? Is this expected? 390 BG to 91 in less than a week?

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Jess + Io

Jess + Io

Member Since 2024
Io (female, 13 y/o) was diagnosed with diabetes last Wednesday (June 26) with a BG of 390. We noticed some drowsiness in the evenings after her shots. We were finally able to test her at home today and got a 91 reading. That seems drastic! Is that normal?

More info...

June 17 - Took Io to an out-of-town ER Vet b/c of sticky red urine, thirst, weight loss, and irritability. She was diagnosed with UTI and prescribed meds for it. Vet mentioned elevated BG but did not talk about diabetes. Recommended follow-up and check-up the next week.

June 26 - Io's follow-up appointment at our local vet. UTI cleared up, but BG of 390. Diabetes diagnoses. Vet recommended insulin and Rx dry food for diabetes. We turned down Rx dry food. Switched her from dry/wet food combo to Fancy Feast Classic Pate that evening.

June 27 - Husband and I went to the vet to ask questions, get insulin, and learn how to give shots. That night at 10 pm, we gave Io 1 can of FF Classic Pate and her first 2-unit shot of Vetsulin. She acted fine.

June 28 - At 10 am, she got 1 can FF pate + 2 units insulin; still acting normal. At 10 pm, same thing. But she acted very sleepy. Not quite lethargic, but very drowsy. I kept a close eye on her for several hours and checked on her frequently after that.

June 29 - Same routine as the day before. After morning feeding and shot, she seemed fine again. After evening feeding and shot, she seemed super drowsy again.

June 30 - Did morning feeding and shot as usual. She acted normal. At night, decided to do feeding-only (no insulin shot) so I could observe her. She acted her normal self -- no drowsiness/tiredness at all, just her relaxed cuddly self.

July 1 - Did morning feeding and shot as usual. She acted normal. FINALLY, our AlphaTrak 3 arrived. (There was a shipping delay.) Husband tested her around 3 pm (so 5 hours after morning feeding/insulin) and got a BG reading of 91. I know this is only our first reading, but we were both kinda shocked.

Now that we have her monitor, we're going to be testing her regularly -- and will not give an insulin shot tonight if she's still that low. I'm so relieved that we have a way to see her numbers at home.

We're very new to this. A few questions:
  • Is this kind of drop to be expected? 390 to 91 after only a few days?
  • Is her starting insulin dosage too high? Did the switch to food lower it that drastically, too?
  • Was she getting close to a hypo those evenings that I thought she was strangely drowsy?
  • Why would she act normal after the morning shot, but so drowsy after the evening one? Her feeding routine was the same. And she ate well every time.
I just set up her spreadsheet today. I included the dates we gave her doses even when we didn't have a monitor yet, just so I could keep track.

Thanks in advance for any answers or insights!
 
Hi again.
I saw your reply on your other thread.Here it is https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/newly-diagnosed-how-to-handle-food-right-now.291539/
With the drop to 91 and her being sleepy and drowsy after the shots, I would reduce the dose to 1 unit twice a day.
2 units twice a day is too high a dose to start a newly diagnosed kitty on. And if you did a swap to low carb food, that would have contributed to the blood glucose being lower..
Cats often drop lower at night. The best thing you can do is as I said above, drop the dose to 1 unit twice a day

Are you waiting 30 minutes after food before giving the dose of insulin? This is important as vetsulin is a harsh insulin for cats and it can hit hard and fast and they need food aboard to counteract the dose of insulin. Try and test around 4 hours after the doses are given to see how low the dose is taking your kitty.
And I would suggest giving a couple of snacks of low carb food during the first 4 hours after the doses of insulin. A snack is a teaspoon or 2 of low carb food.
Here is a link to using VETSULIN
I’m going to tag @Suzanne & Darcy as she is a vetsulin user.
 
@Bron and Sheba (GA), thank you for your reply and help!

We will reduce to 1 unit twice a day. I feel more comfortable with that.

We were feeding and giving the shot at the same time (per my vet), but from now on, we'll test, feed, and wait 30 minutes before/if giving a shot. We'll start giving some snacks, too.

I appreciate the link to the Vetsulin page. That's helpful. However, a lot of the numbers there refer to a "human meter." How do I convert that for a pet meter?

For example: the link says:
  • Normal BG for a non-diabetic cat is between 50-120 on a human meter and 68-150 on a pet meter.
  • For those new to dealing with feline diabetes we recommend that you post and ask for help if the BG is below 200 mg/dL (11 mmol/L) on a human glucose meter.
  • In the first three months, we recommend using 200 as your point for asking for help number.

Using an AlphaTrak 3 pet meter, what would be my "asking for help number?"
 
There is no conversion.
Until you hear from @Suzanne & Darcy I would use 210 as the Preshot number to not shoot if you are using a pet meter.
If the blood glucose drops under 90 at any time you need to reduce the dose by 0.25 unit. But I would post and ask for help if that happens.
 
Update: I can't get a sample tonight. I thought I'd try on my own without my husband's help but it's not going well. She's feeling very sassy at my attempts and I'm feeling pretty discouraged.
 
jessyjean said:
Update: I can't get a sample tonight. I thought I'd try on my own without my husband's help but it's not going well. She's feeling very sassy at my attempts and I'm feeling pretty discouraged.
Click to expand...
Don’t be discouraged. None of us got it all the time in the beginning.
If you are on your own try getting everything ready including something she can eat and kneel down and sit on your heels. Put Io in between your knees facing the same way you do so that if she backs away she will back into you. Put one hand on her chest below her chin ( so she doesn’t feel as if she is being held tight) and put the food in front of her. While she is eating test her. That’s what I did and it worked for me.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) She likes having her ears rubbed, but she doesn't like to hold still or be restrained. That's when the sass comes out and she goes from happy wiggles to fighting in seconds. lol. But I will definitely give your approach a try! Eating is a good distraction with her.

It was easier this morning with help from my husband (and a classic purrito). AMPS, she tested 252. She's eating now, then we're going ahead with the morning shot—but 1 unit instead of 2.

Thanks again for your help!
 
Jess, with the drop to 81 at +4, you need to reduce the dose.
I think I would reduce the dose to 0.5 unit twice a day to see if you can shoot both cycles.
Same rule applies….dont shoot if under 210.
Keep getting tests during the cycles if you can.
If you see a green BG, feed her and try and get another one half or an hour later to check the BG is rising.
 
Yes I think we will have to reduce again.

Thanks for the advice! Her PMPS tonight was 105. So once again, no pm shot.

I'll reduce to 0.5 unit starting tomorrow morning.

Hoping we can get her to her right dose so we can do it twice a day!
 
Io's AMPS was 187 this morning. So no insulin again. (She hasn't had any since yesterday's AM 1 unit.)

Food - She gets 1 can of FF pate at 10 am, then another can at 10 pm. She eats a good portion of it right away (maybe 1/2 or 1/3), then grazes for the next several hours. I haven't been giving snacks because when I go to give her one, she still has a little food left---an amount that would essentially be a snack. But the food is always completely gone by the time her next food time rolls around.

But should I give her more anyway? I'll pay closer attention to what time her food is actually all gone today.

I'll test her again in a couple hours, too.
 
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