New to all this! Question on insulin

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Red & Rover (GA) said:
I don't see any Vetsulin members online at the moment. You've got a bit of time before giving the shot. I'll keep looking.

With DKA in the recent past, it would be best if Molly had some insulin onboard.
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Shoot. Okay. Should we try testing again? Even though she's eaten?

Worst case is that she gets her reading and any insulin done 8:30am tomorrow at the vet's (it's 9:05pm here). Is that too long to wait?
 
Panic said:
Food shows up in the blood sugar within 15-20 minutes, so you can try again if you have time.
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Shoot. I was wrong about the time. My mom says we fed her about 8:40, so 25 minutes ago.

We poked her at least five times ... I don't know if we can do it.

Sorry. I'm panicking a bit now. Kinda frustrated that we weren't really prepared for all this, we just got told about doing the insulin injections. But thanks to you all for sticking with us while we figure this all out.
 
Panic said:
You've had a lot thrown at you at once; you're doing your best!

What was and when was the last test? Was it that 91 from today?

I don't have experience helping DKA kitties but I wouldn't skip tonight. Maybe 1u?
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Oh sorry I never set up the spreadsheet! The 91 was from today. This was at 12:40pm, about 8.5 hours ago.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
I agree.
Given the 91 earlier today and not being able to get tests, I'd go with 1 unit.

Have you tried testing using the paw pad?

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No, we haven't yet. But I was actually just watching that video!

Okay. We can try it. Her poor ears need a break. But will the reading be okay, even though it's been longer than 30 minutes since she ate? Or is it better to just go with the 1 unit?

*ETA I think we are going with the 1 unit. I'll also be monitoring her for the next few hours.
 
Panic said:
The reading will be elevated by food, yes, but hopefully we're in slightly higher numbers tonight for Molly's safety. I'm hoping that 91 made her bounce so we have a bit of a safety net.
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Me too Elizabeth. Thank you. I'll be watching her for at least the next four hours. Right now she is doing fine though. She just came to sit next to me and my mom, even after all we've put her through with the blood sticks today.

- Jen, Micki & Molly
 
Molly the cat said:
Shoot. I was wrong about the time. My mom says we fed her about 8:40, so 25 minutes ago.

We poked her at least five times ... I don't know if we can do it.

Sorry. I'm panicking a bit now. Kinda frustrated that we weren't really prepared for all this, we just got told about doing the insulin injections. But thanks to you all for sticking with us while we figure this all out.
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What size lancet are you using? One that is 26-28 is best. If it's a 30 something that are very thin which makes it harder to get a sample
 
Molly the cat said:
Me too Elizabeth. Thank you. I'll be watching her for at least the next four hours. Right now she is doing fine though. She just came to sit next to me and my mom, even after all we've put her through with the blood sticks today.

- Jen, Micki & Molly
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I can't see your spreadsheet. Can you set it to open sharing
 
Morning, Jen. :)

To set spreadsheet sharing permissions:

* At the top right of the spreadsheet screen click on 'Share'.

* In the pop-up dialog box click on the 'Get Link' section.

* Change link access from 'Restricted' to 'Anyone with the link' and make sure that the permission on the right hand side is set to 'Viewer'.

* Click 'Done' to save the changes.

That should allow FDMB members to then view your spreadsheet.


Mogs
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Good morning! I'll take a look at the spreadsheet shortly.

Went to the vet this morning. Something we hadn't considered was that Molly received steroids for allergies last Wednesday (8/12. She was hospitalized 8/14). The vet says her diabetes may have been steroid-induced, based on her fructosamine results, which were in the normal range. He also had us go down to one unit of Vetsulin.

Not sure what to think about all this yet.

- Jen

*ETA I think the spreadsheet should work now!
 
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Spreadsheet link now working A-OK. :cool:

Glad you got to see the vet this morning, Jen. Special care needs to be taken when adjusting insulin doses for ketone-prone kitties, especially if they are underweight (the latter can make insulin treatment more tricky in some cases).

Molly the cat said:
The vet says her diabetes may have been steroid-induced, based on her fructosamine results, which were in the normal range.
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How long was Molly on steroids before she went into DKA? Was it Wednesday 19th or Wednesday 12th that she received the most recent steroid treatment?

Molly the cat said:
We poked her at least five times ... I don't know if we can do it.
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Fear not, Jen. With a little practice you will get the hang of the testing. Especially in the early days you need to really, really, really warm the ear. I had similar problems to you when I started and when I got the ear-warming right, I had much better success. I was actually taken aback at just how much you need to warm it up!


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
Spreadsheet link now working A-OK. :cool:

Glad you got to see the vet this morning, Jen. Special care needs to be taken when adjusting insulin doses for ketone-prone kitties, especially if they are underweight (the latter can make insulin treatment more tricky in some cases).



How long was Molly on steroids before she went into DKA? Was it Wednesday 19th or Wednesday 12th that she received the most recent steroid treatment?


Fear not, Jen. With a little practice you will get the hang of the testing. Especially in the early days you need to really, really, really warm the ear. I had similar problems to you when I started and when I got the ear-warming right, I had much better success. I was actually taken aback at just how much you need to warm it up!


Mogs
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I'm really glad we were able to bring Molly in too.

So Molly only received the one steroid injection on 8/12. That means it was just about 36 hours or so before we had to take her to the hospital.

We'll have to try different strategies with warming the ear! I had just been trying to warm it by rubbing it. But I've seen folks talking about warm rice socks. We'll have to give that a try! Either that, or we're thinking of trying the paw for her next test.
 
Molly the cat said:
So Molly only received the one steroid injection on 8/12. That means it was just about 36 hours or so before we took her in.
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Good grief! That was sudden.

On warming, you'll also need to warm the paw pad well.

I think that if you're just rubbing the ear at the moment then that's probably why you're finding it tricky to get blood samples. The rice sock method works well for lots of kitties. I used a 3ml plastic pipette filled with heated water to warm Saoirse's ear. Here's a pic:

IMG_20160131_152925.jpg



Saoirse hated anything even slightly bulky in her ear: she'd really wriggle and twist her head trying to get away from it. With the pipette I could hold it along the edge of the ear and she was completely OK with that. (((Saoirse)))


Mogs
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Hey all! Thank you again. I have another question, but not sure if I should be making a new topic for this since it's a slightly different question.

Because of Molly's vet appointment, we missed her normal insulin time and ended up feeding and giving her her shot 2 hours after the regular time. Would we need to give her her meal and insulin 12 hours from when we did the insulin this morning? Thank you!!
 
Start a new thread, Jen. :)

I'm not sure of how much you can shift time with Vetsulinbut if no-one answers, I am fairly sure you will be ok giving next doses 11.75 hrs apart till you get back onto your preferred schedule. Definitely do not give insulin tonight at the normal time, it would be way tòo early!

Nite, nite.


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
Good grief! That was sudden.

On warming, you'll also need to warm the paw pad well.

I think that if you're just rubbing the ear at the moment then that's probably why you're finding it tricky to get blood samples. The rice sock method works well for lots of kitties. I used a 3ml plastic pipette filled with heated water to warm Saoirse's ear. Here's a pic:

View attachment 55674


Saoirse hated anything even slightly bulky in her ear: she'd really wriggle and twist her head trying to get away from it. With the pipette I could hold it along the edge of the ear and she was completely OK with that. (((Saoirse)))


Mogs
.
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I just wanted to let you know we used the sock method this evening and I got it on the third try. Getting better one day (12 hours!?) at a time. Thank you :)
 
On my laptop, I don't see any information on the Vetsulin sticky about shooting early/late and searching only turned up a couple comments saying you can shoot up to 1 hour early/late. Not sure why I can't find anything official on it, but wanted to update. It may have been NPH that can be given 2 hours early/late but I don't see info on it's sticky either. :bookworm:
 
Panic said:
On my laptop, I don't see any information on the Vetsulin sticky about shooting early/late and searching only turned up a couple comments saying you can shoot up to 1 hour early/late. Not sure why I can't find anything official on it, but wanted to update. It may have been NPH that can be given 2 hours early/late but I don't see info on it's sticky either. :bookworm:
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No worries at all. I didn't see anything when I was reading through and I got a little confused haha so appreciate the update. We ended up shooting at 12 hours anyway somehow... but we'll make sure to start the process of getting her back on track tomorrow!

Jen
 
Critter Mom said:
Morning, Jen. How are you all doing today?

Here's a link to a post on adjusting dose times:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/daylight-savings-time-starts-march-10th.211491/

I see Molly's found the trampoline department. ;)


Mogs
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Good morning Mogs! We are doing better this morning. Molly was a little off last night, I think her sugar was just too high. This morning she was lovey, chirpy and wanted to birdwatch.

Thank you for finding that post. We shot at +11.5 this morning. Couldn't get an AMPS despite trying the ear and foot (ARGH) so I'm keeping an eye out. So far so good. We're gonna get some lower gauge lancets today.

Trampoline department... is she bouncing? I read a bit about that, but don't know too much yet.

- Jen
 
Hi Jen,

Molly the cat said:
This morning she was lovey, chirpy and wanted to birdwatch
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This is lovely to hear. :cat:

Molly the cat said:
Molly was a little off last night, I think her sugar was just too high.
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Isn't it quite striking, when one learns what to look for, how quickly internal changes can affect our little ones. I notice similar in my civvie's coat. She has CKD and sometimes she is slightly under-hydrated. Shortly after she gets enough to drink her coat gets much softer.

All of these observations you're making will be really helpful to you they can give you visual and auditory cues about when to test, what foods agree with Dolly, etc.

Molly the cat said:
Trampoline department... is she bouncing?
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Yep. All manner of systems in the body try to keep it on an even keel. When BG goes a bit lower than a cat is used to, or if it drops quickly, the body sometimes does a "Whoa, Nelly!" and releases counterregulatory hormones which cause the liver to release extra sugars from its stored reserves, sending BG levels higher. This is temporary, though. Some cats 'clear' bounces quickly, but with some it can take several cycles before the system settles down again.

Molly the cat said:
We're gonna get some lower gauge lancets today.
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Good plan. :cool:


Mogs
.
 
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