Need dosing advice

Julie & Bones

Julie & Bones

Member Since 2020
Here is my original post with more detailed history:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...ice-on-when-and-how-much.230208/#post-2578934

Bones' vet had him on hills w/d and wanted him on 5 units 2x day. I had him on 4 unit 2x day until I got such great advice and support from everyone here and switched his food and reduced his insulin.

Yesterday was the first day of bones being on 100% low carb food (wellness core Chicken 8%). I spent 2 days transitioning the food so there was no GI issue. I was advised to decreased his insulin dose to 2 units twice a day when the food change started (5/31). His numbers have slightly lowered but he is still in the high 300- low/ mid 400.

I wanted to get some advice on when I should increase the dose. Not sure if I should give him a few more days on the low carb/ 2 units before increasing and whenever it is time how much should it be increased.

I am really concerned that his numbers have been high for awhile and his neuropathy is making it so he is not moving around much. I did start him on zobaline yesterday. To add to my worry yesterday and today he doesn't seem as interested in food. He is still eating but not as much, Is that common to not eat as when switching to low carb food? He just seems like he is not doing well. :(

I will be getting keto sticks today and ill try to test him tonight.

Thanks for any advice, I'm feeling completely overwhelmed and just want him to get better asap
 
JOJI and Kit said:
i saw on the other thread that you started zobaline recently. is bones able to get in and out of the litter box?
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It's difficult for him but he is able to get in and out of the litter box. He does sit or sometimes even lie down to go since i think its hard for him to hold himself up for a long time. He doesn't usually cover anything up so I was thinking i might be able to dip the test strip into the puddle right after he goes before it is all absorbed.

He usually urinates a lot but he is not doing great today and hasn't been interested in food or drinking as much.
 
Julie & Bones said:
to dip the test strip into the puddle right after he goes before it is all absorbed.
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that's a good strategy. we do something like that and tilt the litter box to have a higher chance of a "clean capture."

our most successful method has been to clean out one end of the litter box very well, but not with detergents or any cleaning solutions. we use plain old water and a clean paper towel. we clear any litter out of the end that kit uses as her "entrance" direction.
then we put something under the opposite end--the one that still has a bit of litter in it--to lift that end to a tilt position. so, litter end is elevated compared to the cleared out end, still at entrance level.
we've found that kit's scratching box gives enough height, but anything that gives the box a gentle slope should work and that bones can get in without a struggle.
we found that with no litter in the box, kit wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to be doing in there! but maybe that's not a factor for bones.
the tilt helps the urine to pool up, so that's your puddle.

we pre-set the timer (15 secs for the sticks we use) and then when we see/hear kit heading over, we get out a single stick and just hold it under her urine stream to capture the sample and hit the timer. for you, this would be using the puddle. make an effort to not let the stick touch anything other than the urine.
the time goes by really fast, so keep the color coding graph that comes with the sticks close by because after the required time, the stick is going to keep changing color. if you want to practice the timing and the color code matching, you can always practice with your own urine sample ...

some super important things:
your hands are dry dry dry, when you handle the sticks.
close the container lid tightly after you get out your one stick. in all the excitement, you wouldn't want the whole bottle going into the drink, as it were ....
and, make sure when you gather the sample, the stick only hits the urine.
we made a bad capture once and didn't realize it. the stick turned the darkest color and well, yeah, we kind of flipped out...

ok, lmk if that makes sense. ^jw
 
Thank you that makes perfect sense and I think I will use your method to make sure I get a clean sample. I think i read somewhere that if the results are trace that ok but anything higher is a concern. Also if you do get a high reading do you wait to do another test to make sure it wasn't a bad capture.
 
Julie & Bones said:
get a high reading
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well, note above that i said we kind of flipped out ... we were at the vet's like within an hour only to find out neg for ketones w a vet bill :banghead:
in hindsight, we think we either touched the litter material and/or caught a bit of poop that was happening during the same litter box visit ....

Julie & Bones said:
I think i read somewhere that if the results are trace that ok but anything higher is a concern
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i think i've read the same thing. that anything over trace is an emergency. but i'm sure somebody more knowledgable around here has better info.
 
Yes, anything more than a trace is an emergency vet visit. You don't want ketones to build up and turn into DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis).
 
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