? New FD 6/6/21 Having some low BG

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Pattylynne and Tigger

Pattylynne and Tigger

Member Since 2021
Tried to create a signature. Too long, will work on later..
Tigger 12 yr old neutered male. Dx FD after symptoms of excess urine, thirst and appetite.
BG was 455 on 6/6, 3+ glucose in urine, no ketones. No other serious health issues. Wt. 12.5, down 1# from 2 years ago. I'm a retire RN so no quite as hard for me as others, still....
Started on Vesulin 1U BID.
Changed from dry to Purina DM. I changed to FF Classics after reading info here, less Carbs and less cost, more flavors.
Urine and thirst better this week. Appetite fine. Attempting ear sticks with some success. Warming and using 28G lancet. Still takes 2 humans. Hard to get or see blood, Dark gray tabby. He's getting better at putting up with it. Freeze dried chicken treats.
Vet on Fri. 6/11. BG 295, about 5 hours past am shot. Increased Vetsulin, said to go to 2U BID then backed to 1.5 BID. Gave 1.5 on Fri. night. 2.0 on Sat am, acted a little dazed about 3 hrs later, was able to get blood, BG=125. Gave treats and some Purina DM (higher Carb %) better after a short time. Gave 1.5 Vetsulin for pm last night and AM today. Checked BG 4hr past AM dose. BG 70 but acting fine. Gave more food Still unable to check sugars frequently. Took 5 sticks to get todays check. Will try to get more before PM dose.
I have several questions
  1. I changed to lower carb food same day as change in insulin, probably a mistake. Should I feed higher carb Purina DM, is it actually better? Trying to save some money but can manager double cost if actually needed.
  2. How long do you use a vial of Vetsulin. Literature says 42 days. Vet used due to price of Lantus. If I have to throw away 6 to 7 of 10 ml vial not saving anything. Found 5 3ml pens of Lantus from Canada might actually be cheaper. Want to do what's best for Tigger, is the Lantus better, less problems with spikes and hypoglycemia than Vetsulin??
  3. If a cat is going to remit is there a general length of time. Should I just stay with what he started on or how hard is it to change from one insulin to another?
I know this is long but it's a lot to take in at once.
Thanks to all for putting this info out. Getting a little lost on MB but I'll get there
Patty
 
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Pattylynne and Tigger said:
Hard to get or see blood, Dark gray tabby.
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Two tips - I had black ears to deal with. I used a small flashlight with a flat surface, gauze on top of that, under the ear initially as my flat surface and to show up the veins. Second, a very small bit of vaseline rubbed over the fur helps pool the blood. It otherwise hides too well in the black fur.

To answer your questions,
1) no, DM is not better. It's ingredients are not fantastic and cats often grow tired of it if they eat it at all. A lower insulin dose (can you do 1.25 units?) is better.
2) I switched from Caninsulin (what Vetsulin is called elsewhere in the world) to Lantus, and both Neko and I liked it much better. it's insulin action is much more gentle and it lasts longer in their bodies. Neko was ravenous for about 4 hours before her meals, meaning the Caninsulin had completely worn off. I only used two vials of Caninsulin and I remember throwing away unused insulin. Less chance of hypo on Lantus, it lasts much longer (keep it in the fridge), so overall it's better. It is also one of the two insulins recommended for cats by the AAHA, Prozinc being the other.
3) Type to remission is literally all over the place. I have seen a cat get two shots of insulin and a food change, though to five years. It is very easy to change insulins, though you will need to get the vet on board with the insulin change in the US.

What type of BG meter are you using? Most of us use human meters, but that 70 is much closer to concerning on a pet meter.
 
Have a ReliOn meter. What would be a good number or range on human meter? I'm sure vet will change if I'm willing to pay, his preferred was Lantus but handed me Vetsulin. Spoke with pharmacy in Canada and can get Lantus for a much more reasonable price than here in US.ca Will work on that this week. Thanks for the tips. I think I will stick with the 1.5 dose BID for now and the Fancy Feast. Should have know better than to change food and dose at the same time. I tried to put a profile on my acct. Said I was using too many characters, any suggestions?
Thks
 
Pattylynne and Tigger said:
Have a ReliOn meter. What would be a good number or range on human meter? I'm sure vet will change if I'm willing to pay, his preferred was Lantus but handed me Vetsulin. Spoke with pharmacy in Canada and can get Lantus for a much more reasonable price than here in US.ca Will work on that this week. Thanks for the tips. I think I will stick with the 1.5 dose BID for now and the Fancy Feast. Should have know better than to change food and dose at the same time. I tried to put a profile on my acct. Said I was using too many characters, any suggestions?
Thks
Click to expand...
On a human meter, for cat’s on insulin 50-120 is considered normal, although you do not typically want them to go much lower than 90 with a harsh insulin like Vetsulin.

If you’re referring to Mark’s Marine pharmacy for the lantus, lots of people on this board use it to purchase their insulin :cat: There is a sticky in the lantus forum with more info about it!
 
Over in the Vetsulin forum, we have a couple files you might want to read:
INTRODUCTION TO CANNISULIN/VETSULIN & N/NPH and BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CANINSULIN/VETSULIN
Our dosing guidelines for Vetsulin are to reduce if you see a number under 90 on the human meter. Which is why the suggestion to go down to 1.25 units.

As for the profile, can you type in here what you were trying to enter? Maybe we can make some suggestions to make things shorter. We do have a limit on how many characters can go in there. Don't look at my profile, mine was grandfathered. Take a look at Sarah@Soph's above for a good sized profile.
 
to set up your signature, it's at the end of everyone's post in gray

Click on your name upper right hand corner , a drop down will appear , tap in signature , fill out info
  • On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.
 
Most of us use Lantus, . Lantus is expensive in the US so we buy it from Marks Marine in Canada
We buy the Lantus Solostar pens 5 pack they will probably last you for over a year
With Lantus you use U-100 syringes with HALF UNIT MARKINGS
so you can increase or decrease by 0.25 units

With the pen you can only adjust by whole units, that's why we use syringes to insert in the little gray rubber stopper and draw out the insulin from there
The expiration dates will probably be 2022 or 2023 just keep them in the middle shelf in the fridge. You can call them to contact your vet to get in touch with your vet to send over a script.
After that you will not need another script to reorder


Lantus Solostar PEN CAN (temp. gauge. ice pack, express-air mail) *single pen open box* Brand 100iu/ml one pen 3 ml $49.99 USD

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Lantus Cartridges 5x3ml per box (temp. gauge. ice pack, express-air mail) Brand 100u/ml 15 ml $159.99 USD

rx.gif
Lantus Solostar PENS 5x3ml per box (temp. gauge. ice pack, express-air mail) Brand 100u/ml 15 ml $164.99 USD

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Lantus VIAL Insulin (10ml per vial) (temp. gauge. ice pack, express-air mail) Brand 100u/ml 10 ml $110.99 USD
 
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Hi Patty just saw this in the supply closet




Lantus pens
Discussion in 'Supply Closet - For Sale or Free' started by kvg, Yesterday at 12:41 PM.

Unwatch Thread

  1. kvg
    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2019
    Hi, I have 8X 300ml Lantus SoloStar pens available for diabetic cats.
    Exp date 9/2022. I will ship in cold pack with fast shipping. (No issues with past shipping).
    Pens are $75 for 4 or $25 each.
    Shipping $5. 1-2 days.
    Please PM and I will send my email address. I have sent many pens through this site in the past and helped many cats.

    Kay & Mateo.


  1. Supply closet link
  2. Just tap on the link and you will see the post from KVG

  4. https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/supply-closet-for-sale-or-free.15/
Patty to PM someone tap on their name and you will see start conversation ,
Post a title then start typing below that
 
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Thanks to all for all the help and info. Filled out signature, hope it shows up here. BG 3hr past 1.5 u of Vetsulin this am was 70 but no symptoms. Just managed to get reading for 7pm=366. Got plenty of blood first stick, we're making progress here! 5 sticks this am. At dx was 455 random. Insulin working but just called vet for order for Lantus, already to much up and down on Vetsulin to suit me. He is getting back to his normal aggravating self, knocking things off the counter, etc.....good thing.
 
70 is a perfectly safe number, we just don't like for them to get below that on Vetsulin because of how it works to rapidly drop the blood sugar. Similarly to how you mentioned earlier in humans, 50 is usually the "take action" number in cats as well :cat:

And yes, Vetsulin is a very up and down insulin. Big drops in BG like you are seeing can cause their body to "panic" and release stored sugar, which then makes their BG sky rocket. Lantus tends to be much more gentle. It works very differently than Vetsulin, so it may be a good idea to check out some of the sticky threads in the Lantus forum to get familiar with it while you're waiting for your new script. Good to hear he is acting more like himself! :cat:
 
I managed to add labs and numbers to a spreadsheet.
Just got a call from Vet, wants to back up to 1 U BID for now. Writing script for Lantus, will get that ASAP and see if it won't smooth out some.
Great support here, so glad I found you guys.
Gonna go watch the Westminster Dog show with Tigger's little brother Shadow a blue merle Aussie (he's made cause Tigger's getting all the good food and attention)
 
We can't see your spreadsheet you have to go back and hit share
You need to changes the permissions. If you go to the top right and hit "share", a new box will come up. At the bottom you'll see "Get Link".

Change it to "Anyone on the internet with this link can view"
 
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