Day 1 of our diabetic journey

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slowmes

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Hello! I adopted my sweet Sasha about 2 years ago. She is around 12 years old and just got diagnosed with diabetes.

Our first vet appointment for it yesterday went GREAT. Dr was very happy we already learned how to check her BG levels and have a whole spreed sheet ready to go for her. Our plan is 1unit 2x a day of Lantus.

I do have a question:
We have her first dose ever this morning after checking her BG (543 yikes) and on a full stomach. She took it like a champ. I checked again 2 hrs later and it went down to 406. Just checked again and it's now down to 336 (she's a pro with checking so it's been super easy).

My Question: Obviously I give her the second dose around 8pm, 12 hrs apart from her first dose. Should I be concerned with the dosage with how quickly it's dropping? I don't want her to become hypo overnight if it keeps dropping dramatically like this. I honestly wasn't expecting it to drop by 200 within like 6 hours.

Thanks! From Sasha and I (:
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Great you are hometesting. You can already see how important it is to do that.
I would recommend you set up our Spreadsheet and add your data so we can help you with dosing. Link to spreadsheet and signature is here HELP US HELP YOU
The routine is to test first, then feed, then give the dose if the BG is high enough.
Because you are new, I would not give the dose if the BG is under 200 if you are using a human meter or 210 if you are using a pet meter. What you can do is stall, don’t feed and test again 20 minutes later to see if the BG is rising. And I would post and ask for help. If you do that, change the subject line to reflect you need help….say preshot is xxx. Only second dose Need help.

It is good she is responding to Lantus.Are you giving Sasha snacks during the cycle? I would recommmend, apart from the main meal before the dose, you give her a couple of snacks at +2 and +4 ( 2 and 4 hours after the dose of insulin).
A snack is a teaspoon or two of low carb food.
What food are you feeding?
Keep asking questions
Bron
 
You might like to get a +11 so you have a heads up what the next preshot will be an hour later. And you will be able to see if the BG is rising. Does that make sense? :)
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
You might like to get a +11 so you have a heads up what the next preshot will be an hour later. And you will be able to see if the BG is rising. Does that make sense? :)
Click to expand...

Welcome to you and Sasha, you are in the right place as soon as you create your signature and spreadsheet, the faster we can help you get Sasha to lower numbers, as Bron asked, what are you feeding her? diabetic cats need to consume wert cat food between 0-10%, their system cannot digest the carbs and the pancreas damage, which is what creates insulin, Kibbles (hard foods) and treats contain between 25-35% carbs, even the "prescribed" food the Vet gives is very high on carbs, below is a Drs Food Chart, with many brands to choose from, the third column of each food will have the carb %, also you should have handy, what is called a HYPO KIT, this will contain, Karo syrup or honey, some medium carb foods between 11-15% carbs and some High carb foods between 16-24% carbs, this you will learn to use with our help in case Saha's BG numbers below 50 . If you are feeding kibbles freely, you should make the transition to wet food gradually, as an immediate switch could cause hypoglycemia. it is great that you are home testing, this is crucial before feeding to shoot, you want to make sure as Bron explained, at first it becomes overwhelming when we are used to see high numbers, and all of the sudden we see these two digits and don't know what to do, that's why we are here for you to guide you along the way, I trust this Forum and expert members blindly, any question or concern you have about Sasha, is never small, diabetes is as new to you as it was to all of us, but it is manageable, and before you know it, you can do it all with a blind fold, read the sticky notes in the Main Forum, there's a lot of valuable information, so take a step back, breath in and breath out:bighug::cat::cat:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Great you are hometesting. You can already see how important it is to do that.
I would recommend you set up our Spreadsheet and add your data so we can help you with dosing. Link to spreadsheet and signature is here HELP US HELP YOU
The routine is to test first, then feed, then give the dose if the BG is high enough.
Because you are new, I would not give the dose if the BG is under 200 if you are using a human meter or 210 if you are using a pet meter. What you can do is stall, don’t feed and test again 20 minutes later to see if the BG is rising. And I would post and ask for help. If you do that, change the subject line to reflect you need help….say preshot is xxx. Only second dose Need help.

It is good she is responding to Lantus.Are you giving Sasha snacks during the cycle? I would recommmend, apart from the main meal before the dose, you give her a couple of snacks at +2 and +4 ( 2 and 4 hours after the dose of insulin).
A snack is a teaspoon or two of low carb food.
What food are you feeding?
Keep asking questions
Bron
Click to expand...
Hi Bron and Sheba! Thank you so so much for responding. I will be sure to add my spreadsheet here as well, that is HUGE help!

Sasha is now on a DM diet that the vet gave us (Purina Pro Plan), combination between wet food and dry like she always has been. I do leave the dry food out for her because she likes to graze, but I make sure she has a wet food breakfast and dinner.

Her BG went back to 400 right before I gave her dinner, then another 1 U dosage. I'll be sure to give her snacks at +2 and +4 tonight as well. My vet told us to give 1 U two times a day, 12 hours apart and I give him the morning BG level on Friday morning. He said I didn't need to check frequently, but it eases my mind to know what it is throughout the day while we start. I am also glad it's working for her as well. Crazy how such a small amount goes such a long way.

Thank you again SO much for getting back to me. I'm so glad to have found this forum.
 
CORKY said:
Welcome to you and Sasha, you are in the right place as soon as you create your signature and spreadsheet, the faster we can help you get Sasha to lower numbers, as Bron asked, what are you feeding her? diabetic cats need to consume wert cat food between 0-10%, their system cannot digest the carbs and the pancreas damage, which is what creates insulin, Kibbles (hard foods) and treats contain between 25-35% carbs, even the "prescribed" food the Vet gives is very high on carbs, below is a Drs Food Chart, with many brands to choose from, the third column of each food will have the carb %, also you should have handy, what is called a HYPO KIT, this will contain, Karo syrup or honey, some medium carb foods between 11-15% carbs and some High carb foods between 16-24% carbs, this you will learn to use with our help in case Saha's BG numbers below 50 . If you are feeding kibbles freely, you should make the transition to wet food gradually, as an immediate switch could cause hypoglycemia. it is great that you are home testing, this is crucial before feeding to shoot, you want to make sure as Bron explained, at first it becomes overwhelming when we are used to see high numbers, and all of the sudden we see these two digits and don't know what to do, that's why we are here for you to guide you along the way, I trust this Forum and expert members blindly, any question or concern you have about Sasha, is never small, diabetes is as new to you as it was to all of us, but it is manageable, and before you know it, you can do it all with a blind fold, read the sticky notes in the Main Forum, there's a lot of valuable information, so take a step back, breath in and breath out:bighug::cat::cat:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
Click to expand...
Hi Corky!

I am working on getting my spreadsheet up! Thank you for responding.

Right now, I am feeding Sasha what the vet gave us (Purina Pro Plan DM, dry and wet food). For the dry food, I add in chicken broth to soften up the food, and I give her Purebites Freeze Dried cat treats after testing and a few hours after insulin. I've done TONS of research of which foods have high protein and low carbs for cats as well and will be looking into those. I have prepared a HYPO KIT as well! I have the canned foods, Karo corn syrup, and extra testing strips all in it.

And thank you for the kind words. I am a struggling to keep my composure in making sure I'm giving her the right dosage, making sure she eats enough before the dose, paying attention to her behavior and keeping all the notes and thoughts together. I take a picture of the syringe with the dosage in it every time so if I worry about giving her the wrong amount, I can just go back and check to remind myself I did haha

I'm going to sit down and read the sticky notes on the Main Forum. It's a lot, but I am so glad I found this group. Sasha and I thank you
 
Welcome. The DM dry food is high in carbs. There’s no reason to feed RX food. Most here feed low carb canned or raw food. I’m glad you are already researching food. Let us know how we can help in any way.

When you have time I suggest going to the lantus forum and reading the stickies there. There’s a ton of information so when I joined here I read a little at a time. The dosing methods and the basic are a good place to start.
 
Last edited:
@slowmes
If would be helpful if you can fill out your signature
This is where you can set up what we call your signature, it's at the end of everyone's post in gray letters. Just tap on your name up top then tap on signature and add this information. You will link it to your spreadsheet

  • 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)
    • Bexacat or Senvelgo (if applicable) and dates
    • 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.


If you have any tests you have done already can you fill those numbers in on your spreadsheet :cat:
 
Well done getting the SS set up. Looking forward to seeing some data. Use the remarks column to tell us what food you are feeding and what time snacks are given. Don’t forget the PM cycles!
 
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