Vomited + is now hypo - vet closed, what do I do tonight?

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emiliegeez

emiliegeez

Member Since 2022
Hi all,

Just introduced myself/Tango on here yesterday - in short, new parent to a diabetic stray I've taken in + trying to learn as much as I can in a short period of time. Haven't yet been testing BG but was planning to start this week.

Starting a new thread because he's currently having a moderate hypoglycemic episode. I believe it was brought on because he snuck a bite of the Indian food I had for lunch and threw up the contents of his stomach a few hours later. He then got increasingly lethargic until he was asleep and barely willing to open his eyes.

Timeline:
12 PM - 1u lantus + can of Purina DM (normal dose/food).
2:30/3:00 PM - Acting normal + ate some of my food by mistake around 2:30/3:00 PM.
7:30 PM - realized he'd thrown it up but still seemed relatively fine
8:30 PM - found him asleep and more or less unresponsive. offered food and he wasn't interested
8:45 PM - BG reading of 36 - first time testing him so it took a few tries but he barely acknowledged what I was doing, which was very scary because he's normally a sassy guy
9:00 PM - Force fed him a tablespoon of honey based on what I'd read on here. Offered him a can of FF pate and he ate it this time
9:15 PM - he's beside me on the couch and is awake, still seems lethargic but definitely better than before

Plan on calling my vet tomorrow, but for the rest of the night... what do I do? He would normally get another can of food + 1u of Lantus around 11/12 - do I feed him again? Skip the insulin? Do I need to monitor him overnight once he seems normal?

Ack - sorry if I'm asking redundant questions, this whole thing has been so scary! And on a snowy Sunday night without many options for treatment... timing couldn't be worse but I'm at least glad I have access to the resources on here so I could at least recognize what was going on
 
Urgent:

Please use the Thread Tools to tag this with a 911 prefix

What other foods do you have on hand? Brands and flavors please.

Is he having seizures? Walking ok? Still lethargic?

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When you get a chance:
Does he have a history of ketones or DKA?

Was there a recent diet change?

Do you have any BG records at all? How was he diagnosed? Symptoms, labs, etc

He is not hypoglycemic due to one vomiting episode. He is hypoglycemic because his dose is too high.

He definitely needs a dose reduction overall. Tonight it may be better to skip altogether or give a very small dose, let's see what the next tests say.
 
I just tested again and the meter registered 'Lo' which the instructions say means below 20. This meter has pretty poor reviews on Amazon and requires more blood than I'm able to easily get - considering running to the pharmacy up the street to buy a better one? Or should I give more honey/try to get him to eat again?

I have some Friskies 'meaty bits' w gravy in my car I can run out to grab? It's this variety pack

Still very lethargic/sleepy. No seizures, and walked from one room to the other to switch couches.

No history of ketones that I know of, but I've only had him for a few weeks + only been on insulin for just shy of 2 weeks. He was diagnosed via a blood work panel the vet ran when I first brought him in at the end of Dec - BG was crazy high on the first visit, down to 300 when I brought him in the other day for a recheck. Prior to the diagnosis I'd been feeding him dry food for the first few days I had him and he was drinking/peeing an insane amount so the diagnosis didn't surprise me./ He's only ever been hyperglycemic - up until this happened he acts like he's starving 100% of the time
 
emiliegeez said:
I just tested again and the meter registered 'Lo' which the instructions say means below 20. This meter has pretty poor reviews on Amazon and requires more blood than I'm able to easily get - considering running to the pharmacy up the street to buy a better one? Or should I give more honey/try to get him to eat again?

I have some Friskies 'meaty bits' w gravy in my car I can run out to grab? It's this variety pack

Still very lethargic/sleepy. No seizures, and walked from one room to the other to switch couches.

No history of ketones that I know of, but I've only had him for a few weeks + only been on insulin for just shy of 2 weeks. He was diagnosed via a blood work panel the vet ran when I first brought him in at the end of Dec - BG was crazy high on the first visit, down to 300 when I brought him in the other day for a recheck. Prior to the diagnosis I'd been feeding him dry food for the first few days I had him and he was drinking/peeing an insane amount so the diagnosis didn't surprise me./ He's only ever been hyperglycemic - up until this happened he acts like he's starving 100% of the time
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The meaty bits are not high enough carbs right now, 14%. See options below, if he won't do those then meaty bits but keep up with honey

You need to get him whatever carbs you can, LO is under 20 usually.

Do you have bread? Rice? I mean even pizza (minus toppings). Honey on bread, anything, yogurt, ice cream, sweet potato

Keep rubbing honey on gums if he'll let you, or you'll have to do it rectally.

I'll address the rest once the emergency has passed
 
@FrostD - Melissa, I don't think she's able to test as much as we would ordinarily like in this situation. See the link to her previous post. She's just taken Tango in from being on the streets.

With the "Lo" reading, for the moment, some of whatever food you have handy plus some honey or corn syrup. You need to get the numbers up. If you're able, you can re-test in 20 min. to see if the numbers are rising. If you still have some of the high carb dry food, that won't hurt. It just takes longer for the effects to kick in.
 
I have rice - maybe will try mixing that with the Fancy Feast and see if he'll eat it? And still have the dry food too. He's letting me put the honey in his mouth via syringe but is awake enough that gums may not be too doable.

He's being incredibly chill about the testing right now (which is definitely a sign he's not feeling good) so I think I should be able to retest in 20 - will keep you guys posted, thank you much for responding so quickly
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If you can't get Tango's numbers up, is there a nearby emergency vet?
Click to expand...

There is - it's 20 min away by car + open 24 hours. Good to know it's there - guessing if this doesn't bring him up at all I should call them?

He's eating some Friskies with rice and honey right now - walked across the room to ask me for it which seems promising. Will test in 15 and report back!
 
Having a harder time getting another test sample - getting a good bit of resistance. Should I keep at it even if it's stressing him out? Let him be for a bit? I don't have a ton of practice so my attempts are probably not the most pleasant...
 
Feed him every 20-30 minutes a teaspoon or two at a time until you can get a test to see if he’s at a safe point. You need to keep him hungry so not too much at one time.
 
I have to get to bed. Hopefully some others are around, but your safest bet is to skip the shot tonight if you can't get any tests in. Keep feeding him whatever he will eat with higher carbs, resume low carb tomorrow or when someone here advises you to tonight.

He might be more sensitive to insulin following this. Others are better to advise on dose, but new dose should be 0.75U max; tomorrow I'd consider 0.25U in case he is sensitive since testing is a crapshoot with him
 
FrostD said:
I have to get to bed. Hopefully some others are around, but your safest bet is to skip the shot tonight if you can't get any tests in. Keep feeding him whatever he will eat with higher carbs, resume low carb tomorrow or when someone here advises you to tonight.

He might be more sensitive to insulin following this. Others are better to advise on dose, but new dose should be 0.75U max; tomorrow I'd consider 0.25U in case he is sensitive since testing is a crapshoot with him
Click to expand...
I think the switch from dry to the low carb food might be the reason for the drop in numbers. If you find that you can't test him often, I would hold off on giving insulin altogether until you can test him, but maybe someone with more experience can chime in about this. I hope Tango stays safe for you tonight, Emilie. :bighug:
 
Hi all - I'm so sorry if I kept anybody hanging, things have been a whirlwind since I posted on here last. He was still super lethargic around midnight after consuming all the sugar + I decided that it was better safe than sorry since I'm so new to this, so ended up taking him to the emergency vet. Weather was truly awful - wind strong enough to blow his carrier around + make it hard to open/close the door... luckily only had to wait for an hour at the clinic (just us and lots of dogs who'd eaten things they shouldn't have) + the vet there told me I must've done a good job getting all the carbs in him because his numbers were up to 330 (haha... high, but I guess to be expected with all the sugar I pumped in him. This is more in line with where his readings have been after first week on insulin). Got home with him around 2 and he seemed to be feeling like himself again. Had to run to work this morning on not a lot of sleep so haven't been able to check back in, but hanging with him now for the rest of the day.

The emergency vet told me to skip last night's dose and give him his regular dose today since his numbers swung up so high, but @FrostD I figured better safe than sorry and followed your advice + gave him a reduced .75u. Waiting on a call back from my regular vet now.

I haven't retested him yet today because I bruised the **** out of his ears with my panicked lancing attempts yesterday + they seem painful to the touch today but I went to the pharmacy to get a better device/meter (the one I was working with yesterday sucked) + hopefully will be able to test him with dinner. He seems more or less back to normal but I know there's no way to know for sure without testing. I've only ever known/had him with unregulated very high levels so still trying to get a vibe for what 'normal' for him even looks like!

Thank you again all for the advice + encouragement - I'm grateful that I knew what to watch for + was able to make somewhat educated decisions instead of leaving him be overnight - who knows how bad it would've been otherwise, my vet hasn't really talked to me about the risk of hypo at all.
 
Phew! Tango had a lot of us worried last night. He has found the perfect home with you.

Cat ears are not as tender as you think. Some people prefer freehand the lancet rather than using the device. If you do get a drop or two of blood, you can swipe it onto your clean fingernail and test that drop.

Some people use a thunder shirt or a baby onesie to hold the Libre in place. I'm tagging @Olive & Paula – I believe she knows a bit about shirts.

And please stick around. There is a whole world of people here who can help you every step of the way.
 
The Libre is great if you’re just embarking on this journey called feline diabetes and want to get the hang of testing. Here is a link to getting a free sensor that you can use with your smartphone: https://www.freestyle.abbott/us-en/myfreestyle.html. All you need is a prescription from the vet. Here are some thoughts on it from my own experience:

Pros:
You can scan the cat without disturbing him to get glucose levels. I love stumbling out of bed in the middle of the night and scanning my cat to see where she might be.
If you have a good electric shaver that can get really close to the skin, you can apply the sensor yourself with some Vetbond and save yourself trips to the vet.
You can share the graphs produced by the Libre with your vet.
Applying it to the side of the neck will prevent it from getting kicked off my the cat and you can use a cute Kitty Kollar to cover it.

Cons:
Some cats hate it and will scratch it off.
The sensors sometimes will fizzle out before the 14 days.
If you can’t apply it yourself, vet trips are expensive and stressful for the cat.
If the cat registers low, you should still get an ear prick to confirm.
The sensors are more expensive than buying test strips for a meter (~$75 a pop).
 
I read your post this morning, and was worried about you and Tango and so happy to hear that everything is okay. I agree with the reduction to 0.75. Do your syringes have the 1/2 unit marks? I'm so glad you learned to test even though it was an emergency, I'm so glad you had the glucometer ready and did it. Good for you, and even better for Tango.
I used Neosporin with Pain Relief just a dab the size of a sesame seed on J.D.'s ears sometimes, after the poke. It helps with any pain and to heal the ear.
If you try to Libre and the onesie to keep him from messing with it, my Ginger who is 11 pounds needed the 6 month old size.
I hope to keep hearing about how Tango is doing. You did a good job! And I love you for taking him in and caring for him.
 
So glad it all turned out OK. You are a wonderful person to take such good care of him.
Keep posting as we are all here to help and and a tango through this early stage.
I am so glad you are going to look at a timed automatic feeder. You can give more that 4 meals a day if you think he needs them.
You could give the meal before the shot them two snacks during the cycles.
 
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