More feeding, injecting and food questions ...PLEASE

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Sundance2023

Member Since 2023
I'm assuming you can inject the insulin anyplace there is loose skin, correct? But you don't want to use the same site each time. How often do you inject in a different place?

Do you have a testing schedule or test randomly, if so what is it? Do you test a number of times during the day or just after or just before meals? If after how long do you wait after feeding?

Do you feed dry or wet food? I'm feeding wet and using 9 Lives dry for between feeding and treats.

Thanks All!
 
Hi Steve
Do you have a spreadsheet ?
Are you hometesting the blood glucose? It sounds from your questions you are thinking about hometestomg so that is great!
Do you have a glucose meter yet?
We can help you set up a spreadsheet if you like.
With testing you
  • Test before every dose to see that the blood glucose is high enough to give the insulin.
  • Then test a couple of times each cycle if you can.
  • Don’t forget to test in the PM cycle as well as it is just as important as the am cycle.
Dosing of glargine is based on the nadir or lowest point in the cycle…not the preshot BG
So you can see why it is important to get those tests done.

Diabetic cats need low carb wet food 10% carbs or under.
Dry food is very high in carbs and is unsuitable for diabetic cats. If you tell me which country you live in I can give you suitable foods to buy. ***But don’t switch to a low carb diet yet until you are testing as swapping to low carb can drop the blood glucose a lot and you need to be monitoring the BG during any swap over to a low carb diet.
Keep asking questions

Here is a diagram where you can inject the insulin. It is best to rotate where you give the injections.
upload_2023-4-2_18-34-6.jpeg
 

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we stopped feeding dry food completely, for all six cats, when Hendrick was diagnosed

we now feed only low carb canned or raw homemade food with E-Z Complete
 
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Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Steve
Do you have a spreadsheet ?
Are you hometesting the blood glucose? It sounds from your questions you are thinking about hometestomg so that is great!
Do you have a glucose meter yet?
We can help you set up a spreadsheet if you like.
With testing you
  • Test before every dose to see that the blood glucose is high enough to give the insulin.
  • Then test a couple of times each cycle if you can.
  • Don’t forget to test in the PM cycle as well as it is just as important as the am cycle.
Dosing of glargine is based on the nadir or lowest point in the cycle…not the preshot BG
So you can see why it is important to get those tests done.

Diabetic cats need low carb wet food 10% carbs or under.
Dry food is very high in carbs and is unsuitable for diabetic cats. If you tell me which country you live in I can give you suitable foods to buy. ***But don’t switch to a low carb diet yet until you are testing as swapping to low carb can drop the blood glucose a lot and you need to be monitoring the BG during any swap over to a low carb diet.
Keep asking questions

Here is a diagram where you can inject the insulin. It is best to rotate where you give the injections.
View attachment 66598
Click to expand...
Yes I am home testing/injecting. I have been feeding him wet but was giving him dry between meals, won't be doing that anymore.
I'm in the US. I have been feeding Friskies Pate and most of it is around 3% Carbs with the highest being 7% carbs.
I am using a Relion Premier Classic meter.
 
I have been testing before I feed in the morning (rally hard, he won't sit still because he know its eating time)
and then later in the day. How long does it take for the insulin to fully take affect, so when should I test after he eats?
Yesterday it was in the upper 200 and this morning it was back up to 411.
 
EZ Complete is a a pre-mix. It's a powder that's dissolved in water and added to raw meat so the diet is nutritionally complete. Just like humans, cats need certain supplements to their diet (e.g., vitamins, minerals, etc.) so their diet has all of what's needed for optimal health.

I never really rotated my injection sites. I tried to shoot somewhere other than Gabby's scruff and she let me know she was not amused.

With Lantus/glargine, you need to get a minimum of 4 tests per day. You need to get your pre-shot tests and at least one test during each the AM and PM cycles. Ideally, you want to gets somewhere close to your cat's nadir (lowest point in the cycle) so you know if a dose reduction is needed and/or to make sure your cat is in safe numbers. Many of us tested a great deal more than 4 times per day. If you look at Gabby's spreadsheet, you'll see I was a testaholic. It would be helpful if you could set up a spreadsheet so we can follow along with Oscar's progress and offer input. This information on setting up a spreadsheet is in this post.

Lantus begins to work approximately 2 hours after you give a shot (i.e., "onset"). However, this can vary. The same is true for the nadir. It's generally at around +6 but it really depends on the cat. This is why having test data is so important. It allows you to identify what the cycle looks like. Again, without seeing the pattern of your cat's numbers, I'd only be guessing at what's going on in the cycle.
 
oh yeah side note about the E-Z Complete. While I feed raw meat that I put through a food processor, others cook their meat first before mixing with the powder. A lot of people make batches ahead of time and freeze portions.

it is recommended to feed it pretty much right after mixing it up unless you freeze, as the enzymes in the powder will start to break down the meat and this changes the texture. Most cats don't like it as much.

All seven of our cats absolutely love the homemade food and just go nuts for it. They didn't like it at first but after I put it in front of them a few times they changed their minds.
 
How much of the E-Z Complete do you use per batch (it's kind of expensive) and what is your recipe for the food?
Do you freeze it till you need it?
 
Sundance2023 said:
How much of the E-Z Complete do you use per batch (it's kind of expensive) and what is your recipe for the food?
Do you freeze it till you need it?
Click to expand...

oh no question it is not cheap. And buying raw meat for these 7 cats also adds up.

I do not freeze batches. I make a batch and use it that night. E-Z Complete calls for 1.5oz of meat per scoop of powder to make one serving.

They provide a little scoop in the bag -- it's about a teaspoon.

my recipe is a blend of pork loin, chicken thighs, chicken breast, and sometimes turkey thighs. Usually about a 1/3 of each meat.

[edit] it is recommended to freeze the meat first before use if you are going to feed it raw, to avoid toxoplasmosis. Forgot to mention that bit, thanks Bron!
 
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