Some questions about Spike, 37 hours post-shot

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kbean

Member Since 2011
Hi everyone,

Someone suggested I move my questions over here as my cat is on Lantus. For some background, 1 year-old cat Spike, was on 1U BID of Lantus until yesterday when he had a hypoglycemic episode that many people helped me out with here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=51037

So I haven't given him a shot in 36 hours now. BG at what would have been his PM shot today was 41. Fed him and an hour later (10 mins ago) it was 160. However, he's behaving kind of strangely now. He's running around the house like a bat out of hell, growling at nothing, and panting every so often. Like, tongue hanging out of his mouth panting. That is...concerning. Other than that he seems fine. Just running around like something is chasing him and then panting like he's out of breath. When he takes a moment to sit still and lay down, he stops panting. Any ideas? He's only been doing this off and on for, like, the last 20 minutes.

ETA: I should mention that sometimes he gets kind of crazy at night, growling and all. This is not entirely new. He's just doing it more than usual and I've never seen him pant before.
 
Natalia & Enana said:
When was he diagnosed?

How long have you had Spike?
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He was diagnosed about 2 months ago. Started on 2U BID, decreased to 1U BID after a low BG test at the vet's a few weeks ago. After last night, will be monitoring at home myself more closely. I've had him since last October, when he was 4 months old.
 
Well, he's calmed down now. Still a little wild-eyed, but laying down. I kind of think he just had one of those crazy-ass cat moments and overexerted himself.
 
I know this has been said numerous times in your condos on Health but we really need a spreadsheet or some catalog of Spikes numbers for several days/week(s). We are very numbers driven here. I checked this morning and didn't see an AMPS. I don't have time right now to wade back through that thread. I am glad you tested at PMPS. Please put together a spreadsheet and link it to your signature. It will allow you to have all of the information in one place and it will allow us to assist you in a more coherent way.

If your cat is a year old, this sounds like kitten behavior. You might get Spike checked by your vet to make sure the rapid breathing isn't related to anything cardiac.
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
I know this has been said numerous times in your condos on Health but we really need a spreadsheet or some catalog of Spikes numbers for several days/week(s). We are very numbers driven here. I checked this morning and didn't see an AMPS. I don't have time right now to wade back through that thread. I am glad you tested at PMPS. Please put together a spreadsheet and link it to your signature. It will allow you to have all of the information in one place and it will allow us to assist you in a more coherent way.

If your cat is a year old, this sounds like kitten behavior. You might get Spike checked by your vet to make sure the rapid breathing isn't related to anything cardiac.
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Yep, I'm working on getting a spreadsheet together. I'll link it to my signature once I actually have some data in it. I've learned my lesson about home testing now, I swear! AMPS today was 183. Given last night, I did not give him a shot.

Glad you think this might sound like kitten behavior. I'm going to stop worrying about it now--I think you're probably right. He was just sick for several months (pre-diagnosis) and I got used to him being much calmer and more lethargic.
 
Kathleen,
Glad you've posted over here in lantus. This is the best place for Spike, since there are lots of people here very familiar with how lantus works, and many years of experience.
Something just occurred to me, given that Spike is only a year old (rare I think for a kitty that young to have diabetes). Has Spike ever been given steroids to treat any illness or condition?

Carl in SC
 
when you say he was sick for several months pre-diagnosis - do you mean with diabetes or with something else?

do you have him completely on a low-carb canned food diet now? no crunchy kibbles, period?
 
Hey Kathleen,

If you just put in your data from the last 36 hours into the spreadsheet, that is plenty to start with. People here get kinda twitchy if they don't have a SS to look at :shock: :shock: :shock: , but it's for good reason. The more other info you put into the SS the better (like when you give syrup or HC or general feeding), that way someone like Sienne can stop in, stare just at the SS for a minute or two, get all of her key questions answered, and weigh in with advice. We've all trained ourselves here to be able to get a "feel" for the cat from the SS, and it's hard to get the same feeling from reading the numbers in text (even if it is the same info).

Your next post on this board should use the standard subject line: "8/30 Spike: AMPS ..."

I'm curious how the rest of the readings last night went, but I'll wait to see a link for the SS ;-) ;-)
 
The spreadsheet is extremely helpful to have, not only for the experienced people on here to look at, but for you to reference back when needed. Good luck, and I hope that Spike will settle down in some nice #'s for you and stay there. Have a great day, guys! :)
 
carlinsc said:
Something just occurred to me, given that Spike is only a year old (rare I think for a kitty that young to have diabetes). Has Spike ever been given steroids to treat any illness or condition?

Carl in SC
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Yup. The vet didn't mention this to me until yesterday--around January or February he had a long-acting steroid shot to help clear up some stuff he had going on on his chin. It went away and I never even thought about it again. When I spoke to the vet yesterday (not the one who gave him the shot originally, but his partner), he mentioned that this could have been the cause. I obviously wasn't aware of this, but I can't believe that no one there made that connection before. Spike will not be getting any more steroids ever again.

julie1220 said:
when you say he was sick for several months pre-diagnosis - do you mean with diabetes or with something else?

do you have him completely on a low-carb canned food diet now? no crunchy kibbles, period?
Click to expand...

With diabetes. I thought he was just growing out of his kitten phase and becoming a lazy grown-up cat. It took me a little bit to figure it out.

And yes, he's on an entirely LC wet food diet now, although I'm not sure how much to feed him. He had some, um, obesity problems earlier this year and I'm afraid if I feed him as much as he whines for that he's going to eat himself into oblivion again (Spike cannot be a free feeder, apparently).

I couldn't get an AMPS this morning--he wouldn't let me, and I had to leave. I'll try my best to get the SS up and running today, with the minimal data I have so far.
 
the steroids very well could've caused the diabetes. there are other cats on this forum that have had this happen. that's too bad - makes you wonder why vets even use them on cats, but i don't know enough to know if perhaps it's necessary.

i'll agree about the spreadsheet. once you can "read" them, you wouldn't believe how much help they are. patterns begin to emerge that tell how the cat's body responds to insulin. it really helps all around. i'm not hammering at you, i know you're working on it - i'm just explaining more about why they are so valuable.
 
I'm glad you made it over here! Once you get that spreadsheet up and running you can get Spike's dose sorted out. :smile:

I love that there's both Buffy and a Spike on the boards this week! :-D :-D :-D
 
Glad to hear spike is getting back to normal behavior. Here is a great page on feline nutrition Max's House about 1/3 of the way down is a good chart on calorie requirements for kittens and cats. It's the calories needed that is important, not the volume of food. On Janet & Binky's list you can find the kcal/can in the far right column.

Another thing that will help is if you set up a profile in google docs and link it in your signature. It is just a word processing document, but I think there is a fill in the blanks template to make things easier, but you don't have to use it. You could just type it up and upload it to Google docs. Take a look at some of ours. Put in all the info about his health, diet, what meter you are using. That infor about his age and the steroids is very important. Oh, pictures are great too! :-D :-D
 
welcome to Lantus Land! It looks like you have had an interesting past couple of days. I'm wondering if you have a PMPS reading yet, or any other numbers since this morning...
 
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