Hello FDMB people,
I am writing to draw on the collective wisdom here. I'm trying to see if anyone else here has experience with severe drop in blood glucose after 1.5 weeks on insulin, and get your perspective on next steps to discuss with my vet.
Brief review: I have 2 brother cats, Sander and Tree age 10.5 years, diagnosed diabetic in January 2010. I was about to leave the state for 6 weeks when they were diagnosed, and, in coordination with my vet, decided to just change their diet to low-carb canned food until I returned from my trip. When I returned, 1.5 weeks ago, their blood glucose levels were still relatively high, so we put them both on insulin. They are now on 2.0 units of Lantus twice a day. (Sander, who weighs more, started at 2.7 units twice a day, but he had a hypo on day 2, so we lowered his dose to 2.0.). This morning, their twelfth day since starting insulin, I tested blood glucose levels at 48 for Sander and 59 for Tree. I called the vet, and we agreed that I would not give them insulin this morning, and I'd check Blood glucose tonight and only give insulin if it had risen above 180. My vet was surprised at the low numbers. She wasn't sure what the next steps would be but surmised that maybe they are not true diabetics, and that we'll have to check blood numbers over the next day or two and see where we are.
My questions to you all are: Have you seen this before? If so, what is the best course to take next? What are my options: lowering insulin dose or frequency, eliminating insulin? Is it possible that 1.5 weeks of insulin was all the cats needed?
My charts are linked in my signature. Please note, that my cats (and, thus, I) HATE doing blood tests, and that I decided, in coordination with the vet and to preserve my sanity, that I would commit to testing once a week and more when necessary. I understand that it would be better to test regularly, but it's just not what I can do.
Thanks for all your help,
Elisa
I am writing to draw on the collective wisdom here. I'm trying to see if anyone else here has experience with severe drop in blood glucose after 1.5 weeks on insulin, and get your perspective on next steps to discuss with my vet.
Brief review: I have 2 brother cats, Sander and Tree age 10.5 years, diagnosed diabetic in January 2010. I was about to leave the state for 6 weeks when they were diagnosed, and, in coordination with my vet, decided to just change their diet to low-carb canned food until I returned from my trip. When I returned, 1.5 weeks ago, their blood glucose levels were still relatively high, so we put them both on insulin. They are now on 2.0 units of Lantus twice a day. (Sander, who weighs more, started at 2.7 units twice a day, but he had a hypo on day 2, so we lowered his dose to 2.0.). This morning, their twelfth day since starting insulin, I tested blood glucose levels at 48 for Sander and 59 for Tree. I called the vet, and we agreed that I would not give them insulin this morning, and I'd check Blood glucose tonight and only give insulin if it had risen above 180. My vet was surprised at the low numbers. She wasn't sure what the next steps would be but surmised that maybe they are not true diabetics, and that we'll have to check blood numbers over the next day or two and see where we are.
My questions to you all are: Have you seen this before? If so, what is the best course to take next? What are my options: lowering insulin dose or frequency, eliminating insulin? Is it possible that 1.5 weeks of insulin was all the cats needed?
My charts are linked in my signature. Please note, that my cats (and, thus, I) HATE doing blood tests, and that I decided, in coordination with the vet and to preserve my sanity, that I would commit to testing once a week and more when necessary. I understand that it would be better to test regularly, but it's just not what I can do.
Thanks for all your help,
Elisa
