How long after adjusting diet to monitor bg before starting insulin?

Just got back from vet, waiting on results from glucosimine test. Got freelance libra 3 for the initial first 2 weeks, will also be doing home glucose monitor but at least wanted some data as my cat is getting adjusted to blood samples. I've very recently swapped Mochi from high carb food to wet and low carb dry. How long of a time period of readings is good before starting insulin so I don't accidentally give her insulin if she doesn't need it while adjusting to new diet? Vet didn't want to start insulin right away but I got a prescription for lantus which the vet recommends after diet adjustment if needed.

Update:
I forgot when I posted this that she has a dental cleaning scheduled for 4/13 which she def needs and I'm not sure I want to start with insulin without experience of how it affects her before going in for anesthesia so I'm thinking that roughly 2 week window is a good time frame to check how her new low carb diet affects her bg levels?
 
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Just got back from vet, waiting on results from glucosimine test. Got freelance libra 3 for the initial first 2 weeks, will also be doing home glucose monitor but at least wanted some data as my cat is getting adjusted to blood samples. I've very recently swapped Mochi from high carb food to wet and low carb dry. How long of a time period of readings is good before starting insulin so I don't accidentally give her insulin if she doesn't need it while adjusting to new diet? Vet didn't want to start insulin right away but I got a prescription for lantus which the vet recommends after diet adjustment if needed.
@Diane Tyler's Mom GA
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
How long ago was Mochi diagnosed with diabetes?
The risk of not starting insulin, is the cat could get ketones which can lead to DKA if it picked up early enough.
So first I would recommend you start testing daily for ketones in the urine with a bottle of ketostix which you can get from a pharmacy.
If there are any ketones at all you need to start the insulin.
And I don't think you need to wait until after a dental to start insulin. I wouldn't wait if Mochi was my cat.
It is fine to try the low carb diet first for a week, but you need to make sure there were no ketones at diagnosis and no ketones now.
 
How long ago was Mochi diagnosed with diabetes?
The risk of not starting insulin, is the cat could get ketones which can lead to DKA if it picked up early enough.
So first I would recommend you start testing daily for ketones in the urine with a bottle of ketostix which you can get from a pharmacy.
If there are any ketones at all you need to start the insulin.
And I don't think you need to wait until after a dental to start insulin. I wouldn't wait if Mochi was my cat.
It is fine to try the low carb diet first for a week, but you need to make sure there were no ketones at diagnosis and no ketones now.
Her initial high glucose reading was on 3/28 which was 392 but it wasn't a fasting test as the reason I brought her in was because of something else. I had another appointment today which will give me glucosimine results tomorrow. There were no ketones at first test, and I've been testing daily with the ketostix. I guess after the first week based on the readings with her diet I'll reassess and also factor the test results tomorrow. Just in 3 days I've noticed the excessive thirst and urination has already gone done quite a bit. The other reason I was considering waiting until the cleaning was she has pretty bad inflammation in the gums which I didn't learn until today that that can effect hormones which can also impact blood sugar so idk if that is also causing elevation. I did get a prescription for Lantus and have syringes coming in the mail in a day or two to make sure I have everything on hand just in case.
 
I'm glad you have been testing for the ketones. That is a good insurance policy.
With inflammation of the gums that is another reason to be testing for ketones.
Yeah, I figured if the numbers don't seem to be coming down in the first week or the glucosimine results are high I'll know it's good to start. I just know that with stress it can elevate, and since she's been home today shes been ranging 250-350 after a stressful day on the libre which reads high from what ive read. I just was worried between the diet, potential elevation from the dental stuff and not having any clue how she reacts to insulin that starting less than a week before anesthesia could be a lot of things together that could pose a risk so wanted some feedback. Up until two weeks ago she wasn't showing any signs of increased thirst or anything and I brought her in initially for what I thought looked like an asthma attack so she also ate at 5am and 7am before a 9am appointment so the reading there could've been inaccurate which is why I went to a more specialized vet and ordered the two week average test. I feel like since they called me last friday night and mentioned the glucose every hour since then has been learning everything I can from this message board which felt like a godsend. She had also lost some of her appetite and some weight which has already started to rebound after a few days of the food change.
 
Make sure she eats well. That’s important for diabetic cats. If they don’t eat enough, that can cause ketones to develop
The libre doesn’t necessarily read high. But with numbers under 100 it is unreliable.
If she is 250-350 she needs insulin.
As long as you are testing daily for ketones you should be ok. But don’t leave it too long before starting
 
Make sure she eats well. That’s important for diabetic cats. If they don’t eat enough, that can cause ketones to develop
The libre doesn’t necessarily read high. But with numbers under 100 it is unreliable.
If she is 250-350 she needs insulin.
As long as you are testing daily for ketones you should be ok. But don’t leave it too long before starting
Ok, I went out and got all the testing supplies today after vet, will start acclimating her to it tomorrow, and then if the numbers are still that high by the time the needles get here will start.
And ive been making sure to get her to eat as much as shes willing aiming for the higher range of calories with the understanding that she cant utilize it all using lc treats and lc dry food as needed if she wont eat enough wet. Before I forget, when I do start insulin, she wakes me up at 5am every morning for food and will not stop begging until fed. Should I withhold food until I'm up and can pretest/monitor or can i give her a small meal as long as it's 2 hours before I wake to do the amps?
 
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You need to decide when you want to have your shot times. What times suit you ?
Do you go out to work or wfh?
If you want to have the shot times at 7am and 7 pm you could give her a snack at 5 am. Or you could have the shot times 5 am and 5 pm if that suits your working hours.

What dose are you starting her on?
 
Work with your schedule. If you're up at 5am and your cat wants to be fed, then make 5am your feeding and insulin time. Go back to bed afterwards if you want to grab a few more zzz's :) You just have to give dinner and the next insulin at 5pm +/- half an hour or so. If insulin is at 5am but you're not home until later in the evening (after work drinks or dinner, long commute, etc), well I'm not sure what members in similar situations have done if they don't live with another person or have a trusted person help out.

You can offer a midnight snack or two with a programmable timed feeder to keep the tummy somewhat happy. You'll want a feeder anyways so your cat has snacks throughout the day.
 
You need to decide when you want to have your shot times. What times suit you ?
Do you go out to work or wfh?
If you want to have the shot times at 7am and 7 pm you could give her a snack at 5 am. Or you could have the shot times 5 am and 5 pm if that suits your working hours.

What dose are you starting her on?
Ill be starting with .25 I'm not currently working but that is only until about June. I think 8am/pm will be good, leaves a gap after her early snack.
 
Work with your schedule. If you're up at 5am and your cat wants to be fed, then make 5am your feeding and insulin time. Go back to bed afterwards if you want to grab a few more zzz's :) You just have to give dinner and the next insulin at 5pm +/- half an hour or so. If insulin is at 5am but you're not home until later in the evening (after work drinks or dinner, long commute, etc), well I'm not sure what members in similar situations have done if they don't live with another person or have a trusted person help out.

You can offer a midnight snack or two with a programmable timed feeder to keep the tummy somewhat happy. You'll want a feeder anyways so your cat has snacks throughout the day.
Oh a programmable feeder is a great idea, one thing I hadn't though to order yet. I would usually leave a bowl out when I'd have to go out but that would be great to control the spikes better.
 
Oh a programmable feeder is a great idea, one thing I hadn't though to order yet. I would usually leave a bowl out when I'd have to go out but that would be great to control the spikes better.
Casfuy Smart 6-Meal Automatic Dog & Cat Wet Food Feeder with 4 Ice Packs, Black
@ CHEWY.COM
this is an example but there are many other brands, this is is one of the least expensive


img-570520._AC_SL600_V1_.jpg
 
I use the Petsafe 5 compartment one. It doesn't have an ice pack feature but there is a slot in the feeder where a small gel-type ice pack would fit in. Some people like to freeze food into portion sizes and put the frozen chunk into the compartments.

Catmate is another brand people here use.
 
@Bron and Sheba (GA) So the vet called today, said the glucosimine levels were high and suggested starting insulin asap and to postpone her dental cleaning as based on the exam that day it shouldn't be bad enough to cause much sugar impact. I have to be out of town tomorrow (will test ketostick before leaving and people are at the house always for any emergencies but they aren't equipped to deal with injection/testing) so will be starting friday. The vet said to start at 1 unit twice a day, but that seems like a high starting point based on the slgs method. Seems like with the libre readings so far her sugar even after about 5 days of low carb bounces back and forth between the 250-350 range. Idk if I should start at min dose of .25u the vet suggestion of 1u or more in the middle at .5u Ill be able to be home most of days/times once I start but I worry starting at 1u it's hard to adjust if it starts to trend down super low because from what I understand it takes a few days to build a depot and I won't know how much that affects her until then and I don't want to have to play catch up if after the initial few days it drops fast. Her average glucose for 3 hour windows since monitoring has been right around the 325-350 range with dips to 250-275 and peaks around 375 and her feedings are usually small meals around every 2 hours.
 
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@Bron and Sheba (GA) So the vet called today, said the glucosimine levels were high and suggested starting insulin asap and to postpone her dental cleaning as based on the exam that day it shouldn't be bad enough to cause much sugar impact. I have to be out of town tomorrow so will be starting friday. The vet said to start at 1 unit twice a day, but that seems like a high starting point based on the slgs method. Seems like with the libre readings so far her sugar even after about 5 days of low carb bounces back and forth between the 250-350 range. Idk if I should start at min dose of .25u the vet suggestion of 1u or more in the middle at .5u Ill be able to be home most of days/times once I start but I worry starting at 1u it's hard to adjust if it starts to trend down super low because from what I understand it takes a few days to build a depot and I won't know how much that affects her until then and I don't want to have to play catch up if after the initial few days it drops fast.
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
0.25 units is a good safe dose to start with. It probably won't have much effect on blood glucose levels so don't expect much. You don't need to tell the vet that you decided on a lower dose. Stick with the dose for 7 days, do a curve at home, and then increase to 0.5 units based on what the curve shows. It might take a bit of time to find the right insulin dose for your cat.
 
0.25 units is a good safe dose to start with. It probably won't have much effect on blood glucose levels so don't expect much. You don't need to tell the vet that you decided on a lower dose. Stick with the dose for 7 days, do a curve at home, and then increase to 0.5 units based on what the curve shows. It might take a bit of time to find the right insulin dose for your cat.
I would test the BG at least every 2 hours for the next two days to see how he dose is reacting as the day goes on and there’s a clearer data on how to proceed, and most important you will not be caught by surprise you should have handy a HYPO KIT, this includes some medium carb foods between 11-15% carbs and some high carbs betweeen 16-24% carbs KARO syrup or honey these last two are just a quick fix, if you get very low BGs post and a member will guide you how to raise the BG with food, is good to have these handy when you are changing doses:bighug::bighug::cat::cat:
 
I would test the BG at least every 2 hours for the next two days to see how he dose is reacting as the day goes on and there’s a clearer data on how to proceed, and most important you will not be caught by surprise you should have handy a HYPO KIT, this includes some medium carb foods between 11-15% carbs and some high carbs betweeen 16-24% carbs KARO syrup or honey these last two are just a quick fix, if you get very low BGs post and a member will guide you how to raise the BG with food, is good to have these handy when you are changing doses:bighug::bighug::cat::cat:
For now/1st month I have the libre 3 for constant monitoring and peace of mind/consistency, spot checking her here and there while we both get used to it and if any low bg episodes come up. I got most of they hypo kit just need to pick up a feeding syringe from the vet. Is pure maple syrup ok? Couldn't find karo without vanilla extract. Also, I've been trying to bookmark links but there are so many important ones and I can't seem to find the carb load for food guide one, I have hc food but no medium carb yet.
 
0.25 units is a good safe dose to start with. It probably won't have much effect on blood glucose levels so don't expect much. You don't need to tell the vet that you decided on a lower dose. Stick with the dose for 7 days, do a curve at home, and then increase to 0.5 units based on what the curve shows. It might take a bit of time to find the right insulin dose for your cat.
Yeah I feel better with the info I've found on here vs what the vet is telling me. They are great but this seems to be a lot more specialized for diabetes. I just want to make sure I don't start too aggressively and risk any major low bg episodes as I'm getting used to all of this. And I'm using the libre 3 for the 1st month to make the curves easier while her and I both get used to repeated tests and will spot check her including during any low bg to get her used to it.
 
If Mochi is on an all wet diet now, the starting dose if you are doing SLGS is 0.5 units. You stay at that dose for 7 days unless Mochi drops under 90.
Test before every dose and during the cycles. And I recommend giving snacks of low carb food during the cycles.
 
If Mochi is on an all wet diet now, the starting dose if you are doing SLGS is 0.5 units. You stay at that dose for 7 days unless Mochi drops under 90.
Test before every dose and during the cycles. And I recommend giving snacks of low carb food during the cycles.
Shes still combo of wet and dry, I try to always get her to eat wet first with bone broth and raw instinct powder topper which she usually will, and if not eating enough then Ill give some of the dr elseys (all foods are lc minus whats in hypo kit). She never really eats big meals, shes always basically had equal size meals roughly 2 hours apart and sometimes small snacking in between. Just to double check, I do the pretest, give food to make sure she eats something, and then shoot (assuming her am or pmps are high enough to shoot, i wrote down when starting not to shoot anything under 150 at first working down to 90 and if so stall and ask for help)? Ill have constant monitoring with libre 3 for the first month to make sure i have lots of data, while increasing spot checks over time as she gets used to it or during any low bg levels. Also I think the libre will help with the initial early glucose curves as she adjusts.
 
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