Low blood sugar tricks

[Scarlett White]

As we have been adjusting Dozers food, we have been taking him off insulin. The vet we were going to was giving us awful advice and now that we are home testing we are noticing his blood sugar gets low - not panic 911 but concerning.

Last night he was 120 after food.
After dinner tonight it was 112.

He is having a hard time eating ALL of his food in a day because of the switch to wet food (rotating between friskies and fancy feast, depending on calories, carbs, protein, and fat). I feel like it is a lot to meet his dietary needs. He usually eats 2 Oz at a time - out of the 9oz he needs to meet diet.

Any ideas on how to help get his blood sugar up?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

120 and 112 are GREAT numbers!! We want them spending as much time as possible in normal numbers and that's 50-120!

The only time we want to intervene to bring their blood glucose up is if they drop below 50, and then we suggest using something like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers since it's high carb. You pop the top, put it back down on the can and "squeeze" the gravy into another bowl and feed a teaspoon or two at a time until they're above 50 again

The "recommended" amounts on most cat foods is ridiculously high and is part of the reason so many cats are overweight these days. It's more important to find out how much food Dozer needs and adjust from there.

Weigh him once a week....if he needs to gain weight, you feed him more...if he needs to lose weight, you cut back on how much he's getting until he's at a good weight. You can use a normal household scale if you don't want to buy a baby/pet scale....just weigh yourself then pick up Dozer and do the math!

If you want to get a better scale, the HOMEIMAGE baby scale is pretty popular around here

 

[Scarlett White]

120 and 112 are GREAT numbers!! We want them spending as much time as possible in normal numbers and that's 50-120!

The only time we want to intervene to bring their blood glucose up is if they drop below 50, and then we suggest using something like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers since it's high carb. You pop the top, put it back down on the can and "squeeze" the gravy into another bowl and feed a teaspoon or two at a time until they're above 50 again

The "recommended" amounts on most cat foods is ridiculously high and is part of the reason so many cats are overweight these days. It's more important to find out how much food Dozer needs and adjust from there.

Weigh him once a week....if he needs to gain weight, you feed him more...if he needs to lose weight, you cut back on how much he's getting until he's at a good weight. You can use a normal household scale if you don't want to buy a baby/pet scale....just weigh yourself then pick up Dozer and do the math!

If you want to get a better scale, the HOMEIMAGE baby scale is pretty popular around here

Thank you so much! I will use that trick. The amatrak said it was low of 75 and google said 120, so I panicked a little when seeing 110 range. I really appreciate giving me advice and a range to go off of.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Do you use the AlphaTrak2 meter or a human one? That makes a difference..."normal" on the AT is 68-about 150 ( there's no "official" number at the upper end)

On the AlphaTrak, the lowest we want them is 68 ....if they drop below that, we offer the high carb food

 

[Scarlett White]

Do you use the AlphaTrak2 meter or a human one? That makes a difference..."normal" on the AT is 68-about 150 ( there's no "official" number at the upper end)

On the AlphaTrak, the lowest we want them is 68 ....if they drop below that, we offer the high carb food

Yes I am using the At 2 - that gives us a much better view the only what to look for. Thank you so much! I can't believe our vet prescribed insulin when we could have got him under control with food. Almost 72 hours with no shot! *fingers crossed

 

[Critter Mom]

Fingers and paws crossed in the Shire ...


Mogs
.

 

[Ferndoc]

If no insulin has been given in 72 hours then you don't have to "worry" about the low end. NonDiabetics or those in remission "might" go lower and it's not necessarily bad since you are not artificially aiding them get there.

 

[Blamethecats and Hannah]

Last night he was 120 after food.
After dinner tonight it was 112.

Great numbers!! Glad Dozer is doing so well. No need to worry about getting those numbers up. And good job on that monitoring, too. Your post speaks volumes as to the benefit of home testing. Best wishes.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Wonderful numbers without insulin. No need to worry.

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

Great numbers Scarlet! So very glad you are home testing. Just another testimony on how important it is.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

I just want to second that if you're not giving insulin, you don't have to worry about hypoglycemia at all. We only worry about low blood sugar when it is being reduced by artificial means (injected insulin), but not if the cat is regulating its blood sugar on its own.

Good luck! You're getting great numbers with the diet change!

How old/big is Dozer, and do you know his ideal weight? 9oz is a lot of food, and if you got to that amount based on the can recommendations they are usually way too high. Calorie needs also tend to go down with age. To give you an idea, Bandit (who is at his ideal weight of 11.5 lbs and 14 years old) gets about 5.5-6.5 oz of food a day. Orpheus, who is 18 months old and at his ideal weight of 9 lbs, gets about 8 oz of food a day. This is because Orpheus is still a very active cat with a much faster metabolism than Bandit, even though he is smaller.

Also, how often are you feeding? We feed 4x a day--every 6 hours. Feeding more frequent meals is good for diabetics becuase it helps even out the effect food has on their blood sugar. It makes for less hungry cats, since their metabolisms are about twice as fast as people's or dog's.