06/15 puddin amps 346, pmps 332, +3 392

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I missed testing in the AM cycle. Today was our first day at 15u - that was a decent dose to have to inject at once; feels like it takes forever to depress the plunger. Just hoping we see some lower numbers soon.

 

Normally you'd hear the IGF-1 results on Friday, but with the blood draw on the Monday, it probably didn't get to MSU in time for the Tuesday test start date. It takes 3-5 days to get the results. So that means it probably started on the Friday test start time. IAA testing starts on Monday and turnaround is listed as 2-7 days. When I got Neko tested, they were only testing once a week and I'm sure it got there one day late. Meaning I had to wait almost two weeks for results.

Once you have results, we can discuss a plan going forward.

I didn't get that high in dose, but I got Neko's vet to put her Cartrophen (Adequan equivalent in Canada) in an insulin syringe cause of the smaller needle. I think the dose worked out to 28 units. Boy was that awkward with the plunger so far out of the syringe!

 

Thank you, Wendy. I'll be expecting the results next week and be pleased if they get back this week.

I'm looking forward to discussing further steps with you if something comes back positive.

Imagining 28u of anything to inject is intimidating - I hope we don't get to that with the insulin! If a dose is that high, is it possible to separate it into two syringes or maybe even do two separate pokes (say it's 20u, could I inject 10u twice?)?

Thank you for your help, Wendy!

 

Finally figured out how to follow someone on here. I'm keeping an eye out for your results.
When I asked our (new, but at the same hospital) vet about the testing, she e-mailed me with:

The cost for both tests including shipping (overnight on ice) would be ~$320. The blood draw would need to be done on a Monday-Thursday (no Friday or Saturday) since it needs to be overnight shipped. These samples also have special collection and handling instructions, so we would need to plan ahead to ensure staffing is adequate at the time of blood draw to make sure it is handled correctly.

Although we can collect and send the sample for you, I want to stress that this testing is advanced. For cats suspected to have insulin resistance or more rare disease such as acromegaly, referral to an internal medicine specialist is needed as I do not have experience interpreting the bloodwork you are requesting. The lab does not interpret these for us and I am not familiar with next steps regarding treatment because I am not a specialist. I'm sure there are websites online as you have been looking but I do not feel comfortable, nor do I recommend, basing treatment off of these websites.​

Which I thought was a pretty good reply.
But, I hope you get results soon, and no matter which way they go, I hope you can get some answers/improvement soon.

 

Thank you for the kind words!

That is a very good response from your vet! I have only received push back from the 2 vets I have seen so far. $320 seems a fair price for them to ship for you considering I paid $550 (they included a vet visit fee and they only checked Puddin's temperature ).

I'll keep you up to date on the findings! I'm happy to see Dyson is seeing greens!

 

Two options for higher doses - though I hope you don't get there. That's a long way to go yet. You can get syringes that hold 50 units instead of 30 - but they don't have 1/2 unit markings on them. Which aren't really needed for doses that high. Or you can use two syringes. Though I've seen someone eyeball 31 units in the 30 unit syringes and said that was her max dose she would give. She supplemented the Levemir with using fast acting R (Humulin). Shortly after switching from Lantus to Levemir, that kitty's IAA broke and his dose starting coming down. Adding R to the picture is another option, bur that's also another syringe.

Rare disease such as acromegaly!! Yeah, only about one if four diabetic cats has it. Your vet needs to do some learning. If you want, ask in your own thread and I'll post links to papers for you to give your vet. By the way, the lab DOES interpret. It's either positive or negative, depending on the value. My vet tried to fire me to an internal medicine vet too. I declined. I liked my vet of a couple decades and between her and this place, treatment was arranged. And same vet dealt with the CKD too. Only when the heart and small cell lymphoma showed up did I go to an IM vet.

 

I hope you hear something this week for Puddin.