Diagnosed Saturday, first vet appt today at 5...HELP

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Ugh... Poor chawie is sick of us in his face poking his ears!!! We couldn't get a drop this time after a few attempts so we got the pad of his back foot....
It's a 77
It would have been +6 but we were 15 mins late trying to get him to cooperate... Sheesh poor kid, first day on insulin and he has holes all over. Will this be bad for his ears?
Do I test again in 30?
 
If you want, you can hold off more food, and test in an hour. Does that cut into your sleep time?

Yes, his ears will be okay. Do you have any neosporin w/ pain relief? You can rub that on the ears to help them heal faster.
 
yes get at least one maybe two more tests before you can stop for the night. that is as long as the numbers are rising or remaining steady - 77 is a good safe number

do you know the tricks for ear testing? - warming the ear with a warming sock?

take one sock -
add 1/2 cup of dried rice, beans or oatmeal
knot the top (so stuff doesn't fall out)
heat in microwave 15-20 seconds until warm to touch
place behind kitty's ear until ear is warm
then as Carl likes to say poke the kitty

also do you have neosporin to put on ears after poking? this will help with bruising
 
Kristina,

About tomorrow....

A couple of people have already suggested that "less insulin" is the way to go. It definitely looks like 2u was a bit too much today. ;-)

You might see a fairly high number in the morning. If so, don't sweat it. A lot of times, when a kitty drops in the low numbers like the 43 you saw, what follows is what we call a "bounce". It can give you an ugly high number the next day. But it's an instinctive reaction by his body to "protect itself" from hypoglycemia. It just happens.

In the morning, test him before feeding and shooting, and post the number here. Most likely people will be here to help you no matter what time of day or night it is. We have members all over the world, so this place never sleeps. :-D

But I think, at most, you'll be shooting .5u or 1u the next time you give him a shot.
 
I'll test at +7.25.
It has been cutting into my sleep time for an hour and 45 mins. What's another hour? @-)
I'm gonna call the vet right when they open and TELL her I want to start at .5 unit twice a day.
Neosporin on ears. Check.
So after I test him again can I go to sleep?
Thank you Carl n Bob for being my knights in shining armor!!
 
If his number is steady or rising, then yes, sleep is in your immediate future! You can leave out a small snack for him when you turn out the lights. :smile:

Good plan on calling the vet. They work for you, and you shouldn't be the least bit shy about telling them what you are going to do. Hopefully they will be supportive. And numbers don't lie. Tell them what 2u did tonight and I think they'll be okay with a dose decrease.

And you're very welcome, Kristina. A big thanks to everyone else who helped too, and to Wendy for posting the "call for help" in the Lantus forum which is how I found my way over here!
 
Yes! Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me all day long!!!
You guys are rock stars and I'm thankful for you all!!!
I'll still post Charlie's numbers before I go to bed.
 
I'll keep an eye out for the next number. I'm uploading a couple hundred pics to my photobucket account, so I'll be up a while anyway!
 
confused_cat
Well +7.25~60
No sleep for me yet. I put some of his wet food down and added a teeny bit of syrup.
Test again in an hour? Poor kid. This hurts my heart. Will it eventually go up on its own???
 
Yes, it will. Lantus will start to wear off - the problem is we don't know when because we don't know his patterns yet.
For many cats 60 is a safe number but because we have no data for Charlie, we don't know what he's going to do next so everything is geared to keeping him safe.

The early days are by far the hardest due to the learning curve - it will get easier for both of you
 
You can test in 30 if you want. The food and syrup should show up by then.
 
Here's a picture to distract you from all the testing!

Pelicanwaves_zps3a03da8d.jpg
 
I think you could leave out a snack and go to sleep, Kristina. And you did a great job with him tonight, by the way. Nothing like a trial by fire. ;-)

Thanks, I'm a novice but I'm enjoying learning how to take pictures!
 
Good Morning Kristina

Had to crash last night due to my sleep disorder; I'm glad the others were able to help you out. I had a feeling that if he was 100 @ +3 he was going diving.

When you contact your vet, you might tell her the contemporary formula for estimating the Lantus dose is:
Lean weight in kilograms * 0.25, rounding down for safety
Where lean weight = the lower of ideal weight, or if underweight, the current weight.

Glad he is OK.

And now you know how to manage a hypo.

He may be high this morning; its to be expected. If he's over 200, I'd go with 0.5 units this morning as he may be a bit more sensitive to it after going low last night.
 
Carl & Bob said:
I think you could leave out a snack and go to sleep, Kristina. And you did a great job with him tonight, by the way. Nothing like a trial by fire. ;-)

Thanks, I'm a novice but I'm enjoying learning how to take pictures!
Click to expand...
Thanks for staying up with Kristina. And my o my -- beautiful picture Carl -- Wow! You're a quick learner!!! Gonna start calling you Mr. Shutterbug!!!
 
ONE LAST THANK YOU TO ALL OF CHARLI'ES ANGELS!!!!
I called the vet today and spoke with the lead vet. I asked him if it was standard practice to not test before injection and he didn't have an answer for me, just said my questions and concerns were very valid. He said to hold off on the shots for a few days. He wants to try a few days of just the food and to check his BG 2 or 3 times a day to see if the go down on their own.
He is much better than the vet we saw at the appt.
So needless to say, I am a happy guardian today.
 
Good! Glad this vet is more in touch.

Now that you have a chance to breath a bit, read the AAHA guidelines posted in a sticky at the top of Feline Health, then pop over to the Lantus Tight Regulation forum and read over how Lantus works, is stored, the dosing protocol developed by Dr Rand, and so on. Looking at some of the Lantus users spreadsheet swill also give you a feel for how it can work in various cats.
 
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