Lunchtime levels sky high!

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Lizl Scheepers

Member Since 2014
Hi there, I am at my witts end. Since Friday my cats' levels are through the roof. Even the glucose meter says "levels too high". I give him his AM shot at around 05:15 and on vets orders he gets 5 units. By 13:00 his levels are sky high. He is still on dry kibble, hills md, however I am in the process of converting him to wet food. He has been eating cooked chicken livers twice a day, a teaspoon (heaped) at a time, and he loves it, can this contribute to his high levels? The only other thing that may be a factor is the "megestrol" I gave him on Thursday night to stop him pulling out all his hair. Since then his lunchtime levels are so high. What now? He is on Protaphane which has a twelve hour cycle. I seriously don't know what to do next. Do I give him part of his 5pm shot, say 2 units, and the rest at the normal time, or leave him with his high levels untill his 5pm shot? Advice seriously needed! Oh yes, my cat is called Hansie, and we are from South Africa.
 
The megestrol could be the cause of the high BGs since it is a steroidal progestin.
What was the preshot BG?
BG reading between the shot the six hour mark are very useful since maybe 5 units is too high.
What insulin are you using?
 
Hi Lizl,

I see from some of your previous posts that your kitty has had some much lower numbers at times prior to this, and I'm wondering if the high numbers you're getting now are caused by 'bouncing'.
Bouncing/rebound can happen when the kitty's blood glucose drops too fast or too low (or both). ("Too low" doesn't necessarily mean 'dangerously low'. Bouncing can also be triggered when the blood glucose drops much lower than the cat has become accustomed to.)

When the blood glucose drops too low/fast the body can respond to this apparent threat by putting out more glucose into the system; often along with counter-regulatory hormones, the purpose of which is to keep the blood glucose high for a period. This can present as temporary insulin resistance. And sometimes all the care-giver sees are the high numbers without realising that, somewhere along the line recently, a low number (or a steep drop) has triggered a bounce.

It may be that your introducing wet food has reduced the carb content of your kitty's diet and, consequently, has reduced the blood glucose levels.

There are other causes of increased blood glucose levels (infections are a common one). How does your kitty seem in himself?
Edited to add: This message cross-posted with Larry's, above, and I see that he also points out the following as a possible cause of raised BG levels: "The megestrol could be the cause of the high BGs since it is a steroidal progestin."

May I ask, do you have any recent pre-shot blood glucose test results? And any recent mid cycle results?

Eliz
 
Hi there, he is on an insulin called protaphane, also called novolin or humulin. I didn't take a pre shot reading unfortunately. I strongly suspect that the megestrol is to blame, because he looks and acts fine. I noticed something was off when he started walking funnier than usual, he has got diabetic neuropathy, and it started looking much better, and then Friday all of a sudden he was walking worse than before. Pre-diabetic, the vet gave him megestrol for the constant itching and pulling out hair on his back, the area close to his tail, and it seemed to work wonders. So when he itchd again last week, pulling out hair I gave him the usual megestrol. He stopped itching almost instantly, and has not been itching since. Is bouncing caused by too much insulin? I am planning on taking him to the vet tomorrow.
 
When the glucose level drops to an unaccustomed level, OR it drops suddenly, the body reacts by producing compensatory hormones. These hormones release glycogen which is converted into glucose. And the glucose level rises up and may stay elevated for up to 3 days.
 
Lizl Scheepers said:
Hi there, he is on an insulin called protaphane, also called novolin or humulin. I didn't take a pre shot reading unfortunately. I strongly suspect that the megestrol is to blame, because he looks and acts fine. I noticed something was off when he started walking funnier than usual, he has got diabetic neuropathy, and it started looking much better, and then Friday all of a sudden he was walking worse than before. Pre-diabetic, the vet gave him megestrol for the constant itching and pulling out hair on his back, the area close to his tail, and it seemed to work wonders. So when he itchd again last week, pulling out hair I gave him the usual megestrol. He stopped itching almost instantly, and has not been itching since. Is bouncing caused by too much insulin? I am planning on taking him to the vet tomorrow.
Click to expand...

In humans the half life of megestrol is 13 to 105 hours with mean being 34 hours. So it will dyas days for the the effects of megestrol to wear off.
 
Larry - do you know if it is possible to give a lower dose of the megestrol on a more stable schedule so the effect on the glucose is not a roller coaster?
 
Have just taken his pre shot readings, which is 25.4 - still too high for my liking. Have given him 3 instead of 5 units. If it still goes roller coaster like tomorrow, I will take him to the vet. Will throw away the megestrol, suspect that it is the villain in this saga.
 
you are using an insulin that we don't recommend for use in cats. There are three insulins that we do recommend using instead as these have been known to work and be longer lasting in the cat than what you are using.

Lantus (glargine)
Levimer (determir)
Prozinc

If you are able to change to one of these insulins, you will start to see better results.

Please go to the insulin support group forum to learn more about these insulins:
viewforum.php?f=5
 
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