Sorry about the strip hassle. You probably don't want to point out that the testing is on your cat, but do ask them to send you a replacement set of strips. You don't have confidence in those strips, I'm sure.
You should be seeing less pee from Tiger (hence less thirst - but still keep giving extra water in the food) as the BG drops below the renal threshold. That's the point at which the body tries to get rid of the excess glucose. See
http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Renal_threshold for more info, but Merck says that the feline threshold is 240 - so yay! Tiger is below that. He is going to feel a lot better, both from the lower BG and from the smoother/gentler ride on Lev. Also, I think TIger's risk of ketones and dangerous ketoacidosis is significantly reduced at the levels you are seeing now. Whew!
Your way forward is to continue gathering data to determine if Tiger's dose needs to be adjusted up or down. I know you work so just do the best you can on the midcycle testing. From the
Tilly protocol:
"The cat should be monitored closely on the first 3 days on Lantus/Levemir: do curves between the AM and PM-doses, e.g. AM pre-shot, +3 hours, +6 hours, +9 hours, PM pre-shot. Generally the starting dose is kept for 3 days. Test for ketones daily. Cats that have a tendency to get ketones and/or who are getting relatively high flat curves after the switch should have their dose raised earlier (after 24-48 hours). It is extremely rare that a cat will need to have its dose reduced in the first 3 days, but if the cat falls below 50 mg/dl, reduce the dose."
Have you had a chance to check out the spreadsheets? They look confusing at first (at least they were to me) but very soon I think you'll start to see the patterns. And it will really help others to quickly review Tiger's progress and enable them to give better advice. The
Tech support forum has the instructions. People put the link in their signature, so if you look at some of the other threads (aka condos), you can take a peek at their spreadsheets.
You're doing great. Give Tiger a kiss on the nose for us.
laur
