sugar 143

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JohnnysMom

JohnnysMom

Member Since 2015
Did my kitties home testing this morning and it was 143... I know that means to hold but it feels so counter intuitive. Would it be ok to just reduce the dose for the day? We just reduced down to 1 unit for Glargine and his numbers have been a lot more stable then when he was on 2 units. Or should I just hold off and give it later, or skip completely and do tonight?
 
It looks like Johnny is dropping. I'd retest at +.5 (half hour) and post his number. Lantus is dosed upon the low numbers so I wouldn't change the dose. Hopefully someone more experienced will be by soon but I'll try to keep an eye out.
 
And the dropping is just a play-it-safe assumption on my part. I didn't see a BG in the pm after +2 so we don't know if he was indeed lower and is on the way up so we'll have to assume for safety, that he is dropping until we know for sure.
 
He might have had a little bit of a bounce from the blues 2 days ago that has broken which could be why you got the lower number this morning. It does look as though he's still dropping, though not terribly fast. Are you going to be able to monitor him if you do give insulin? And do you have plenty of test strips, hc food and syrup or honey? If you want to see if he can get into green numbers and you can monitor, I can be here all day if you need me to be, but if you have to be out for a lot of the day I think I'd be inclined to skip.
 
I retested him at he is at 214... so I was going to go ahead and give him his full dose of 1 unit. I'll be home all day.
 
and it wasn't a true hour I just retested him to make sure the first test was correct and it was lower
 
Sounds good - I'll be here all day too and I've marked this thread as watched so I'll get updates. If you can get a +2 on him so we can see where he might be likely to go the rest of the day - that way we can figure out how long you can go between tests. :)
 
Excellent choice to shoot! You can test, have plenty of strips and high carb food or karo syrup to bring him up, plus that was a pretty good increase from 130 to 214. Nice to see him responding so well! I won't be around today much but looks like others will be. You will need to adjust your shot time tonight, general recommendation is no more than 15 mins for each shot or 30 mins for a single shot in a day.
Liz
 
Thank you! Random question too... I was told to slowly shake the Glargine in the vile but do not shake the Lantus Solostar pens is that correct?
 
You don't need to (and according to the manufacturer, shouldn't) shake or roll either the vial or the pen. My vet told me to roll the vial to mix it too, but with Glargine it isn't necessary. Some insulins are the type that do separate out a little and do need to be mixed, but Lantus isn't one of them.
 
Welcome to the group!

If, when you test around pre-shot time, you get a number that you're not comfortable shooting, you can always stall (but don't feed) for 30 min. and then re-test. You want to see if numbers are rising or at the very least, staying the same (vs. dropping). If numbers are on the rise, then it's usually safe to shoot. Asking for someone to take a look is always reassuring!

One other suggestion is to re-test if you get an unexpected (either high or low) number. I'm wondering whether the 214 was a bad strip or test. It was a very big jump to your +1.
 
I think the previous 2 numbers didn't make it to the ss or have been taken off - he started off at 143, then 130 (and didn't get the shot at those levels - Rose tagged me to take a look at that point) then the 214. If anything, I think maybe the 371 might have been a bad strip - that's a fairly big food spike in between the 214 and the 268!
 
Yes he was originally tested and was at 143 and 130 but I also feed him... and then gave the insulin a hour later. I didn't know you were supposed to skip food too until the numbers went up. I am going to be home the next two days so Im hoping to gat a good grasp on the situation.
 
It could well be a bit of a bounce too from the lower numbers yesterday - the couple of times he dropped by about 100 points in an hour could have been enough to cause it. But safer too high than too low - he'll come back down soon enough. :)
 
How many cans of fancy feast should I be feeding a day? He is about 14 lbs and has lost a bit of weight recently
 
I always have to go look this one up - I don't calculate calories for my 2, I just put out 2 x 5.5 oz cans of Friskies pate twice a day. For 3 cats who only eat wet, 2 who eat mostly dry and 1 who eats a mixture of the 2 (because she dives into our housemate's room and steals the dry).

Anyway, it looks as though the calculation is 15 calories per pound of body weight per day, based on his ideal lean body weight. So the amount is probably going to vary a little depending on which flavor you feed and whether or not he's now underweight after losing a bit. Most of the Fancy Feast classics look as though they're between 80 and 90 calories per can. So if the 14lb is his ideal weight, it looks like he'll need about 2.5 of the 3 oz cans per day.
 
Welcome to the group, Lauren!

Punkin weighed about 13-14lbs and I gave him 1 can of fancy feast with each shot and 1/2 can Fancy Feast at +3 everyday, always from the autofeeder. So he had a total of 3 cans of food plus I gave him a little cooked chicken breast for pokey treats.

You're off to a good start. Keep asking questions. Also, here is a link for you to bookmark "Where Can I Find?" that has a table of contents to this group, plus a lot of topics in the bottom half of the post that you'll likely find helpful at some point.
 
the reds are his body reacting to the blues he got. We call that a bounce.
His body isn't used to the lower numbers anymore , and in his case, blues cause his body to dump hormones to protect him.
it's perfectly normal... and over time he'll get used to those numbers again and even lower. ( normalcy)
and he does seem to clear the bounces in decent time.

the black he had the day before was probably a bounce from a green number.... just like back on the 17th.
since he was getting a green ... you probably didn't need to increase unless someone advised that.

and we usually increase in 1/4 u increments ( or decrease)

if you look at 4/16.... he was pink.... and 3 hours later he was green.....

I hope you see this in time to get a +2 tonight.... or a +3.....
he may very well do it again.... especially with that dose increase.

You may need to test more often tonight so he stays safe.
 
ok so stick with the 1 unit for now and do not increase tmrw? I think I panicked tonight. I just wrote another post.
 
oh good.
i was afraid you had increased.

I think he's had two greens on this dose.... one of them you caught.... and one you likely missed....
both resulted in blacks....

if he follows his little short pattern thus far, tonight you might catch a low at that +3 area again.
 
If you didn't do an increase tonight, could you fix your spreadsheet? Remember that we increase based on the nadirs, or how low a dose gets the cat. The only greens you've seen so far on this dose were likely due to the depot of the 2 unit dose you were doing earlier. When and if you do increase we'd only do it in increments of .25 units.

One other comment, it's best if you just pick one meter and stick with it. It will drive you crazy comparing the two. I've done it too. It's also hard for us to spot patterns in the numbers if you are switching meters. I also can't see the bold/italics very well.
 
No I did increase last night in a dim moment but went back to 1 unit today and am keeping a close eye on him. I'll stick with the Walmart meter
 
It looks like there is more than 1 thread going for Mr. Johnny. I'm going to respond here since it seems the most recent. Tomorrow would you start a new one so it's a little easier to see what's current and what's old?

In response to your question from the other thread:
JohnnysMom said:
So even if he has a preshot score of 90 you are ok to dose?
Click to expand...

If a person has enough experience (ie, tests to tell what the cat's body is doing with the insulin) then yes, an experienced person can shoot a preshot of 90 on either a pet glucometer or a human glucometer. On a human glucometer it's ok to shoot over 50 as long as the cat is eating normally, is going to be monitored, and you have strips and high carb food.

Are you using the Tight Regulation Protocol or the Start Low Go Slow method for dosing? It's going to matter in how we help you move ahead.

What was the meter you were using before today? Or maybe I should just ask if you'll clarify on the meter, because now it sounds like you're going to use something other than the iPet you just got. If you're using a Relion (Walmart) would you edit your signature line to indicate that?
 
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