Tip lost weight again and has been acting sick

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Cindy & Pets

Cindy & Pets

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I'm real worried about Tip. ): She's back down to 7lbs 15oz, only giving her half the dose of insulin tonight and none this morning. I went to feed her this morning, and she seemed to be eating fine, but she vomited 4 times and acting unwell, I thought that since her stomach likely had no food in it to skip her insulin shot. At the time I thought that maybe she was just having a particularly hard hairball, as both the cats tend to have.

However, for her dinner meal, she only ate half of what she normally eats, so I only gave her half the insulin she normally gets. However, I'm wondering if that wasn't a good idea? I would've taken her to the vet, but the vet is closed today and tomorrow. One of the cats had some diarrhea, I'm not sure which as they use the same litterbox. One also had an accident outside.

She was just at the vet on friday and her bG was 275.

What should I do, considering the vet is closed today and tomorrow? Was it really a good idea to give her half the normal dose(1 unit instead of 2)?
 
So, are you not home testing? That would give you an immediate idea of how she is responding to the insulin. Would let you know if she will go to low with what you gave her, if she was already low, or if she was really high. Being too low or too high can make them feel crummy. If you are home testing, what is Tip's most recent reading?
Otherwise, can you try to get her to eat anything?
 
I moved the food to the room she's hiding in because she's kind of skittish around groups of people(I have people over at the moment). I'll be able to check in a sec to see how much more she's eaten. I have gotten her to eat some when it came to dinner time, but it half-way through, she just started playing with it.

No, but I just got a meter today when my mom came over. Should I test her now? It's a contour meter, do I need to do anything with it? Is it good enough to test her with it? And I hadn't been, but I had plans to as soon as I got the meter.

EDIT: I went in to check, and she was eating a little, though stopped when she noticed me.
 
I think it is great that she is eating more. And great that you are ready to home test. That meter should do fine. You can test her at any point, especially if you are concerned about her going too low from the insulin. Just remember that now she has eaten and it can raise the glucose reading. So you will have an after shot, food on board reading. Do you know how to do it? I am sure you might be a little nervous but you will be able to do it. Warm the ear, have a cotton pad or tissue on the other side of where you are poking(and use that to help stop the bleeding after the poke) and have a treat to give her after(whether you get blood or not). Good luck!
 
I insisted I home-tested to the vet, even if I get squeamish, because I'm terrified of her going low. No, I'm not sure how to do it, but I think I saw a guide on here that I will look in to. And my mom is more than willing to help. :) Thank you so much. Should I report the reading here?
 
Definitely if you have any questions or concerns, post her number here. You might want to start a new topic when you do it or just continue on with this one. I believe there is even a video link showing how to test. I have not done it in a few years but will help the best I can. Good luck!
 
Good on you for home testing. Posting results here is useful as people can guide you as you learn to interpret the results.
Most people make a spreadsheet to keep all their results in one place so that you and others can start to see the bigger picture. My vet loved my spreadsheet, I printed it out and showed him. He could see what was happening too.

Then we have a link in our signature (e.g. Akbah SS, in mine) so that people can check before they try to comment on your cat.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/view ... =6&t=50130
This is a link to the page where you can download a spreadsheet and get started, if you think you would like to make a spreadsheet.
 
I'll go ahead and post the result here. It was 207. I gave her the shot at around 7:30pm(it's almost 10pm now) and it's using humulin N. I've been trying to record both her weight and bG on the same google spreadsheet as weight was the main indicator that she was really high. I'm really not sure where to go on this since she seemed fine yesterday(when she went to the vet) at 275. Where should I go now?

As to how it went, it was nerve-wracking, but I tried to keep my nervousness down. She seemed to not mind until when we went to get the blood on the meter. And she got a treat right after it was done and was happy with that and didn't want to leave.
 
Concatulations! Great job on a successful test! As for your insulin, I did not use that so am not sure how quick it acts , how long it stays in their system, or the nadir-of course every cat is different(ECID). Looks like you will be accumulating data that you can then use to figure out how to progress with her. Again, great job!
Hope others will be on to post more about your number.
 
Thanks so much. :) Hopefully I'll get her feeling better without needing a vet, but if she's still acting crummy on monday, I won't hesitate to make an appointment. Wouldn't doubt it if she caught something from our outdoor cat as he was recently sick.
 
Excellent! You must be a natural at this. It really helped me to have a "BG curve", where I took a reading every couple of hours. That allowed me to see how my cat's BG was changing over 12 hours. Maybe on a day when the house is quiet though, today doesn't sound like a good time.

Here is a link showing and explaining some BG curves.
The author is not in the US, so he is talking about BG in a range from 0-30 or so: the "other" units for BG.
http://www.sugarpet.net/mycurves.html

I should also point out, I pass on links, but I'm not really experienced in giving dosing information. If you want advice, though, ask, there are others with more experience who can help. I just want to encourage you to gather BG measurements. It really helped me to "see" what was happening with my cat. (I was using a Humulin N variant, too)
 
^.^; I'm just not afraid to give her what's best. And I'm pretty decent at knowing exactly when she isn't feeling good, I attribute that to taking care of her for 11 years now.

Alright, thanks, I'll keep that in mind when reading the article.
 
Great job with the testing! keep a record of the time you gave the shot, how many hours after the shot you took the test and what his blood glucose was like it is in the spreadsheet to make it easier to switch over when you're ready like this:
date, pmps or amps (for night or day pre shot): N/t, how many U you gave, +2.5 (plus two and 1/2 hours) 207, and just keep going until you get to +12 which will be his amps or pmps again. Do a new line for each day.

How often do you give the Humulin N? I'm not familiar with that insulin? Isn't it a short acting one?

Melanie & Racci
 
Oh! I didn't think to keep track of the times of everything. I'll add those to the spreadsheet.

I believe it is a short-action insulin. I give it to her twice a day.
 
Alright, good to note down if I get the question on if it's fast-acting or not. :) I'm still fairly new

Yes, 2 units, twice a day. Sorry if that wasn't too clear.

She seems to be a bit better, so maybe it really was just a hairball this morning and then her being put-off by food because of what happened in the morning?
 
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