Hi all! New here

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Jasmine&MissBee

Jasmine&MissBee

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Hi all!
Newbie here! I have a 15 year old female spayed DSH that i recently rescued from a euthanasia situation. I started her spreadsheet while she was in the hospital being treated as a possible DKA. BG was in 600s on presentation with ketones in urine. They started treatment with Humulin R to get her stabilized and I switched her to Lantus upon taking her home.
I am a new diabetic kitty owner. I have a very rough idea of diabetes in general as I work in veterinary medicine and have family who have gone into remission. I would like if a few of yall could peek at her spreadsheet and give me any advice. I am under the impression she has never been well regulated. She presented to me with dropped hocks.
I am currently feeding her Primal Freeze Dried Raw ( hydrate w/ as much water as you please ) and FF classic. She was previously on a high fiber dry diet (ARGH!!!!)

Thank you in advance for any feedback! I just want to do the best i can for her <3
 
Hello and welcome and thank you for rescuing your kitty (name?).

First of all, the spreadsheet does not allow me to look at it. At the top right of the Sheets page should be a "Share" button and you should select "Anyone with a link can access".

Are you testing her for ketones at home? You should be doing that regularly either with ketone testing sticks like Ketostix or with a blood ketones meter.

There are few other things we like to know about you and your kitty and ask that you put them in your signature. Details on that info and more in this post:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
 
my perfect little girls name is Miss Bee <3
OK I had to make a new spreadsheet because when i initially made my first one , it was done under a work email!! So it was restricted.
I updated my hyperlink (i think).
I just ordered more ketostix. She had also had a major UTI when I brought her home. she just finished her antibiotics.
 
I see she got down to 61 on the Alphatrak today, that's too low. Do you have syringes with half unit markings? Normally we'd suggest a 0.25 unit reduction - which means eyeballing that 0.75 unit dose between the lines.

Are you giving her anything for neuropathy (dropped hocks)?
 
The 61 was on her Freestyle Libre that i recently had put on 6/26. I added that on the top of the spreadsheet ( im so new at this stuff). I spot checked with the alphatrak and got 82 right at that moment. I was a little nervous as well so I gave half dose of her insulin (best i could). I had her b12 levels checked and they are normal. hocks are improving a little now that she has been regulated a whole week.

another question i have, is the SLGS method more fitting for us at this time , in your opinion
sorry for all the questions. If its easier to " message" somewhere just instruct me where! LOL
 
Questions here are what you should do. We don't want people to message each other regarding dosing. This is an open peer reviewed forum, so posting as you have done is the right thing to do. I'm quite impressed how quickly you are picking things up. :)

Whether someone follow the Tight Regulation protocol or the Start Low Go Slow method for dosing is a matter of personal preference and has to consider your lifestyle and goals for your cat. And it's OK to start on one method then switch to the other if circumstances change.

It would be helpful if you put a blank line on the spreadsheet before you started the Libre cause I'd missed it. FSL is also short for the Freestyle Lite BG meter too. The colour coding is different for the pet meter vs. the Libre. Lime green means too low. I'm tagging @Bandit's Mom to see if she can help you change the spreadsheet for the different meter types. Are you planning on sticking with the Libre now? Good for you on spot checking that 61, we do find the Libre tends to (but not always) read even lower in low numbers than the blood glucose meters.

Thanks for setting up the signature.
 
@Jasmine&MissBee
Welcome Instead of putting FSL in your signature can you put Freestyle Libre , only because as Wendy mentioned it also means Freestyle Lite which is a hand held meter. Can you also change that on your spreadsheet up top. Draw a blank line above the date you started the Libre and just type Started Libre and highlight it.
Can you please add the date Miss Bee was diagnosed with diabetes to your signature also
@Bandit's Mom ( Bhooma) can change the last 2 BG numbers on your SS to reflect you are using a human meter now
 
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I will likely be going back to the alphatrak after this Libre. I started the Libre as a compromise to doing an in hospital BG curve. I will add those things requested! thank you guys for your help! Waiting on a call back from her vet now to see if i can drop her to 1/2 unit BID. Anyone have a good supplier for the insulin syringes (u-100) that have the 1/2 unit measure?
 
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Jasmine&MissBee said:
I will likely be going back to the alphatrak after this Libre. I started the Libre as a compromise to doing an in hospital BG curve. I will add those things requested! thank you guys for your help! Waiting on a call back from her vet now to see if i can drop her to 1/2 unit BID. Anyone have a good supplier for the insulin syringes (u-100) that have the 1/2 unit measure?
Click to expand...
I see you already reduced to 0.75 units last night.
Wondering why you reduced again ?
Tagging
@Wendy&Neko
To see what she thinks since she is more experienced than I am when it comes to doses

When following SLGS
Hold the dose for at least a week:
  • Unless your cat won’t eat or you suspect hypoglycemia
  • Unless your kitty falls below 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L). If kitty falls below 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) decrease the dose by 0.25 unit immediately.
After 1 week at a given dose perform a 12 hour curve, testing every 2 hours OR perform an 18 hour curve, testing every 3 hours. Note: Random spot checks are often helpful to "fill in the blanks" on kitty's spreadsheet. The goal is to learn how low the current dose is dropping kitty prior to making dose adjustments.
  • If nadirs are more than 150 mg/dl (8.3 mmol/L), increase the dose by 0.25 unit
  • If nadirs are between 90 (5 mmol/L) and 149 mg/dl (8.2 mmol/L), maintain the same dose
  • If nadirs are below 90 mg/dl (5mmol/L), decrease the dose by 0.25 unit
@Jasmine&MissBee
 
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I was asking if I should reduce again because her AMPS was 90, after decreasing to 0.75unit last night … again really new at this.
thank you for all the info :bighug: much appreciated
 
Jasmine&MissBee said:
I was asking if I should reduce again because her AMPS was 90, after decreasing to 0.75unit last night … again really new at this.
thank you for all the info :bighug: much appreciated
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Hi Jasmine On your spreadsheet I do not see her AMPS was 90 this morning? It says 146 in the AMPS cell
 
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Welcome. The reduction number would be if the bg is under 90 with SLGS and 50 with TR,
but with cats new to lantus we suggest not shooting if under 200. We would ask you to stall without food and recheck in 20-30 minutes to see if the bg is rising without food. Did she eat within 2 hours of the amps? Food would have influenced the bg.
 
yes she ate immediately after the AMPS. but not before. i was nervous to stall without any food because yesterday she dropped to the low 60s while stalling. currently at +4 from her am insulin and BG is down to 72 on Libre ( 100 on alphatrak). gave her a snack. this was with me only giving her 1/2 unit of lantus this AM and her eating all of her breakfast! things are looking good! cant wait to hear from her vet this afternoon!
 
@t
tiffmaxee said:
I’d stick with .50. 100 is good on the AT and in the normal range. We have seen the Libre read a lot lower than an ear prick. The depot from the 1 unit is still influencing the bg but this still is very good.
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@tiffmaxee
Hi Elise should Jasmine reduce again tonight since she got a BG of 67 today @+5 ?
Thanks Elise
 
tiffmaxee said:
Yes. I did not see that on the ss when I looked. The new dose is .25 IF following SLGS but with TR no. It’s not on the signature so I don’t know which method.
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You're right it's not on her signature
I'm going to tag her and ask her to add SLGS to her signature
@Jasmine&MissBee
Please add SLGS to your signature and the dose you will give tonight is 0.25 units since she dropped below 90 again
 
@Jasmine&MissBee
Be sure you have a hypo kit in the house
Instead of giving temptations to bring her BG up it's better to feed wet food , either medium or high carb when needed About 2 teaspoons

For your hypo kit in case you ever need to bring up your cats BG up
Med and High Carb food and have honey in your house



Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods



https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

10% and under is low carb
11% -15 is medium carbs.

16- 24 is high carb.
 
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@Jasmine&MissBee
Just a suggestion why not get a human meter to double check the BG instead of the Alpha Trak
Since the libre is considered a human meter . Plus the strips are so much cheaper.

Here is the link for the meter and test strips so you don't have to search for them
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197
 
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tiffmaxee said:
Welcome. The reduction number would be if the bg is under 90 with SLGS and 50 with TR,
but with cats new to lantus we suggest not shooting if under 200. We would ask you to stall without food and recheck in 20-30 minutes to see if the bg is rising without food. Did she eat within 2 hours of the amps? Food would have influenced the bg.
Click to expand...

Is the reason for "don't shoot under 200 on Lantus" because there can be deep dives after Lantus? We're on Day 22 of Lantus and I could see how easy it would be to end up with a hypo day w/200 AMPS. While we usually get a consistent 75-100 mg/dl drop, there have been some days with scary 3-hour drops that feel too fast.
 
NicoleRadziwill said:
Is the reason for "don't shoot under 200 on Lantus" because there can be deep dives after Lantus?

Actually no. It’s just suggested you don’t shoot under 200 until you gather data. Once you know that the no shot number gradually decreases until your shoot if 90+. With TR people shoot 50+. Lantus is known for giving nice flat cycles when you shoot low. That’s why you will see people say shoot low to stay low.
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So, we actually held on her insulin all together last night per her vet. I will input her morning pre shot numbers shortly. She’s doing so well , i’ve only had her two weeks! I added the SLGS to my signature as well.

Do any of you guys have any experience with once a day dosing for your kittos? 0.25 units is SO small , i’m
waiting on my new insulin syringes to come in to help. We were toying with the idea of trying her at once a day or possibly changing her insulin if this continues. I was told proZinc did not agree with her belly.

Any input is appreciated :bighug:
 
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Jasmine&MissBee said:
So, we actually held on her insulin all together last night per her vet. I will input her morning pre shot numbers shortly. She’s doing so well , i’ve only had her two weeks! I added the SLGS to my signature as well.

Do any of you guys have any experience with once a day dosing for your kittos? 0.25 units is SO small , i’m
waiting on my new insulin syringes to come in to help. We were toying with the idea of trying her at once a day or possibly changing her insulin if this continues. I was told proZinc did not agree with her belly.

Any input is appreciated :bighug:
Click to expand...
@Wendy&Neko
@tiffmaxee
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
 
She’s telling you .50 is too much insulin. Better to eyeball .25 than to continue with .50. You could count the number of drops in .50 and half it. Use colored water and an old syringe to figure it out.
 
Jasmine&MissBee said:
Do any of you guys have any experience with once a day dosing for your kittos? 0.25 units is SO small ,
Click to expand...
In my 12+ years here, I've seen exactly 2 cats be successful on once a day (ish) dosing. They both were on a drop dose and shot insulin when the numbers went above 100. Miss Bee is on a higher dose, and as the skipped dose last night told you, she's not ready for that. In comparison to the 2 cats mentioned above, I've seen hundreds that followed the suggestion you've been given, which is to go to 0.25 units dose next.
 
will do , thank you. you all have been SOO helpful :)

I just went and picked up a caliper to help me with the 0.25 unit dose.
 
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