6/8 Pepper +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238, +8/307, +10/ 291

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Deb and Pepper

Member Since 2011
I just did my first home test. I got 251. I am switching Pepper to wet food right now from Purina DM. He is on 2U of Lantus but with going to wet food today I'm afraid I will overdose him if I give the 2U right now. It is time to feed him. Should I just feed him and re-test in 2 hrs? 1hr? or give him 1U and test?

I plan to test at least every 4 hrs until I see how he does on the wet food anyways.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

i am by no means a dosing expert but here are a few things i would suggest until they can come along and advise on the dosing:

first, congrats on making the switch to dry to wet and hometesting!

wet food can have a drastic (but awesome) change on a cat's bg levels, so i would be ready to test more than once every four hours. You don't have much data in your spreadsheet right now (props to you for gettin it up and going- it took me a while), so you will need to be ready to test frequently if you are going to shoot and change diet. you don't want to have your cat's bg level dipping too low and missing those critical hours and testing times.

when we went from dry to tinned, we had a bg drop from the mid 400s to the 330s.

so with this in mind be prepared:

this is a link to how to handle hypo and if you haven't read it already, it's very helpful.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

This is not at all intend to scare you, but to put you in control and in the drivers seat of your cats bg. Make sure you have plenty of test strips, high carb (gravy) food, and karo syrup on hand if needed. that will allow you to be in contol of your cat's bg and control the curve.

i hope this helps and gives you a bump for more expert eyes.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Thanks

I got nervous when no one answered after almost an hour so I gave him 1U instead of his usual 2U. Will test again in 1hr and see what's happening then. Can always give more if I need to later. Plan to test every 2hrs today and maybe tomorrow if it swings a lot today. If not will go to 4 hrs at least until I comfortable with his food switch.

I have been reading everything I can find on diabetes and switching to wet food so I know his BG can drop a LOT real quick doing it. And I am prepared for hypo, Karo upstairs and down so it is close at hand if I need it. And I did get some wet with high carbs also just in case.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Hi-

Welcome to Lantus Land! I'm not a dosing expert either, but I think it was wise to go with 1U as opposed to 2U, considering you're switching foods, too. The general motto here is "Start low and go slow"...it's safer to be in high numbers than even spending a minute in low numbers. Since you've gone with 1U, you'll want to hold that dose for 6-10 cycles to see how things go.

Congrats on the food switch, the home testing, and being so prepared!

I'm sure one of the dosing folks will be along shortly with more detailed info for you.

Amy
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

sounds like you went with your gut and a low dose, good choice.

keep your spreadsheet updated and keep checking in. have you read some of the stickies at the top of the board? i know much of this informatiom was whelming for me when i first started but this community is great about getting you on a firm path.

our subject line standard is usual as follows:
cats name amps # or cats name pmps #

so when you have a question about dosing or if you can shoot, you can put that in your subject line as well and it will grab a dosing experts attention much faster.

hope to see you around ll more!
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

I am still in the armature range to me personally. Though I made my trails by fire several times I still listen to the input here. You will get a lot, but always use what you feel is a safe balance. Godspeed!
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Welcome, I think reducing to 1u was a smart move. It always pays to be careful when doing the switch. You could see dramatic results very quickly.

One quirky thing to remember about the board is that to change how your subject shows in the list you nee to go to the first post in the thread (we call them condos), click edit and make the change there. If you change it in your reply it will only show once someone has opened the condo and gotten to that post. Having the subject up to date gets attention faster when you need it.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

i was just reading your earlier posts & wanted to offer a couple of things.

one is if the clicking of the lancet bothers pepper you can desensitize him by clicking it near his ear at random times.

another is about seeing the syringe - i don't have trouble with seeing the syringe as much as seeing the difference between punkin's hair and his skin. i bought a "miner's headlamp" kinda thing from REI. i did see that this week's Home Depot add had them really cheap. i don't know if the Home Depot ones are bright enough, so that would be something to check out. i love the nerdy headlamp, though, and it sure does make the syringe visible.

here's an article on how lantus works, just fyi. i thought it was great information: http://www.diabetesclinic.ca/en/diab/2treat/lantus_vs_levemir.htm
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Congratulations on the home testing! My vet started Simon on 3 units and then increased to 4. When I started home testing I realized that Simon was on way too much insulin. With the help from here, I decreased his insulin to 1 unit 2x/day and I have not had to increase since then. So I think it was wise that you went with the 1 unit until you get more data for your spreadsheet. I also slowly stopped giving Simon the dry food instead of all of a sudden switching to total canned food. It was less scary and less of a chance that he would drop too quickly. Good luck with everything and welcome again. We are all here to help!
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Thanks everyone.

Well with all I have read the last few days it seems like most people are using 1U with even higher GB when they were first DX so I thought it would be good. And your right, I went with my gut feeling...lol With the food switch 2U just seemed like asking for hypo.

Will be testing again in about 20 mins, will be an hr since I gave him 1U.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

Hello peppers mom, welcome to LL!

I'm sorry that you were waiting for a response....I have been trying to read your previous posts in order to get some information about pepper. With only one test, there is not enough test data to form an opinion about dose. Many people start out with 1u. One way to determine a starting dose is by using a formula based on weight...since Pepper weighs 9 lb, that works out to about 1u.

I would suggest that you start by reading the stickies at the top of the forum, starting with the New to the Group sticky and the Tight Regulation Protocol sticky. There's a lot of info there, please be sure to ask any questions that come up.

We need more info about pepperwhen you have a chance. I see where he was dx last week, and started on 2u. When did you start shooting 2u? Did the vet do any other tests besides BG? Did he test for ketones? I see he has neuropathy, does he have any other medical issues or take any meds? That's a start, if I forgot any questions, I'm sure someone else will ask. ;-)

Since you decided to change his diet, I would monitor closely. If you read the stickies, you will see that Lantus is a depot type insulin. Just because you reduced his dose to 1u tonight, if you have been shooting 2u for a week, you are likely to see shed action this cycle...meaning that this dose may act more like 2u than 1u. Please update your header with your tests as you get them....go to the first post in this condo (thread) and click on edit....enter the test in the subject line....then click submit. Just updating the header will not bump your post up to the top though....you will need to add a new reply to do that.

Please ask questions if any of that didn't make sense.
 
Re: HELP First time testing and changing to wet food

cats have all different doses, the important thing is to start low (1unit every 12 hours), do enough testing to keep the kitty safe, gather data, and make appropriate changes in dosing. some of our cats are on just a drop, literally 1 or 2 drops, some have big doses because of underlying conditions.

punkin's got acromegaly, just diagnosed last week, and he's up to 10 units twice a day. there are, i think 6 or so of us with cats with acro on here - so don't copy us!!!! there are some other conditions, insulin-resistance and cushing's, that also call for higher doses. cats with infections might also need more insulin until the infection clears up - that's why you'll see lots of conversations on here about dentals. if a cat has gingivitis or another dental infection (not uncommon) that can increase their blood sugar.

the important thing is to give each cat the amount of insulin it needs to stay healthy.
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231

good job updating your subjectline and getting started!
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231

Pepper is in very good health other than the diabetes. When I took him in to the vet, we were both afraid he had kidney failure like his brother 2 months ago so the vet did both blood and urine tests and 2 x-rays. He was constipated from lack of fluid (dehydrated) so he gave him IV fluids and an enema. He started him on 2U/2 daily on Thurs and I have been giving him 2U ever since. Not sure if he did ketones or not. He did say his kidneys were working fine tho. I am looking at the test sheet and don't see them listed but do see something he didn't mention. His "Alk. P. Tase" tested as 150 and it's listed as "normal" should be 14 - 102. What is that?

The neuropathy is already starting to clear up with just the insulin so I think he's getting better fast. He's also starting to roam to the other side of the room today, not just laying on my feet all the time...lol

He's being so good about this. He actually started meowing when the alarm went off this time for his shot...he wants the treat I give him afterwards...lol
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231

Alkaline phosphatase is a liver and bone enzyme that is elevated when there is inflammation of these tissues. Any increase of this enzyme is significant in a cat and is probably coming from the liver. Common causes for this elevation are hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), cholangiohepatitis (auto-immune disease of the liver), hyperthyroidism or Diabetes Mellitus. I would definitely check with your vet about the value but I suspect he doesn't consider it significant due to Pepper's FD.

It would be very helpful if you could complete a Profile on Pepper and attach it to your signature. That way, all of the relevant info on health, diet, etc. will be available if anyone needs to take a look.
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231, +3 135

I am SO glad I didn't give him 2U...his +3 is only 135! I gave him the other half a can of Special Kitty. Will test again in 2 hours.

OK...will add the profile. How do I do that?
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231

If you click on the link (the blue Profile) in Sienne's post, it will take you to the instructions to setting up a profile.

I would test again at +4...onset is usually somewhere around +2 or +3, so he may be significantly lower in an hour. Remember you need to edit the first post in the thread so the updated header will show up on the board....
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS 251, +1 231, +3 135

Well I tried to make a profile but when I got to part C step 3 I couldn't find settings anywhere. Had problems getting the spreadsheet too so maybe it's something off at Google.
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

Just did the +6 test and it's going back up. It's thundering and lightening outside and Pepper is frightened. Could that have elevated it some?

I got Pepper's profile done but how do I get it to say Pepper's Profile instead of the url?
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

Hi Pepper and your Mom and welcome.
I just checked your spreadsheet and your profile and both of them work perfectly. Congrats! FD is a challenge, but you'll soon be comfortable with the new routines. You've gotten good advice thus far. Good luck with the new 1U dose. As Laurie said: give it 6 cycles to get settled in, and keep in mind that the 2U dose you were previously giving will take a few days to get out of Pepper's system (his "shed" or "depot" will gradually get down to 1Unit).
We are all here for support. Welcome to Lantus Land!

Ella & Rusty
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

Hi guys!

I just wanted to stop in and say HI and welcome you to Lantus Land. You are doing amazing so far. Very impressive.

Good luck!
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

peppers mom said:
Just did the +6 test and it's going back up. It's thundering and lightening outside and Pepper is frightened. Could that have elevated it some?

I got Pepper's profile done but how do I get it to say Pepper's Profile instead of the url?
Click to expand...

Stress can raise BG, that's why tests at the vet's office are not as accurate as testing at home...so yes, T storms could elevate numbers. Some cats actually react the other way to stress though...their numbers go down.

To get it to say Pepper's profile, you put Pepper's Profile...I'm not the most tech saavy though, so if that doesn't work, maybe look on the Tech Support Forum. You could post a question there and someone will help you.

If he continues to rise on the next test, I would get some sleep....have a good night!
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

yay Deb! you got the profile figured out. so it was a bad link - that makes me feel a little better for not being able to figure it out!

i'm sure pepper will relax when the storm is past. sometimes their numbers do go wonky and you don't know why.

good job on your first day with all of this!
 
Re: 6/8 Pepper PMPS/251, +1/231, +3/135, +4/166, +6/238

Thank you, but I give all the credit to Pepper for being so good about all this. Amazing what he'll do for snacks...rofl
 
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