12/31/11 Artemis amps298

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Angelavenger

Angelavenger

Member Since 2011
Hey first time posting over here in lantus land. I was wondering if people could take a look at our spread and maybe give us some advice on the numbers. She's been high and we are having a hard time regulating cause any time i adjust the dose she starts bouncing around. I have printed out the tight regulation and have been trying to follow it.

We've switched her to all wet food, giving her fancy feast classics. She also has freeze dried fish and chicken treats she gets for blood tests and shot times. Will be making home made dehydrated chicken snacks this week with my moms dehydrator.

We are using lantus and our original dose was 1 unit 2xday. I've tried to slowly increase it since her numbers are high but then end up going back down and having a hard time finding a middle ground. This evening her pmps was in the 100's usually i see people recommendnot to shoot when that range, but where she's had ketone issue when first diagnosed i decided to give her a reduced shot and watch her closely. I hope that wasn't a bad idea.
Anyways let me know if there's any other information you need.

p.s. her nadirs will be in the evenings since that's when I'm able to do it. (night owl) I only just recently got able to handle the blood enough to test her at night by myself. So there should be more nadirs in the future to go off of.
 
Re: 12/31/11 Artemis amps 298

Artemis is a cutie pie. I can't offer dosing advice, but you'll get more eyes on your post if you edit it and put the question mark icon next to your subject line. Welcome, and happy new year!
 
Welcome to LantusLand! Yes, Artemis is adorable!!!

I'm not comfy with dosing advice, either, but I do know that the more experienced eyes will want to see some mid-cycle tests in order to better see what's going on with Artemis's numbers since Lantus dosing is primarily based on the nadir. Try and grab tests when you can...when I first joined the group, it was suggested to get one when I first come in the door, or when I'm leaving, or if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom :lol: ...basically, whenever I had a chance. Seriously, though, that data is very helpful in figuring out how Artemis is responding to the insulin, because every cat is different - and sometimes every cycle can be different within one cat!

Great job getting her switched over to all wet food, and with home testing. Artemis is lucky to have you!!!

Happy New Year, and once again, welcome aboard!

~Amy
 
Welcome to Lantus Land. It's great you have a spreadsheet set up for us to look at. I'm concerned about the increases and changes in dose. We typically don't increase more than .25u at a time unless kitty is really high (nadirs over 300). It's important to note that with lantus, we dose primarily on the nadir with only some consideration given to the PS and it looks perhaps you've been raising/lowering based on the PS?

As Amy said, it's really important to get some mid-cycle tests so we can see what her nadir is. Artemis "could" be going low during the mid-cycle and then bouncing up into these really high numbers. I'm not comfortable with suggesting a dose for
her without more information but I've asked some experienced eyes to pop in and take a look at her SS and the "invisible" numbers to see if it's best to start back at 1u and come up slowly and consistently or hold onto the current dose.

In the meantime, it would be great if you could read the stickys and let us know what questions you have. Sorry it took a while to respond tonight...New Year's Eve!! It's usually much busier. So hang tight and
we'll get back to you with some suggestions.

Glad you are here!
 
hi angel! glad you and artemis made it over here!

i saw your note on artemis' ss that she got into the garbage yesterday. silly kitter. my punkin is a scavenger too, always very food-oriented. artemis looks just like my other kitty, anya. could be twins. depending on how carb sensitive she is, eating out of the garbage might explain some of the higher numbers.

can you tell us a little more about how she eats? i saw you're giving her fancy feast classics. looks like a can at a time - does she eat that all with her shot, or graze on it or is her food given a different time than her shot?
 
Thanks for the responses, and no rush just figure i better get a post up while i was thinking about it or risk forgetting/putting it off.
Yes she's a scavengar and its been driving me crazy lol. Getting into the other kitties food, the garbage, and if i turn my head two seconds she'll even pull stuff off my plate when I'm eating. Been trying as best to watch her like a hawk to keep her out of stuff.
As to the food schedule we've got it set up like this:

7am/pm do blood test
immediately after give her 1 can of fancy feast. We give the whole can because she gobbles it up like crazy. I'm afraid to give her less when she eats so ravenously. 1 freeze dried treat with the blood test so that she doesn't hate us for the ear prick lol.
7:30am/pm Give lantus shot
Then give a treat after the shot
1:30 am check blood again

That's the new schedule. I'm not able to check her daytime nadir but i can do the evening, and late night ones. So going to try that for awhile to get some mid numbers. I'm concerned about the highs because she is still eating ravenously all the time/ stealing food as if she's starving. Her weight did come back up she originally was a 7pound kitty. When we took her in and she was diagnosed she was down to 3.5 pounds and looked skeletal. Now she's back up around 6 pounds since we started the lantus. So we know it is helping some. She isn't sitting at the water dish all the time anymore either (was literally laying with her head half in the dish the entire day for drinking) but does still seem to have some pee bricks in the litterbox. I do sometimes give her a snack of some shredded chicken bits but i put those in the notes on her spreadsheet.
 
Welcome to Lantus Land!!

When you have a chance, could you complete a Profile for Artemis? The Profile gives us some background (health/medical issues, date of diagnosis, food, etc.) so we don't keep asking you the same questions.

There are a couple of points that others have mentioned that will be helpful to keep in mind. The dosing protocol that we use, Tight Regulation for Lantus and Lev, is designed to offer a consistent plan regarding dose while working at systematically increasing the dose until you start seeing results -- at which point you begin to systematically reduce the dose. Other than times when you run into a situation where you don't think it's safe to give a shot, giving the same dose in a consistent manner is key to using Lantus. The reason for the consistency is that Lantus doses work in a cumulative manner and that rapid changes in dose have an effect on the insulin depot (the "shed").

Looking at Artemis' spreadsheet, I suspect that Marje is correct -- Artemis may be seeing some lower numbers mid-cycle and you're catching a bounce when you're testing at shot time. Many of us work and are out of the house during the day. A couple of thoughts that may (or may not) work for you. If you are able to move your shot times earlier, can you then get a test in at +1 or +2? If you can't get any daytime mid-cycle tests, can you get any on weekends or days off?

With regard to your schedule, most of us test, feed and shoot (much like you're doing) all within about 5 minutes. For other types of insulin, it's more important to make sure there's food on board before giving a shot. With Lantus, onset is in about 2 hours so you have more leeway with regard to feeding. I actually give Gabby her shot when her head is in her bowl.

Given that your kitty is a scavenger, any chance that your other cats will eat the same food as Artemis? When I first started this journey, my civvie was getting different food. It made things very complicated since Gabby is very food motivated. It's made life considerably easier to give both cats the same food. I don't care if they swap bowls!

Again, welcome. Please ask questions or let us know how we can help. The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge and will do all we can to lend a hand.
 
I've been working on a new process to do a profile that is a little easier. I'll PM it to you so don't use the link because that method is a little cumbersome.
 
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