Hello! Our little pal, Piper, was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago after a severe bout of dka, nine days hospitalized, and another bout of dka. She is home now and generally doing well. It is all quite challenging, but we are doing our best!
Piper is 9 years old and a bichon/dachshund/cairn terrier mix. When they first released her from the ICU we were told to feed her twice a day - far more than she was used to eating - give her insulin twice a day and bring her in a few days for a full curve. She had almost no appetite and wouldn't eat the amount they wanted her to. They told us to half her insulin when she wouldn't eat, which we did. In two days she was back into dka.
She has now been home again for about 1 week. We were told not to test her glucose but bring her in for a curve on Monday. After last time, we went ahead and got the Alphatrak2 anyway.
She seemed to be doing quite well. Her numbers on the 16th were beautiful for her: 194,161,123,144,191
But yesterday she started at 273, dropped low quickly (60s), had a snack, dropped low in the evening again, had a snack, and then was up to 293 before dinner and bed.
This morning she started out at 436 at 7:15 , then ate breakfast at 8 and got her dose. By 9:40 am she was down to 147 and an hour later she was at 86.
I don't want to boost her up with snacks for no reason, but I don't want her to drop too far, so I waited another hour and got a 99, then another hour and got 80. At that point I figured she probably needed to eat and gave her a little snack. Her next check showed 264.
I am doing tons of reading, but really uncertain about everything at the moment.
Does anyone know why she might be dropping so quickly today?
How low is low enough that she should have a snack?
I don't want to boost her up out of fear of going too low. I thought about decreasing her insulin dose by a bit tonight (she was at 7 units, but the vet recently suggested 6 and she has been at 6 for a few days), but I also am not crazy about that morning number in the 400s.
Sorry to dump out the questions, just trying to figure it all out and so thankful for everything I have read here all ready!
Piper is 9 years old and a bichon/dachshund/cairn terrier mix. When they first released her from the ICU we were told to feed her twice a day - far more than she was used to eating - give her insulin twice a day and bring her in a few days for a full curve. She had almost no appetite and wouldn't eat the amount they wanted her to. They told us to half her insulin when she wouldn't eat, which we did. In two days she was back into dka.
She has now been home again for about 1 week. We were told not to test her glucose but bring her in for a curve on Monday. After last time, we went ahead and got the Alphatrak2 anyway.
She seemed to be doing quite well. Her numbers on the 16th were beautiful for her: 194,161,123,144,191
But yesterday she started at 273, dropped low quickly (60s), had a snack, dropped low in the evening again, had a snack, and then was up to 293 before dinner and bed.
This morning she started out at 436 at 7:15 , then ate breakfast at 8 and got her dose. By 9:40 am she was down to 147 and an hour later she was at 86.
I don't want to boost her up with snacks for no reason, but I don't want her to drop too far, so I waited another hour and got a 99, then another hour and got 80. At that point I figured she probably needed to eat and gave her a little snack. Her next check showed 264.
I am doing tons of reading, but really uncertain about everything at the moment.
Does anyone know why she might be dropping so quickly today?
How low is low enough that she should have a snack?
I don't want to boost her up out of fear of going too low. I thought about decreasing her insulin dose by a bit tonight (she was at 7 units, but the vet recently suggested 6 and she has been at 6 for a few days), but I also am not crazy about that morning number in the 400s.
Sorry to dump out the questions, just trying to figure it all out and so thankful for everything I have read here all ready!
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