Someone please help !! This morning Phoenix's AMPS was 74. I had given him a little cream after testing because his tummy was upset and this helps. 30 minutes later, his BG was 79. I had given his insulin before at this number so I gave his 9.5 units of insulin. Then he only ate half his dinner which is very unusual. He eats everything. I checked his BG after 30 minutes. He had dropped to 54. I panicked and gave him some dry food. He ate it and then walked over and ate most of his remaining dinner. I check his BG again 30 minutes later. It is now 32. I gave him some more dry food and got a small amount of honey in his mouth. Phoenix is acting ok but I am not. What should I do?
Do you have any Karo or Maple Syrup or Honey to rub on his gums?? Once you do that you need to keep testing every 15 minutes I usually have to syringe these into Amethyst mouth if she starts to dive
Feed more wet food and add some honey or Karo. The dry will eventually kick in and last longer. Check again in 20-30 IF he eats food with honey. I’d only honey check in 15.
I checked again, it has been thirty minutes. His BG is 55. Should I give a little more honey or dry food or just wait and check again in 15 minutes? Phoenix seems ok, I am still shaking
How many hours since the shot? It's still early in the cycle and he can still drop after the carbs wear off.
I know it’s scary. Will he eat some of his wet food? You could add a few drops of honey to it. Try to avoid the dry now.
Continue to test every half hour. Feed some LC since he is above 55 for now. Will he eat? Or is he full from the kibble?
I just checked his BG again. It is 58. He just walked over and ate the remainder of his dinner. I will check again in 15 minutes. Thank you so much for your help. I am so scared.
You can check in 30 minute intervals now that he is above 50. You are most welcome! That must have been scary as hell!
I believe he has earned a reduction. I have been giving him 9.5 units. I feel like a bad moma. His PMPS last night was 366. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at his +6. His BG was then 230. I gave him just 1 chicken heart and we went to bed. I usually check his BG at +8 or +9 at 4 a.m. Since he was still high, I turned my alarm off and didn't check or give a snack at +8. He usually only seems to drop about 20 points an hour.
It has been 30 minutes and I checked his BG again. It is now 87. I am going to remove the 911 on my post. I will continue to check Phoenix's BG every 30 minutes until I feel comfortable enough to stop. What a way to start the morning !!
I can't thank you enough for alerting everyone that I needed help. I don't know how to do that. You are a lifesaver !!! I really really appreciate your help this morning.
Yes, he has earned a reduction today (and how!). He does seem to like to nadir at the end of the PM cycle these days, so a snack at +8 or +9 would indeed help! I don't think any one of us would have seen that 32 coming. And you tested him and caught it early. Sometimes they are just hellbent on that reduction! Could you update your thread title with the latest numbers? Thanks
I am getting worried again. Phoenix's BG has dropped from 99 to 83. Could you advise me what to do. Thank you
First, he's still in safe numbers so take a deep breath. Feed him a couple tsps of his regular low carb food. Also, please update the spreadsheet. I have no idea when in the cycle the 99 and the 83 are. You fed him higher carbs earlier, at some point those carbs wear off.
I just updated the spreadsheet. The 99 was between +3 and +4. I just fed him a beef meatball and about 8 pieces of dry cat food. I normally don't give him dry food because of his pancreatitis but today he has eaten about a quarter of a cup. I am getting scared because I gave him 9.5 units this morning. His nadir is usually late at +8 or +9.
Cats that want a reduction will often nadir earlier. Hopefully Phoenix won't be going low again. How long after the 99 was the 83? I only see a 91 and a 83 on the spreadsheet, not the 99, so it's hard to follow the timing of the tests.
The 83 was 45 minutes after the 99. I am really getting scared since I gave him 9.5 units this morning. 79 at AMPS 7:40 am 54 at 8:15 32 at 9 55 at 9:25 58 at 9:40 87 at 10:10 91 at 10:40 99 at 11:15 83 at 12 noon
At what point in the above did you last give honey or higher carb food? I don't know how long dry takes to wear off (which is why we recommend not using it but rather a high carb wet food). But honey can wear off in less than a couple hours. Phoenix's new dose is 9.0 units.
I gave honey when Phoenix dropped to 32 BG at 9 am. I just checked his BG again at +5. He is up to 112 BG. I believe this is because of the beef meatball I gave him at 83 BG. Beef always seems to make his BG rise. He usually eats dinner at +6. I had defrosted chicken Hearts for his lunch but know I am going to give him beef.
The 112 BG was at 12:30 pm. He usually eats at 1 p.m. so I will go ahead and check is BG again before he eats. Thank you
Hi. So glad your Phoenix is okay! I find that Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers works really fast to bring my boy's BG up (really fast!) The high carb dry food takes longer to bring up the glucose. He loves that FF Gravy Lovers... I bet he wishes he could get himself to hypo just so that I'd feed him some of that stuff that's stashed away in a cabinet.
Eat? Phoenix's BG has been up and down all morning. I had to cancel my grocery curbside pickup for this afternoon because I don't want to leave Phoenix alone. He is more important. It is now lunchtime. I very rarely drink, but since Phoenix's BG is up to 122, I am going to have a glass of wine !!! Maybe two !!
Phoenix has been on a raw meat diet since he was a baby. He won't touch the Fancy Feast. I wish he would !! He will eat dry, though.
My girl Neko was on raw food, Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers gave her the runs. So she got some of the higher carb Weruva ones. Or you can add a drop of karo/honey to his regular food to make it higher carb.
Phoenix loves dry food. Is that high carb? I just checked Phoenix's BG again. He was 122 at + 6 when I fed him his lunch. Now, it is 30 minutes later and he has dropped to 189. This is highly unusual for Phoenix. He usually is pretty regular on his numbers. I don't know what is going on. I will check again at +7.
I didn't know that. I never feed him dry food except in an emergency like today. He is not supposed to have dry food because he had pancreatititis.
I tried my cats on freeze dried raw food a few years back. It literally made all of them vomit. Tried it a few times then gave up on the seriously expensive food (hard to remember now, but I think it was Stella and Chewy or something like that). It was kind of disgusting.
With as many cats as I have though, I think I should probably start making cat food for them. I would probably at least gently cook it. Dr. Lisa told me that she gently cooks her chicken to ensure they're not getting bacteria on the surface. I can't see grinding up bones though. I wonder if I can just use chicken, then add EZ complete and have it be okay? I really want to feed my senior kitties low phosphorus food though and I don't know how much phos is in the EZ complete.
Why go to all that trouble? I feed Phoenix raw chicken and beef hearts, chicken breasts and gizzards, beef and Catfish nuggets and salmon. He also gets turkey. I give his vitamins in a ground turkey or beef meatball. You can cut it up really fast with poultry scissors. Just freeze the meat overnight to kill bacteria. You don't need to cook it unless your cats won't eat. Cooking destroys the nutrients.
@Wendy&Neko I am so scared to give Phoenix his insulin this evening. I checked his BG at +10 it was 233 which is still low for him. I know you said to reduce his insulin to 9 units from 9.5 but I am terrified he may go low overnight.
He still has 2 hours to climb up. You've shot lower than this many times. If you are still really worried and he's not much higher, you can always shoot a half dose (4.5 units) tonight and go back to 9 units tomorrow morning. That will help drain the larger depot and is a technique we sometimes use for kitties on higher doses. I'd like to see him get some insulin tonight. When you skipped on 2/18, he was really high by night time. He is also almost guaranteed to bounce after this morning's numbers which would make him even higher.
I won't skip tonight. If Phoenix is still under 300 at his PMPS, I will give half a dose. If he is over 300 he will get 9 units. Thank you for your advice. Today was frightening.
The good news about today is you caught it quickly and got him into safe numbers fast. Keep track of what you gave today, and it may help you in the future.
Thank you, Wendy Phoenix's PMBG was 239 which is low for him. I gave him 4.5 units instead of 9. What I don't understand is he had 2 skipped shots last week when we had snow. His BG was dropping and I was getting low on test strips. It seems his depot built up again very fast. I am going to monitor him very closely tonight. Could his pancreas be starting to work? I would like to keep Phoenix's BG between 100 - 200. I know that is a little bit high but I live alone and sometimes I have errands to run. He really terrified me today. I am still shook up. One thing I wanted to mention, I started a new box of test strips this morning. Could all of them be reading wrong? I have a spare box that I got from Walmart.com yesterday. I think tomorrow, I will try some test strips from that box. What a day !! I am hoping for a calm night
It's not uncommon for a cat's insulin needs to go up and down, depending on many other things. The depot had more than enough time to build up again. If you just miss a shot or two, it should be built up in around 6 cycles. See how he was green just 4 cycles after the last skip. As long as the test strips were dry and not expired they should be OK. Go ahead and compare against another box to confirm.
You were right, I should have given Phoenix the full 9 units last night. He stayed in the 300 range all night and his AMPS was 331. I gave him 9 units this morning. I will be brave from now on and listen to your advice.
Thank you for saying that. I feel like such a wimp. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in his numbers and watching his every move that I forget he needs entertainment. We had a fun time chasing each other around the house this morning. He is doing great thanks to all of you. But sometimes I need to lighten up and just enjoy playing with him. Have a wonderful day and thank you for all your help.
Doing a half dose was better than a skip. And with the larger dose/larger depot he will recover faster.
