Low blood sugar 41, got it back up to 71 help

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Scratches123 said:
At 1 am it'll be six hours since her shot. I'm hoping we're out of the woods or will be there real soon. I've never been this scared in my whole life.
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You're doing great!

Plus, Scratches appears to be having a fantastic time (well, other than the ear pokes!). She's doing well, too, and you are keeping her safe.
 
If she drops below 68, you feed high carb food again …..if she goes up, you still need to test for at least another hours (as long as she doesn't get any more food)...if at that point she's still doing OK, you may be out of the woods for tonight
 
When a cat drops below our "take action" number of 68 (on the AlphaTrak) you feed high carb food and test every 20-30 minutes for at least 2 hours

Repeat as necessary....but every time you have to feed something high or medium carb, that 2 hour clock starts over.

When she's been able to stay safe without MC or HC food for 2 hours since the last time you had to feed, it's usually going to be OK
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
When a cat drops below our "take action" number of 68 (on the AlphaTrak) you feed high carb food and test every 20-30 minutes for at least 2 hours

Repeat as necessary....but every time you have to feed something high or medium carb, that 2 hour clock starts over.

When she's been able to stay safe without MC or HC food for 2 hours since the last time you had to feed, it's usually going to be OK
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What do I do for insulin tmr morning? I'm going to be terrified to ever dose her again
 
I think considering you just started, I'd go back and start over at 1U and hold that dose for at least 3 days and then let's see how she's doing (unless she drops below 68 again of course!)

Don't be surprised if she's really high in the morning. We would expect her to "bounce" by then. It doesn't mean she needs a higher dose!

When they 1. drop too low, 2. drop too quickly or 3. drop into numbers their body isn't used to anymore (or any mix of all 3), the liver reacts by releasing stored sugars and hormones to bring them back up quickly. They "bounce" high.....it can take up to 6 cycles for a bounce to clear so just hold the dose and don't react to the higher numbers.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
I think considering you just started, I'd go back and start over at 1U and hold that dose for at least 3 days and then let's see how she's doing (unless she drops below 68 again of course!)

Don't be surprised if she's really high in the morning. We would expect her to "bounce" by then. It doesn't mean she needs a higher dose!

When they 1. drop too low, 2. drop too quickly or 3. drop into numbers their body isn't used to anymore (or any mix of all 3), the liver reacts by releasing stored sugars and hormones to bring them back up quickly. They "bounce" high.....it can take up to 6 cycles for a bounce to clear so just hold the dose and don't react to the higher numbers.
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Thank you. She's at 95. Thank God. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
I think considering you just started, I'd go back and start over at 1U and hold that dose for at least 3 days and then let's see how she's doing (unless she drops below 68 again of course!)

Don't be surprised if she's really high in the morning. We would expect her to "bounce" by then. It doesn't mean she needs a higher dose!

When they 1. drop too low, 2. drop too quickly or 3. drop into numbers their body isn't used to anymore (or any mix of all 3), the liver reacts by releasing stored sugars and hormones to bring them back up quickly. They "bounce" high.....it can take up to 6 cycles for a bounce to clear so just hold the dose and don't react to the higher numbers.
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Should I test again in 20-30??
 
Scratches123 said:
Thank you so so so much. I can't even explain how thankful I am for everyone on here. So I should start with 1u tmr?
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That's why we're here! Somebody stayed up and held our hands when we were new and we all just want to pay it forward!

Yes, you'd do the 1U dose in the morning.

Please go ahead and take the 911 down too......We only put that up until someone comes to the rescue....Once you have someone's attention, you should take it off again (choose "no prefix") ….that way, if you need to get someone's attention again later, they won't think it's just the old one.

It also makes everybody's heart skip a beat when we see it and since the "emergency" is over, it's time to take it off.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
That's why we're here! Somebody stayed up and held our hands when we were new and we all just want to pay it forward!

Yes, you'd do the 1U dose in the morning.

Please go ahead and take the 911 down too......We only put that up until someone comes to the rescue....Once you have someone's attention, you should take it off again (choose "no prefix") ….that way, if you need to get someone's attention again later, they won't think it's just the old one.

It also makes everybody's heart skip a beat when we see it and since the "emergency" is over, it's time to take it off.
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Thanks for the heads up. Please correct me anytime I'm not doing something correctly no matter what it is. I'm new at this obviously haha. I want to do the best thing for my cat.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Thanks. Good to know.

PMPS 249
+2 71, 67 given treats (9 Lives dry?) + scoop of gravy food.
+2.5?? 41 gave honey and wet food
+3? 70 - wet food
+?? ?? honey and wet food
+?? 62
80
78
+5.5 95
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I have it all sloppily written on a piece of paper. I screen shot what you typed and I will update it all tomorrow correctly. Thank you!
 
Let's see what the number is, but I hesitate to suggest you shoot even 1U if she's still under 200 this morning.

Hope you got some good rest (for at least a few hours)!
 
Nan & Amber said:
Let's see what the number is, but I hesitate to suggest you shoot even 1U if she's still under 200 this morning.

Hope you got some good rest (for at least a few hours)!
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It's 231. Idk if I'm comfortable shooting her. I have to work and I can't stay home to watch her.
 
Hmm, not much of a bounce so far...

I think you could skip and start fresh tonight. We call this "draining the depot" for a depot insulin like Lantus.

By the way, your signature currently says "1ml" for the dose-- should be "1U".
 
Nan & Amber said:
Hmm, not much of a bounce so far...

I think you could skip and start fresh tonight. We call this "draining the depot" for a depot insulin like Lantus.

By the way, your signature currently says "1ml" for the dose-- should be "1U".
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The 1ml is for the gabapentin.

I'm going to skip the dose. Like I said I can't stay home with her and she's not up far enough where I'd be comfortable leaving her while I'm at work.
 
Scratches123 said:
The 1ml is for the gabapentin.
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Ha! So it is! Guess I'm pretty fuzzy this morning :confused:. I can't imagine how you are feeling!!!!

I think a skip is a good idea here, you don't want to be worried all day at work. If you have weekends off, that will be a good opportunity to get her settled back down on the new dose.
 
Nan & Amber said:
Ha! So it is! Guess I'm pretty fuzzy this morning :confused:. I can't imagine how you are feeling!!!!

I think a skip is a good idea here, you don't want to be worried all day at work. If you have weekends off, that will be a good opportunity to get her settled back down on the new dose.
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I have Sundays off. Should I give her the dose tonight? Depending on what her bs is?
 
Nan & Amber said:
That's a great idea! Will be helpful when making the shot decision tonight to see where she's been during the day.
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Perfect. I wish I could do more for her. I wish I could be home with her all day and test her all the time. But I just can't. I work full time. I have a dog to take care of. I have loads of health problems I've been putting to the side. I need a follow up MRI and I'm a month over due to schedule it. Ugh. I just want to get her better. I really wish I could do more for her, but I'm doing the best I can.
 
You're doing great! Just doing the testing you're doing is so helpful, and so important. You're keeping her safe, and once we get the proper dose worked out, she'll start feeling a lot better, too.

It does get easier. Don't forget to take care of yourself through all this, too! :bighug: :bighug:
 
Nan & Amber said:
You're doing great! Just doing the testing you're doing is so helpful, and so important. You're keeping her safe, and once we get the proper dose worked out, she'll start feeling a lot better, too.

It does get easier. Don't forget to take care of yourself through all this, too! :bighug: :bighug:
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Could this be due to I switched her food last weekend? I haven't stopped giving her kibble completely yet. I've been giving her tiki cat low carb kibble. Probably less than a half cup daily. Plus, one and a half cans tiki cat wet daily. Small cans. I feed her the kibble twice daily at shot times along with half can tiki cat. She also gets half can at lunch. Could you when you have time, please let me know the protocol in a nut shell for food, test, shots. Just a watered down version. I think I'm doing everything right. I'm betting a lot of what happened last night had to do with her food. Maybe I'm not giving her enough? Her numbers have been pretty steady up until last night though.
 
It sounds like you are doing things right, although you'll want to double-check the amounts to make sure it's the right amount of calories per day for her weight and activity level. It is just tricky when you are doing the food transition, and the starting dose of Lantus was pretty high.

What's the carb content for the Tiki kibble? It may not be all that low (there are only a few kibbles that are low enough for a diabetic cat, even the ones that advertise as being "grain free" and the like are often surprisingly high). Transitioning to a lower carb diet could definitely explain a lot. Going to low-carb can drop BG by 100+ points and dramatically reduce insulin needs in some cases. What happened last night could definitely be related to the food change. Does Scratches always eat all the food you give her? It could even be as simple as, yesterday she decided she only wanted to eat the lowest carb options available!

Protocol is pretty straightforward for lantus. Usually, we test, feed, then shoot. Testing is to make sure she's not too low to shoot, and for food, you usually just want to make sure she's willing to eat and will likely have a meal on board by the time the insulin onsets around +2 (you see why we were worried when she went so low at +2 yesterday!).

Some diabetic cats do better with multiple small meals over the course of the day. Your 3x day schedule is already pretty good for that. A lot of us also use automatic feeders to add more feeding times while we're at work or (hopefully!) asleep at night.
 
Nan & Amber said:
It sounds like you are doing things right, although you'll want to double-check the amounts to make sure it's the right amount of calories per day for her weight and activity level. It is just tricky when you are doing the food transition, and the starting dose of Lantus was pretty high.

What's the carb content for the Tiki kibble? It may not be all that low (there are only a few kibbles that are low enough for a diabetic cat, even the ones that advertise as being "grain free" and the like are often surprisingly high). Transitioning to a lower carb diet could definitely explain a lot. Going to low-carb can drop BG by 100+ points and dramatically reduce insulin needs in some cases. What happened last night could definitely be related to the food change. Does Scratches always eat all the food you give her? It could even be as simple as, yesterday she decided she only wanted to eat the lowest carb options available!

Protocol is pretty straightforward for lantus. Usually, we test, feed, then shoot. Testing is to make sure she's not too low to shoot, and for food, you usually just want to make sure she's willing to eat and will likely have a meal on board by the time the insulin onsets around +2 (you see why we were worried when she went so low at +2 yesterday!).

Some diabetic cats do better with multiple small meals over the course of the day. Your 3x day schedule is already pretty good for that. A lot of us also use automatic feeders to add more feeding times while we're at work or (hopefully!) asleep at night.
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Should I leave her food after her shots?? She usually doesn't finish her meals at shot times but eats enough where I'm not concerned. But I should let her continue to eat for the two hours before her re test after the shots?

I just got off the phone with her vet. I emailed her spread sheet. She said her numbers are pretty much bouncing all over the place. But to take away the kibble and just give her the full amount of wet food fit for her weight, and lower the dosage of insulin to 1unit. Does this sound correct to take the kibble away and give her more wet food?
 
I guess I'm confused
Nan & Amber said:
It sounds like you are doing things right, although you'll want to double-check the amounts to make sure it's the right amount of calories per day for her weight and activity level. It is just tricky when you are doing the food transition, and the starting dose of Lantus was pretty high.

What's the carb content for the Tiki kibble? It may not be all that low (there are only a few kibbles that are low enough for a diabetic cat, even the ones that advertise as being "grain free" and the like are often surprisingly high). Transitioning to a lower carb diet could definitely explain a lot. Going to low-carb can drop BG by 100+ points and dramatically reduce insulin needs in some cases. What happened last night could definitely be related to the food change. Does Scratches always eat all the food you give her? It could even be as simple as, yesterday she decided she only wanted to eat the lowest carb options available!

Protocol is pretty straightforward for lantus. Usually, we test, feed, then shoot. Testing is to make sure she's not too low to shoot, and for food, you usually just want to make sure she's willing to eat and will likely have a meal on board by the time the insulin onsets around +2 (you see why we were worried when she went so low at +2 yesterday!).

Some diabetic cats do better with multiple small meals over the course of the day. Your 3x day schedule is already pretty good for that. A lot of us also use automatic feeders to add more feeding times while we're at work or (hopefully!) asleep at night.
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I guess I'm confused as to when I should take her food away to test her. I know I'm supposed to not let her eat two hours before testing so I know the results aren't food related, but should I let her continue to eat after her shots even though I need to test two hours after??
 
Yes, definitely let her eat at all but the pre-shot 2hr window. We want to keep that particular time free of food because we're making the safety decision about shooting, and don't want to be fooled by food influence. But at all other times of the day, just feed her normally-- maybe some of the midday tests will be affected here and there, but it's a good tradeoff in that case.

As for removing kibble as suggested by your vet, we usually say not to make that change "while giving insulin, without testing frequently". This is because of the dramatic effects in some cats I mentioned above. You are testing, and you are going to reduce the dose from what took her down to 41 yesterday, so those are two good safety measures. I would still probably wait until Sunday, when you are able to test all day, to remove the kibble entirely. That will also give you a day or so to see how she reacts to the lower dose.
 
Nan & Amber said:
Yes, definitely let her eat at all but the pre-shot 2hr window. We want to keep that particular time free of food because we're making the safety decision about shooting, and don't want to be fooled by food influence. But at all other times of the day, just feed her normally-- maybe some of the midday tests will be affected here and there, but it's a good tradeoff in that case.

As for removing kibble as suggested by your vet, we usually say not to make that change "while giving insulin, without testing frequently". This is because of the dramatic effects in some cats I mentioned above. You are testing, and you are going to reduce the dose from what took her down to 41 yesterday, so those are two good safety measures. I would still probably wait until Sunday, when you are able to test all day, to remove the kibble entirely. That will also give you a day or so to see how she reacts to the lower dose.
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You've been great help. Thank you so much.
 
With this new insulin dosage, I'm going to go get her some fancy feast classics that everyone recommends. She's eating tiki cat now but I notice a whole lot of fish in it and it's a lot of water, not to mention too pricy for my budget. I will still be feeding her the tiki cat dry along with the fancy feast classics. I'm posting pictures of the nutrition facts/calorie content of both foods. She usually eats wet food three times daily. And dry food at feeding times. Im trying to cut the kibble out. I obviously need some help trying to get her diet correct and I thought with the new dose of insulin this will be easier for me to do now. She went from 2 units twice a day to one unit twice a day. Like I said she gets fed three times a day but doesn't usually finish her whole meals and grazes all day until it's gone or it gets dried out. She weighs 12 pounds.
 

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Hmm... might be a good idea to start a whole new thread for food/feeding advice. This one is getting long and often that discourages "new" people from jumping in with thoughts.
 
This am pre shot was 231. I was not comfortable giving a shot and was advised to skip it since I would be at work all day and couldn't monitor her. I'm on break now and her current bs is 202. I will update later for her pre dinner/shot test to see where we're at and if I should shoot. Thanks!!
 
What a night you had! You did great looking after Scratches! Thanks to everyone who was here to provide help and support.

Given Scratches' BG dropped that much last night I would suggest you don't shoot a full dose unless BG is over 250 at pre-shot test until you can determine what a good dose for Scratches is. If you get a pre-shot test lower, please post for some assistance or skip.

I think going back to 1u is a good idea.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
What a night you had! You did great looking after Scratches! Thanks to everyone who was here to provide help and support.

Given Scratches' BG dropped that much last night I would suggest you don't shoot a full dose unless BG is over 250 at pre-shot test until you can determine what a good dose for Scratches is. If you get a pre-shot test lower, please post for some assistance or skip.

I think going back to 1u is a good idea.
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Her bs has been under 250 all day. She really hasn't eaten that much today either. She seems to be feeling pretty good right now. Just attacked me haha. I'm not sure I'm even going to be comfortable giving her a dose tonight. I have to check her bs in one hour and fifteen minutes so I will put an update up for everyone. Seriously I cannot thank you all enough for the help.
 
Yes interesting that her BG was down mid cycle from AMPS and that her appetite is less. Let's see what PMPS looks like because it's possible she is bouncing a bit from those lows last night and if that is the case, he BG could drop even more. :)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Yes interesting that her BG was down mid cycle from AMPS and that her appetite is less. Let's see what PMPS looks like because it's possible she is bouncing a bit from those lows last night and if that is the case, he BG could drop even more. :)
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Okay I'm really not even super comfortable giving her a shot tonight to be completely honest with you. She's not eaten enough today and she's acting fine, like pretty spunky and happy. Idk, I'm afraid bc her numbers have gotten lower since this morning. Twenty minutes until I test her.
 
You hold the needle and the decision whether to shoot or not is entirely yours to make. Let's see what PMPS is, determine best options and then you can decide how you want to proceed.:)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
You hold the needle and the decision whether to shoot or not is entirely yours to make. Let's see what PMPS is, determine best options and then you can decide how you want to proceed.:)
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It's 292. I'm literally terrified to give her a shot. I wish I could get her diet situation in order before proceeding any further with the insulin. I feel like I almost lost her last night
 
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