9/3 Freddie AMPS 391 Newbie ADVICE

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housecats4

housecats4

Member Since 2010
Hello this is Freddie he is a big cat I am guessing 17-20 lbs Big beautiful but full of matts. I was over to give Shirley Bean a demo in testing she has no problem doing this but she is busy so we will have to work with her. Will test at +5-or+6 she will call me and I will post. Will get a ss going for Freddie too. We started him off with 1 unit Lantus down from 12 u can insulin. Took him over some can and asked her to please limit his dry put it away and wean him off it. Gave her a lot of info from stickies. Can not believe but her vet told her to reuse the needles till they get dull 5-6 times is ok. I told her no you can not do that, Set her up with the pen and she gave him his shot. Was even getting needles ready 3-4 days worth at a time. Poor guy . Do not want to overload her so I said if you can test 3 times a day for the week end and see how it goes. Should I have done anything different.. We tested him at 11am and he was 391 never had any insulin since last night around 6pm I think she couldn`t remember. Told her very important stick with every 12 hours.....Thanks Kath
 
Hi Kath

I heard you were helping a friend out with Freddie. Very good of you to help her!
She is off to a good start with your help.

Previous thread on Freddie:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23881&p=238362#p238362

When you have a spreadsheet set up, can you add it to your signature as a link?
Just like Trey's. This way we can view it quickly and easier.

You can do a daily condo when you can, that's no problem.
You know the drill pretty much, if you feel you need help, post here and we'll see what we can do ok?

Make sure she has gravy flavours of wet food, and some honey on hand.

Let her know to get the preshots AMPS and PMPS and those spotchecks in between will be really helpful.
Have her let you know if at any times Freddie gets dry food, as this can influence the numbers too...and make notes along the way on his spreadsheet with any info she gives you.

Good luck Kath!!
 
Kath...that is very nice of you to help her out like this...
Not sure if you said you put the insulin in the syringes for her...is that right? It was my understanding that doing that was not a good idea...maybe others will address that issue.

The tech at my vet office told me the same thing about the syringes!! She said to use them till they got dull. And I said "how am i supposed to know that"? She said well just use them for 3-4 times each!!!
The tips of those syringes are so delicate...did you ever see that picture of how they bend?
Well, it is so good of you to help her out. :mrgreen:
 
A couple of thoughts...

She should not pre-fill syringes. You can't do this with Lantus. It degrades the insulin. It doesn't sound like her vet is terribly knowledgeable on a lot of counts. (Geez -- 12u of Canninsulin? And she wasn't testing? That's very scary.)

Can your friend test a minimum of 4 times a day? She needs to get an AMPS and PMPS, at least one AM spot check and a before bed test. This is the bare minimum. I will be very honest, I'm not very patient with people who say they are busy. We are all busy. You did a great job with your kitty and I'm sure you aren't a lady of luxury. None of us are. Do what you can to educate your friend that testing = safety. An hour in hypoglycemic range could hurt her cat permanently.

Can you figure out a way to communicate with Shirley if Freddie is in low numbers? You know that this sort of thing happens at the most inconvenient of times. The first time a cat is experiencing low numbers is very scary for the bean. If you're not available, what happens?
 
it sounds like you did a great job getting her started. You're a good bean. :thumbup

Do you know how long Freddie has been diabetic, and how they arrived at his dose of 12u of Caninsulin? I assume it was the vet's advice. I hope she can test at each PS and at bedtime, at least. Some nadir tests would be good.

Do you know if Freddie has a history of ketones? Does she know how to check for them? With that much of a dose reduction, she should be checking ketones.
 
Freddie was DX 2 years ago .They just keep increasing his insulin she would take him in every 2 weeks and they would increase. She has been reusing her needles 4=6 time and filling them 4 at a time to save her time. I told her if she wanted to get him looking better she had to read the print out get rid of the dry food .I set her up with the pen she will not be able to fill up extras and she will not need to reuse needles. 1 unit at a time to start and test before she shoots and feed after. Just talked to her and she couldn`t get him tested so she will get help befor his shot tonight in about 2 hour . So hope she can test she will call me. I am sure she never hear of ketones. I will pick up some ketones strips tomorrow are we doing wrong by dropping his dose too much???
 
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