Is 102 too low

[Kdd921]

I have been giving my cat 4 units of lantus in the am, and 3 units at night. I have been going back and forth with the vet with her what her glucose readings are and from there they tell me how much insulin to give her, however when I called to give them her reading today I will not get a call back for a few days because the vet is not available for some reason. I wouldn't normally be concerned but her blood glucose was 102 after 8 hours of the injection. 2 weeks ago when I checked it at this time it was 321. I am worried to even give her the shot tonight because I don't want it to get any lower. Is 102 too low? Should I test her again after she eats before I inject?

 

[Ry & Scooter]

Just a reminder for others that OP is using an Alpha Trak meter so compensate a bit for readings. You should ALWAYS be testing her right before you shoot insulin. You want to know if her numbers are safe to inject - 102 at +8 isn't necessarily bad, but she may have been even lower earlier... if she's still below 230ish come shot time I would not give insulin, especially not 3 or 4 units. That is a LOT of insulin by the way, how did your vet come up with that dose?

 

[Blue]

I have been giving my cat 4 units of lantus in the am, and 3 units at night. I have been going back and forth with the vet with her what her glucose readings are and from there they tell me how much insulin to give her, however when I called to give them her reading today I will not get a call back for a few days because the vet is not available for some reason. I wouldn't normally be concerned but her blood glucose was 102 after 8 hours of the injection. 2 weeks ago when I checked it at this time it was 321. I am worried to even give her the shot tonight because I don't want it to get any lower. Is 102 too low? Should I test her again after she eats before I inject?

Do you have the BG numbers from your tests in the past that you could post here?
The profile you have for your cat says that you are testing not that often, and it's most preferred to test your cat's BG before every shot, just to be sure it is safe to give any insulin. The dosing of 4u in the am and 3u in the pm is likely going to make it difficult to regulate your cat....it is preferable to give the same dose for every shot with Lantus.
If you post in the Lantus forum, you can get many others who are using the same insulin for their cats to help you with the protocol.

I would not give a shot to a 102, but remember that the 102 is in the middle of the cycle..... if you can test just before shot time tonite and post in here, you can get others to help you with a decision and a dose.

 

[Kdd921]

In the beginning I was going to have to take her to the vet to have her sugar tested weekly, but I knew that would be too much. I purchased an alpha trak 2 meter to monitor it at home. The vet tells me to just check it once a week then call them and they will tell me the dosages. I am shocked to hear that I am supposed to take it before each shot! (being a nurses aide I know your supposed to but the vet told me its not neccesary) He also told me that she is on a very low dose of insulin. She is a very large cat and weighs 15 lbs.

From diagnosis:
sometime in mid october her blood glucose was 482. I gave her 3 units twice a day.
Then a week later I called and her sugar was 321 so they had me start her on 4units in the morning 3 at night
I called today and I havent received anything back but her sugar was 102.
I have only tested her twice, its very difficult but my mom and I started using her paws because we couldn't get any blood from her ears and its much easier.

 

[Denise & Honey]

We started on 1U of Lantus - the prefered approach is to start low and go slow to make sure kitty is safe.

Home testing is "THE WAY" - ignore the vets advice, I think pretty much everyone else on the board has had to do that.
It is difficult at first but the ears do start to bleed more after about a week and because they have less nerve endings, don't really hurt. If my cat is munching on a treat or half-asleep she doesn't even notice

The key is to find a treat they love - they zone in on that and its so much easier.

I would suggest you post on the Lantus Tight Regulation Board also - http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=9
Use the question mark icon and put something like "Newbie - dosing advice" in the subject line

 

[squeem3]

I wouldn't normally be concerned but her blood glucose was 102 after 8 hours of the injection.

A +8 of 102 is fine I would be more worrired if an early bg test, say +3, is 102 and you know the bgs are going to continue to drop until the nadir which is +6 or so.

Normal non-diabetic cat bg levels are roughly 60 to 150.

This is how Lantus typically works:

+0 - PreShot number.
+1 - Usually higher than PreShot number because of the last shot wearing off. May see a food spike in this number.
+2 - Often similar to the PreShot number.
+3 - Lower than the PreShot number, onset has started.
+4 - Lower.
+5 - Lower.
+6 - Nadir/Peak (the lowest number of cycle).
+7 - Surf (hang around the nadir number).
+8 - Slight rise.
+9 - Slight rise.
+10 - Rising.
+11 - Rising (may dip around +10 or +11).
+12 - PreShot number.

2 weeks ago when I checked it at this time it was 321. I am worried to even give her the shot tonight because I don't want it to get any lower. Is 102 too low? Should I test her again after she eats before I inject?

Blood glucose levels fluctuate all the time. You can test at the same time every single day but you'll always get different numbers. Food, stress, activity, etc can all affect bg numbers.

Always test before giving insulin no matter what. You don't want to blindly give insulin and risk a potential hypo a few hours later. Newbies should not give any insulin if the bg tests under 200.

Be sure to read the stickies on the Lantus board to understand how Lantus works for cats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=9