4/14/13 Rags switched from Novolin N-100 to Lantus

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yo hon

Member Since 2013
Good Afternoon, I was told to start posting here now.

My boy Rags started on Lantus on 4/07/13. Since 3/18/13 he was taking Novolin N-100, which was HORRIBLE !!!!!

My Vet started him out on one inj. a day, ! unit. He was on it for four days, then I did a 24 hour curve. She now wants him on two inj. 1 unit twice a day and in a week another curve, only 12 hour. She also wants me to change his feeding time to twice a day. He is now eating three times a day with nothing in between. This is going to be a VERY hard thing to do as he is ALWAYS hungry. He is a BIG boy, he weighed 16 lbs. before he was dx. He now weighs !3 lbs.
When I changed Vets on 4/06/13 he was still weighing 13 lbs. I've started to ween him off his 4:30 p.m. feeding by cutting out 1/4 can, then giving him that at his 11:30 p.m. feeding. I want to get him started on his twice a day inj., I just don't know how to transition him to twice a day. He gets fed 3 1/2 cans of Fancy Feast a day and that's all ! He is ALWAYS hungry. He is now getting on my kitchen counters (which he has never done ) looking for food. I have four other cats, so the dry food is ALWAYS in my cabinets.

He also REALLY wants his treats. I froze some turkey and cut it in tiny pieces and give him only two a day. I think he thinks he is being punished.

Any help that anyone could offer to me and my boy would be GREATLY APPRECIATED !!!!!

Thank you !!!

Becki & Rags
 
Hi Becki & Rags

Welcome to Lantus Land and I'm so glad to see you posting here now so you can get all the attention you need. I'm no expert and can't really offer any advice for you, but it's really nice to see how far you've come since you started. It sounds like you've still got some challenges ahead with feeding and hopefully the experts can give you some sound advice on this topic. I know a lot of us are looking forward to following Rags' progress on the Lantus. Sending healing vines to Rags' pancreas and hoping things continue to improve from here.

Lots of love from Katie & Mego
 
Hi Yo hon, and Welcome to the Lantus forum. I'm glad you made it on over here :YMHUG:

Sometimes when a kitty is not regulated yet, their bodies can't use the food you feed them properly, and so they are hungry and want or need more food. You can try to do what your vet says to do, but eventually you may want to try to feed him in mini meals throughout the day. Do you give him treats after his test?
 
oh hi! I just posted in your Health thread. I'll copy what I wrote here so everyone can see. Welcome to Lantus Land!

Libby and Lucy said:
I'm glad that you will soon be shooting twice a day, and I'm glad you plan to test before his shots. You're right, Lantus is new to you and Rags and it is safest if you know what is going on. That is a good decision. :smile:

About the feeding, I know your vet says twice a day, but honestly I don't think there would be any problem with spreading the food out into more meals. What if you fed two main meals, and then just a snack later on? Just save a little bit of his breakfast/dinner and give it a few hours later. That should make the kitties happier, and you would still almost be following the vet's instructions. Just a thought.

I usually feed my cats 4 times a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime. I have done that even when I have had cats on insulin (Lantus or Levemir) and they have done well.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Becki!

Gobbles said to tell Ragu hi, by the way!

Gobbles eats all he wants all day long EXCEPT (sorry for caps, but this is extremely important) always put his food up 2 hours before the test you will take, right before his shot and do not let him have any so when you test him to see what his blood glucose is before his shot, the number you get is not influenced by food. After his shot, you can give him his food back.

You want to know his actual blood glucose level, because if it is low, you do not give him his insulin. For new users, our advice is to withhold his insulin shot if his blood glucose is 200 or lower at test time. Say for example, Gobbles eats (even a small amount) of his wet food at 6:00 a.m. and his shot time is 7:00 a.m. And say I get a blood glucose reading of 205. The 205 is not a "true" blood glucose reading because he had just eaten a hour earlier. Most likely, if he had eaten two or more hours before the test, his blood glucose would have been lower; and it could of even been dangerously low and I should not have given him his shot.

Am I making sense?
 
Welcome to Lantus Land!

I think I posted in one of your first threads on Health. I'm glad to hear you were able to switch to Lantus. My cat was also on Novolin when she was first diagnosed. I was likewise very happy to make the switch to Lantus.

I feed both of my cats several times a day. They get four small meals (a meal at pre-shot time, +1, +2 and +3) in the morning and the evening. There are quite a few people here who free feed their cats. I honestly don't think there's one right way to feed your cat. The only right way is what works for you and Rags. I wonder if your vet is still thinking in terms of Novolin and food. With an insulin like Novolin, it's very important that a cat eats before you give a shot since Novolin is a fast-acting insulin. Lantus is different and you have considerably more time before the insulin begins to work.

Please let us know if you have questions. The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge. If you're ever unsure of whether to give a shot, please post. There is usually someone around who can help you to figure out what your options are.
 
Hi Becki, welcome to LantusLand! I'm sorry that Rags is diabetic but this is the best place for advice, information and support. It's better if diabetic cats get several small meals throughout the day. Then the pancreas isn't as overwhelmed dealing with a large amount of carbs at once. If Rags is that frantic for food, he needs to eat more, IMHO. We feed Zener about 7 or 8 times a day. We are trying to get him to gain a little weight so we push food more than most beans would. What is your vets rationale for limiting him to 2 meals?
Liz, Zener's other mom
 
Hi all, yes, everyone is making sense about feeding my boy and testing. I used to give him a couple of treats, but no more. All I have are temptations and they are not good for him. I have no money to buy myself food, so I can't buy chicken or anything else extra for him. That's why I feel so bad. This couldn't have hit me at a worse time. In the middle of all this I have to come up with money to find another place to live. We have lived here for thirteen years and were informed we have to move because my landlord, who lives in a log cabin right behind me wants to move back here. they said they don't have the money to keep up the cabin, but they are totally remodeling this place. Putting on a third bedroom, master bath, two car garage, new roof, new siding, new windows, a faux fireplace etc. I am soooo upset that they wait until i'm 66 years old to make us move., We have NO ONE to help with anything !! Sorry, it just upsets me sooooo bad because I have my five kids and most places do not want animals. So I may be typing all this from the street one day. I was hoping to buy a house through section eight so we would NEVER have to move again !!! When I rented this place I told them I was going to die here. Guess I didn't die fast enough !! ha
Anyhow that's why I don't have money for Rags supplies. I feel awful cause I've always worked two to three jobs, and now I'm disabled because a girl thought it would be funny if I fell over a file cabinet. Yes herniated two discs in my back with two failed back surgeries. ok, I'm sorry for ranting, I also have no one to talk too. I won't do this again, this is suppossed to be about my boy Rags.
Well, I am lokingforward to gettng him started on twice a day inj. wich I hope is very soon.

Becki & Rags Sorry for the sob story !
P.S. please give Globbles BIG hugs and kisses from Ragu
 
yo hon said:
Hi all, yes, everyone is making sense about feeding my boy and testing. I used to give him a couple of treats, but no more. All I have are temptations and they are not good for him. I have no money to buy myself food, so I can't buy chicken or anything else extra for him. That's why I feel so bad. This couldn't have hit me at a worse time. In the middle of all this I have to come up with money to find another place to live. We have lived here for thirteen years and were informed we have to move because my landlord, who lives in a log cabin right behind me wants to move back here. they said they don't have the money to keep up the cabin, but they are totally remodeling this place. Putting on a third bedroom, master bath, two car garage, new roof, new siding, new windows, a faux fireplace etc. I am soooo upset that they wait until i'm 66 years old to make us move., We have NO ONE to help with anything !! Sorry, it just upsets me sooooo bad because I have my five kids and most places do not want animals. So I may be typing all this from the street one day. I was hoping to buy a house through section eight so we would NEVER have to move again !!! When I rented this place I told them I was going to die here. Guess I didn't die fast enough !! ha
Anyhow that's why I don't have money for Rags supplies. I feel awful cause I've always worked two to three jobs, and now I'm disabled because a girl thought it would be funny if I fell over a file cabinet. Yes herniated two discs in my back with two failed back surgeries. ok, I'm sorry for ranting, I also have no one to talk too. I won't do this again, this is suppossed to be about my boy Rags.
Well, I am lokingforward to gettng him started on twice a day inj. wich I hope is very soon.

Becki & Rags Sorry for the sob story !
P.S. please give Globbles BIG hugs and kisses from Ragu
Click to expand...
What kind of supplies do you need Becki? I may be able to help (and I hear ya re: herniated discs, surgeries--been there and done that--quite frankly, it suks!!!)
 
Kat & Gobbles, very nice of you to ask, Kat, but I can't ask people for my supplies. I'm VERY sorry to heart about your back as well. At least we can relate to each other !! YES, it does suck big time !!!! I would much rather be working, believe me. Oh I do work part time under the table to pay for my car. Just three four hour days a week, everyother day. Much better if I could still be working full time with a part time job, ya know ?? I am single and it's VERY hard to make ends meet when you are on a fixed income and get $16.00 a month for foodMy Vet bills so far total $5500.00. I just paid one for $5400.00, and this was for my neighbors cats. Yes, they are loaded, I would call them and tell them one of their boys had been hit by a car, they said oh yeah ? Asked if they were taking him to the Vet they said NO, and promptly left for Arkansas. So I took him and kept him in my house for two weeks until he was better. People make me sick when they won't take care of their babies !! I do that ALOT out here. Thse peop;e are farmers and do not even feed the cats, they are afraid they will stop hunting. I tried to reassure them, they would NOT stop hunting. They need energy to hunt. Morons !!!

Becki & Rags
 
Becki,

Remember back when you first started Rags on insulin and were running low on test strips for that meter you borrowed from your friend?

Well, search your memory because I know you got a Relion Prime meter and one box of 50 tests strips at your local Walmart. You also should have 3 more boxes of 50 test strips for the Prime meter hanging around somewhere, that you got by mail order.

I counted up the tests on your spreadsheet and it looks like you could have gone through about one and a half boxes of test strips. That should still leave you with 2 full boxes of 50 test strips each plus a partial box.

Would you please look for those test strips please and let me know if you find them?
 
Deb, this is going to be short and sweet because it's the THIRD time I have wrote a post to you asnd they just ho away.
To ans. your quest. about the test strips. I checkd the boxes and yes I have two boxes and ten strips left. I Had a couple of bad strips and manyn that came up error cause I didn't get enough blood. I have to full boxes of the ketosticks, but am getting low on syringes. They were not a full box. I will need to get a script for them, right ? I also have plenty of lancets.
Deb, I wasn't asking you for the supplies, I was only asking if there was anywhere I could get help getting them. As I've said many times befoe Thank You and we do appreciate all that you have done for us !!! You were VERY kind to us especially when we really needed it.

This mirilax, my Doodle Bug will throw a party if he can go potty without it hurting and making him cry. How much water do you add to 1/8 tsp. ? B.I.D. every day, right ??

Thank you

Becki & Rags
 
Becki -

You can mix the Miralax into your cat's food. Just be sure to add some extra water to the food. Miralax pulls water from other parts of the body into the large intestine so you need to make sure your kitty is getting enough water.

I don't know a great deal about the Banfield Charitable Trust. They offer help for pet owners and may be an organization worth investigating. I'd also suggest checking the Supply Closet here on FDMB. Often people have supplies they are donating.
 
Yes, NJ requires a script for syringes as well as the insulin. Your vet can write one for you.

The Walmart Relioin syringes have 1/2 unit markings. I think you will really want these syringes sometime if you start makin 0.25 or 0.5 unit changes in the dose. Yes, you can eyeball it as you learned to do with the Novolin N, but the additional 1/2 unit markings help our aging eyes to see things better and get a more accurate dose.

Also, in your post on Feline Health, BJM suggested reading the stickies to learn more about lantus. They have a ton of useful information.

They are located at the beginning of the Lantus Tight Regulation forum, down below all the announcements but at the start of the Topics. There are 5 of them that look like they would be useful to you and they all start with the title STICKY: LANTUS & LEVIMIR.............

I think printing them out would be helpful. I always find reading on the little computer screen to be harder and still like old fashioned printed material. ;-)
 
Becki, So glad to see you posting here in Lantus!! I look forward to see you post about your lovely rags each day!! There are so many people here that are experienced and can give you any advice or tips you need to help treat your Rags.
 
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