Couple of questions after DKA and starting Lantus

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tabathabeck

Member Since 2014
I wasn't sure if this should go here or in the lantus forum, so here we go :).

My boy Fluff was in remission for about 9 months (I think), and then suddenly he was throwing up. Within about a day of that he was extremely lethargic, so we took him to the ER vet. He was in DKA, had a fever, and his white blood cell count was slightly elevated. Well $2500 dollars later he's home and doing much better. I told the vet I wanted to start using Lantus (instead of ProZinc) since I already take that myself.

I attempted a curve after 2 weeks using my Target brand human meter. I did not get the last few tests in but thought this was at least a start. He's on an appetite stimulant so I pretty much feed him when he asks.
  • 12pm - 289 (shot and food) //he had the dry the evening before
  • 2pm - 219 (food)
  • 4pm - 230
  • 6pm - 234 (food)
The first week he was on diabetic dry because the vet insisted, and I wanted to finally prove to her that it DOES make a difference. Lets just say that week 1 he was in the high to mid 300's all week. :mad:

1. My plan is to continue another week on the same regimen (FF pates and 1 unit twice a day), then attempt another curve next weekend. Does that sound appropriate?

2. The ER vet felt this was an acute event since his numbers (other than immediate BG and white blood cell count) were normal. He was actually surprised. Anyone experience something similar that can give me some insight on what you determined happened?

Thanks everyone!
 
Try to keep him under 200-250 with insulin at least, as this will prevent further dehydration and recurrence. So if you are starting at 1U and remain above this constantly in the cycles, I'd increase by 0.25U sooner rather than wait. Of course if you are switching to wet food, you're going to see lower numbers, so you'll have to figure out how it will affect him. Extra water in the food is pretty important coming out of DKA and with the higher numbers, so the wet food is good. You can add a little water to the wet food too, for extra hydration.

If he is not eating well yet, you might want to look into a high calorie-low carb wet food to keep the calories up. Iams Max cal is an "emergency" type food, and it's good to have a couple cans in the house. I feed Innova Cat and kitten from the 13oz cans (cheaper this way). This food has I think about 200cals per 5oz can, so it's higher in calorie than most. I think that wellness makes some foods that are in the 180-220 calories a can as well. Iams kitten is higher in calories too. Usually this is listed on the can somewhere.

If you are able to start a spreadsheet and post it here, it would be helpful for others to help with dose increases and suggestions.
 
Thanks! I started a spreadsheet for him, which I'll update to see how it looks over time. I think for this week I'm going to continue as is since I'm going to cut out the dry completely (I had him off dry for a year - I really hated giving it to him). Hopefully by this weekend I'll have a better idea of what the overall picture is. The spreadsheet will help A LOT.
 
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