My cat's BG numbers are all over the place

A

acamp0062

New Member
I need some help on figuring out what is going on with my sugar cat Skipper's numbers. Skipper was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of August and is still not regulated. He is currently on 3 units of Vetsulin twice a day and eating fancy feast classics. I am home testing, although my vet disagrees and also tells me I should be giving insulin no matter what his numbers are and that he needs the 3 units twice a day regardless. I'm at a loss trying to figure out why he keeps ranging from 350-500+ one week and then the next week he is 300 and below. Or in the morning his pre shot is at 500 and in the evening he in the 100s.

These are the numbers from the glucose curve I did yesterday...

5am - 587mg/dL
5am - meal and 3u Vetsulin
7am - 416mg/dL
9am - 322mg/dL
11am - 246mg/dL
1pm - 173mg/dL
3pm - 152mg/dL
5pm - 139mg/dL
5pm - meal and .5u Vetsulin ***

***I have had a couple pre shot numbers under 200 and did not shoot in the past because I did not know enough to safely shoot. This was my first shoot under 200. At 8:30pm I checked him again to make sure he was doing ok and his levels were at 277mg/dL. And by 5am this morning he was back to 520mg/dL.

I'm at a loss I don't know what to do or if I am doing something wrong. I feel overwhelmed and I need some help figuring it out. Like I said my vet really doesn't know much and has told me wrong info and she does not like that I use this website and the facebook group. I'm only 19 and with work, school and playing a competitive sport across the country and overseas, this is beginning to be a lot.
 
Hi!

I do not use caninsulin, but saw you had no replies, so I am offering my two cents....

It is difficult to give advice based on a single day. It takes time to learn how a cat is reponding to insulin doses, so I think you may have more responses if you setup a spreadsheet, and keep data for a few days. Most people check before insulin shot and perhaps a couple of times in between if they can, or at least once, between 4 and 7 hours after the shot to determine the nadir (when glucose go the lowest).
You can see my spreadsheet for hercules below. He has been all over the place too... and we will be trying a new insulin as soon as it arrives. I have seen a similar pattern to what your kitty showed in your curve (of constant decline), and I think this mostly happened when Hercs had a bounce. If you are not familiar with the idea of bouncing, have a look through the stickies. Basically cats that have been running high for a long time, "panic" when they go low, and dump a bunch og glycogen in their bloodstream to bring their glucose to what they are used to. So when cats start taking insulin it can take a while until they stop bouncing. Some cats bounce more than others. Hercs was quite bouncy, and is starting to be a bit less after 6 months. So it is quite possible that what you are seeing is a lot of bouncing?

Hang in there. Hopefully someone with specific knowledge of caninsulin will come along soon!
 
Hercule's mum said:
Hi!

I do not use caninsulin, but saw you had no replies, so I am offering my two cents....

It is difficult to give advice based on a single day. It takes time to learn how a cat is reponding to insulin doses, so I think you may have more responses if you setup a spreadsheet, and keep data for a few days. Most people check before insulin shot and perhaps a couple of times in between if they can, or at least once, between 4 and 7 hours after the shot to determine the nadir (when glucose go the lowest).
You can see my spreadsheet for hercules below. He has been all over the place too... and we will be trying a new insulin as soon as it arrives. I have seen a similar pattern to what your kitty showed in your curve (of constant decline), and I think this mostly happened when Hercs had a bounce. If you are not familiar with the idea of bouncing, have a look through the stickies. Basically cats that have been running high for a long time, "panic" when they go low, and dump a bunch og glycogen in their bloodstream to bring their glucose to what they are used to. So when cats start taking insulin it can take a while until they stop bouncing. Some cats bounce more than others. Hercs was quite bouncy, and is starting to be a bit less after 6 months. So it is quite possible that what you are seeing is a lot of bouncing?

Hang in there. Hopefully someone with specific knowledge of caninsulin will come along soon!
Click to expand...
My cat Buddy does the same thing, he is on Lantus so I have no knowledge of Caninsulin. Buddy, has chronic pancreatitis and we believe that a flare up from his pancreas causes these swings. I hope you find an answer maybe it would help Buddy. This is a constant thing with Buddy.
 
Looks like those highs are bounces. I would lower the dose to no more than 2 and see if that gives you two full shootable numbers. Great that you are home testing.
 
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