Is Hypo a guaranteed trip to the ER?

[AlyMcF]

First off, Sketch is fine. I’m just getting myself mentally prepared.

My understanding is that if your kitty has low numbers (less than 50?) that you rub corn syrup on their gums and keep testing every 30 min or so. But I also heard somewhere that you have to take them to the emergency vet. How true is that? One of the reason I’m so nervous about low number is I dread a trip to the cat ER.

How do you know when you can manage on your own vs needing an ER’s help?

Sketch has never had hypoglycemia to my knowledge but he did get a 50 reading while at the vets' once. My understanding is he had no clinical symptoms though.

Occasionally I see him twitching and worry he's having a seizure or something but inevitably when I measure he's nowhere near hypo levels.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

In a perfect world, if they're under 50 (68 on the Alpha Trak) they should go to the vet, but we live in a very imperfect world and it's just not feasible for most of us!

The benefit of home testing is being able to catch those lows in time to do something about them at home though. By testing, you learn how your cat reacts when they are running low (most will get REALLY desperate for food and it's obvious that something is wrong) and usually it's safe to manage at home with a good supply of high carb foods and Karo/syrup/honey

If you catch it early enough, it's almost always reversible....but if they continue dropping despite high carb foods, Karo/syrup/honey, then it's time to get them to a vet....period

 

[Olive & Paula]

Alyssa, not necessarily. It depends on different factors. Are symptoms presenting themselves. How low is the BS. Etc.

I've been through 3 in the last month. One was just 2 days ago. For me it's happened late night. Now I test before I go to bed to see where Smokey is at. Each time I managed at home with help from people here. If I have to go to the ER Smokey would not get any treatment for the hour drive (there is no where to pull over on mountain country road) and he gets car sick and that would add to an even lower BS. This last one scared the ?;/# out of me though because of his breathing, I don't think he would have survived the trip on this one. In my situation being alone in extreme rural area it is safer for Smokey to be treated at home. Of course if it is a severe episode I would figure it out. I had to take a civvie in on thanksgiving day. I broke every road law there was. It was 3am no traffic, so I ran lights, stop signs, sped but it still took 45 minutes to get there.

If you should ever have to experience it. Get on the board here, use the 911 prefix in the title bar and you will have people helping you every minute until your safe. Have the necessary treatment in house. I didn't know about it the first time. Had no syrup, ice cream (non chocolate), no cat food with gravy. Ended up using maple syrup(not sugar free).

Hopefully you will not have to go through it.

 

[Robin&BB]

Alyssa, was just looking at your SS. Are you still using your AlphaTrak2 meter? Because, if you are the "be aware #, as relates to possible hypoglycemia symptoms, is anything less than 69, not less than 50 (as currently shows on the far right tab of your SS).

And it's perfectly ok for you to raise that "be aware" number to "80" on an AT2 meter - in fact, I'd recommend that you do that - because this will provide an added margin of safety, so that you're not feeling anxious about dealing with a possible hypo situation. (As you're in a rural area, I totally understand your concerns.)

I usually just go ahead and steer with a little food when Bat-Bat is nearing 80 on the AT2 meter. (For her, about 0.75 oz. of her usual low-carb FF works just fine to raise her BG# in 15 to 20 minutes - but others may, in fact need to use medium-carb food - you know, the type with gravy - because every cat's different.) With a little more margin of safety in place, you can confidently raise your Sketch's BG # with food alone to keep him out of the danger zone, allowing you to avoid the Karo syrup (which can, in fact, end up spiking his BG to a level way higher than where you'd like it to be).

But if it turns out you're using a human meter and not the AT2, why not just raise your own "be aware" # to 60? Again, this would provide you some more breathing room as relates to concerns about any impending hypo situation. - Robin

 

[AlyMcF]

Alyssa, was just looking at your SS. Are you still using your AlphaTrak2 meter? Because, if you are the "be aware #, as relates to possible hypoglycemia symptoms, is anything less than 69, not less than 50 (as currently shows on the far right tab of your SS).

And it's perfectly ok for you to raise that "be aware" number to "80" on an AT2 meter - in fact, I'd recommend that you do that - because this will provide an added margin of safety, so that you're not feeling anxious about dealing with a possible hypo situation. (As you're in a rural area, I totally understand your concerns.)

I usually just go ahead and steer with a little food when Bat-Bat is nearing 80 on the AT2 meter. (For her, about 0.75 oz. of her usual low-carb FF works just fine to raise her BG# in 15 to 20 minutes - but others may, in fact need to use medium-carb food - you know, the type with gravy - because every cat's different.) With a little more margin of safety in place, you can confidently raise your Sketch's BG # with food alone to keep him out of the danger zone, allowing you to avoid the Karo syrup (which can, in fact, end up spiking his BG to a level way higher than where you'd like it to be).

But if it turns out you're using a human meter and not the AT2, why not just raise your own "be aware" # to 60? Again, this would provide you some more breathing room as relates to concerns about any impending hypo situation. - Robin

I am using an AlphaTrak 2 and am perfectly happy to raise my worry-number to 80 or so.

I'm actually not in a rural area (that's woodsywife) and the ER is just 20 min drive but the expense is what I dread. Last time Sketch went to the ER he had pancreatitis and the whole ordeal cost over $4000.

I guess it would help my state of mind to know exactly what the vet is would do for my cat that I can't do at home. Get his vitals? Put him on oxygen?

I sure wish I had a more stable feeding regimen. It's tricky because there are two cats in the house and neither Sketch nor Max really like their wet food very much. I end up just putting down 2-3 different can samplings 2-3x per day and hoping they will eat some. I just got a bag of Young Again Zero Carb dry but I'm not sure how to integrate it. But I suppose that's a question for a different post.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I guess it would help my state of mind to know exactly what the vet is would do for my cat that I can't do at home.

In a severe hypo, they need to be on a glucose drip and monitored closely for other complications....as I said earlier, I know of one cat that was found seizing when his mama came home and he spent a week at the vet because he had severe neurological problems because his brain had been starved of glucose too long and brain damage had set in. He had to re-learn everything, from how to walk, how to eat, use the litterbox...and suffered from blindness for the rest of his life

 

[Robin&BB]

I'm actually not in a rural area (that's woodsywife) and the ER is just 20 min drive but the expense is what I dread. Last time Sketch went to the ER he had pancreatitis and the whole ordeal cost over $4000.

Oops, sorry - I got mixed up there about the rural area. (My bad!) But - WOW! - $4000 is no small chunk of change!!!

In the case of an extreme hypo, yes they do things (like IV fluids and continuous BG monitoring) that we don't do at home. However ... regular blood glucose monitoring at home (especially important whenever there's a dose increase, for example) and using a higher "be alert" # will really pretty much assure you that you'll be able to avoid a situation that would result in a trip to the ER. You're already on top of that!
And as @woodsywife said in her post above, you'll get a fast response - should you ever find yourself in a too-low BG drop - when you attach that red "911" to any post titled "HYPO - Need Help" in the Main Health forum. As we have members all over the world, there's always somebody who's awake and watching the forums! And it's true, too, that those helping you will stay with you until you've got that BG # back up to a safe #; that's what's so great about people at FDMB - they've all got your back!