RedCedar
Member Since 2023
Hello,
My sugarkitty is on Vetsulin and getting 1.5U; we were looking to switch him to glargine and were in the process of discussing with his vet - however, in the meantime we found a mass on his hind leg and got surgery scheduled to remove it, so we paused any changes since he was stable enough on his current Vetsulin dose. He had his surgery on Wednesday and we are still waiting on biopsy results.
His vet did the surgery on local anesthesia so that we wouldn't have to fast him, so he got his normal dose and meal in the AM. However, when they were monitoring him at the clinic post surgery, I was told at pick up time that he hadn't wanted to eat anything, which was very upsetting. I had left two different cans of food, some kibble, and some treats to make sure they had a wide variety of things to offer to him to get him to eat, and none of it was used. But anyway...
I brought him home in a rush, fed him, and a bit after tested for his PM shot. His BG was 500 which is higher than his normal pre-shot values. We gave his normal dose, then monitored through his nadir window and he got green numbers which are good per se, but it was a BIG drop from 500. In hindsight I am guessing he must have gone too low during the day and the 500 was a bounce back.
The morning after, his pre-shot value was around 200 and we skipped. It then stabilized to above 300 pre-shot and had normal nadirs (for him). Vet office said to not be concerned that the values were a bit off post-surgery and that we could proceed as normal.
Now - in hindsight (x2) we should have kept testing pre-shot anyway instead of taking the reassurance that everything was fine. I feel very bad for it, but we have a lot going on (other pets dealing with serious health problems too) and I often fall for the 'someone else said it's OK so I'm just being paranoid' mindset.
Anyway - today I gave him his +4 hour meal as usual and noticed he was ravenous, which made me suspicious so I tested him and he came at 55 (on AlphaTrak). Managed to get him to eat a tiny bit of higher carb food and a drop of karo syrup (I probably could have skipped the karo, but was panicking that he had already eaten too much low carb food before I tested him and might not take any more food). He stabilized around 100 afterwards.
For tonight I might skip the shot or give half dose depending on his pre-shot value, I know he's been way sensitive to insulin after a mild hypo event in the past and I worry about nighttime issues. We will continue checking pre-shot as much as possible.
I know that it is possible to see higher values because of stress. In this case, I assume the lower values might be because he's cranky and doesn't like the cone (who does?) so he might be snacking less.
However that leads to the part that I struggle with: is his dose right for him if his doing well on it is dependent on him snacking through the day? Should he be on a lower dose or is this normal?
He had his fructosamine tested last week and got 430, which I understand is not ideal but I assume also not too bad all things considered.
My sugarkitty is on Vetsulin and getting 1.5U; we were looking to switch him to glargine and were in the process of discussing with his vet - however, in the meantime we found a mass on his hind leg and got surgery scheduled to remove it, so we paused any changes since he was stable enough on his current Vetsulin dose. He had his surgery on Wednesday and we are still waiting on biopsy results.
His vet did the surgery on local anesthesia so that we wouldn't have to fast him, so he got his normal dose and meal in the AM. However, when they were monitoring him at the clinic post surgery, I was told at pick up time that he hadn't wanted to eat anything, which was very upsetting. I had left two different cans of food, some kibble, and some treats to make sure they had a wide variety of things to offer to him to get him to eat, and none of it was used. But anyway...
I brought him home in a rush, fed him, and a bit after tested for his PM shot. His BG was 500 which is higher than his normal pre-shot values. We gave his normal dose, then monitored through his nadir window and he got green numbers which are good per se, but it was a BIG drop from 500. In hindsight I am guessing he must have gone too low during the day and the 500 was a bounce back.
The morning after, his pre-shot value was around 200 and we skipped. It then stabilized to above 300 pre-shot and had normal nadirs (for him). Vet office said to not be concerned that the values were a bit off post-surgery and that we could proceed as normal.
Now - in hindsight (x2) we should have kept testing pre-shot anyway instead of taking the reassurance that everything was fine. I feel very bad for it, but we have a lot going on (other pets dealing with serious health problems too) and I often fall for the 'someone else said it's OK so I'm just being paranoid' mindset.
Anyway - today I gave him his +4 hour meal as usual and noticed he was ravenous, which made me suspicious so I tested him and he came at 55 (on AlphaTrak). Managed to get him to eat a tiny bit of higher carb food and a drop of karo syrup (I probably could have skipped the karo, but was panicking that he had already eaten too much low carb food before I tested him and might not take any more food). He stabilized around 100 afterwards.
For tonight I might skip the shot or give half dose depending on his pre-shot value, I know he's been way sensitive to insulin after a mild hypo event in the past and I worry about nighttime issues. We will continue checking pre-shot as much as possible.
I know that it is possible to see higher values because of stress. In this case, I assume the lower values might be because he's cranky and doesn't like the cone (who does?) so he might be snacking less.
However that leads to the part that I struggle with: is his dose right for him if his doing well on it is dependent on him snacking through the day? Should he be on a lower dose or is this normal?
He had his fructosamine tested last week and got 430, which I understand is not ideal but I assume also not too bad all things considered.
Poor boy has good reasons to be cranky. 