Magellan bg low and I am freaking

[Julia Rae]

Am I doing the right thing I am in a total panic over this Magellan's sugars are 65 he is not eating but he is moving around. I have offered frisky s chicken with gravy he sniffed at it and left, then came back around and licked some uo. Has he gotten enough???

 

[manxcat419]

On a human meter, 65 is still in the safe zone. You don't really need to offer him carbs unless he goes under 50 (68 if you're using a pet-only glucometer). From your spreadsheet, it looks as though you've skipped his shot (which is totally the right thing to do BTW) so without insulin in his system, that 65 isn't actually anything to worry about. Normal range for a cat can be as low as 40, we just don't like them to go under 50 when we've given them insulin as we need a safety margin to bring them back up.

 

[Julia Rae]

Ok thanks I really needed to hear that the vet is totally against home testing so I am doing this on my own> So he should be back to his normal shots this evening right?? Or should I shoot when his sugars go up this is sooo confusing.

 

[manxcat419]

My vet isn't a huge fan of home testing either, so I do understand. But as you've found out today, it really can be a life-saver for our cats - while you caught that number that was too low for a shot, without testing him first you could easily have given him his regular dose right into that 65 and dropped him low!

As long as his number is high enough to shoot, then you can get right back on schedule tonight. Though I'd wait and see what he gets up to by then - as far as I know, Novalin doesn't usually last a full 12 hours in cats so that 65 might have been Magellan all on his own getting his numbers down!! As it's not a depot insulin, you do have the option to give a shot before his usual evening shot time if his numbers start to rise really quickly, but that might then leave you with a number you can't shoot again this evening, so unless you can be flexible with his shot times over the next few days, you might want to wait until his PM shot is due.

 

[Julia Rae]

thanks I really needed to hear that with out you guys I think both of us would be nuts, I have an apt with the vet next month to see how he is doing. That worries me as well what will he do when he learns I have not been giving the proscribed 3 units am and pm on top of the fact that i have been self testing. Right my my sugar baby is sleeping and so nice of him to do so where I can keep an eye on him, he is such a good boy.

 

[manxcat419]

Your situation with your vet sounds similar to the situation I had with mine. There were a number of things they weren't happy with...I was home testing AND using a human glucometer, I was adjusting the dose without their approval, and I was running Rosa in lower numbers than they liked. I sent them the link to Rosa's spreadsheet every 2 weeks so that they knew what was going on with her, answered any questions they had and pretty much refused (politely) all their offers of running additional tests (in-office curves and fructosamine). They stopped arguing when she went OTJ...in fact even when I take Rosa in for regular appointments such as nail trimming (like I did this morning), no-one even mentions her diabetes treatment!

It's so much easier when they sleep right where you can see them - I didn't like Rosa being out of my sight for long when she was on insulin, just in case she was hiding because she was sick. And while I know they don't usually need checking on every few minutes, it does really give you peace of mind to just be able to take a quick look now and then and make sure he looks OK.