Jessica L.
Member Since 2021
TL;DR: We've been checking Purrscilla's levels for almost a week (more consistently for about 1.5 days), and they seem low. One unit of Vetsulin has sent her into hypo states, twice in a row. Now I'm not sure how much to give (or not give) her. Please help, if the limited data we have is enough. Thank you!
A little backstory...
Purrscilla (10 years old) was diagnosed with pancreatitis in April/May '21. She was put on steroids, pain meds, and Royal Canin's Gastrointestinal formula (mostly dry with a little wet). She's been a kibble addict her whole life, so adding the wet food was a struggle!
In Aug. '21, her pancreatitis was finally healed, but she was diagnosed with IBD. She was kept on the same meds and prescribed Purina's Hypoallergenic food (back to dry).
In Sept. '21, we went for a check-up on the IBD, and the vet ran a glucose spot test based on numbers from her previous labs. She was over 500; she's diabetic! He instantly had us start on 2 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours (and strongly encouraged Lantus) and Purina's Diabetic food (slowly transitioning from less dry to more wet). I shared my concern about putting her on this food with IBD. He said I could transition her off of the prescription food if I found something that was at least 40% protein. We didn't get much other info beyond the possibility of remission with Lantus.
So I did my own research into FD, and I switched her slowly over to FreshPet food fully (no more kibble! Yay!). Then I started adding Tiki Cat to the FreshPet as I learned more about the appropriate cat diet and the 7-10% max carbs rule. I decided to hold off my search for Lantus in hopes that we could get Purrscilla into remission with her food change. I wasn't aware of the need to home-test or change her insulin dosage based on her glucose readings.
Two weeks after the diagnosis appointment, we went for another check-up. and her glucose was at 88, which our vet seemed to be concerned about being too low. He had us decrease to 1.5 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours. We got to decrease her steroids by a little bit too!
Two days later, I found this site, learned about home-testing, and got our own supplies. Fast forward a week of testing only before giving insulin and not knowing what the numbers mean and being totally overwhelmed.
Two nights ago, I had a gut feeling to check her glucose before bed (it was at 69 before dinner, so we only gave her 1 unit of insulin). She was at 43 (3 hours after her shot)! YIKES! I followed some of the hypo protocols here and got her to 77 by midnight.
I called the vet in the morning and asked what her numbers should be. He said 120-250 on my human monitor and to check the numbers hourly if she ever reached the 80s. She had already been at 44 that morning (+3 AMPS of 1 unit), and we were doing hypo protocols again.
I joined the FB group last night to try to get some answers about her numbers. Now I'm here and have an updated spreadsheet. The colored legend for the glucose numbers has already made a huge improvement on my anxiety; thank you!
Please help me figure out what dose she should be getting now that 1 unit has sent her to hypos twice. Thank you in advance!
A little backstory...
Purrscilla (10 years old) was diagnosed with pancreatitis in April/May '21. She was put on steroids, pain meds, and Royal Canin's Gastrointestinal formula (mostly dry with a little wet). She's been a kibble addict her whole life, so adding the wet food was a struggle!
In Aug. '21, her pancreatitis was finally healed, but she was diagnosed with IBD. She was kept on the same meds and prescribed Purina's Hypoallergenic food (back to dry).
In Sept. '21, we went for a check-up on the IBD, and the vet ran a glucose spot test based on numbers from her previous labs. She was over 500; she's diabetic! He instantly had us start on 2 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours (and strongly encouraged Lantus) and Purina's Diabetic food (slowly transitioning from less dry to more wet). I shared my concern about putting her on this food with IBD. He said I could transition her off of the prescription food if I found something that was at least 40% protein. We didn't get much other info beyond the possibility of remission with Lantus.
So I did my own research into FD, and I switched her slowly over to FreshPet food fully (no more kibble! Yay!). Then I started adding Tiki Cat to the FreshPet as I learned more about the appropriate cat diet and the 7-10% max carbs rule. I decided to hold off my search for Lantus in hopes that we could get Purrscilla into remission with her food change. I wasn't aware of the need to home-test or change her insulin dosage based on her glucose readings.
Two weeks after the diagnosis appointment, we went for another check-up. and her glucose was at 88, which our vet seemed to be concerned about being too low. He had us decrease to 1.5 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours. We got to decrease her steroids by a little bit too!
Two days later, I found this site, learned about home-testing, and got our own supplies. Fast forward a week of testing only before giving insulin and not knowing what the numbers mean and being totally overwhelmed.
Two nights ago, I had a gut feeling to check her glucose before bed (it was at 69 before dinner, so we only gave her 1 unit of insulin). She was at 43 (3 hours after her shot)! YIKES! I followed some of the hypo protocols here and got her to 77 by midnight.
I called the vet in the morning and asked what her numbers should be. He said 120-250 on my human monitor and to check the numbers hourly if she ever reached the 80s. She had already been at 44 that morning (+3 AMPS of 1 unit), and we were doing hypo protocols again.
I joined the FB group last night to try to get some answers about her numbers. Now I'm here and have an updated spreadsheet. The colored legend for the glucose numbers has already made a huge improvement on my anxiety; thank you!
Please help me figure out what dose she should be getting now that 1 unit has sent her to hypos twice. Thank you in advance!
