4/6 Burrito AMPS 75

Laura and Burrito

Laura and Burrito

Member Since 2021
Hi,

My cat Burrito was diagnosed on Friday 4/2 and I started him per the vet's recommendation at 2 units of Lantus twice a day. He started with shots on Sunday morning.

I was finally able to check his BG this morning for the first time (last night was a nightmare trying to get the blood!) and it's 75. Since it was my first time, I checked it twice with a new lancet/drop of blood, and it's still 75. I don't think I should give him the Lantus.

Thoughts? Advice? Thank you...this is totally overwhelming!
Laura
 
Hello and welcome. It is probably best for you to skip today. If you would give insulin, we would recommend testing throughout the day to make sure Burrito's numbers don't go too low. Since you are having trouble testing, skipping is probably the safest thing to do right now.
 
Thanks for your help! I'll skip this morning and test again this evening before the second dose. I have to go into work today so testing throughout the day isn't possible, but it's something that I want to start doing to try and get a better idea of what his BG is doing throughout the day. Thanks again, this board is a wonderful wealth of information!
 
Hi Laura!

Welcome to FDMB! It's great you were able to check his BG today and keep him safe by not giving insulin when he was that low. :-)

Could you please add two rows for Sunday and Monday on your SS and input the dose/shots that you gave him? This was we know that today was not the first day on Lantus.

2 units is a large starting dose. We usually recommend starting with 1U twice a day. What were Burrito's numbers at diagnosis? Has there been a food change since? It seems to me that 2U could be too much for him.

Here's a sticky with our dosing protocols for when you have the time to read.
Dosing Methods: Start Low, Go Slow (SLGS) & Tight Regulation (TR)

Here are some tips for testing:
Hometesting Links and Shooting Tips
 
Thanks for the info, Bandit's mom! I've checked out the hometesting link you sent and they were extremely helpful. I've been able to test his BG a few times last night and today and we're both getting much better at it. :)

I've updated the spreadsheet as you recommended, and also included lab numbers where I could match them to his medical records. The one really frustrating thing is that there is no BG number on his record for when he was first diagnosed this past Friday. I think I remember the vet saying it was over 400, but it wasn't noted on the records. (I'm not at all thrilled with the way my vet has handled this.)

His number was 133 last night so we skipped the dose. This morning he was back up to 304 so I gave 1U per the vet's recommendation after I spoke with them yesterday.

Before dx, he was eating Dave's wet food which came in around a 2% carb content. BUT, he was also getting 3/4 of a cup of Royal Canine High Fiber Response dry food because of major constipation issues he's had in the past. I've stopped the dry food altogether so he's only getting the low-carb wet food now.

The vet recommended only feeding him twice a day, 12 hours apart with the insulin shot. By the time we get to his evening feeding, he's ravenous which makes getting the BG reading tricky. I've read that certain people on the board do smaller feedings multiple times a day. Do you have a link where I can read more about how to do that?

Thanks for all of your help!
Laura
 
Hi and welcome, I'm going to leave another sticky for you to read: The basics, new to the group? Start here.
It will answer a lot of your questions, but do keep asking them here and ask for clarification on anything you read.
Lantus doesn't require kitty to only be fed 12 hours apart with insulin. Most of us feed smaller meals, particularly up to when kitty reaches nadir (lowest number of the cycle...and this can move), and then much less food after nadir. I personally feed butters around four or five snacks per cycle, split evenly apart. She often has a late nadir, though, so it doesn't send her numbers too high and it really just keeps her surfing. Others will regularly feed their cat a little every hour in the first half of the cycle. Try to look at other kitties' spreadsheets because many of us record what we feed and when. So you can get some ideas.
 
Ahh, that makes a lot more sense to feed smaller amounts up to the nadir of the cycle, and then less thereafter.

I also need to start testing more often to get a better sense of what his cycle is, but unfortunately work conflicts won't allow me to do that until this weekend. Hopefully I'll have a better sense of all of this after that.

I've been looking at other's spreadsheets and getting a lot of good ideas of how to capture the most information - thanks for the tip!
 
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