raw. My sugarcat and one of my civvies love it. I got another civvie to start eating raw food this week by putting FortiFlora on it. My third civvie is too old and stuck in her ways so she gets grain-free canned food. What I did notice though is that when I removed the 24/7 buffet (dry food), I had to add a third meal right before bedtime because they tend to misbehave when they are hungry and the middle of the night is not the ideal time for that. I didn't realize how much dry food they were eating to sustain them between meals. You might want to watch for hunger behaviors to figure out if you need additional feedings. I am starting to see softer fur and smaller, less-smellier stools and no other oral contributions mixed with fur or other things laying in wet piles on my floor. Going Raw was the best decision I ever made. I hope you see that too.

Here's hoping for a successful remission with no hypo event.
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Thanks for the well wishes. My boy is doing great today.

I know all about the middle-of-the-night bugging they do if they're hungry, LOL. Since we switched to all wet for everyone last week, we have not seen any "dry food vomit piles" on the floors. I feel really bad about being complacent for all these years in denying our cats proper nutrition. But we intend to do right by them from this point forward. I'm sure there will be some trial & error in finding what works best, feeding schedules, etc. Some people advocate a 1x daily feeding; reason being that the feline's digestive track is designed to do this. I think more research is needed but in any event they will be nutritionally satiated.

I'm also considering doing primarily poultry based (chicken/turkey thigh but maybe a bit of beef as well. What do you use?
 
Re: Interesting BG Levels This AM

I do chicken thighs with lots of liver. Grind it up in the grinder, cut up chew chunks, add the slurry and they are set. I tried rabbit, duck, hen, pheasant and goose from Hare Today but they just looked at it (although my sugarcat did eat the raw rabbit). So it is chicken thighs and raw liver from Whole Foods for my crew.
 
We just performed another test at 7:30 PM (cst).

Kitten's BG was 78!

It was 78 this AM, prefeed, and 80 two hours after breakfast. I also ran a test with the glucose solution to make sure the ALpha Trak was really working properly.

Again, with no insulin since Wednesday.

We'll test him again on Sat. AM and see what we get.
 
I'm both happy and a bit miffed right now. I was thinking what if I had blindly followed the vet's instructions of .5u 2x day.

My sweet boy would likely be hypo and so miserable.

Words cannot describe how grateful my wife and I are that we found this board and you wonderful people!
 
At this evening's prefeeding, Kitten's BG was 56. Again, no insulin since Wed. AM.

This does seem a bit low, though. Aren't we looking at 60-120 as a "normal" range?
 
Wendy&Tiggy said:
Nope 50-130. And every cat is different, as are meters.
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OK, Thanks. He wasn't acting squirrly or anything, just being a concerned daddy :-D

He ate a healthy dinner just now, so I think we're good.

Thanks again for the peace of mind!
 
He's doing fabulous, thanks for asking!

His BG this morning was 84. I've been testing every other day now and he's been in the high 70's-mid 80's. He's also gained 4 oz. in the past two weeks.

Tomorrow will be the 14 day mark for being OTJ.
 
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