My cat was hypo.

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matahari

matahari

Member Since 2013
my cat spent the last 24 hours at the vet to get IV fluids. He has kidney failure on top of the diabetes. He had 1 unit of lantus at noon today. Brought him home at 6 pm. He was hypo. Staggering around, drunk. He ate 2 bowls of high carb food and I gave honey.

His BG was 30. It's now up to 40. And he is calmer. Not pacing. The vet said to not give his evening lantus shot, and to call him if he gets worse.

How long should I keep giving him honey?

Thank you
 
You should be testing about every 15 minutes after giving the honey. Do you have any high-carb food in the house? When was last time you gave honey & tested? (Please give time & your time zone.)
 
Robin&BB said:
You should be testing about every 15 minutes after giving the honey. Do you have any high-carb food in the house? When was last time you gave honey & tested? (Please give time & your time zone.)
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He ate 2 bowls of high carb food 30 minutes ago. I gave him honey 20 minutes ago. I've been giving it every 15 min and testing. I'm pacific coast time
 
As long as his numbers are climbing, I'd hold off on any more honey. If you can, test him every hour for a few hours. If he's climbing and you hold off with the insulin, he should level off fairly soon.
 
I'm assuming you're using a human meter? We want to see your kitty start climbing up past 60 or so; and you will need to continue testing to make sure he is rising and that his # doesn't drop again.
 
Robin&BB said:
I'm assuming you're using a human meter? We want to see your kitty start climbing up past 60 or so; and you will need to continue testing to make sure he is rising and that his # doesn't drop again.
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Ok I'm going to Keep testing . Yes I use a human meter the one from cvs.
 
matahari said:
He ate 2 bowls of high carb food 30 minutes ago. I gave him honey 20 minutes ago. I've been giving it every 15 min and testing. I'm pacific coast time
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When you say 2 bowls of high carb 30 min ago, about how much would you say that was in ounces?
 
If he's eaten 2 bowls of HC plus honey, I'd slow down on the food for now....test every 20 minutes until he's above 50

We may need him to continue to be willing to eat for awhile so we don't want him too full....he may also throw up if he gets too much and that could make things worse
 
He ate 2 small cans and a handful of dry food.

Ok I will post his numbers as I get them. He is resting now. Not eating. His last BG was 40. Going to test again
 
Ok, that's good - but I'd like you to test again in about 20 minutes or so. We want to make sure that # keeps rising AND until we see it rising up above 60 and beyond, I want you to keep testing every 20 to 30 minutes, please.

You will still need to keep monitoring after that, but at that point you can probably test at longer intervals - say, every 45 minutes. (We just want to make sure he gets up to safe numbers and stays up there.)
 
OK....you need to go ahead and give a few teaspoons of the gravy part of the High carb food....the gravy is where most of the carbs are and it shouldn't "fill him up" if we need him to eat more later

What we do is open the "gravy lovers' food, put the top back on and "squeeze" the gravy into another bowl.....messy but it works
 
You guys are great. Thank you so much!

Got him to eat some gravy. He seems to be perking up. Not acting hypo. Going to test again in 20 min.
 
His last shot was done by the vet at 12 noon today. 1 unit. They said he ate a big bowl of food this morning. I don't know if they fed him again. I picked him up at 6.
 
Give him some more gravy, please - would have liked to see him rising more than this by now.
Any chance you can get him to eat a bite or two of high-carb food? (Not a lot; just a little - as we may need him to eat more later tonight.)
 
Did the vet tell you what your kitty's blood glucose # was when he shot the 1 unit earlier today?
 
To be honest I don't think they tested him before they gave him the shot. They are lovely vets. But they are clueless to dealing with diabetes.
 
It'll be really important for you to start keeping your spreadsheet up to date going forward...without seeing how Nino's been doing, it makes it impossible for us to give you any really good feedback

No matter what though, he's earned a reduction on his next shot.....and the fact that he's staying this low for this long has me concerned too....especially if he ate 2 whole cans of high carb food earlier and is still only in the 40's

I would really recommend that you don't give him any insulin without posting first and having someone with experience watching out for you at his next shot time

I do have to leave (have lots to do early in the morning) so I wish you the best of luck tonight....if he doesn't come up (and stay up) soon, you may want to seriously consider taking him to an ER vet where they can put him on a glucose drip...with as much as he's had, he should be a lot higher than 44
 
The last #s I'm seeing on Nino's spreadsheet are from 8/11/15. Has he been getting Lantus twice a day since that time? And have you been testing him every time before a dose?
 
That's around the time he got diagnosed with kidney failure. I was overwhelmed with everything. I have him on subs q fluids. I was testing him in the mornings but not posting to his sheet. He was all over the place. He also had an infected tooth which was causing his numbers to be all over the place. I'll start putting his numbers into his spread sheet.

I suspect he didn't eat after the vet gave him his shot. He was probably stressed. But was on IV so not sure.

He has been getting twice a day yes, except when he had a low preshoot number. Then I would skip a shot.
 
Geez ... that's not much of a rise, Hayley. Have you given a little more gravy/food?

matahari said:
He has been getting twice a day yes, except when he had a low preshoot number. Then I would skip a shot.
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Yes, I was wondering about that ... because I see he got a full unit on 8/11 when he had a PMPS of 105. That's too low a number to be shooting; and then he was hypo @ +10 with a 45. That steep drop to +5 in the daytime cycle on 8/11 - after an AMPS of 386 - is a very clear indicator that his dose was too high.

One of my concerns re: the dose your vet gave today is in regard to the pre-shot # AND whether or not your kitty stresses while at the vet's office, as "stress hyperglycemia" can really spike a number that you might not normally get at home. And if this vet did not take that possibility into consideration, could conceivably have dosed Nino with too much insulin.
 
Let's see what kind of a # you get in another 20 minutes, too, please. Because if he's still not rising, I'd really recommend you get him into an ER clinic for IV fluids, as he really should have had MUCH more of a rise in blood glucose by this time.
 
I can't afford to take him back to the vet :(. I drained my bank account on his visit yesterday. His kidney failure issues have been really pressing. He had an abscesses tooth 10 days ago and had to have emergency surgery. It's been a roller coaster ride. And decimated my finances.
 
I'm sorry! I know how rough it can get when there's so much treatment needed ... well, let's just see how he's doing by the next test. (Hope you have plenty of coffee ... you may need it tonight.)
 
(Just thinking ahead here ...) What time in the morning do you normally get your AMPS test and give the dose? As I really recommend you get some good advice from an experienced Lantus adviser here on the forums before you decide on any dose in the morning. (Considering what's been going on tonight - who knows what his # will be at AMPS time?) Even if he's spiked you a high # by then, I'd still feel better about it if you run it by the good people on the Lantus forum before you dose.

Would recommend you post at AMPS time on both Main Health forum and in the Lantus/Levemir forum with a title like "Need Lantus Dose Advice after Hypo." (That way you'll likely get plenty of eyes on your thread.)
 
He gets his shots at 12 noon and 12 am. I'm skipping tonight. I'm not sure I'm going to give him one tmrw. I have to be out all day and I'm worried.

I have no idea how much he has eaten. But it was a lot. Probably 2 small cans and a handful of dry food. Which he never gets except in crisis. Sometimes he won't eat anything. If I give him a few nuggets he starts eating.
 
Just a random thought as I happened to notice this post. You say Nino had an abscessed tooth removed recently. It's possible the infection in the tooth might have been making him run higher than he usually would and he might actually be heading for a much lower dose than he's been on. I would agree with getting some opinions before your next shot no matter what his number - him staying low for this long is definitely concerning. I wouldn't shoot tomorrow morning if you can't monitor him during the day either - a skipped shot won't harm him, but dropping low again like this if you're not home could. You're doing a great job by the way - he still could do with being up further, but you're getting him there little by little.
 
matahari said:
He gets his shots at 12 noon and 12 am. I'm skipping tonight. I'm not sure I'm going to give him one tmrw. I have to be out all day and I'm worried.
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Yes, I agree: If in doubt, don't shoot. Is better to be high for a day than too low for a moment - especially when you can't be around to monitor. And given how slow he's been going in recovering from this hypo situation, I'd say you really need to make sure he's consuming an adequate amount of food when you do shoot. And I'd definitely decrease that dose when you shoot again. I'd much rather see you cut it in half (0.5 U) the next time you shoot the Lantus (the start low/go slow approach), because April @manxcat419 has a very good point (above) re: spiking a higher # than usual due to the abscessed tooth. But - again - the Lantus folk will be able to give you very good guidance here.
 
@manxcat419 you know I thought about that to. Now that the infection is Gone. He might need less. I'm going to really test a lot these days now. I will skip his does tmrw morning. And then ask the Lantus group advise as I go.
he seems much better. Doesn't seem drunk. Is going to his box drinking water and sitting happily in my lap.

Thank you!
 
I agree. Given how low he's been and for how long, I'd give more than the standard 0.25U reduction too and even then you'll want to monitor him closely to make sure he doesn't just head right back down there. There will be other people around who use Lantus by tomorrow night I'm sure to help you with some more opinions. It's great that he's feeling better - his numbers might still be a little too low for you to leave him overnight yet, but the lack of hypo symptoms when he was symptomatic earlier is definitely a good sign. :) I'll try and look in tomorrow evening too to make sure you're getting some help - I know there might not be as many people about tomorrow but I'm home in the evening.

matahari said:
We all have Black cats! Are black cats more predisposed to Diabetes?
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I really don't know - one of mine is diabetic and the other one isn't even though they're twins. I've always thought it might be because, although my 2 are black, they're also part Siamese - for some reason I have it stuck in my head that I've heard that Siamese might be more prone to diabetes. It is interesting though - now I'm wondering if it's a bit of research I could look at as part of my college course! :)
 
matahari said:
We all have Black cats! Are black cats more predisposed to Diabetes?
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Hmm ... don't know about that. But it certainly is interesting that the three of us who are on this thread right now all have black cats!:D
(And would you believe this: My black cat just jumped up on the couch as I was typing and touched my right arm with her paw as if to say, "Are you coming to bed soon, or what?" Gotta love our kitties!:rolleyes::p)
 
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