8/13 Redd AMPS-279 +5-229 PMPS-419 Why?

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Ellen & Redd

Member Since 2011
My cat is not yet regulated and we just increased to 4.5 units. At first I got great numbers on this dose but now he's all over the place. Could someone look at his SS and give us thoughts on what is going on? I am wondering if his Lantus is going bad since it has been 5 months and it seems like it may not be lasting 12 hours. Or maybe we missed his ideal dose and are rebounding although he's never had a reading low enough for that I think. Or maybe his health issues are getting in the way. He has IBD, pancreatitis, high blood pressure, and cardiomyopathy. His vet thinks we are having trouble regulating him because of his seriously inflamed pancreas and/or his blood pressure medication (atenolol) and wants to keep moving slowly to increase the dose every two weeks. I'm not sure what to do as his numbers are all over the place now.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thank you!
Ellen
 
Welcome, Ellen!

Sorry to hear that Redd, and you, are grappling with several health issues. Is Redd's pancreatitis under any better control? I noted that you're not treating with buprenex any more. Is Redd giving any indication of pain and is he eating well? What are you feeding him?

We generally get more test data than what you're obtaining routinely (i.e., pre-shot tests plus at least one test per cycle since dosing is based on nadir). That said, 5 months could put your Lantus in the toasty zone. The manufacturer recommends discarding after 28 days. However, you will note in the post at the top of the Board regarding caring for Lantus that some people are able to get as much as 6 mos. from a vial. If you're seeing inconsistent blood glucose (BG) numbers, I'd consider new insulin.

One other thought is that allowing your cat to stay at a dose that is not lowering BG for a while means that Redd's body may be adjusting to being in higher BG ranges and regard those higher ranges as "normal." It is harder to bring numbers down when glucose toxicity is present. I'd encourage you to take a look at the Tight Regulation sticky (also at the top of the Board -- the starred notes). The protocol that we use is based on research published in a veterinary journal. There are links to the more formal versions of this protocol and you may want to share this with your vet. Basically, we don't hold doses for more than 3 days unless numbers drop to where a dose reduction is earned or the cat is tightly regulated in a normal BG range.

Please let us know how we can help. I hope you will begin posting about Redd regularly.
 
Thanks for your response! I am going to try a new vial in the a.m. to see if that helps. Redd's pancreatitis is calm at the moment so no meds. He eats wet Wellness Core grain-free chicken. I know I need to test more often and will be working on that going forward. His vet is very resistant to changing his dose before 10-14 days trial but I will try showing her the tight regulation protocol to change her mind. Thanks again for the advice!
 
Hi Ellen:

Glad you have posted here. While many of us love our vets, we find that their knowledge of treating FD is limited. The folks here have been living it, breathing it, day in and day out for a long time and have the most up-to-date info.

Sienne is one of our extremely knowledgable members and she's given you some things to think about. We've helped alot of people get their kitties a little more under control but we do recommend a little more testing than you are doing and especially always testing before you shoot. The Wellness Core is about 8% calories from carbs. I think most of us shoot for more foods that are under 5% calories from carbs. Having said that, you are way ahead of the game because you aren't feeding dry and you aren't feeding DM :-D :-D

I also hope you will post regularly.
 
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