Jewel's varying BG values

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jewelsmom

jewelsmom

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My 14 year old tabby, Jewel, was diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago. It was only discovered cos she was having peeing problems and was in a lot of pain, so i took her to the vet. Turns out she had a bladder infection and diabetes. My vet decided to hold off on treating the diabetes and deal with clearing up the bladder infection first, as her BG numbers werent that high and she appeared to be borderline.

she started on insulin on Sept 23 with a day trip to the vet where she could be monitored. There she started out with a AMPS of around 340, peaked at around 160 and slowly rose back up to 235, within a timespan of 8 hours. The vet decided it would be okay to start her out on 1.0 unit of caninsulin just once a day.

i gave her the shot for the first few days, but then decided i was very uncomfortable giving the shot without testing, so i bought a BG monitor and started testing on sept 26. she seemed to have the expected highs and lows for the first few days. On sept 30, i could not get a blood sample no matter how hard i tried, so i just gave her the shot, figuring it would be okay, cos she had been testing high on the previous days. She went down to 58 around 4.5 hours later. She wasnt acting weird or unusual, but i gave her food just in case, cos i wasnt sure if her BG was going to go any lower or not.

the next day, she had a BG of 250, so i decided not to give her the shot based on what happened yesterday. Good thing too! cos her numbers actually went down on their own. I talked to my vet, and she said to stop giving the shot for a week, but still test her BG to see it goes without it.

Her BG seems to be creeping up again, but its also falling quite a bit on its own. Its still not in the normal range, but im worried that if she does get insulin, she will drop too low.

I'm just looking to get other opinions on the BG values im getting and as to why they seem to vary so much. thanks everyone!

im sure ive left out details, so please ask me if ive forgotten anything.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Ew5dTRVd1YwZlRaOWh1eWN2bWU0elE&hl=en_US#gid=0
 
Hey Jewel's Mom,

We can't access Jewel's spreadsheet, you need to make sure you have it set as public so we can see it. I'm sure once it can be seen others will chime in shortly to answer your questions.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
ah thank you! i didnt realize there was public/private settings (never used google docs before)

ive changed the settings so hopefully its visible now
 
Yay! Its working now, and what pretty numbers especially for not being on insulin right now. I don't know your insulin as both of mine were and are on Lantus. But judging from the numbers you are seeing I would say Jewel has an at least partially functional pancreas, since she can bring herself down pretty well but your right those are still borderline diabetic numbers. Now if you were using Lantus I would say you might want to still give her a little insulin support but reduce her dose some, but I'm really not sure how your insulin works, so can't really advise you there, so I will leave that to those that know your insulin.

Another question that comes to mind is what are you feeding Jewel? As low as she is already going you might be able to bring her down into more normal ranges by decreasing the carb content in her food.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
hi! thanks for the response. she was on 1 unit on caninsulin. she was actually diabetic about 5 years ago (because she was overweight) and back then 2 units of caninsulin once a day worked very well for her (never had a hypoglycemic event), and she went into remission after a year of being on it. so the vet decided to stick with the caninsulin this time around (but at a reduced dose) cos it worked before.

im very hesitant to give her any insulin at all knowing that its dropping by half the original amount in such a short time, without even getting a shot.

im feeding her 2 cans of fancy feast, the liver and chicken one, twice a day, (morning and night)
 
Sometimes you can bring a kitty down without insulin by feeding more frequently. Divide what you are feeding into several meals during the day and a couple snacks at night. If food brings down their numbers (which it usually does when the pancreas starts to work), every snack can move the numbers down.

Another idea is to look at your food and see if you can feed a little lower carb. Say, if you are feeding a food that is 8%, try one that is 3-5%. (Not seafood for every meal though) Works with some cats, not with others.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
Sometimes you can bring a kitty down without insulin by feeding more frequently. Divide what you are feeding into several meals during the day and a couple snacks at night. If food brings down their numbers (which it usually does when the pancreas starts to work), every snack can move the numbers down..
Click to expand...

i really like that idea! cos it certainly seems like her numbers are always higher when she hasnt eaten for a while and this is what was puzzling me. (i always thought it would be the other way around??)

i'll definitely give this a try, thank you!
 
jewel is now on her 6th day without insulin and her numbers seem to be getting better everyday. i dont think she could be classified as normal yet, but the fact that her BG levels are going down on their own is a good sign.

a few things to note:
~a month ago her fur was very dull and had a lot of dandruff, it is now shiny and silky soft, dandruff free
~she is playing alot more, especially at night time
~she has stopped drinking insanely huge amounts of water, and thus, is no longer peeing excessively
~her ravenous appetite, where she thinks she needs to eat all the time, has disappeared. i.e. no pestering me ALL DAY LONG to give her food. now she only starts to get vocal around the times when she normally gets fed, and thats totally understandable.
~she has not lost or gained any weight

based on not only her BG values, but also her change in behavior, it seems like she could be on her way towards remission! :smile:
 
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