Switched diet, significantly decreased insulin, still lo BG

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reyess80

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I was previously feeding dry Iams in the AM and Whiskas pouches in the evening - he was on 12 units of PZI twice a day then, and was at a BG the vet was happy with. I then read about the diet cats should be on, and changed to canned Friskies only, twice a day while I started home BG monitoring. As a result, I've dropped the injections to .5 units twice a day, but am still getting reading in the 30's-50's during his peak time (about 6 hrs post-injection), while his high has been about 130-150 preshot. He's not symptomatic at all for being hypoglycemic and still seems energetic and normal. Is my meter giving me incorrect readings? Should I take him off insulin altogether? I need help and am about to go out of town for a week in a couple days and need to give my pet sitter instructions (who does NOT to glucose home monitoring). ANY help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks.
 
hi there!

you don't really want to see numbers in the 30's and definitely not very often.

could you give us all the numbers you have since you started hometesting? the ones at the vet aren't as important but if you include those, note they were at the vet please?

do it something like this

3-27-10
amps 150 (morning pre-shot number is 150)
+2 135 (two hours later the glucose level is 135
+5 80
+7 35
+11 123
pmps 150 (evening pre-shot number is 150)

obviously leave out the stuff in parenthesis :)
we note our numbers like this since the board is worldwide. that way everyone can figure out where in the 12 hour cycle you got each number. it doesn't matter if it was at 2 am or 6 pm, but how many hours out from each shot.

does that make sense? just ask for clarification if it doesn't.

and yes, i'm leaning towards off insulin very soon :)
 
Ok, here's what I have:

3-24-10
amps 271 (1 unit injection; 3/4 5.5oz can wet food)
+3 171
pmps 87 (no insulin given b/c too low; 3/4 5.5oz can wet food)

3-25-10
amps 355 (1 unit injection; 3/4 5.5oz can wet food)
+9 49
pmps 132 (lowered to .5 unit injection)
+5 96

3-26-10 (.5 injection for am and pm)
amps 156 (3/4 5.5oz can wet food)
pmps 159 (3/4 5.5oz can wet food - food left over)
+7 47

3-27-10
amps 140 (food left from last night; 1/2 5.5oz can wet food)
+6 37
+8 100
pmps 88 (no injection at normal time b/c too low)
2nd pmps 162 (which would normally be +1; .5 unit injection given; 5.5 oz can, some left over still)

I think part of the problem is he's adjusting to the canned food, and only likes some, while refusing others. I'm thinking if I feed him 1 5.5oz can (that he likes) per meal, his BG will come up and .5 unit in the am and pm will be ok. Feedback? Im leaving town tomorrow and will monitor tonight and tomorrow morning.
Much appreciated!!
 
Switching from kibble to all canned does make a HUGE difference. It did with my guy. Click on the link in my signature for Tugger's spreadsheet. You can see where I changed his food over and how his numbers went wayyyyyyyyyy down pretty much immediately.

I'm *very new* at this, so I wouldn't do anything without asking for advice first *but* if I had to leave my guy for that long with no monitoring I'd have to consider feeding a slightly higher carb food during that week. Stick to canned if you can but pick ones that are 10-15% carbs and he might be able to regulate himself through his cycles or have the PS feed a small amount of kibble after he eats his canned food.

Do you notice that he goes and eats when he gets low or do you have to entice him to? I leave wet food out all the time and Tugger will go nibble when he starts to dip, when he gets low he goes in more often. I've only had to intervene with gravy food once or twice and that was only because I got scared and didn't want to let him get any lower, I bet if I'd let him do his thing he'd have fed himself.

You have to know your cat though. If he is one who would eat every morsel of food that is left out at once, then my suggestion probably wouldn't work. But if he's a grazer like my guys are, it just might. I'll let others who know more tell you if my thoughts on this are on track or way the heck off. Or, you could run out today and pick up a timed feeder that will automatically give him food at certain times. A lot of people here use them....

I hope someone will pop in and be able to help!
 
I am sorry my post didnt come out as planned
Normally I would say this is a great problem to be having!

My question was whether the pzi is u-40 or u-100 pzi. If it is u-40 you can use u-100 syringes to measure smaller doses. It does look like your cat still needs insulin and needs the dose to be lowered a bit. I would cut the dose in half and see what that dose
This insulin is working for you and do not see the reason to switch at this time
You also have a big problem with you going away. This cat needs to be tested especially with these numbers. Maybe there are no symptoms now but what happens if the numbers get 10-20 points lower. At the same time if you stop insulin while you go away, you risk losing all the progress you have just made. Mybe you can teach your sitter how to test or you can post your city/state here and someone from the board can cat sit that has familiarity with testing and such
Best of luck








reyess80 said:
I was previously feeding dry Iams in the AM and Whiskas pouches in the evening - he was on 12 units of PZI twice a day then, and was at a BG the vet was happy with. I then read about the diet cats should be on, and changed to canned Friskies only, twice a day while I started home BG monitoring. As a result, I've dropped the injections to .5 units twice a day, but am still getting reading in the 30's-50's during his peak time (about 6 hrs post-injection), while his high has been about 130-150 preshot. He's not symptomatic at all for being hypoglycemic and still seems energetic and normal. Is my meter giving me incorrect readings? Should I take him off insulin altogether? I need help and am about to go out of town for a week in a couple days and need to give my pet sitter instructions (who does NOT to glucose home monitoring). ANY help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the feedback. That definitely helps. He's on pzi. Vet tried him on lantus (while he was still on the dry and wer food diet) and we couldn't get his BG down. I'm wondering if it's worth a try again w lantus?? I haven't home tested for ketones yet, and now that I think about it, the vet never took a urine sample. He is a grazer, and usually eats on his own, but I've been encouraging him to eat more when his BG is low, which he will eat. I've decided to contine the wet food diet while I'm gone, but leave a small handful of dry food after they eat so he won't get too low. Once I'm back, I'll retart with the wet only diet and hope to regulate him.
 
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