Scared and confused.

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Sydney T_FL

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The Dr. Sent Sheba home today and prescribed her Levemir 1unit every 12 hours. However I am very reluctant to start her dose tonight because I just checked her glucose with my home meter ( True Result) and it was 96. Did I do the wrong thing by holding the dose until I can call the vet in the morning?
I am feeding her a low carb (Wet Food) diet. Evo95 now. (She. Still has very little appetite.) She is on Amoxicillin (3ml 2xdaily at the moment) and Valium for 2 more days.
 
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If she's at 96 then no, you don't give the shot. The no-shot limit for people new to dealing with Feline Diabetes until you have enough data to know that it's safe to shoot lower is 200 so she's well below that - in fact, 96 is within normal range for a cat! I think your best option is to hold off on the insulin for tonight and test her again before her shot time in the morning to see what her number is then. Please don't shoot in the morning without getting a test first - if she's still running normal numbers, you don't want to add insulin to her system!
 
Good for you to be home-testing already. With a newly diagnosed kitty 96 is a low pre-shot number and without more data (numbers) it is not a safe number to shoot on. You don't know how Sheba will be responding to the dose and whether she may drop too low with that low a preshot number. Not sure if Evo95 is a wet food or a dry food, but low carb wet food is the best for diabetic kitties. Also you mentioned she is on amoxicillin. Does she have an infection? Infections can also raise glucose numbers. Also why is she on valium??
 
I see Manxcat posted at the same time as me. I will leave her to help you since she is much more experienced that I am. Good luck.
 
All input is valuable Mary Ann - I still look for confirmation on a lot of the things I post, so thank you for adding your vote to the "no shot" for tonight. :)
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
Good for you to be home-testing already. With a newly diagnosed kitty 96 is a low pre-shot number and without more data (numbers) it is not a safe number to shoot on. You don't know how Sheba will be responding to the dose and whether she may drop too low with that low a preshot number. Not sure if Evo95 is a wet food or a dry food, but low carb wet food is the best for diabetic kitties. Also you mentioned she is on amoxicillin. Does she have an infection? Infections can also raise glucose numbers. Also why is she on valium??
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Thanks for the advice. The Evo95 food is wet. Wet food is all I give my cats. Yes she also is dealing with an infection and he put her on the Valium to calm her down and also using it to attempt to get her to eat.
 
Just a quick question....You say in your post that your vet sent you home with Lantus, but your signature says Levemir....Which one?

How was she diagnosed? If she had an infection at the time, the antibiotic may have kicked in and brought her blood glucose back down to normal. Infection can raise the BG all by itself
 
Sydney T_FL said:
Thanks for the advice. The Evo95 food is wet. Wet food is all I give my cats. Yes she also is dealing with an infection and he put her on the Valium to calm her down and also using it to attempt to get her to eat.
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As Manxcat and I both said you should not shoot with that low a number. For kitties just starting insulin 200 is the no shoot level until you have more data. It is necessary to do a test before feeding in the AM and PM before shooting. If the number is still too low then hold food and retest in 1/2 hour or 1 hour. Of the number is still too low then you should just skip that shot. I dont know what your schedule is like but to get more data, you could do glucose tests every 3 or 4 hours, even if you have not given a shot. This will give an idea how Sheba reacts to food.
 
Chris & China said:
Just a quick question....You say in your post that your vet sent you home with Lantus, but your signature says Levemir....Which one?

How was she diagnosed? If she had an infection at the time, the antibiotic may have kicked in and brought her blood glucose back down to normal. Infection can raise the BG all by itself
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Sorry for the confusion about the Lantus. He prescribed Lantus, but I told him that I am diabetic as well and use Levemir, he said to just use the Levemir since I already had a supply of it. He did blood work to confirm that Sheba needed to be on insulin. Sheba has been diabetic over a year, however now her numbers are high enough to warrant insulin.
 
One other thing I can think of....A lot of us don't like the meters with "True" in the name because we've been told they aren't as accurate as some other meters are for cats.

You might try another meter and just see how they compare. If you're in the US, the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart are both great meters and the strips aren't too bad either
 
Chris & China said:
One other thing I can think of....A lot of us don't like the meters with "True" in the name because we've been told they aren't as accurate as some other meters are for cats.

You might try another meter and just see how they compare. If you're in the US, the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart are both great meters and the strips aren't too bad either
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Okay, thank you. I am going to use her meter as well as mine (one touch ultra 2) to test Sheba in the morning.
 
If you find that the one touch ultra is more accurate, there's actually no reason why you and Sheba can't share a meter to save you having to buy an extra one unless you're using that to keep track of your own numbers rather than a written log.
 
manxcat419 said:
If you find that the one touch ultra is more accurate, there's actually no reason why you and Sheba can't share a meter to save you having to buy an extra one unless you're using that to keep track of your own numbers rather than a written log.
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Thanks, I do use mine to keep track. However I think this gives me a reason to keep records for both of us. :D
 
Can we get you started using our grid to record your glucose tests? It will help us give you better feedback. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.
 
Hello everyone. I hope all of you and your furry loved ones are well. :bighug: I wanted to do a. Update to this post. I pre shot test this morning at 9:00 am EST. Her glucose was 94. I did not give Sheba her shot yet again. I called the vet and told him her numbers, he said not to give Sheba any insulin for any number under 150. Also said that if I have to give insulin, only give her one unit a day. And to keep checking. Thanks to all of you for your help. We both appreciate it, as well as your kindness. She isn't eating much as of yet. I have also stopped the Valium dose. But she is still on her 3ml of amoxicillian twice daily. I just hope her appetite pick up. I have tried several wet foods, dry kibble (she ate 3 pieces) even sprinkled parm. Cheese on the wet, ate a bite or two. And I made her scrambled eggs, she didn't touch. She just ate a little FF. Also wanted to let you know I am working on a chart for her now. I took her BG 6 times today. And will for the next 3 days, so if we have to start the Levemir we will already have a good idea of her peak times. :cat:
 
It sounds as though Sheba is doing well! It may be, as Chris said, that it was the infection that caused her BG to rise in the first place so it's possible that she might not need insulin. Although once she is eating, to be on the safe side, even if her BG stays down I'd be inclined to treat her as a potential diabetic and avoid high carb food for her (it's better for cats to have low carb food anyway so it will do her nothing but good). If you do find that you need insulin, your best option is probably going to be to split that 1 unit into two 0.5U shots 12 hours apart. Although Levemir lasts for 24 hours in humans, it only lasts around 12 hours in cats so giving the dose as 2 separate shots usually works better. But, paws crossed, you won't need to go that route with her if her BG stays down as well as it is. :)
 
manxcat419 said:
It sounds as though Sheba is doing well! It may be, as Chris said, that it was the infection that caused her BG to rise in the first place so it's possible that she might not need insulin. Although once she is eating, to be on the safe side, even if her BG stays down I'd be inclined to treat her as a potential diabetic and avoid high carb food for her (it's better for cats to have low carb food anyway so it will do her nothing but good). If you do find that you need insulin, your best option is probably going to be to split that 1 unit into two 0.5U shots 12 hours apart. Although Levemir lasts for 24 hours in humans, it only lasts around 12 hours in cats so giving the dose as 2 separate shots usually works better. But, paws crossed, you won't need to go that route with her if her BG stays down as well as it is. :)
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Thank you, great advice. I was actually thinking that. And oh yes, nothing but low carb wet food for my girls.
 
You might pick up an oral syringe, puree or sieve some food to a milkshake consistency, and do some syringe-assisted feeding. It may be messy, but she needs to eat.
Also, antibiotics are notorious for upsetting the stomach; a probiotic such as Forti Flora or Intelliflora given a few hours after the antibiotic can help restore the good bacteria and reduce stomach upset.
 
BJM said:
You might pick up an oral syringe, puree or sieve some food to a milkshake consistency, and do some syringe-assisted feeding. It may be messy, but she needs to eat.
Also, antibiotics are notorious for upsetting the stomach; a probiotic such as Forti Flora or Intelliflora given a few hours after the antibiotic can help restore the good bacteria and reduce stomach upset.
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Thank you for the great advice.
 
I figured I would share an update about Sheba with all of you. As you know she was hospitalized for 5 days last week and weekend. She came home Monday, but she wasn't eating much at all and was still acting odd. I checked her bg's multiple times daily, she was in the 90's, so no insulin for her for 2 days. She is still on her antibiotic for 3 more days. I called the vet to take her back today because she wasn't eating. He gave her a shot and some Nutri-cal oral jel ( platable high-calorie nutritional supplement) which she loved. Lol. Sheba is acting more like herself now. :cat: I checked her BG at 9:52 pm. EST. And her BG was 352. She got her very first shot of Levemir (0.5 unit) tonight. She did very well. I am proud of her. :)
 
Glad she is doing better. Do you know what the shot was?
 
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That Nutri-cal is almost pure sugar, but it's important she eats something. A lot of us use cyproheptadine (a human antihistamine) as an appetite stimulant. 1/8-1/4 of a tablet is usually enough to get kitty eating. If she continues to not want to eat, you might ask for that and see if it helps. Another medication we use for appetite is mirtazapine but it can make some kitties act a little strange

Here are the ingredients in the Nutri-cal...as you can see, it's a lot of sweet stuff!
Corn Syrup, Soybean Oil, Malt Syrup, Water, Fish Oil, Cane Molasses, Sodium Propionate (a preservative), Gelatin By-Products, Silicon Dioxide, Potassium Sorbate (a preservative), dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Supplement), Xanthan Gum, Magnesium Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate Heptahydrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Niacin Supplement, d-Panthenol (source of Pantothenic Acid), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide (source of Iodine and Potassium), Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid, Riboflavin 5’-Phosphate Sodium (source of Vitamin B2 and Phosphorus) and Vitamin D Supplement.
 
Thank you Chris for the info. He sent her home Monday with diazepam to increase her appetite. I now see why her BG went so high.
 
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