My Cat the diabetic

Oh no, he gets insulin via a syringe. But, that is stable too. I can vary it when I know he's too high or too low sugar, if he's not eating, etc.

Well, alcohol will do it for me, but I've never heard of Screech hitting the bottle.

alcohol lowers your sugar?

Absolutely. This is definately in the "Your Mileage May Vary" class. It can be quite dangerous for those so affected, though, if they are also on medication.

Okay -- maybe it would make sense to try a slightly lower dosage then. (Emphasis on maybe. I don't really trust my competence as an armchair veterinarian.)

That's interesting, Roger. I had assumed it would raise blood glucose. Perhaps this is the rebound effect that the vet speaks of - it goes both ways. If the cat has a super-low sugar event, his body could be trying to compensate and he could have super-high sugar the next day. And vice versa.

Thomas, vets and I agree with you. Slightly too high is a safe way to not get too low. Hence the upper range for glucose - 200 (high for humans, right?). I had been testing his urine for glucose up until this weekend and bringing him in to the vet for blood tests periodically.

The urine tests are a good general indicator of insulin-glucose balance. They give you the percentage of glucose in the urine since the last time the cat peed. So, over several hours, the urine collects and the glucose levels are averaged, in a sense. I hope for a slight indication of sugar present in his urine. But, this is imprecise. And, no glucose in the urine certainly doesn't mean he has dangerously low glucose levels in his blood - it could just mean he is well-balanced. When he hits a glucose low, I need more precise info to know how serious the low is. I'm going to try to get a better sense about how accurate the urine strips are as well by comparing data - if I can figure out how to.

That makes very good sense. Congratulations on the switch to the blood tests then.

On a tangent: Has anybody mentioned that being your cat must be the best job Screetch could have possibly applied to ava ? He's very lucky to have landed it.

As a minor afterthough, watch out for liver. Cats do like it, and it is an unexpected source of carbs - glycogen, if I recall correctly.

Standard human ml/dcl is about 130 two hours after eating. If I see 160, I think I'm okay. Above 180, I think about a menu change. If a1C indicates a long term average below 170, chances of complications are considered small.

Thomas, you're not the first to comment on screech's good fortune!

Roger..... Thanks for all that info about timing and levels. But, what's the 1C about?

As to liver, I think it's probably way too high in fat as well - he's also got mild, chronic pancreatitis.

I don't even recall what a1C stands for, but it's kind of an average reading based on glucose levels over the past three months, with emphasis on the most recent month. Blood cells replace themselves about every three months. Anyway, it's strongly suggested that you keep a1C below 7.0, which I think corrosponds roughly to 170 mg/dcl.

Ah - I think the vets call that blood test a fructosamine test.

No problem. It bears repeating.


I don't think so. HPa1C is hemoglobine that has glucose bound to it. It forms in proportion to blood glucose levels, and gets depleted at the same rate the body replaces hemoglobin in general (about 3 months). As a result, the Hba1C concentation reflects a long-term average of blood sugar levels. Fructosamine may be measuring the same long term average in a different way, but it's definitely a different chemical substance.

EDIT: Just Googled it. Yes, they're different tests. Here's an article describing them.

Sending my best wishes, hugs & pats to the beautiful Screech. I hope he's perked up a bit by now, k.

Lemme know if I can be of any help in deciphering your research either from a sensitivity standpoint or with data analysis.

Not to turn this into a technical discussion but here's an article that is pertinent. The article discusses urinary glucose in terms of mmol/liter. The conversion factor from mmol/Liter to mg/dL for glucose is 18 (6 mmol/L = 108 mg/dL)

Evaluation of blood glucose dipstick tests - pdf

Oh good lord..... ok, will get to the tech articles after staring them down for a few minutes.... (thanks!)

4:00 pm - His blood glucose was 35! I tested it again. Same results. Yikes! This at hour 8 of his 12-hour insulin dose. <muttermuttermutter>

5:00 pm - 38 after some food and some syrup......

I'm sort of journaling here.....

This cat grazes on his food, he doesn't eat meals all at once. I think this may be part of the problem with his regulation. Also, his food is a diet cat food, one that has a lot of fiber in it so that the body takes nutrients slowly, keeps the cat feeling full longer.

Yesterday after noon he was wicked low (see above posts). His levels came back up eventually, and I took away any sugar (syrup on food and dissolved in water). I gave him 1/2 a unit of insulin (has been getting upwards of 2 units every 12 hours).

Today's numbers:

9:00 am _______________ 555 mg/dL
(insulin at 9am, <2 units)
10:20 am ______________ 532
12:40 pm ______________ 437
2:30 pm _______________ 255
4:20 pm _______________ 136
5:30 pm _______________ 91
7:40 pm _______________ 332

It's a extremely high start, with a precipitous drop to a decent low, and a sharp rise to follow. He's eaten most of his serving of food. This is way to wide a range for me to know what to do with. Will do the tracking again tomorrow. If we can get through the next 2.5 weeks, I can do it for more than two (weekend) days in a row to really fine-tune.

Should I consider a different insulin? A different kind of food?

Grazing is good. It tends to reduce spikes in blood sugar levels.