Newbie here, a little worried

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I shoot every 12 hours around 7-7:30, 1.5 units. He is starving at 5am, so I give him about 1/4 of a can of food and again around 6-6:30; so he gets about 1/2 can in the morning. When I get home at night, around 4:30-5:00, he is screaming for food again. Phil feeds him 1/4 of can sometime around lunchtime. sometimes later, like today around 3pm. So it is tough to try to hold out 8 hours before shot time.

It would be best if you didn't feed him two hours before giving the shot. The reason is that you are testing him and shooting him at 7-7:30 on a food spike number which is misleading. Since he is so hungry at 5AM can you change your shot/feed time to 5AM/5PM? Getting a snack from Paul at lunchtime is fine as long as it is not getting close to shot time.

BTW how big are the cans you are feeding him? And what are they?

So, I get home tonight at 5:00, I test him before feeding. 48.....48!!!
So, I'm like, wow, maybe a bad reading. I do it again....54.
I fed him about 1/2 can, he ate most of it, but not all of it.

Good for you for retesting! It looks like the dry food has cleared from his system.

Just tested again, it's up to 121. So it is rising, I'm going to wait until about 7:30 to test again. Should I possibly lower his doses to 1.25 or 1 again? I know someone said to hold the dose at what I was doing, which is 1.5 units. He is not eating any dry at all. (which bites because I just bought the big bag of Wellness dry food at $20+!! But I'm going to donate it to a local cat sanctuary, Fran's Felines.)

Yes, getting that 48 warrants a dose reduction. I would say one unit. See what the others say and do get a spot check in before you go to bed. He may be on his way to being a very low dose levemir kitty.

I hope you get the spreadsheet figured out and can update it. It looks like you have it right now, it just needs updating. Good job!
 
The 48 you got at 5:00 today may be because you cut out the dry food (which is a great thing!!). You handled it beautifully by retesting and feeding a little food. Like Pamela said, anything under 50 warrants a dose decrease so i agree with 1u.

As for the food timing...i was in the exact same boat. It was most convenient for me to shoot at 8am and 8 pm but there was no way in hell cats were making it till 8 to eat so i was feeding them at 6 and 6 and then shooting at 8 and 8 (the same thing that you're doing). I couldn't get the numbers regulated and when i explained to everyone here, Pamela and all explained the same to me as she did to you It would be best if you didn't feed him two hours before giving the shot. The reason is that you are testing him and shooting him at 7-7:30 on a food spike number which is misleading. Since he is so hungry at 5AM can you change your shot/feed time to 5AM/5PM? Getting a snack from Paul at lunchtime is fine as long as it is not getting close to shot time. I switched to testing, feeding and shooting at 6 am and 6 pm and it made a world of difference. It just took a little tweaking of my and dh's schedule.

Keep up the great work, -Michele
 
Mindy - great job with the low - you didn't panic, which is good because it's not a dangerous low, just a "feed a little" low. And a dose reduction is good. 1u is probably a safe place to be for now. Try and get a before bed check. If your dbf is home during the day, can he test at around noon? (5 to 6 hrs after the shot).
 
Ha! I've tried to get him to test, and he can't. It just takes a little practice, I know. I really know! I can try to teach him more and see.

Well, this morning before feeding it was back up in the 400's (I'm at work, I can't remember the exact amount.)

I can do the 5a/5p thing, not a problem. Except for weekends when Linwood can tell time, but not that it is a Sat and I want to sleep a bit. I can't really change the 5pm thing because I have class at 6 on weds nights. DBF can shoot, but it's tough for him to stick.

Okay, so it's test, shoot, feed. I will try that tonight. I did give him 1.5 units last night and this morning. Just continuing on with the schedule. Our timing is off on the message board, so I'm usually a day behind everyone's advice!

Thanks so much again! I do appreciate it. Will work on the spreadsheet this weekend.
 
Mindy, I am a little concerned about shooting the same amount that brought him below 50 yesterday. Please make sure that he has food available this afternoon, in case he needs it. And spot check him as soon as possible. Will your bf be home to keep an eye on him? Does he know what to do for a hypo? I am not trying to scare you, but better to be prepared than not. At this point I would have him watch for extreme hunger (and feed that), disorientation or being just really not himself. If that happens, he can feed a small amount of food with very small amount of karo syrup mixed in, or rub karo on his gums.

It's really hard without being able to test to know what is going on with the BG. I have had times when I thought for sure that Beau was in a hypo, tested and he was in the 300s or something. When he has been low (30s) he doesn't really act any different. One time he was trying to get food out of an empty dish when a full one was a few feet away. He licked it across the floor before I thought I better test him. He was 33. So I fed him.

"back into the 400s" could very well be from rebound from going low yesterday and possibly again overnight after the same dose.
 
Echoing all of Sheila's concerns here plus what she said about rebounding from the 48.

It really would be great if you could teach Phil (sorry I called him Paul before) how to test.

I am glad you are sticking with this thread so people can look back on what has been going on.

Again, what size are the cans you are feeding? I am just wondering since you say he gets a 1/4 can here or a 1/2 can other times so just trying to get an idea of the amount each time.
 
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