We are new. Home testing number is lower than expected. How much insulin to give?

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Susan and Timmy

Susan and Timmy

Member Since 2017
Timmy is my 11 year old grey mouser. He weighs 13.2 pounds. He was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago. The vet put him on Vetsulin 2 units morning and night. Well, two glucose curves later, he was up to 3 units and then 4 units, which is where we are now. He also has a history of urethral obstruction and has been on Royal Canin urinary dry food. The vet put him on Royal Canin Glycobalance dry food because it helps with the urinary problems as well. I have been devastated these last few weeks, but I am determined to get educated and this site has been so helpful.

I learned that he has to be on wet food. So we just started home testing on Sunday. It went much smoother than I thought. I am using the Relion Prime.

Yesterday, Monday, before Timmy's a.m. Injection, he was 407. It came down throughout the day to: 259, 224, 198 and then before the p.m. Injection it was 401.

Throughout the day he ate 3 Sheba perfect portions beef pate with no gravy along with Royal Canin Glycobalance.

This morning, Tuesday, before his a.m. Injection he was at 378.
****Tonight though before his p.m. injection he is at 194.

He has eaten the same food and amounts as yesterday.

**I have no idea what to do now. I can't give him the 4 units, do I skip tonight?

Any help will be so appreciated.
 
Thank you for your response. This is scary stuff. Yes, he has been eating dry Royal Canin Glycobalance (he obstructed a few years ago) and since Sunday we have started slowly with wet Sheba beef pate with no gravy.

He hasn't eaten for a while, so I will retest in about 20 minutes and post it.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help.
 
I totally understand. My two kitties were on hills W/D and I thought it was crazy moving them to all wet. But, they are both in remission and has been that way for a year. They also have no hairball problems like they had while eating the dry.
 
That is my goal to move him to all wet food. Hearing how your two went into remission makes me have hope.

So he was at 194.

I just tested him and now he is at 283. He did not eat yet, although he is waiting for his food.

I'm so confused with the numbers. It jumped a lot. Do I skip tonight's injection?
 
I can try and help with numbers but, unfortunately, I've no direct experience with Vetsulin. If he's only at 283 now, I'm not at all sure I'd give 4 units...maybe 2 if you can monitor him fairly closely over the next few hours. If 4 units can take him from 407 to 194, I think it might drop him too far from 283. I might be being over-cautious and I'd really like other opinions on this, but I'd rather see him run a little high than head low from a 4 unit shot at a not crazily high number.
 
manxcat419 said:
I can try and help with numbers but, unfortunately, I've no direct experience with Vetsulin. If he's only at 283 now, I'm not at all sure I'd give 4 units...maybe 2 if you can monitor him fairly closely over the next few hours. If 4 units can take him from 407 to 194, I think it might drop him too far from 283. I might be being over-cautious and I'd really like other opinions on this, but I'd rather see him run a little high than head low from a 4 unit shot at a not crazily high number.
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That's what I was thinking. I would not give him 4. Maybe 2. If she couldn't monitor him I would only do 1 and leave food out.
 
Okay. I would definitely not give him 4U tonight. I almost never give dosing advice but I'm going to put my neck on the chopping block and say I would not recommend more than 1U, and I would monitor him closely. Is he still eating any dry or is he completely on canned now?
 
S. Russman said:
He is eating a little dry. I leave it out for him. I am trying to switch him to wet, slowly. He had 3 sheba perfect portions beef no gravy for three days now.
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Do you have any gravy food and Karo for hypos? I think you'd be safer skipping, unless you're prepared to monitor and treat for a hypo (not saying he'll have a hypo, but you need to be prepared, just in case). Without a spreadsheet to look over, to see how he's been reacting to the insulin, I am hesitant about giving him any tonight.

ETA: How long have you been working on the transition to all canned? What are the proportions of wet to dry?
 
I think I will skip the dose tonight, test in the a.m. and get back on here for advice. I am scared to death of him going too low. So I will wait. Thank you all so much for helping me tonight. I appreciate it so, so much!

Mum of Two Felines I hope you feel better quickly.
 
I do have Karo. We have just started the transition to canned food. This is our third day. He is eating about 3/4 cup of the Glycobalance dry and about 4 ounces of wet food a day.
 
Of its 280 now I might suggest 0.5 or 1 unit.... But it's perfectly ok to skip this time and start over in the morning. I would go back to 2 units now that he's on lower carb food and track how he does over the next few days and then determine if a change would be helpful.
 
S. Russman said:
I think I will skip the dose tonight, test in the a.m. and get back on here for advice.
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I honestly think that's your best bet, until you have a better feel for how he reacts to the insulin. Have you checked out our spreadsheet? It's one of the best tools you can have to help your kitty! It really helps you to track patterns and changes, and helps us to help you, as well. You can find it here and these are the instructions on how to use it. If you need help setting it up just post for help and someone will be along to give you a hand. :)
 
Yes, I just learned of the spreadsheet tonight from JanetNJ. Anything that will help, I will use. This is a hard process and so much to learn.
 
S. Russman said:
None tonight. The 2 units sounds more in line. Do you think that trying to change him to wet food caused the drop. Am I trying to change him too fast?
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It certainly could have. No, I don't think you're changing too fast, but you have to stay alert for drops in BG so you can change his dose accordingly. That's another place the spreadsheet comes in handy; you can see exactly how he reacts to each dose, and even track his food transition along with it, if you want to. Do you know when in the cycle his nadir(lowest point) is, and how low he tends to go? That's also a huge help to know.

If you have any questions regarding his AM dose please stall (don't feed) and post again for dosing help. :):):)
 
S. Russman said:
I just started testing him on Sunday. I definitely need that spreadsheet. Thanks for the links. I will start getting that going tomorrow. I will test in the morning and will post the number and ask for dosing advice. Thank you all for your help tonight.
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You are very welcome! Glad to be of help. :)
 
Reading this morning was 506!
I did not give him his injection last night, so it is really high.

He ate his wet food just now.

How much insulin should I give him this morning? Vet had him on 4 units twice a day, which I guess was a huge dose. I am thinking 2 units and monitor closely?

He is his happy, funny, playful self, other than him drinking quite a bit.
 
S. Russman said:
Reading this morning was 506!
I did not give him his injection last night, so it is really high.

He ate his wet food just now.

How much insulin should I give him this morning? Vet had him on 4 units twice a day, which I guess was a huge dose. I am thinking 2 units and monitor closely?

He is his happy, funny, playful self, other than him drinking quite a bit.
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I definitely wouldn't give him any more than 2 units. Will you be around to monitor him? Glad he's feeling good and being himself!
 
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