Out of curiosity- what makes the same dose change BG so much

[Amanda]

Kazi managed to lick some melted ice cream out of a bowl left in the sink earlier this week late into the night. Her numbers shot through the roof, but came back down to normal by the time her insulin peaked.

AMPS: 310
+3: 210
+5: 146
+7: 136
PMPS: 158

On a more normal day:
AMPS: 140
+5: 119
PMPS: 117

Why do I get a drop of 174 pts vs 19-50pts or so from a more average day? Thinking about it logically I don't know how it could do that if her pancreas wasn't kicking in a bit of insulin...but then why wouldn't it happen at a more normal number? Not worried about anything, but was sitting her looking at her spreadsheet and wondering how that all works!

 

[Blue]

Not sure exactly what you want to hear but if you give a kitty some kinda sugary thing, say karo or honey, it's likely going to produce a quick and dirty spike high. But, it does NOT last long.
Say you squirt some gas or solvent on a fire, you will see a big flare up high, but then it settles back down smaller again.

If your kitty has really low BG and you want to bring up the numbers, you give HC or even karo if needed, but we know karo does not last long, so we have to watch for an hour later to be sure the numbers did not drop again. That's how I see it.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I think once you've had a chance to look at more spreadsheets, you'll see that variation in the numbers isn't all that uncommon. One explanation is the one you noted -- the pancreas may be intermittently producing endogenous insulin. Another explanation is the one Gayle provided. There are also a slew of other reasons that you have no control over -- stress being one of them -- any situation that produces cortisol or adrenalin or other stress hormones will raise numbers. And, the ever popular, all inclusive explanation, because this is a cat we're talking about and unpredictability is a given.