Need help please! Edith's BG AMPS 196

albertresidence

albertresidence

Member Since 2019
Edith's BG, for the first time in the AM is 196. Do I give her insulin? I read somewhere here on the Forum that the "cut off" number is 200? I'm still learning.
 
Edith has a much better AMPS, congrats! It is still at least twice as high as normal BG, so I would shoot as long as you will be available to test. I believe the 200 cutoff is for people without much experience or data. Once you gain more of both, you will be shooting lower numbers, even greens. Can you get a +2 today? And go from there? Any chance you have an auto-feeder, or can leave food out if you'll be gone?
I hope someone else chimes in! Edith is a beauty!
 
@Tina Marie and Jan, Thank you! I wont be able to do a +2, I have to leave in about an hour. Auto feeder wouldn't work in our situation either, unfortunately. It's a Multi-Kitty Household do to my Rescue Work. Don't know what to do? I don't want to hurt her by giving her no insulin but I also don't want to created a hypo situation?
 
Can you put her in a room by herself with lots of food out for her to eat? Could you retest? Been 1/2 hour and if you haven't fed that would tell if she is going up or coming down.
 
@Wendy&Neko, she actually ate at a normal pace and didn't hoover it. Yes, she gets her AM food (1 can of FF Naturals pate), then a late afternoon snack, freeze dried or a little bit of of plain home cooked chicken, then she gets supper and a late good night snack (Vital Essentials freeze dried raw mini nibs). I just checked her BG again, after she ate and puked, she is now at 295.
 
With such a rise, at least you should feel safe to shoot. I have six cats (foster failure) but am home based. In a situation where I had to be gone for a few hours, I'd put Tina in her own room with an auto feeder. I know the intricacies of life can make this difficult! I hate separating everyone, so I still get up at 3am to give a snack instead of using the auto feeder.
Wendy is very experienced - I love when she answers!!
 
When people are new and following SLGS, we suggest 200 as the stop, do not feed, and post for help number. You don't have a lot of data yet on shooting lower numbers, so shooting a reduced dose is a perfectly fine option. Until you know more about how Edith responds. And yes, back to her normal dose tonight.

A quick question, did you dose last night? I don't see anything in the units column.
 
No worries, I assumed you had given that dose.

One thing you might want to consider is getting a test, if possible, before you go to bed at night. Many cats go lower at night, and we change the dose based on those lows. Because Edith is bouncing today and started with a blue, it leads me to suspect she went quite a bit lower than 196 overnight. She isn't used to blues, hence the bounce.
 
My last testing usually is at 10:30 pm, that's my PMPS. I'm so frustrated and don't understand why her numbers are all over the place when I am consistent in her treatment. The Vet Office who originally "adopted" her does not believe or recommend home BG testing to get her regulated. I feel like I have a big target on my back if something would happen to Edith. I would be blamed because I didn't follow the Vets beliefs.
 
Is there any way to move the shots up a couple hours so you can get a +2 at night? Or even a +9 or +10 in the morning? Without data in the night time cycle, it's really hard for us to figure out if she needs less insulin, or needs to stay at this dose. You are seeing numbers in the 90 to 149 range, which per SLGS means hold the dose for now, unless you can spot an under 90.

As for her numbers being "all over the place" - that has to be the most common phrase we see from people new to feline diabetes. It's annoying, but very common with recently diagnosed cats. Not until cats bodies get more used to normal blood sugar numbers do they start flattening out a bit. Insulin is a hormone, not a drug. The cat has to learn to work with the hormone. It just takes time. One of our trite but true phrases here is "it's a marathon, not a sprint".
 
I strongly believe there is less of a chance of something going wrong with you testing at home!! Vet's often cater to what they think the people can handle instead of what is actually best for kitty. I've read that 75% of cats diagnosed are literally let go; life ended. If the vets all said we need to home test, etc., that number could be worse. It's sad, the number of people who feel like you do. My vet really screwed up IMO with my Tina's care, BUT as I reported her progress, and my involvement, they sealed their lips about diabetes entirely, practically admitting I knew best.

Those all over the place numbers are not uncommon in the beginning - and you have been at this less than a month. Things will improve -- keep at it!
 
@Wendy&Neko, the reason why I'm frustrated is the fact that she was diagnosed already in November 2018 while being the Vet's office cat and put on Lantus 2U SID. Despite my Rescue work since 2007, I never had a diabetic foster kitty. I was under the impression Edith was regulated when I took her under my wing December 8th, 2019 and that I can comfortably follow the Vets advice. It turned out to be the opposite when I started to educate myself about FD and found this forum (Thank God). Looking at Edith's journey, her marathon should have been successfully accomplished already and that we should be at the finish line, meaning, we got it under control, whether with insulin or OTJ. Well, this is obviously far from the truth and we are starting form Zero. Sorry, for venting, I'm just really frustrated, I'm trying my absolute best while taking care of the rest of The Kitty Gang=( I know, it's OT but I lost 3 of my own babies within the last 9 month to SCC, unexpectedly, possibly due to contaminated commercial food which is going to be investigated. And just 2 days ago, I lost my foster Henry. He was an owner surrender that we pulled in August. He was 15 years old,... he passed away in my arms. I always give it my all and will give Edith the best care I can....
 
I'm so sorry for your recent losses; how awfully hard.
To be honest, regulation as used for felines is very loose. We aim for tight regulation in most cases here, for better health and the chance of remission. I just read again, that regulation with insulin in cats, is considered having glucose readings from 80 to 250. Non diabetic cats rarely go over 100, and are commonly in the 50s . . .sure is odd up to 250 is ok!
 
Five hours in vet school in cat and dog diabetes, compared to how many hours people here have spent? We occasionally have vets as members, and it always warms my heart because those ones are willing to learn and we know they are doing good for their clients.

Sorry, should have remembered Edith's history. Sounds like she was kept in higher numbers before going home with you, and her body got used to them. This can still be overcome, and you can still give her a great life. I am sure you will.

Sorry about your recent losses.:bighug: I have fostered to adopt a couple of unadoptable cats from the shelter. I know the heartbreak.
 
Hang in there @albertresidence ! You're a very special person to have taken in a diabetic cat in the first place and it's certainly not an easy to treat disease.

With most other things, you give Xmgs of Y medication and that's all you need to do to keep them as healthy as possible. With diabetes, you're dealing with hormones....and if you remember your days as a teenager, one minute you're laughing, the next minute you're crying!

With time, you'll learn more about how Edith responds to both food and insulin and you'll start to figure her out. It was a good 5-6 months (and I started out here with all these wonderful people to help me!) before I started to see something that resembled a pattern with China...and eventually she became the most tightly controlled cat here for several years before she passed from cancer.

You can do it!
 
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