If you do not wish to get involved in home monitoring, simply be prepared to bring your pet to the hospital
for glucose curves as recommended by your veterinarian.
This includes feline patients that have their doses determined with
glucose curves done at a veterinary hospital.
Further, by doing
glucose curves at home the owner is spared the expense of the vet visit.
When starting insulin, your cat will need to be monitored at the hospital for one to three days for
glucose curve testing.
It may take several weeks of adjusting the dosage of insulin, as well as
several glucose curves to establish the correct dosage for your dog.
You should always allow your cat to become accustomed to a particular insulin dose and treatment plan for a few days before attempting to prepare a
full glucose curve.
Two weeks after stabilization we will perform a serial
blood glucose curve by repeated measurements of blood glucose regularly throughout the day.
Your family veterinarian can monitor the diabetes with an 8 hour
glucose curve where the blood sugar is checked every 2 hours, or owners can check their own cat's blood sugars at home by performing ear pricks and using a glucometer.
To get a reliable blood glucose reading is a management problem — the cats have to be seen quickly, and / or kept up high, covered and away from other dogs and other cats during the waiting time — which is also the reason these 12 and 24
hours glucose curves are going to be useless — that is a whole day of «stress».
Veterinarians have reported that there seems to be a smoother regulation of blood
glucose curve when using BCP PZI ®.
Long term laboratory monitoring is done
with glucose curves or serum fructosamine every 6 months, or any time a dose change is needed.
Veterinarians should reevaluate canine patients at appropriate intervals and adjust the dose based on clinical signs, urinalysis results, and
glucose curve values until adequate glycemic control has been attained.
Initial Regulation: Blood glucose 4 - 6 hours after insulin; adjust dose until near normal,
then Glucose Curve: Blood glucose every 2 hours throughout the day; determines the day's low point and duration of effect, which dictates the dosage schedule and may indicate need for an alternate type of insulin.
If there is a sudden return of polyuria (PU), polydipsia (PD), or polyphagia, perform either a follow -
up glucose curve or fructosamine check.
Although fructosamine and GHb are good tools for determining regulation, they will not identify an underlying problem, nor will they
replace glucose curves done for therapy adjustments.
Timmy needed to
undergo glucose curve testing (the most effective way to monitor and adjust insulin therapy in diabetic cats).
If your pet is too sensitive for a
valid glucose curve at the vet's office and you do not think you are up to blood sugar testing at home, the fructosamine blood test may be particularly useful.
Many diabetic cats have survived with a set amount of insulin being administered twice daily with the dosage determined by
periodic glucose curves performed at a veterinary clinic if their owners will not, or can not, home test.
Ideally, your veterinarian will perform a 12 - 24
hour glucose curve, during which insulin is administered intermittently and blood glucose is measured to establish the type of insulin and dosing frequency that best controls blood glucose while avoiding inappropriately low blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia).
She is currently on insulin twice daily and we are performing
blood glucose curves every 4 - 5 days to monitor her blood glucose levels.
Moreover, neither the glucose peak time nor the incremental area under
the glucose curve were significantly correlated with GERs in the study subjects (P = 0.585 and = 0.335, respectively), which suggests that inhibition of gastric motility had only a secondary effect, if any, on the SME.
The relation between gastric half - emptying time and the time of glucose peak or area under
the glucose curve of the second meal was assessed by using Spearman's rank correlation.
The area under the blood
glucose curve is then determined for both the test and control foods.
The initial regulation phase of treatment may include several «
glucose curves» where a starting dose of insulin is given, and the blood glucose is checked immediately after eating, as well as 4 - 6 more times at 2 - hour intervals to monitor the dogs blood glucose levels throughout the day.
Glucose curves can be performed by hospitalizing your cat for the day or by testing at home using a glucometer.
The specific type, dose and injection interval will be determined with
a glucose curve.
Once the body has adjusted to the insulin,
a glucose curve should be performed again in 10 to 14 days to assess the adequacy of the insulin dose.
Fructosamine: Because some cat's diabetes seems well controlled at home, but have abnormal glucose levels in the hospital (due to stress),
glucose curves may not be sufficient for monitoring these patients.
At the peak time (determined by
the glucose curve), the cat will be very unresponsive; however, a few minutes to a few hours later he / she will appear normal.
Then,
a glucose curve (blood glucose every 2 hours for a day) is done to determine the day's lowest glucose level, at what time this occurs, and the optimum dosage frequency (once vs. twice daily).
If urine glucose is > 500mg / dl (1/2 %) 3 days in a row, the diabetes is poorly controlled;
a glucose curve should be done to determine if a different dose, type or schedule is indicated.
If insulin is only given once daily, the two meals should be at the time of insulin injection, and at the expected peak effect of the insulin (see «
glucose curve» below).
After the maintenance dose of Vetsulin ® (porcine insulin zinc suspension) has been established based on the blood
glucose curves, you can recheck your feline patient less frequently (every 2 to 4 months; weekly if clinical signs reappear) for general health, urine glucose, and blood glucose levels.
Glucose curves can either be performed at the veterinary clinic or at home.
This means that your dog remains in his usual routine and a more realistic blood
glucose curve is produced.
Phrases with «glucose curve»