7/24 Jubalee-going back on insulin...needing dosage advice

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Kadie (Juba's Mom)

Kadie (Juba's Mom)

Member Since 2015
Hello, it's been a while.
We've decided as a family to put Jubalee Jujubee back on insulin therapy starting this evening.
After trying basically every single type of meat protein on the market, it's appearing to both us and here on the FDMB that Juba's pancreas needs some more support in the form of insulin.
I am very nervous about how to go about this, and have no idea where to start dose wise, since she was incredibly sensitive to insulin last time.
We are planning to keep her on Lantus for now, since she did so well with it last time.
Advice on how much insulin to start out at??
Please take a look at her spreadsheet for reference.
Juba is now eating Natures Variety Instinct Rabbit, but she will gradually be going back to Fancy Feast as we are unable to feed a high quality feed and purchase expensive insulin at the same time.
Thank you,
Kadie and Juba
 
Maybe the "Start low, go slow" rule is good to apply here? Perhaps just try with 0.25U Lantus to start (as I see she had bottomed out at nadir time on 4/30/15 when you had her at 0.5U). And then monitor her closely: Can you test at +2, +4, etc. since you've seen her be sensitive to insulin in the past?

Have any other factors changed lately? How is she on her 5 "Ps?" (peeing/poop/preening/playing/purring) Anything going on that could be stressing her out, etc.?
 
Robin&BB said:
Maybe the "Start low, go slow" rule is good to apply here? Perhaps just try with 0.25U Lantus to start (as I see she had bottomed out at nadir time on 4/30/15 when you had her at 0.5U). And then monitor her closely: Can you test at +2, +4, etc. since you've seen her be sensitive to insulin in the past?

Have any other factors changed lately? How is she on her 5 "Ps?" (peeing/poop/preening/playing/purring) Anything going on that could be stressing her out, etc.?
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Juba's 5 P's have all been normal:
She's using the litter box normally, grooming herself, playing, and purring all like she does.
I just came back from a visit with my family and my bags were in the kitchen and she's been sniffing them a bunch. My parents have cats and dogs. Do you think maybe it's the smells that's making her upset?
 
Well, you just never know with cats what's going to make them suddenly spike a higher BG#. You might want to wait until you get a PMBG (whatever your usual pre-shot time had been) before you make a decision about putting her back on the Lantus. As is possible this is just a blip. Some cats get pretty stressed out when we go off on vacation. I know my Bat-Bat gets really upset whenever I've been gone. (arrgh, fussy little buggers).
 
I'd have to agree with Robin, maybe give her a week to settle down and then if you feel it's still necessary, I'd do the SLGS method.
 
Another thing (that I wish I'd kept doing after Bat-Bat went into remission in 2013): Measuring her water consumption every 24 hrs. & keeping a good record of that. Since most cats don't naturally have much of a thirst drive, when the water drinking starts spiking considerably, that's a pretty good indicator that it's time to whip out the lancet for an ear-poke. (Of course, this won't work in a multi-cat household; I'm assuming you have only Juba?)
 
Robin&BB said:
Another thing (that I wish I'd kept doing after Bat-Bat went into remission in 2013): Measuring her water consumption every 24 hrs. & keeping a good record of that. Since most cats don't naturally have much of a thirst drive, when the water drinking starts spiking considerably, that's a pretty good indicator that it's time to whip out the lancet for an ear-poke. (Of course, this won't work in a multi-cat household; I'm assuming you have only Juba?)
Click to expand...

We actually have 2 kitties, her and her "brother" who's a feline asthmatic (I know, what is it with me and special need pets?!)
We went to a cat doctor vet today so I could have some peace of mind. The vet was hesitant to start insulin right away, and said to just monitor her water intake and litter box output. The vet did an external health checkup and Juba appeared very healthy, and hadnt lost any weight since May (when she was last weighed at a vet.)
The vet also told me to lay off the BG testing to once a day, as well as the ketone strips.
She said if and when you test Juba, if she goes above 300 to call and probably start insulin therapy.
Also, the vet said if (I) am anxious, it's just going to rub off onto Juba. So she told me to relax, lol.
 
I would tend to agree with your vet, esp. since you only saw a single spike. And when you told me the circumstances surrounding that elevated BG (you having just returning home from a visit to family, Juba sniffing the luggage, etc.), I'd really be inclined to chalk that one up to Juba being excited/stressed.

Am glad you saw the vet, though; sometimes it just helps to have confirmation that your kitty's health is still fine. So enjoy being back home with your 2 kitties! (You know which symptoms to look for in Juba - and you've read through the Secondary Monitoring Tools BJ has in her signature, right?)
Keep us posted on how it's going, too! :cat:
 
A good 15-20 minutes of play twice a day helps reduce stress, improve your bond, ... and help the cells be more receptive to insulin.
Secondary Monitoring Tools in my signature link.
 
Juba is now at 316 at +4 from a typical AMPS time. I've been testing for ketones as well as water intake and litter box output. Ketones have been consistently negative and absolutely no water intake (I measured the water bowl and it hasn't dropped since the time I've filled it.) She has used the litter box once that I know of today (when I tested for ketones) and her stool looked completely normal (although it appeared she had a little trouble receiving herself, all the stool eventually ended up in the litter box.)
Her appetite hasn't changed (hungry at the normal feeding times.)
I finally put away all my luggage from earlier this week when I came back from visiting my family.
Juba seems to be acting just like herself, purring, grooming, etc.
I've been watching her like a hawk and will continue to do so.
As of right now we're just testing once a day (even though I want to test more...)
 
Kadie (Juba's Mom) said:
We went to a cat doctor vet today so I could have some peace of mind.
She said if and when you test Juba, if she goes above 300 to call and probably start insulin therapy.
Click to expand...
Well, Kadie ... she's crossed over that 300 mark; you should probably put in a call to the vet in the morning for insulin.
I would test her again at her usual PMPS time tonight and 1st thing in morning, too. It won't hurt her to go a day in the 300s, but have to disagree with your vet about "testing once a day" now that you've seen her go beyond the mid 200s. (Something tells me that your 'gut' instincts are telling you to test more often; trust that.)

I have a couple of questions: How much food does Juba get per day, and how many feedings? What does she weigh right now, and what is her optimum weight? (I guess that's 4 questions. I lied! :rolleyes:)
 
Robin&BB said:
Well, Kadie ... she's crossed over that 300 mark; you should probably put in a call to the vet in the morning for insulin.
I would test her again at her usual PMPS time tonight and 1st thing in morning, too. It won't hurt her to go a day in the 300s, but have to disagree with your vet about "testing once a day" now that you've seen her go beyond the mid 200s. (Something tells me that your 'gut' instincts are telling you to test more often; trust that.)

I have a couple of questions: How much food does Juba get per day, and how many feedings? What does she weigh right now, and what is her optimum weight? (I guess that's 4 questions. I lied! :rolleyes:)
Click to expand...

Juba is getting a 5.5 oz can of Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit spread out into 5 meals/day. She definitely lets me know when it's feeding time! Lol
Currently Juba weighs exactly 8 pounds (same as she did in May when she was last weighed.) Im contemplating buying a baby scale just to keep track of how she's doing with her weight at home.
Her optimum weight is the same. Before her diagnosis Juba used to weigh almost 11 pounds, then dropped to about 7 when she was diagnosed with DKA in April.
I'm going to call the Vet's tomorrow morning if her numbers don't improve tonight, however im kinda nervous as the vet doesn't open until 8am and her usual AMPS is at 6:30am...I guess we can always shoot at the 8am and 8pm time from now on if she needs insulin.
I might need to change their feeding schedule around a bit then too.
 
Hi Kadie,

As well as AMPS, try to snag tests at +1 and +2 after Juba's breakfast tomorrow to see how food is affecting her numbers.
 
Kadie (Juba's Mom) said:
I'm going to call the Vet's tomorrow morning if her numbers don't improve tonight, however im kinda nervous as the vet doesn't open until 8am and her usual AMPS is at 6:30am...I guess we can always shoot at the 8am and 8pm time from now on if she needs insulin.
I might need to change their feeding schedule around a bit then too.
Click to expand...

Food amount & weight, etc. sound really good! Re: A scale - I got a digital "Smart Weight" baby scale (you stand on it & it shows your weight, then step off & then step back on with kitty in your arms and - voila! - it then shows you HER weight only). Works great; got it from Amazon.

Depending on when you can get the rx out of the vet tomorrow, even if you don't get to shoot her first dose until tomorrow evening, I'm sure she'll be okay. You're doing a great job staying right on top of it, btw. I've little doubt that you'll have her back in those blues & greens in no time!
 
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