8/31 Sidney PMPS 357

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Denise & Sidney

Denise & Sidney

Member Since 2010
Hello Everyone,

As you can see I just started home testing Sidney. I'm going to try and get a curve this week. I know I need to do it...I'm still a little on the wimpy side. We probably won't be home a couple of nights this weekend at Sidney's normal shot time. I'm not sure how to handle his schedule. Should I change it a few days ahead of time. I know I shouldn't just skip his PM shot. I'm still new to all of this and have gotten off to a slow start. I feel like I'm playing catch up now. I have finally noticed he is drinkin and urinating less. He seems to have developed a little neuropathy though.
 
Hi Denise! And Welcome to you and Sidney :-D
Congratulations on learning to do the home testing! That is an invaluable tool. What meter are you using?

We are a big family here in Lantus Land...and we are so happy that you posted! I am very happy to see that you have your Spreadsheet up and linked...great job! I don't even have to ask when Sidney was dx because you have it in your signature! Nice!

We test our kitties often during the day here if possible. When you are new to insulin, frequent Blood Glucose tests can tell a lot about how your kitty is adjusting. We test before we shoot in the AM/PM and ask that you get at least one test during the PM cycle...more if possible...but definitely a before bed time check.

There is much to learn at first. We have starred "stickies" at the top of the page. Please read them and print out the information on Hypo kits. You should have High Carb food with gravy available for when the numbers dip low. Are you familiar with the Janet & Binky Food chart? http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html Select low carb (LC) food for meals and snacks and High Carb (HC) with gravy for times when you need to bring the numbers up. More about that later, but do have that on hand.

I see that Sidney is on dry food. Wondering if you have tried to transition him to canned?
Also, I see that you increased his dose this morning....I assume as prescribed by your vet?

Maybe you can explain the exact time you shoot and the time you are expecting to shoot in a few days...that might help...
 
Welcome to Lantus Land (LL)!

People will no doubt repeat this innumerable times, so I'm glad to be the first to suggest that you read the starred sticky notes at the top of the Board. They contain our dosing protocol, information on how to handle Lantus, posting conventions, information on how to do a curve, our slang, and much, much more.

Congrats on starting to home test and on getting your spreadsheet (SS) set up. One observation/suggestion - you really want to get a test every time before you give a shot. When I first started lurking on the Board, someone on Health commented to another person, "If this were a child, would you ever consider giving a shot without having tested first?" Insulin is a powerful drug and you need to know whether it's safe to shoot. Getting a pre-shot test will tell you if it's safe. Lantus dosing decisions are made based on the lowest point, the nadir, of the cycle. This is usually (but not always) somewhere in the middle of the 12-hour cycle. We typically encourage people to get a minimum of 4 tests per day -- one at each pre-shot and one test each cycle. However, if you look at Pat's SS or mine, you'll see that we test a lot more than that. Right now, it's important to begin to collect the data that will allow you to make decisions about dosing.

How did your arrive at your dose? The initial dose of Lantus can be based on a cat's ideal weight (dose = 0.25 x ideal weight in kilograms). Unless Sidney is a particularly large cat, the initial dose is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.0u. Also, we typically raise doses in increments of 0.25 to no more than 0.5u so an optimal dose is not missed. It looks like you've been raising Sidney's dose by a full unit. Usually, the first dose of Lantus is held for 5 - 7 days. You've increased Sidney's dose twice in 5 days. At the very least, you may want to hold the 2.0u dose longer until you can get more test data. IMHO, it's not safe to raise the dose by a full unit and not be aggressively testing.

You may also want to take a look at this website on feline nutrition. It's written by a vet and has great information on transitioning a cat from dry to canned food.

Please visit our "condos" (our threads -- one condo, per cat, per day), look at our spreadsheets and ask lots of questions. We like questions! And post regularly.
 
Thank you for the warm welcome! All of Sidney's dose increases have been per the vet. From reading a lot of other posts in the main forum, I realized I'm very lucky to have her as his vet. She did recommend home testing, but I didn't think I could do it. I'm very wimpy :oops: Of course, she did put him on Hill's Prescripion w/d. She started him out on 1 u bid and increased after every test. I took him in about every 2 weeks. I will admit, I did drop him down from 3 u bid for a few days. He has allergies and I didn't know if that was making him lethargic or if it was the dose. I haven't changed him over completely to canned yet because I'm still trying to get the hang of home testing. I have trouble getting an AMPS because he is intent on getting him AM meal, he will not be still. I do plan on getting one at 2 pm today. I do his AM & PM shots at 8:00. Once I get the testing down I plan on switching over to wet. I will probably try to freeze some for him and Bacall to snack on during the day, if they will eat it frozen. Of course, it doesn't help that my dh can't stand the smell of the FF wet.

As you can see, I'm still rambling :-D
 
Hi again Denise...
Good to see you this morning. Here in LL we have certain things we do..and we do have a lot of kitties that go OTJ after following our Protocol. I hope that you will get to read the stickies at the top of the page...
We would be o happy to see you and Sidney posting each day. We call each thread a "condo"...
We start each new day with our first post, with the header shown: Date, Cat's Name, AMPS number
and we include a link to the previous day's condo so that everyone can just click on it to see what happened the previous day.
There are so many kitties here and this keeps it a bit more organized....
One condo per kitty per day....

So, could you start a new condo for today and we will be good to go! :mrgreen:

Here is the address for this day's condo that you can put in your post, okay? viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23821&start=0
 
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