Okay, what the HECK is going on?

I fed Chloe at 9am. She ate... I tested at 9:30, BG was 96. Now she ate a bit more and I waited an hour.. didn't give shot..and BG is down to 59?? What's happening????

 

Chloe's pancreas is responding to the food by producing insulin. This is a good sign! Chloe may not need insulin much longer. Oh, and you did right to skip the shot!

 

So this is why testing is so important!! I'm literally hunched over the laptop waiting for someone to respond. My eyes keep filling up because I'm so nervous that her numbers were too low. I couldn't figure out why it DROPPED after she ate. I know home meters might be a bit lower than what the vet will do (but his might be a bit higher cause she's stressed). She goes tomorrow. I guess I'll test AGAIN tonight before her shot to see if I should shoot?

The vet said her BG was 593 last Monday. We took away the crappy dry food, and have done nothing by low carb wet food. Could that really have brought her level down 500 points? That seems so insane to me.

She got a bit annoyed at me.. but she's doing well otherwise. Maybe she'll be otj soon? Maybe???

 

It does sound like the drop was a lot just from diet change, but a fair number of cats do just need a few shots and a new diet. Definitely test before her shot tonight. Try to do a test mid-cycle if you can (about 6 hours after eating). And yes, this is why we test before every shot. Good job!

 

Whoo Hoo Chloe!!!!

:RAHCAT

 

Really? I get a woohoo! YES!! flip_cat

She was lying in her bed (I wasn't sure if she was being a mush or just relaxing, since I'm nervous about her), so I got out the laser light that she loves to chase. Sure enough, she was chasing after it and playing. No mushiness. Good sign, right?

And I was worried about her back legs sliding all around the wood floor. Possible neuropathy? But I tested it out on Frankie, our civvie, and he slides around too. I think it's just the dumb wood floor.

 

Good job and wonderful news about her BG. It is amazing how we worry about these critters isn't it?
Most people at work think I am insane but I say I just care about the pets I chose to take in!

 

You get so much more than a woo hoo! You get that plus a wowie kawjawie!

Here are some things to think about, when at the vet, the stress alone can induce an artificially high BG say up to 200 points higher than normal BG (some cats actually go lower than higher).

So, let's say the vet visit was 593 - 200 = 393 - still too high a number for a cat.

Now you remove the dry food food and the numbers are 2 something.... not bad, really. Shows that no stress and diet can bring the BG's back in line.

Now you give insulin to help bring the 2 something number to more normal numbers, a few days of insulin and food and lookie, lookie you've got a 59!

And in case you're panicking! No need, if the cat wasn't given insulin and from the sound of it, it's been more than 12 hours since last shot - the cat won't hypo.

What this does mean, is if you give another shot of insulin, you may want to reduce the dose. (Now I don't know which insulin your on - I thought I saw PZI - so, not sure if this is correct protocol for this insulin). I think it is, but not 100%.

Regardless, looks like your cat's pancreas is waking up.

yeah!

 

Wowzers Chloe! That is great news! :mrgreen:

And yes my Webber's glucose is always sky high at the vet because of stress. That is why I refused to take him back for the second curve - I can do my own curve at home ;-)

 

Okay, so!!

I came back to Peter's to test Chloe-face +7 hours after her feeding time this morning. She wasn't given any insulin yet today..and she's at 58. Isn't this so fantastic!! Should I test AGAIN tonight after feeding, to see if I should shoot? Or not bother? Her poor ears, haha.

She goes to the vet tomorrow, he said +7 hours after her shot. But if her damn numbers are this low while testing at home, I don't want to go give her a shot and then take her. He mentioned nothing about a curve, I guess he just wanted to see the nadir (which is weird. Shouldn't he be doing a curve?).

These great numbers make me wonder if something is wrong with the machine. Is that silly? I got the One Touch Ultra Mini. I followed the instructions on how to Code it according to the # on the side of the test strips. Tested myself.. no errors. Got the drop of blinking blood as the go ahead to test.

Thank you so much for all the advice! Chloe is staring at the computer with an annoyed, heavy-lidded look, cat(2)_steam but she is mucho grateful as well (even if her ears are getting kind of sore).

 

Wow! That is just fantastic about Chloe's numbers. Take your test results with you to the vet and take your meter too. If he wants to test her there, you can do a test with your meter at the same time and compare numbers if you want.

Congrats to both of you!!!

 

remember that if vet tests sugar and it is elevated, I WOULD NOT give or allow vet to give any insulin cause this is more than likely stress related

job well done~~~~~~

 

Tested again tonight after some persuasion (she was too hungry and crabby for me to try the test before she ate), and her BG was 60. She hasn't had a DROP of insulin today. Woohoo!! Can you imagine if I didn't start testing her? I could have really hurt her by injecting her. Thanks for pushing me to get the meter, guys <3 :thumbup

I have one more lancet left in the pack that came with the meter, I'll save that for tomorrow morning. Then Peter will go to vet with all of the information and hopefully he says that she can be OTJ. It's not so much a big deal for me anymore, but Chloe lives with Peter...and he just isn't on top of things like I am with this kinda stuff. It would be much easier for her to be diet controlled with me doing periodic BG testing on my own to see how she is.

Fingers and paws crossed for tomorrow's vet visit at 5:30. I wish I could leave work early! Sigh.

 

I was glad to see you posting again today. I wondered what happened to you guys after sunday. Hurray for Chloe!
Keep testing, keep feeding low carb food, and keep reading so you really understand all this. See, you really could do this!

Are you talking about having one more lancet, (which is the sharp needle ) or the test strip? because I reuse the lancet many times. Be sure to check Hocks.com for strip prices.

Under the circumstances, since you are more "on top of things" , could you cancel and reschedule your appointment so that you both can discuss things with your vet. I couldn't trust my DH to report it all to the vet and back to me... A few more days of testing and (hopefully )not shooting just proves its not a fluke.

I seem to remember you were told by the vet to give 2 units BID. I hope you see now that could really be dangerous with her pretty new BG.

 

Just to add to Nancy & Cody's comments...

My daughter has been taking Stash to the vet for his FeLV appointments. I simply type up my observations along with updated BG readings and fax them over ahead of time. Puts everyone on the same page.

 

I tried to hang out a little while at Peter's to get a ready on Chloe after she ate. I couldn't wait a whole hour, only 40 minutes or so, but her BG after eating was 60. It was 63 before eating. I know most of you said that her insulin kicked in on it's own and dealt with the food. But does that really mean that her number would go DOWN after eating? Wouldn't it just go up slightly but not a lot, since her insulin is working on the food? Maybe I'm not understanding the mechanics of it correctly.

In any case, she's being a good girl. I'm very comfortable with the testing now (more by myself than with Peter there, actually), and she still isn't too thrilled with it, but is dealing.

I wrote everything up for Peter and will coach him again before going to the vet. He said he doesn't know if he wants to go against the vet if the vet wants to give her insulin. I doubt he will, because he didn't test her then and there. He drew blood and sent it to a lab. I'm giving the glucometer to Peter to take with him. And to tell the vet that Consumer Reports rated it the most accurate out of all the meters. Hmph.

Her numbers are so good. I hope this isn't temporary. She hasn't had any insulin since Tuesday night, though. And her numbers are still in the 60s.

Thanks for all the advice, guys

 

Well, first of all 63 and 60 are pretty much the same. Meters do not measure perfectly and blood drops are not all identical. So, 5 - 10 points difference is not unusual.

Eating food causes the BG to start to rise. The pancreas detects the rise in BG and releases stored insulin. This causes the BG to drop. In a normal cat (or human), blood sugar is controlled within a fairly narrow range. In a diabetic or borderline diabetic, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to keep the BG down. So, as time passes after the meal, the BGs begin to creep up again. You can find a full description here: http://www.mydr.com.au/gastrointestinal-health/pancreas-and-insulin