changing eddie's dosage based on BG hometesting

[stan_disuko]

yesterday i home-tested eddie every 2 hours. i wanted to start drinking after the 3rd test. eddie was such a trooper, but he started to lose his patience...now he's taken to shaking his head as i insert the lancet...a couple times it "ripped" and he bled waaay to much. ugh..i really hate doing this.

anyway, his results are on his SS.

i talked to my vet over the phone and went through the results. he says the dip to 5.7mmol/L is a bit too low...also when it comes time to give his PM shot, he's still low-ish...

the vet advised me to lower his dosage to 1.0 unit (from 2.0), twice daily. I have started him on that this morning.

couple questions:

1. does this sound reasonable?
2. do diabetic kitties always get 2 shots a day, or can they ever be down to one? does it depend on the insulin?

thanks.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Yes, that sounds reasonable to me. The numbers you were getting mid cycle weren't scary, but quite good. But if you have recently changed food and just started on insulin, it is always wise to start with one unit twice daily. The more data you have, the easier it will be to see how the insulin is working and whether you need to adjust up or down.

Insulin tends to work for 12 hours in almost every cat. Rarely, when a cat is on mini doses and getting really long duration, the owner may try one shot daily to fine tune before the cat goes off insulin all together. But very rarely. The numbers would tell you this. If you look at other's spreadsheets and see where they skipped a shot, say in the PM because the preshot was low and they were worried about the kitty going too low overnight, the numbers continue to rise overnight and are high in the morning.

When he shakes his head, get the blood drop on your fingernail and test it there. You can use neosporin on his ears to help with the bruising. Also hold his ear for a few seconds after poking to minimize bruising - when he isn't running away :mrgreen:

 

[Venita]

You are using Caninsulin, right? Yes, backing off the dose, basically starting over sounds like a good idea. It looks like Eddie is responding very well.

ETA--some long-term, well regulated cats can get 24 hours on one shot of a long-lasting insulin. My Ennis only gets shot about every 24 hours. We've been at this with Levemir for about 4 years.