12/09 Harry: +10 376, AMPS 355, +4 268, +5 225 +6 241

[chatcat24]

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31675

Today Harry's doing better, although his ears are starting to get mighty red. . . . so I'm trying to find the spots where we haven't been poking him. . . .
The vet responded with a "leave the cat's ears alone, don't do any more testing, and we'll do the fructosamine test in a couple weeks". I don't agree with that. And at first he said via email that I should be doing 2 units twice a day, then he said 1.5 and no testing at all. When I emailed him last night stating that I believe he's basing the amounts of insulin on the pre-shot numbers and we shouldn't be doing this with Lantus, he didn't even reply. (maybe he knew??) So....I'm sticking with the board on this one: 1.75 units twice a day, and trying to do a blood curve today. We were out of the house this a.m. but will make sure to keep testing all day to see where his levels are at.
...Any thoughts on what the vet replied? Has anyone else had challenges with this? (the vet advising info you don't agree with?)

After my loving hubby was putting the groceries away, he accidentally knocked the lantus box out of the fridge and onto the floor - crash. There goes $70 and a trip to the pharmacy for more. . . and we had only used up about 1/4 of the solution - note to self, find new spot on the fridge where this can't happen again!!!

On with the day .....
here kitty kitty let me take more of your blood. . . .

- So far, all yellow's this afternoon (that's good!!)

 

[Cyn and Cosmo]

Re: 12/09 Harry: +10 376, AMPS 355, +4 268

So glad he's ok. He might be high for a few cycles, as his liver dumps glucose into his system in response to the low number from last night. I'm glad you are thinking about the lantus protocol and not blindly following the vet's advice. I know how hard that can be to do. To not listen to the person who went to vet school.

Many peeps on this board have had... interesting relationships with their vets. I have terrific relationships with both of the vets and the one for Cosmo let me deal with dosing. he would have supported me if I needed it, but I found this place and all the wonderful knowledgeable people here. I showed him our spreadsheet and he was very impressed with our data and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Some people have a "dont ask, don't tell" policy about how they're dosing their cat. Remember, Harry is YOUR cat. YOURS.

YOURS.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

And as for the feeding Harry by the teaspoon rather than the can....you'd recommend doing a little syrup on his gums and a bit of food, see how that works, and like you said I would then go for the BG test again? Makes sense.

Actually, rather than give a can of HC food, what we generally suggest is stocking up on a HC variety that has gravy. The gravy is the content that contains most of the carbs. It's not as filling as eating solids. I've never had to put syrup on Gabby's gums and she's dropped into the 20s, as well. I usually give a small amount of LC food -- about a teaspoon -- that I mix a drop or two of Karo into and then maybe top off with gravy. I retest in roughly 20 min. If numbers are still low, I repeat until numbers are in the 50 or above range.

Regarding Lantus, most of us don't buy the vials for one of the reasons you just experienced. If you drop the vial, you lose all of your insulin. Instead, you can buy Lantus in a 3 ml Solostar pen. The pen is like a mini-vial. Most of the time, you have to buy a box of pens (5 are in a box). They end up being more economical since it is unlikely that you will be able to use all of the 10 ml that's in a vial before it becomes ineffective. Since there's less Lantus in the pens, there's less potential for waste. Also, the glass cartridge that's in the pen is protected by a plastic case. You can see photos of them in the sticky about handling Lantus.

It looks like the bounce from that 25 is clearing very nicely. It can take up to 72 hours for a bounce to clear. I'm not sure whether you ended up doing a curve today. Just as an FYI, a curve means testing every 2 hours. A mini-curve is testing every 3 hours.

 

[chatcat24]

Ooooohhhh, (re: curve and mini curve info) - I didn't know that! Good to know. You learn something every day here!!
:smile:

Thanks Sienne and Gabby!!

As for the Lantus, we're currently sticking to the vial (put it in a new spot where it can't fall out), as it's worked for us so far....and we're getting used to poking Harry with the lancets. He still meows "ow!" every time, almost, but it's over with quickly and we have a routine down. (yay)
Yes, it does look like the bounce cleared up - especially with the mostly "all yellow" day. That was a very good day for us.
But then Harry went from a slow slight upcurve thru the day, to yesterday where it was yellow pink red at the end. Hm. And as of today(dec.11), he's in the blue!!!! I went with the same dose, and will check him at the +6 to see where he's at.

I went ahead and stocked up on Fancy Feast Marinated and grilled feasts with gravy, as suggested. now I have both the MC and HC foods, both with gravy, for those possible future drops. Good to have!! ...When has Gabby dropped into the green? Before she was regulated?