Lantus

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Yvonne & Tig

Yvonne & Tig

Member Since 2017
Gave 3 units at 8:00am, at 1:30 reading at 60. If I reduce dose to 2, will that bring him down. Diagnosed 2 weeks ago, vet had me start at 2, one week later after continued high numbers, moved to 3. One week later, still high, moved to 5, which I did 4 yesterday, saw these posts and gave 3 units this morning.
 
Yvonne:

Are you able to set up a spreadsheet? This is the link to the instructions.Most of us need to look at the bigger picture when it comes to a cat's blood glucose (BG) numbers. It's very difficult to give any responsible input without being able to see more than a snapshot that reflects one day.

Because Lantus is a long-acting, depot type of insulin, unless a dose reduction is indicated, you hold the dose for a period of several days. How long you hold the dose depends on which dosing method you opt to use. Likewise, dose changes are done in much smaller increments than your vet has suggested. We change doses typically in 0.25u amounts.

To answer your question about reducing the dose to 2.0u, there's no way to know if dropping the dose will have an immediate effect. Because there is a depot, it can take more than a cycle to see the effect of a dose change. Without seeing a spreadsheet and having a better idea of how Tig is responding to dose changes, there's no way to answer your question other than by guessing.

Are you using syringes or are you using the needle tips for the Lantus pen? We strongly advise people to use a syringe since the pens will only dispense in a full unit rather than smaller amounts.

 
HI Yvonne, welcome. 2 units was a pretty high starting dose and for your vet to want you to raise it to 5 in just two weeks is crazy! If you can get the spreadsheet going, like Sienne suggested that will help us see what's going on. (If you need help with that, let us know). Also what meter are you using and what are you feeding and does Tig have any other health problems?
 
Sharon14 said:
HI Yvonne, welcome. 2 units was a pretty high starting dose and for your vet to want you to raise it to 5 in just two weeks is crazy! If you can get the spreadsheet going, like Sienne suggested that will help us see what's going on. (If you need help with that, let us know). Also what meter are you using and what are you feeding and does Tig have any other health problems?
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The vet has him on hills prescription WD dry and canned, I also give him Weruva cat which is high protein. He did have a urinary crstal issue at 1 year old and has been on urisoy his whole life. He is almost 15 years. I will work on the chart. Today is the first time I tested him myself. I have an Alphatrak, my diabetic dog passed away 6 months ago. I did change code on meter to the feline code.

Thanks for feedback!!
 
Hi Yvonne welcome! Nice to have you here.

Take a big breath and start reading the stickies and ask all you want.

The spreadsheet is important because it helps everyone see what's been going on, like what dose you gave, when you changed dose, and of course how his numbers are, it gets easier to help you.

You"ve changed dose to much and too fast and Lantus works slow so even though you reduced the dose today you are coming from 4 units yesterday and if I understood correctly 5 two days ago, some of those high doses may still be having some effect so I do suggest you monitor him as much as you can.

A lot of kitties get higher numbers at the vet than what they usually have, Babu as I discovered, when I started testing myself has gotten 100 to 150 more at the vet than the test I get at home before and after we get back, so oviously he allways gets high numbers and the vet gets alarmed , It took me a few tries for the vet to trust my readings but once he got convinced he prefers to ask me how Babu is doing than making me take him in for testing
 
A diabetic cat needs to be on a low carbohydrate diet. There are very few dry foods that are low in carbs. Low carb (LC) is less than 10% carb and most of us feed well under 10%. W/D canned is 25% carb and the dry comes in at an approximate 43% carb. These foods are a whopping amount of carbs for insulin to overcome. I'm very surprised you're seeing low numbers if you are giving Tig these foods.

Many vets recommend prescription foods. Unfortunately, most vets get about an hour of training in nutrition while in school. The majority of their training in nutrition comes from the prescription food sales people dropping by their offices. The commonsense of low carb diets for cats is only beginning to get into the public domain. You might want to take a look at Lisa Pierson, DVM's webpage on feline nutrition.

 
60 on an alphtrak is low! Did you get some more tests? When is your shot time (how many hours from now?)
 
Hi Yvonne,
I'm sorry I didn't see your question in your previous condo until this evening. Thanks @Sienne and Gabby (GA) for answering it. I also answered it several minutes ago in your previous condo. Didn't see that you had opened a new one today.
You've gotten lots of excellent advice. I'm sure you will get Tig on the right track. Too bad that your vet is not familiar with how Lantus works.
Good luck with getting a spreadsheet up and running.
 
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Yes thank you, Tig's BC was really high tonight, just over 500 after 60 earlier. I am going to give him 2.75 for a week; now that I am testing him myself, I am going to cancel vet test next week and monitor him myself for a bit and increase more gradual. I will feed him more soft food meals to get away from dry, just was concerned about crystals. I had my diabetic dog on frozen raw but that never tempted Tigger. Fussy felines!
 
Yvonne & Tig said:
Yes thank you, Tig's BC was really high tonight, just over 500 after 60 earlier. I am going to give him 2.75 for a week; now that I am testing him myself, I am going to cancel vet test next week and monitor him myself for a bit and increase more gradual. I will feed him more soft food meals to get away from dry, just was concerned about crystals. I had my diabetic dog on frozen raw but that never tempted Tigger. Fussy felines!
Click to expand...
Add some warm water to all of Tig's wet food meals. It can help a lot with urinary issues. Teasel is prone and I do that for him. It's made a huge difference.
 
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