3/6 Smokey - think we are heading to OTJ soon :)

[Melanie and Smokey]

It seems like my Smokey decided she didn't much like being on insulin We haven't had a high reading since she was diagnosed and removed the really nasty food from her diet. We have even achieved the impossible of getting rid of the hard food too. Not without a lot of sleepless nights, but we are there and only use it for treats when she tests on the low end, but they don't really want it anymore when it is out. After giving her a break from testing for a week she does much better at it unless she is really hungry.

As you can see from her chart, we decreased pretty quickly after I started home testing. The vet planned to hod 3u for a month so thank goodness for home testing! The vet said to send the home testing results to her in 2 weeks (though she will get them sooner if I see another number in the 40s) and we could be off by the end of the month. :mrgreen: flip_cat

 

[Libby and Lucy]

this looks great!

Keep an eye on Smokey's numbers. Usually we find the best results to come from weaning off of insulin instead of just stopping - so from 1 unit, you would reduce to 0.75, then 0.5, 0.25, 0.1 before stopping insulin. That gives the newly functioning pancreas as much support as possible while it finishes healing, instead of just removing the insulin and making the pancreas do all the work right away. Just play it by ear (we'll help you) and if Smokey gets up into the 100 or so range then give a shot of 0.75 or 0.5 units and see where that goes. You'll need to step up the testing, though, because we'll have to follow Smokey's lead during this time. He makes the game plan, we just have to try to follow it!

 

[Jill & Alex (GA)]

smokey's looking good! :mrgreen:
agree with libby... keep an eye on the numbers. smokey may be an exception, but most cats don't go into remission and stay in remission when insulin is stopped without weaning. right now smokey may be running off the insulin leftover in his shed/INSULIN DEPOT.
continue testing regularly. he may or may not need a little more help.
good luck!

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

We won't stop her insulin suddenly, but the vet doesn't like doing partial dosing, she wants to take her to 1 dose a day. That does go boing in my head with 12hr insulin, but I feel I need to give her methods a chance since she is my front line for health care on the cats. She's treated them for 12 years so she is vested in their well being too. Last time I was in, I did print out the protocol and took it in for her to look at and ponder.

This vet isn't inexperienced with Lantus, it is the only insulin she will put newly diagnosed cats on because of the reconversion success and said she's seen about 65%, which isn't as high as the protocol, but dang good IMO. My pharmacy said they are getting at least a lantus script a week from her (they are located very close to each other so I'd guess that's where she sends people without a regular pharmacy).

With at home testing I can monitor Smokey closely and catch if she starts running back up because of the change. It sounded like the vet's plan was to take Smokey to 1 dose a day in 2 weeks and then hold that for 2 weeks to see if she stays steady. I know, not perfect by protocol standards, but we won't let her get too far if it doesn't look like it is working.