Meter reading low - but blood sample minscule. Should we give shot?

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Berta and Louise

Berta and Louise

Member Since 2016
Trying not to worry here. Louise is feisty, and hard to take a blood sample from - and I am not that good at getting the blood.....yet.
We use the Alpha Trak 2. I got a tiny sample today, and the meter said 24!!!! I don't think that can be right. But the sample was super tiny - and I was surprised that the meter beeped and didn't give me an error.
Louise is acting fine - no symptoms of hypo at all. Tried to get another sample, and she was a wild thing, so I just let her go. Better to approach again when she is calm. Our vet says that nothing will do any good if she hides from us, and he is right.
I fed her right after, and she ate very well. No excessive thirst or litter box visits. Acting as normal as can be.
The question is - should we give her insulin tonight? She had it this morning, and her last reading yesterday was 350. I don't want to overdose, but I do want to keep the regimen to get her well.
Anyone ever have that happen with this meter?
I am going to call the vet in the morning, if I can't get a good sample, and ask him as well. And I am going to get a bigger lancet. I need to get this right for our little one.
Berta
 
Im not very experienced with any of this yet, so I can't give you any advice except what I would do if i was in your situation, I wouldn't give my cat his shot until I could check his BG again. They can go from normal to seizing in a blink from everything I've read. Is she acting more "fiesty" then normal? That may be a symptom of low BG. What kind of insulin are you using? Theres something I've been told a few times here so far, better high for a day then low for a minute.
 
That was what we thought as well. We are using Vetsulin, 2 u. I don't want to see her hypo, that is for sure.
She is not more feisty than usual - she is now playing with a toy that she loves.
 
I use the Alphatrak meter and I don't think that reading had anything to do with the size of the blood sample. The meter reads with a blood bead the size of a pin head and doesn't beep until enough blood has been taken into the strip.

I would assume this is a very low reading and re-test and keep re-testing until you see the number coming up and staying up. 24 on the AT meter is EXTREMELY LOW and you need to treat this as such until you prove otherwise!

Please let us know as soon as you get another reading!
 
Please be aware that some cats do not show symptoms of low BG until it becomes a critical situation so do not let your guard down until you are sure the number was bogus or is rising. Your warning reference number on the AT meter is 68. Any reading 68 or lower means you need to intervene to keep the BG level from dropping further.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
I would assume this is a very low reading
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Absolutely.
You have to 'assume' the number really is low because if it is that low you need to take action to give glucose/syrup immediately. Every second counts when numbers are very low.
If it were my cat in this situation I could give glucose/syrup and then retest.
I would rather that the low reading turned out to be false and that I'd given my cat glucose unnecessarily than that I hesitated and my cat became symptomatic.
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Berta and Louise said:
We use the Alpha Trak 2. I got a tiny sample today, and the meter said 24!!!! I don't think that can be right. But the sample was super tiny - and I was surprised that the meter beeped and didn't give me an error.
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I also use the AlphaTrak2 and if the meter beeps it has been able to read the blood drop. I have had low numbers with a small drop of blood and redone them and still had a low reading. It is definitely safer to assume the reading is correct.

What insulin are you using and how long after the shot did you get the 24 reading? You need to give some syrup...karo, maple syrup, honey..etc and high carb food and retest again in 20 minutes. Especially with the AT2 meter that number is WAY too low.


ETA Not all kitties show signs of a hypo right away. Some will seem fine and then suddenly become wobbly and become unconscious. You don;t want to wait until you see signs before you intervene when the number is that low.
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
If it were my cat in this situation I could give glucose/syrup and then retest. I would rather that the low reading turned out to be false and that I'd given my cat glucose unnecessarily than that I hesitated and my cat became symptomatic.
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Same here. Far better to err on the side of caution.


Mogs
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Berta, assume the meter is correct. That is the safest way to proceed. I used to have trouble getting samples too. Here is how I was able to fix that problem:
1) Massaging BOTH ears. It seemed to put kitty into "purr-ville", and flushed the ears with circulation. Also, the warm rice sock massage works great for that too.
2) TRY USING THE LANCET DEVICE. I was "free handing" it, and it was never as fast and painless the way I did it. I had bad technique from nerves, AND IT WAS HIT AND MISS. Once I started using the spring loaded device, they didn't even know I was taking a sample. Plus, I never miss the sweet spot because you can lay the device right on top of the area that you want to draw from. NO MISSES. It was literally a night and day difference.
3) Sometimes following the process with a high protein treat takes the trauma out of the moment.
 
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