New with lantus

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Amy and Mickey

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Hi everyone,
Just starting lantus tonight. Dosing question here. BAsed on weight, I should start with 1.5 units. He is 14 lbs. Doctor say start with 1 unit. His sugar generally gets very high, and he is on pred once a day. On PZI we were between 3.0 & 3.6 units BID, meaning,, he needed a good amount to bring him down.

Please, what have YOU started with, with a cat of comparable weight? Where did you end up?

Thanks,
Amy
 
Hi Amy and welcome to Lantus Land :YMHUG:

Hang in there I am sure more experienced people will come along to help you with a starting dose. You could also change your subject to add "dosing advice"....just a thought.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

BTW - how long were you on PZI? Do you do hometesting? What are some of his numbers?
 
Hi Amy,
Welcome to the group; you will like Lantus I am sure, but first thing is to forget what you did with the other insulin because Lantus and Lev are entirely different.
I would go with the 1u to start since most people start there, but that's just what I would do for my cat.

I first started with Caninsulin and got to 4.0uBID when I switched to Lantus.
I started first dose at 1u.

Others should be along shortly, and most will say to be sure to read all the sticky's at the top of the main screen, as well as put together a spreadsheet of Mickey's BG numbers so far and attach it in a signature for you and Mickey. It'll make it alot easier to others to help you. It will cut down on everyone asking you the same questions over and over.

You can take a look at my signature to see the profiles and spreadsheets I maintain for my cats.
 
Hi Amy and welcome to LL!!!

Wondering if you have read much on this website....there is so much good information and a lot of reading in the beginning. I wanted to bring your attention to this topic in the Tech Forum
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16

If you have trouble, just pop back here and ask. We use the Spreadsheet as a tool and link it to our signature at the bottom of our posts. You can click on Shadow's at the bottom to get an idea of how it looks. We post one "condo" each day and show was the morning BG numbers are for our kitty. AMBG. When we have the link to our spreadsheet, everyone can access it to view the numbers and it is convenient to be able to see what's going on. We post updates during the day and then post our evening PMBG number for all to see. Any questions you have, you can ask in your daily condo and people will get back to you.

The stickies at the top of the Lantus page contain very important information and I do hope you have some time to read them... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16

Hopefully, some more experienced people will be back to help you. I want to welcome you and let you know that the beginning can be confusing at times...and frustrating too. We started with 1unit for Shadow after being on Vetsulin for 6 weeks.

It is important to get many tests during the first few days. It is great that you switched and I hope you have success with it! Tomorrow, when you come online in the morning, link this condo with your first post of the day so others can see what transpired today, k? When is you PM shot due?
 
PMPS was 129 (3.2u PZI vet in am), gave lantus 1.0
now +2 is 300.
No way that was enough insulin....this cat always was on the high end with dosing...and is on pred....i will wake up and test later. His kidneys cant take any more beatings. I have to figure this out sooner than later...without hypo-ing him
 
Amy, do you have any numbers you can share from when Mickey was on PZI, or at least the last couple of weeks? Usually we take their performance on the previous insulin into consideration when thinking about a starting dose. If his numbers were good on 3 units of PZI, then you're probably right that 1 unit isn't enough. If you have a spreadsheet or some numbers you can post, that will help.

Welcome to Lantus Land!
 
Welcome Amy!

I've asked a few others to stop by and hopefully we can get some info on dosing. 1.0u is a very safe dose to start with and it may be we will need to raise the dose fairly quickly. However, that said, a few things will be a huge help.
  • If you have any record or spreadsheet (SS) of your PZI numbers that will give us some guidance
  • Can you put together a SS for use here? The instructions for the spreadsheet we use is in the Tech Forum. There will be instructions regarding how to connect it to your signature.
  • There are also instructions in the Tech Forum for completing a Profile. The Profile will contain information about medical history, what you are feeding Mickey, etc.
  • What is the pred for?
  • Is 14lbs Mickey's ideal weight or what he currently weighs? The initial Lantus dosing formula is based on ideal weight but also takes dose of other insulin into account.
 
Hi, thank you for replying. I guess what I am looking to do, is just read other people's spread sheets to get an idea of what other people are doing. Where they started, the numbers and where they ended up. What an approximate dose range is ....very basic. ....basic , that is all for now.

Thanks
 
In very general terms, because everyone's cat and situation is different, for a cat who has never been on insulin, we use the weight-based formula (ideal weight in kg x 0.25 = dose). However, when a kitty has been on another insuiln, that amount is taken into consideration. The weight-based formula typically comes out in the general vicinity of 1.0u, give or take. My guess is that we would have considered a higher dose than 1.0u for MIckey or moved him more quickly up the dosing ladder.

The ranges can really vary. We have had some cats who were at 6.0u before their doses needed to be reduced. There are also several high dose cats who are on this board (e.g., cats with acromegaly, insulin auto antibodies) that require much higher doses. There are some cats who require micro doses and many who are in between.

As far as where people end up, the Board has a very impressive track record for cats going into remission. Most of the cats who do not reach remission are tightly regulated providing they are using the established protocol.
 
Hi Amy,
We were in a similar situation when we moved Blackie from PZI to Lantus. If you follow the protocol you should be able to find your dose within a few weeks. Blackie also has kidney issues and I didn't like him being so high, but I followed the protocol and he is now doing really well. This is the protocol we used: http://www.tillydiabetes.net/en_6_protocol2.htm

Feel free to check out Blackie's spreadsheet. I hope you and Mickey are well.
 
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