5/20- New Member- Desi

[Desi D]

Hi All,
I have Apollo who was diagnosed 1 month ago and it's been a stressful and confusing start for this last month.

The vet I have is supportive of home testing and has given a good amount of reference material and got my boy immediately started on Insuline Glargine (aka lantus, semglee, etc). Vet also had me immediately switch to only canned food that is low/zero carb basically. Did a full blood work up, got antibiotics for a UTI and more all within the first week of diagnosis. However with the initial dosage basically starting at 2 units twice a day. Gluscose curve about 10 days in and he was still skyrocketing with numbers in the 400 range, thus I increased the dosage at the advice of the vet to 3 units x 2. Before the month was up with still skyrocketing numbers the vet advised to go to 4 units x 2. The vet has her own sugar baby so initially I had blind faith; however after reading a lot of information on the webpage it seems I was given some seriously bad and dangerous advice about increasing my dosages. I wasn't doing any home testing I could have killed my boy with hypoglycemia because he randomly dropped to the 80's preshot.

In the last few days I've had to skip a handful of shots due to his numbers being too low and am bouncing back and forth with numbers so I'm slowly trying to reduce his insulin shot to where I can feel safe giving him 2 shots of identical dose in one day again. After this I plan to do a full curve a few days after.

I've already found one of the spreadsheets thanks to so many other people posting links to theirs and have been doing my best to track Apollo's numbers and tried my best to adjust the spreadsheet to my own needs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gg0lye7g7HFTp9qNWtAPCx9bgynkBABtO3Bt5m5Wafo/edit?usp=sharing

I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot to get advice of how to appropriate increase/decrease a shot once I get my boy to stop bouncing. I have also read the information for TR with lantus as a guideline which is quite helpful.

Feel free to make any and all suggestions because I'd love to figure this out quicker rather than later.

 

[Angela & Cleo]

Hi All,
I have Apollo who was diagnosed 1 month ago and it's been a stressful and confusing start for this last month.

The vet I have is supportive of home testing and has given a good amount of reference material and got my boy immediately started on Insuline Glargine (aka lantus, semglee, etc). Vet also had me immediately switch to only canned food that is low/zero carb basically. Did a full blood work up, got antibiotics for a UTI and more all within the first week of diagnosis. However with the initial dosage basically starting at 2 units twice a day. Gluscose curve about 10 days in and he was still skyrocketing with numbers in the 400 range, thus I increased the dosage at the advice of the vet to 3 units x 2. Before the month was up with still skyrocketing numbers the vet advised to go to 4 units x 2. The vet has her own sugar baby so initially I had blind faith; however after reading a lot of information on the webpage it seems I was given some seriously bad and dangerous advice about increasing my dosages. I wasn't doing any home testing I could have killed my boy with hypoglycemia because he randomly dropped to the 80's preshot.

In the last few days I've had to skip a handful of shots due to his numbers being too low and am bouncing back and forth with numbers so I'm slowly trying to reduce his insulin shot to where I can feel safe giving him 2 shots of identical dose in one day again. After this I plan to do a full curve a few days after.

I've already found one of the spreadsheets thanks to so many other people posting links to theirs and have been doing my best to track Apollo's numbers and tried my best to adjust the spreadsheet to my own needs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gg0lye7g7HFTp9qNWtAPCx9bgynkBABtO3Bt5m5Wafo/edit?usp=sharing

I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot to get advice of how to appropriate increase/decrease a shot once I get my boy to stop bouncing. I have also read the information for TR with lantus as a guideline which is quite helpful.

Feel free to make any and all suggestions because I'd love to figure this out quicker rather than later.

Hi Desi and Welcome!
Apollo is sooo cute. I'm very new here too but the overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear have subsided a ton because of this place. People volunteering their time here are sooooo wonderful.

Fantastic that you are home testing. That is the best way to keep your kitty very safe.
We all start with this link https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
May I ask what time zone you are located at? Members here are from all over the world so odds are great that someone is around to help in a pinch.
I'm going to tag a few experienced members for you @Diane Tyler's Mom @tiffmaxee @Bandit's Mom @Bron and Sheba (GA) who have a wealth of information to name just a few.

Post often and ask tons of questions.

 

[FrostD]

Awesome job getting started and reading through everything. That dose was definitely too high, good.tou caught it when you did . The others will be better to advise on a dose but I did want.to ask - are you checking ketones at all? Any history of ketones in lab work, or DKA? Most of us just use Ketostix to test the urine, any human urine ketone sticks will do.

 

[Desi D]

Hi Desi and Welcome!
Apollo is sooo cute. I'm very new here too but the overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear have subsided a ton because of this place. People volunteering their time here are sooooo wonderful.

Fantastic that you are home testing. That is the best way to keep your kitty very safe.
We all start with this link https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
May I ask what time zone you are located at? Members here are from all over the world so odds are great that someone is around to help in a pinch.
I'm going to tag a few experienced members for you @Diane Tyler's Mom @tiffmaxee @Bandit's Mom @Bron and Sheba (GA) who have a wealth of information to name just a few.

Post often and ask tons of questions.

Thanks. I've been trying to read through all of the documentation and it's a lot and I keep forgetting what is what. I'm in the USA, east coast. I realized I never created a signature with that information until after I made my initial post.

 

[Desi D]

Awesome job getting started and reading through everything. That dose was definitely too high, good.tou caught it when you did . The others will be better to advise on a dose but I did want.to ask - are you checking ketones at all? Any history of ketones in lab work, or DKA? Most of us just use Ketostix to test the urine, any human urine ketone sticks will do.

I haven't been checking ketones. Until a few days ago I didn't even understand what ketones were to be honest. I know I got a urinalysis done at the vet too but need to pull the records to see if that got tested for. I have yet to obtain any ketone test strips yet but it's on my to-do list.

 

[FrostD]

I haven't been checking ketones. Until a few days ago I didn't even understand what ketones were to be honest. I know I got a urinalysis done at the vet too but need to pull the records to see if that got tested for. I have yet to obtain any ketone test strips yet but it's on my to-do list.

I know it's a lot, no worries. Just a history of those (or currently having them) changes the approach a little bit.