? Sept 21,2023-Lucy-BG 77 help?

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Margie99

Margie99

Member Since 2023
Hello my kitty, Lucy was diagnosed with diabetes in April. She was prescribed two units of Lantus twice a day. She did very well on that. I am very new to testing, this evening was the fourth time that I had tried and only the second time in two days that I got a number, others were errors that I had made. Today at 6:39 pm her BG was 77. This was after she had eaten initially at 5:04 PM about half of her wet food and then again at 5:54 PM. She had eaten another quarter of her wet food. I became alarmed and so I decreased her dosage by one unit. She’s otherwise acting OK there’s no behaviors except for her appetite that has me concerned.Additionally over the last five days she’s had a decrease in her appetite. She’s otherwise acting the same and she is eating but leaving a little bit of food at the end of the day which she would never normally do.
I really don’t know what I’m doing and I’m scared - my vet did not give me any guidance - everything I’m learning has come from this forum even though a lot of the terms and phrases on here I do not understand. Did I do the right thing? Am I doing the right thing ?
 
Hi Margie and Lucy,
Just a few questions first…
Can you tell me what type of meter you are using? Pet or human?
Also are you feeding a low carb diet?
Areyou giving a meal before the insulin and then giving snacks during the cycles?
How much is Lucy eating at the moment compared to what she would normally eat?
 
Are you saying the preshot BG was 77 and you then gave 1 unit of lantus insulin?
If this is the case, I would give some higher carb food now if you have any and test again. Not too much food , maybe a teaspoon or two. Do you have any higher carb food?
If you could answer the questions above that would be helpful.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Margie and Lucy,
Just a few questions first…
Can you tell me what type of meter you are using? Pet or human?
Also are you feeding a low carb diet?
Areyou giving a meal before the insulin and then giving snacks during the cycles?
How much is Lucy eating at the moment compared to what she would normally eat?
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Hi thank you for responding,
I am using a human meter ReliOn.
She is not on a low-carb diet. This was how I realized I needed to start testing her because I want to get her off of these carbs safely.

Every day she receives one can - half in the morning at 6 AM, half in the evening at 5 PM of Hill’s kidney diet, which is approximately 70 cal she then has dry food 3 tablespoons of hills restricted diet and 1 tablespoon of Hills kidney diet. That mix together I give her about 2 tablespoons in the morning and that’s after I’ve given her insulin so it’s around seven. She normally eats all of that but she’s been leaving some behind. She will eat it now throughout the day so I’m going to say in the last five days I have Been bringing her food to her to eat and she will eat it but I don’t normally have to do that.
And then in the evening, I’ll usually give her her dry food around 730 or eight she doesn’t eat again after 830 which is usually when I’m going to bed but she’s been leaving behind about anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of dry food where normally she would want more than what she has.
All total she receives approximately 153 to 163 cal a day (with some treats when injecting). sometimes around 11 or 12 I might give her a teaspoon of her dry, but she never gets more food than this and she has been leaving behind Anywhere from I’m going to say 20 to 35 cal mostly of carbs in the last five days mostly her dry food
What I have been doing since April is I let her eat her breakfast in the morning and then within a half an hour I give her her morning dose. I let her eat her dinner in the evening at five and then I usually give her her dose at 6:30 so about an hour and a half after so I keep on a 12 hour schedule as close as possible, it has been working fine. I also give her the remainder of her dry, which is about the last 2 tablespoons in the evening between 730 to 8:30 PM she will usually eat all of it and want something more but now she’s been leaving behind dry food at the end of the day. But I do want her to lose weight and I do want her off this dry food so that’s how I ended up here looking for help.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Are you saying the preshot BG was 77 and you then gave 1 unit of lantus insulin?
If this is the case, I would give some higher carb food now if you have any and test again. Not too much food , maybe a teaspoon or two. Do you have any higher carb food?
If you could answer the questions above that would be helpful.
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Yes, it was 77. I normally give her two units of Lantus and I gave her one. I have Temptations creamy purée pouches. She did just eat a little bit of her dry food. She was just playing and seems to be fine in the moment but I will give her, one of these creamy pouches they never list the carbohydrate content. It’s so frustrating. Thank you for responding.
 
I think with a preshot of 77 and us not having any previous data I would test again to see what the BG is now.
If you can do that and post the result, that would be good and we can help you further. And let us know if Lucy ate the Temptations for you.
I can see where we can help you a lot in a lot of area, but first we need o get you through this cycle.
I am going to ask @Bandit's Mom to set up a spreadsheet for you so you can add in all the BG data so we can see it. She will contact you.
I'm also going to ask @Wendy&Neko if she can move this post to the main health page please.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I think with a preshot of 77 and us not having any previous data I would test again to see what the BG is now.
If you can do that and post the result, that would be good and we can help you further. And let us know if Lucy ate the Temptations for you.
I can see where we can help you a lot in a lot of area, but first we need o get you through this cycle.
Imp going to ask @Bandit's Mom to set up a spreadsheet for you so you can add in all the BG data so we can see it. She will contact you.
I'm also going to as @Wendy&Neko if she can move this post to the main health page please.
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Thank you so much for all of the help and support. She did eat the pouch just now I will test her again in the next 20 to 30 minutes and post the results. Thank you again.
 
Margie99 said:
Thank you so much for all of the help and support. She did eat the pouch just now I will test her again in the next 20 to 30 minutes and post the results. Thank you again.
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I just tested her again at 8:46 PM. and she was at 79
 
Margie99 said:
Two hours
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Ok. So the insulin is just starting to onset. That means for the next several hours it will be working stronger to bring down the blood glucose (BG).
So we are going to have to feed Lucy food some high carb food to keep her high enough to be safe and you will have to test at least hourly for the next several hours. Can you do that?
So first of all before you do anything, I want you to give her some of the kidney food. Not a lot as we don't want to fill her up. If it is canned food, give her a good teaspoon of it. If it is dry, give a small handful. Make sure she eats it.
Can you take a photo of the Hills kidney food and copy and paste it here so I can see how many carbs it has please?
And do you have some karo or honey in the house?
 
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I just gave her a teaspoon of the wet snd she ate it. I do have Karo syrup and I have honey. I am normally fast asleep right now, but I will stay up and continue to test her. Since I last texted her at 8:46 should I test her at 9:46 continue going forward.?
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Margie99 said:
I just gave her a teaspoon of the wet snd she ate it. I do have Karo syrup and I have honey. I am normally fast asleep right now, but I will stay up and continue to test her. Since I last texted her at 8:46 should I test her at 9:46 continue going forward.?
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The 8.45 pm would be +2 correct? That is 2 hours after the dose?
We talk in + number of hours after the dose not times as we all live in different countries. I live in Australia and it is 2.30 pm.
I would test in 30 minutes after the food you gave amd post it please.
I will have a look at the kidney food now.
 
So as Kel posted the Kidney food is high carb. I knew it would be but wasn't sure the exact number of carbs. Anyway you can use that for the high carb food needed at the moment to keep Lucy in high enough numbers.
After this is all more settled we need to talk about food, testing, getting a signature set up so we can find out about Lucy and moving forward.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
So as Kel posted the Kidney food is high carb. I knew it would be but wasn't sure the exact number of carbs. Anyway you can use that for the high carb food needed at the moment to keep Lucy in high enough numbers.
After this is all more settled we need to talk about food, testing, getting a signature set up so we can find out about Lucy and moving forward.
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Thank you so much I appreciate everyone here. And I’m dedicated to trying to understand all of this and to help Lucy in the best way that I can. I’m so thankful for all of you.
 
Margie99 said:
Thank you so much I appreciate everyone here. And I’m dedicated to trying to understand all of this and to help Lucy in the best way that I can. I’m so thankful for all of you.
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OK I just tested her and this is +3 hours and
+.5 hours after her tablespoon of wet food. The number is 93.
 
Margie99 said:
OK I just tested her and this is +3 hours and
+.5 hours after her tablespoon of wet food. The number is 93.
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So +3.5 is that correct? BG 93. That is good.
I would feed her some normal low carb food now, just a teaspoon full. Do you have any? If not give her a teaspoon of whatever you normally give and test again on 1 hour. Is that OK with you?
 
Yes, total +3.5 hours.
I do not have any low-carb food, but I just gave her a teaspoon of her wet and she ate it. I will make myself stay up and test her again. Should that be in an hour from when she just ate?
 
Margie99 said:
Yes, total +3.5 hours.
I do not have any low-carb food, but I just gave her a teaspoon of her wet and she ate it. I will make myself stay up and test her again. Should that be in an hour from when she just ate?
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Test in an hour from when you last tested.
So to summarise:
Using a ReliOn meter, feeding Hills kidney canned food 35% carbs and Hills restricted diet dry food.
PMPS 77 ate small meal
+2 79 ate teaspoon kidney canned
+3.5 93 ate teaspoon food
testing at +4.5
 
OK got it. What does PMPS stand for? I can see that is the first test but I don’t know that acronym.Thank you
 
Wendy&Neko said:
PMPS = PM pre shot test. Similarly AMPS = AM pre shot test. More about the spreadsheet here: How to Use the Spreadsheet
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i’ve just tried to test her. I’ve punctured her ear four times she’s growling then I have an error message that it’s too thick. Her blood is too thick probably because I put some Neosporin on her ear after the last one this is so stressful I just want to cry.
 
Margie99 said:
i’ve just tried to test her. I’ve punctured her ear four times she’s growling then I have an error message that it’s too thick. Her blood is too thick probably because I put some Neosporin on her ear after the last one this is so stressful I just want to cry.
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I was able to test her the number is 74
This is at +4.5.
 
Margie99 said:
I also gave her a small teaspoon of food she ate that. Do you think she’s going to be OK?
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Yes she will be OK, but she will need monitoring a bit longer. She has been kept up with high carb food until now. I would try not feeding her any more food next time and we can see how she goes. Normally I would say just to feed her some low carb food, but you don't have any do you?

Using a ReliOn meter, feeding Hills kidney canned food 35% carbs and Hills restricted diet dry food.
PMPS 77 ate small meal
+2 79 ate teaspoon kidney canned
+3.5 93 ate teaspoon food
+4.5 74 fed
+5.5 81 fed
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Yes she will be OK, but she will need monitoring a bit longer. She has been kept up with high carb food until now. I would try not feeding her any more food next time and we can see how she goes. Normally I would say just to feed her some low carb food, but you don't have any do you?

Using a ReliOn meter, feeding Hills kidney canned food 35% carbs and Hills restricted diet dry food.
PMPS 77 ate small meal
+2 79 ate teaspoon kidney canned
+3.5 93 ate teaspoon food
+4.5 74 fed
+5.5 81 fed[/


I don’t know what I’m thinking I’m delirious. I’m so exhausted it us way way way past my bedtime my other cat eats Tiki cat Ahi, tuna and chicken wet food. I don’t think that has almost any carbs in it. Let me send you a picture.
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Yes that Tiki should be low carb. I would give her that next time and see how she goes. I'm sorry you are so tired but we want to keep Lucy safe.
Margie, why is Lucy being fed a kidney diet and the hills restricted diet.? Does she have kidney disease and if so what stage?
Can you also send me a photo of the Hills restricted food...I don't think I know that one
 
Thank you. No she does not have kidney disease. It was just out of an abundance of caution because at one point a while back I believe I want to say there was protein in her urine? I don’t remember but my other cat was eating kidney diet and so we just had her eating it just in case, but there were no other signs of any kidney issues. And the restrictive diet was to help her lose weight I just gave her some of the tiki cat. It looks like she really drank most of the juice and didn’t eat too much of it. I gave her about 2 teaspoons
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So the Weight Loss dry food is 34% carbs.
I would really recommend you get her off both those foods as they are totally unsuitable for diabetic cats, and in my opinion I think they are bad for all cats. All cats need a low carb diet. And honestly prescription foods have nothing special in them except the price! I really don't know why vets recommend these foods as they are so bad for cats. Cats need to eat meat.
You will need to do any swap over of the food to low carb slowly as reducing the carbs in food can drop the BG dramatically. and we don't want to upset her tummy.
We need to get the spreadsheet and signature set up and then start to do the swap over of the food slowly. With the high carb food out of her system, she will need less insulin.
All this can be thought about tomorrow when you are not so tired.
Providing the BG is high enough at the next preshot, I would reduce the dose to 1 unit twice a day and see how that goes.
You have done a great job with testing tonight.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
So the Weight Loss dry food is 34% carbs.
I would really recommend you get her off both those foods as they are totally unsuitable for diabetic cats, and in my opinion I think they are bad for all cats. All cats need a low carb diet. And honestly prescription foods have nothing special in them except the price! I really don't know why vets recommend these foods as they are so bad for cats. Cats need to eat meat.
You will need to do any swap over of the food to low carb slowly as reducing the carbs in food can drop the BG dramatically. and we don't want to upset her tummy.
We need to get the spreadsheet and signature set up and then start to do the swap over of the food slowly. With the high carb food out of her system, she will need less insulin.
All this can be thought about tomorrow when you are not so tired.
Providing the BG is high enough at the next preshot, I would reduce the dose to 1 unit twice a day and see how that goes.
You have done a great job with testing tonight.
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Thank you so much for all your help. I am going to test her again right now. And then I’m definitely asleep for the night. Yes I want her off the high carb food. Thank you again I really appreciate your help.
 
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