05/13 bailey uk! back from the vets! amps 533

Status
Not open for further replies.
anna and bailey.uk england

anna and bailey.uk england

Member Since 2014
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=118569&p=1242110#p1242110

well my boys back from the vet wth a blood reading sky high.luckily it lowered,only slightly but it lowered once insulin was given!

the vet did all the in house checks he could plus the ones that are sent to the lab etc.. everything in house came back negative.all the scans, xrays, blood tests, urine sample all negative. so now ive got to wait another painful 5ish days until the bloods, sterile urine sample ,acromegaly etc come back from elsewhere! if im honest im more scared they DONT find anything! what do I do then? how hes been is not healthy cat behaviour. although weve had a good few days .............well until today. my poor boys come back shaved in 3 different specks.hes eaten well though tonight and I don't need to worry about his toileting.he weed and poopied all over the table whilst under sedation. I can always rely on my bails :roll:

ive gave 9 units of insulin once hed eaten a small meal straight back from the vets but am in now till I go to work tomorrow morning at 9am so I can test.im not worrying too much tonight as hes eaten a good tea and hopefully the juice is doing its do!

do you think hed benefit switching to levemir if results come back negative?
 
Hi Anna!

Sounds like a stressful day. (((Hugs)))

While it's unlikely at his dose that nothing will turn up, if it does, deal with it then. Some cats just need higher than normal doses of insulin. No need to stress though until you know! (I know, I know...easier said than done). Waiting is the worst. I remember... If nothing comes back, then you keep on searching for Bailey's breakthrough dose. For us, not much changed in our strategy, except I use R more often because I want to offset the cost of the Lantus.

I've considered switching to Lev myself. It's less expensive and most people, i think, use a lower dose than they do on Lantus. It also doesn't sting at higher doses, although Cobb doesn't react to his high dose of Lantus. I believe it can create a smoother curve, but I'll let the Lev users weigh in on that! I certainly don't want to give you wrong information!

Whatever comes back, you're doing a great job with Bailey! You'll get it figured out!

~Suzanne
 
thanks Suzanne! im lucky here. I get 5 x 3ml lantus for about £27 English pounds so its not bad at all. one because its cheaper here and 2 because I get discount as I have an in store pharmacy in the supermarket I work in so I get 15% discount on everything!
if he wasn't as lethargic, where some days I have to feed him and take the water bowl to his face and he does both lying down. I wouldn't be as worried as id just think its the diabetes but theres got to be something wrong! we'll c! il 'hang in there' as you guys say over there ;-)
 
glad you guys are through all of the vet/testing business.

i don't know what to think - high dose conditions, in themselves, wouldn't make a cat lethargic. high numbers can - and of course it's easy to look at Bailey's numbers and think they are mostly high, but since they are AT, they really aren't so bad. Not if the most recent protocol update that says they are 30-40% higher than human meters is correct.

Once he recovers from last night's 1/2 dose shot, hopefully he'll get back in blues again.

let us know when you have answers. In the meantime, just go by the numbers. After the 6 cycles he needs to recover from the reduced dose, if his nadirs are high, go ahead and increase.
 
I think the dosing with Lev is pretty much the same. The reason Lantus stings at high doses is that it's acidic. What you will have to weigh with Lev, though, is that the onset and nadir are later in the cycle. Ideally, with Lantus, the nadir is at +6. With Lev, it's at +8. Of course, this differs with every cat. I also considered switching to Lev the the nadir wouldn't work for my schedule.

If I misunderstood Suzanne's post about Lev and dosing, she's correct in that when switching from Lantus to Lev (or vice versa), you do lower the dose initially. Some cats have a marked response to the switch between the two insulins. If you switch, you lower the lose of Lev by 30%. It's likely you'll end up raising the dose back up the the lower dose gives you a margin of safety if Bailey is a kitty who has a response to the switch.
 
Hi Anna, good news that most of the results show nothing. We'll be with you, waiting nervously for the rest of the results. nailbite_smile I had poor timing on getting the blood for Neko's acromegaly test and had to wait 10 days. Tell Bailey good job on letting the vet know what he thought of them by using the table as a toilet. :lol:

I switched Neko from Lantus to Levemir last year, but that was after she had come down from the higher doses. Lantus didn't seem to bother her at higher doses so that wasn't why I switched. I was trying to even her bounces out a bit and see if I could shake her bad habit of only going low at night. She still prefers to go low at night. :lol: But she is a lot steadier in the numbers. Not all cats will go flatter, but I've seen a number of high dose cats that flatten out a bit at the switch to Levemir. And there are some that react to the sting of Lantus (like Ozy) and Levemir has really helped him.

As Sienne says, the biggest difference for you if you switch to Levemir is the nadir change. Higher dose cats can nadir later on both Lantus and Levemir. Neko usually nadirs somewhere between +9 to +12, although I've seen it as early as +5 and as late as +14 on Levemir. It looks like Bailey likes to nadir later on Lantus too. You'll have to figure out a schedule that allows you to monitor more then. One nice thing I find about Levemir is the amount of time I can go in between tests if the PS is high enough, because you still have at least 4-5 hours until onset. But it does mean you might have to shoot lower numbers, because preshot could be the nadir. That later onset means you have plenty of time to get the numbers higher. I think switching is an option no matter what the test results show. Although we started Levemir at 70% of the dose of Lantus, now Neko's dose is about the same on Levemir as it was on Lantus. In Canada, Levemir costs $20 more for the 5 pack of cartridges.

As for lethargy, there have been some studies where it was reported in acromegalic cats. And it may not be just due to the numbers. The acro tumor sends out growth hormone which can cause bone and cartilage growth and some lameness. Acrocats can get a type of arthritis. Neko was visibly more lethargic at the time of her diagnosis and I think suffers from acro-arthritis. I have her on glucosamine supplements and she is getting a Cartrophen shot monthly. And earlier this year I started her on a maintenance dose of buprenorphine because she was acting a lot quieter after Christmas. Since starting the bupe she is a lot more (for her) active, engaged, and playful.
 
Thats really good to know wendy.theres obviously something and maybe its acro and hes git abit if arthritic pain.its hard to know. Il keep you all informed

Regarding the levemir.it worries me about the late nadir as hes already doing that on lantus.i work so much that i worry i cant test.i shot low today but knew id be home 2 hours later so I fed then came home straight away and tested.
His numbers have lowered or seem to be.it'll b interesting to see what his fructosimine test comes back as it was 600 last time :-(
 
Thats really good to know wendy.theres obviously something and maybe its acro and hes git abit if arthritic pain.its hard to know. Il keep you all informed

Regarding the levemir.it worries me about the late nadir as hes already doing that on lantus.i work so much that i worry i cant test.i shot low today but knew id be home 2 hours later so I fed then came home straight away and tested.
His numbers have lowered or seem to be.it'll b interesting to see what his fructosimine test comes back as it was 600 last time :-(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top