Question about switching foods

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

nikkiaz

Member Since 2010
Hello - relative newbie here, really appreciating all the help so far.

Switched Niki over from DM dry to Dr Elsey’s by mixing it for a few meals, then totally switched it. BG still relatively high. (He does get wet DM at meals also). He had been doing ok on 1U of Lantus but the BG still needs to come down. Increased to 1.5U this morning. Definitely not acting like himself - hiding, etc. Thought at one point I thought he was dead under the futon. Seems like his BG went up higher this morning than usual. He was excited about the few remaining bites of his breakfast at 10am and excited about a small meal at 1:30pm. Then he went back to hiding.

He started Denamarin for his liver numbers on Saturday night.

Then I found Dr. Lisa’s post about the immediate effect that a good switch could have and the need to reduce the insulin dose.

How much damage did we do? Should we reduce to .5 for his night dose tonight?

thank you from a worried mom.
 
Hey Nikki! I'm not sure about dosing--someone else will chime in, I bet. But is there a chance you could grab another test to see how things are going for him? I bet that's what others will be hoping to see.

Swapping high carb for low carb food for my kitty did have a big impact.
 
Niki- first off, welcome, I'm glad you are testing at home, and awesome job getting your spreadsheet going. A couple of things to consider. Lantus is a great insulin. It has what we call a depot effect, which takes time to build, so we don't recommend increasing too quickly, and as well we recommend adjusting doses by 0.25u at a time. We also tend to watch for how low the dose is taking the kitty, not preshots. One of the other things we suggest is to always get a test before bed, as we find many kitties go lower at night. I had many cycles with my cat, Maverick where he would be high during the day, and go lower at night. Had I not tested before bed, I would have thought he needed an increase, yet he actually went low enough to earn a decrease. Which brings me to our dosing methods. Please read these stickies if you haven't already, as some of our advice is geared toward which method you are following.

Lantus dosing methods

With dry food in the mix, you need to follow Start Low Go Slow (SLGS). Your dosing has bounced around a bit, as has his numbers, sometimes when a kitty drops too quickly or hits a low he isn't used to their system dumps extra stored sugar to compensate. Perhaps hold the 1.5u for the next 6 days and then re evaluate.
 
Hi again--you might also want to tweak your post title and add a "?" tag at the beginning, so folks will know you aren't maybe asking for food recommendations, and that you're interested in response to dosing worries. If you go to "thread tools" at top right of your post you can click "edit title."
 
Thank you Kerri and Christie! This is all such a big learning curve! We will get some more data, especially before we go to bed. We will stay on 1.5 units for 6 days unless there is strong data to the contrary. We actually wanted to do 1.25 but are having seeing the difference on the syringe!

thank you for helping us learn!
 
Yes, there is a lot to learn. You are doing great!
You only started posting and asking for more information, last Friday, 2/14/20.

You have made a great start to help Niki with her diabetes.
 
nikkiaz said:
Thank you Kerri and Christie! This is all such a big learning curve! We will get some more data, especially before we go to bed. We will stay on 1.5 units for 6 days unless there is strong data to the contrary. We actually wanted to do 1.25 but are having seeing the difference on the syringe!

thank you for helping us learn!
Click to expand...
Do you have syringes with the 1/2 unit markings ? This will help greatly to get the 1/4 doses.
 
Thank you, yes we have syringes with the 1/2 unit markings but they are still so tiny we need to put it in front of our noses!
 
Try using a magnifying glass to see the dose better.
I notice you gave 3 units tonight. That is a big jump in dose. I would go back to 1.5 units. You will need to monitor the next few cycles closely because the depot will have increased with that 3 units and that can influence the next few cycles as well as this cycle.
 
Did Niki HATE the vet today? I wonder if that spiked his numbers. And after last night was looking so good....I know that's stressful for you, too. Good thoughts for Niki & his crew.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top