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James

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hi, was here years ago when Jezebel first got diagnosed after going dka. She has been doing wonderful since then. She eats only purina DM wet and the occasional greenie for her teeth. We do fructosamine checks at the vet about 3 times per year. we do not do any home blood glucose checks. ( we tried that for six months years ago and she never warmed up to it, caused her only endless stress and sore ears. i know some of you are experts but this was the wrong cat for that kind of thing) anyway. she gets 5 units of glargine in the a.m with meal and 5 units at night with food. she is a bruiser, runs around , plays and has very good health in general. no signs of lows or highs ever, no over drinking or over peeing or eating. But has a good appetite.

So last night during her meal but before she got her shot, she spit her food out and yelped, pawed at her mouth and shook her head...like a human would who had a bad tooth or bit into glass or some weird sudden thing like that. She shook it off. My wife then commented that the same thing happend in the morning. she had 2 teeth yanked years ago so we felt it would be best to run her up to the local 24 hr emergency place. she hates the vet and they seemed afraid to deal with her...actually seemed a tad lame for being vets who deal with animals, but they checked her and felt she needs a real dental exam. Lots of plaque, maybe some bleeding comes inthe back, definetley a put her out and full dental experience. OK, thats no big deal we knew it was coming. The main question is coming. while she was there they did a blood glucose on her and it was only 52. they gave me pain med, antibiotics etc, and told me to make an appointment with our vet for a full dental exam. they also said because it was only 52 to feed her when I got her home but not to give the glargine. OK. we got her home, mashed her food up added some water and she ate fine and ran around the house like normal. So the vet today said that 52 means she had too much insulin in her. But when they did the blood glucose at about 7pm, that was 13 hours after she recieved her 5 units that morning. and normally she would have had 5 more at dinner had she not had the mouth issue that prompted the vet visit. We do not leave food out for her during the day because we have 2 other cats and don't want to free feed them. good or bad? I don't understand why 13 hours after her 5 units she would have been 52 and it be from too much insulin? she goes to the vet monday for a dental exam. she is eating fine today, and we did not give her any pain med becuz she seems fine, also did not give the antibiotics yet. the cat is purring and chasing other cats as i type.
I know people here are incredibly knowledgeable so I am sure I will have a lot to think about after this is posted : ) It can actually be a little overwhelming on this forum sometimes with all the varying schools of thought on things. Thanks for the help and excuse the typos ...rushing and using two fingers : )

jim and stacie
 
James,

This is difficult because all we can advise you is what we know works for the kitties here. And as you know, that is testing before each shot and mid cycle to see how the insulin is working. Is there any chance you would want to post your city and state? Maybe we have someone nearby who could give you some hands on help. Have you tried testing her paws? We have some people who do that.

Until you find out how the insulin is affecting her blood glucose levels, anything else is just guessing. 57 at a vet (where she would likely be under stress and higher than usual) hours after the shot is a ridiculously low number which probably should have meant dangerously low numbers at her nadir and hypo symptoms. If you saw no hypo symptoms, we would only be guessing at what is happening.

All I can say is that few cats here are on that high a dose unless they have other conditions like acro, which you can read about on their Support page.

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Hi James, that is a lot of insulin like Sue said. Since you are not testing at home I would not give her any insulin until you check with the vet on Monday.
 
jezebel has been on this dose structure for about 3 years and is thriving. I am going to write off the 52 as vet induced stress and continue what has worked for us for all these years. thanks for the help.
 
James, the vet induced stress would normally cause her BG to be higher. Please be very cautious about giving her insulin right now. I understand this has been the norm for awhile but something could have changed. It sounds like you were at the emergency vet when you got the 52 reading, 13 hours after her last insulin injection. If you took her to your vet this morning did they check her blood sugar again? The vet was right by saying not to give her insulin.
 
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