New member- blood glucose question

[Sie.purple]

Hi my name is Sierra and I have a sugarcat named Lola. She is 5 years old and was diagnosed in May this year. She is eating fancy feast classic pate. We started on 1 unit of glargine insulin twice a day, and have been gradually increasing by .5 units. She is now on 2 units twice daily, starting last week. I am using a pet meter and today I decided to do her glucose curve. Before her first dose, her first reading was 84mg/dL. The vet said her numbers should never go below 80. On her previous dose (1.5units), she was reading in the 200s-300s. Did I make the right decision not giving her insulin this morning? Should I give her insulin? And should I continue to do the curve anyways? The vet is closed today so I’m stressing. Thanks in advance!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

@Sie.purple
Hi Sierra and Lola , you couldn't have found a better group to join, there are a lot of experienced members here to help.If it wasn't for me taking their advice I don't think Tyler would be in remission today. It's 3 years and 4 months ( knock on wood)
I will tag some experienced members for you but first
We increase or decrease the dose by 0.25 units
Do you have the u-100 syringes with the half unit markings?
Using these make it easier to do.
Most of us use human meters since that's what our numbers are based on plus the test strips are so much affordable.
We a just the dose by how low the cat's BG is dropping which is called the nadir.
I can tell you where to get those syringes without needing a script from your vet

For now
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help

If you need help setting up our spreadsheet just ask.
The link in blue will also tell you how to set it up and explains how to use it, it's very easy.
You can take a look at anyone's spreadsheet
Also there are 2 dosing methods to chose from, each one will tell you when an increase or decrease is needed.
I'll give you the link for lantus/glargine

Here is where you can read all about glargine, read all the yellow stickys
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/
It takes 5-7 days for the depot to fill with lantus/glargine

Here is the link for the U-100 syringes with half unit markings
https://www.amazon.com/UltiCare-31-Gauge-Veterinary-Insulin-Syringes/dp/B009LTE0DO

I copied this that one of our members posted
Oh by the way, on the Alpha Trak meter ( pet meter ) 68 is your "take action" number, meaning that you will want to give a teaspoon of high carb food such as gravy lovers and then retest in 20 minutes to make sure BG is up and then to keep testing every 20-30 minutes to make sure BG is staying up and not dropping back down. Depending on if it is going up, not going up, still dropping, etc., you will need to either keep giving HC food, switch to LC food, etc. But I just wanted to mention the 68. The protocols we have here are written for human meter numbers and the Alpha Trak reads generally higher than a human meter, so we have to take that into account. For a human meter, the take action number is 50... for the AT it is 68.


For you hypo kit in case you ever need to bring Lola's BG up
For your hypo kit in case you ever need to bring up your cats BG
Med and High Carb food and have honey in your house



Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods



https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

10% and under is low carb
11% -15 is medium carbs.

16- 24 is high carb.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi my name is Sierra and I have a sugarcat named Lola. She is 5 years old and was diagnosed in May this year. She is eating fancy feast classic pate. We started on 1 unit of glargine insulin twice a day, and have been gradually increasing by .5 units. She is now on 2 units twice daily, starting last week. I am using a pet meter and today I decided to do her glucose curve. Before her first dose, her first reading was 84mg/dL. The vet said her numbers should never go below 80. On her previous dose (1.5units), she was reading in the 200s-300s. Did I make the right decision not giving her insulin this morning? Should I give her insulin? And should I continue to do the curve anyways? The vet is closed today so I’m stressing. Thanks in advance!

@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Bandit's Mom

Thank you ladies

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

You did great!

There are a couple of things we do differently than what your vet has suggested. First, we adjust doses in 0.25u amounts. It's way too easy to either speed past what could be a good dose or to give your cat too much insulin if you are increasing in larger amounts. That said, there are times when we suggest a larger increase but with a cat and caregiver that are still new to feline diabetes, we tend to not be overly aggressive except in special circumstances.

It sounds like you're home testing. That's also good news. However, I'm guessing that you may be testing only at shot time. We recommend getting a minimum of 4 tests per day. This includes a test before your AM and PM shots as well as at least one test during both the AM and PM cycles. This will give you better control over what's going on during your cat's insulin cycles so you can intervene should numbers have dropped. As an example, you don't know if her numbers were lower than the 84 prior to when you tested.