9/28 Pumbaa - cruising yellows - high = 295, low = 224

[Pumbaa]

I was really excited last night when Pumbaa went down to 196 at PM +4. Since that was only 4 hours after his dose increase to .75U, I don't know how much of that was the slight dose increase or his just settling in fine with the Levemir.

I do have to say that I looooooovvvvvveeeeeeee the boring, flat numbers! Now, to just be patient and get him to boring, flat blues, and then boring flat greens.

He just had his 9th dose of Levemir, and, while I know the dose is still small, he doesn't even stop eating when I inject him now. That is a blessing, as well.

As Sheila suggested, I'll do a curve during Sunday's AM cycle, which will be after his 6th injection at the .75U dose.

I have absolutely no qualms about this switch to Levemir. I wish I would have started him on Levemir back in April when he was diagnosed, but what did I know? I'm hoping that my previous vet (the one who wouldn't prescribe the Levemir for Pumbaa) is still accessing the spreadsheet and she sees that she made a big mistake not being open-minded enough to prescribe this insulin for the first time with me as the cat caregiver.

Suze

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Can she access your posts as well? :roll: I hope its just the SS, or she might not like what she is reading.

I am willing to bet that you can get him to nice flat, mid 100s without a problem, maybe lower. But these small steps will help to not start the swings from taking hold (hopefully!).

 

[Pumbaa]

Sheila, if the previous vet did a search here for Pumbaa, she could read my posts, but below is what I just emailed her tonight. I am very honest, and state what I feel, online, exactly as I would state to someone's face. I did like her as a vet! She was very open and caring, and great with both the animals and the care givers. The only reason I switched vets was because she got bad information from one vet, and didn't feel confident prescribing the Levemir for the first time due to what she heard from that initial vet.

I was so sad when you didn't feel comfortable prescribing Levemir for Pumbaa, especially due to the fact that I home test BG levels excessively.

I found a vet five minutes from my house, who had never prescribed Levemir before, either, but who also looked at Pumbaa's online spreadsheet, and did some research on Levemir for cats, and who determined, from his research, that Levemir could be the ideal insulin for Pumbaa to prevent his bouncing and diving. And so far, nine doses later, Pumbaa is responding so much better to the Levemir at a much lower dose, than he did to the Lantus.

The vet that you talked to initially, who caused your concern about the potency of the Levemir and the risks for hypos, obviously dosed too high initially, and didn't have clients who were testing at home. That vet was the problem, not the Levemir. I hope you realize this. I started Pumbaa at .5U of Levemir initially, due to the advice of people on the feline diabetes bulletin board I rely on, and my new vet agreed that this would be a prudent initial dose after we discussed this. And our results have been great!

My new vet is looking forward to seeing how Pumbaa reacts to Levemir, without requiring vet-run curves (which we all know skew the results due to pet stress), so that he has a new insulin to prescribe, with some history behind it. I hope that you, too, will continue to watch Pumbaa's online daily spreadsheet, and see our results with the Levemir, and might feel more confident prescribing this insulin in the future.

From my viewpoint, I would never again prescribe Lantus, and would prescribe Levemir from the get go, from what I have experienced so far. On .5U and .75U of Levemir, Pumbaa is constantly in the 200s, and went down to 196 last night. No huge bounces, no huge dives. When I compare these numbers to when he first went on Lantus back in April, there is no doubt that he reacts to the Levemir better, at lower doses, without the bouncing and diving.

I really liked you as a vet! You are a very caring and compassionate woman and are very good with sick animals as well as their stressed-out humans. I'm sorry that I had to change vets just over one type of insulin vs. another. And I'm sorry that I will also be changing Beck to the same vet I am now using for Pumbaa, because it is more convenient to me to have all of my pets at the same vet's office. I wish this hadn't been the case. I understand your caution, but the vet who spooked you was an incompetent idiot, who didn't do his/her research first, if you ask me.