Do some shots just fail?

[Misterbeesmom]

i've done a furshot. We all have. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about giving a nice clean shot, but it having little or no effect.

Sometimes i wonder if i'm shooting wrongly. Maybe i'm shooting into fat? How would i know? Can you tell by feel?

I get such inconsistent results with mr b.

 

[scoobydoox]

If you are talking about the preshot numbers being high that seems to happen with a lot of cats. The nadir number shows you how well it is working though. Some people have better results with levemir which is similiar to lantus.

 

[jayla-n-Drevon]

I used to wonder the same thing... I got a clean shoot-and no movement.
It is frustrating
I have been told that the absorption can vary from shot to shot and often a cycle is flat before you see movement.
I have found with Dre that when he seems less hydrated his shot seems to be less effective .... but ECID and I don't know if there is any science to back that up.
I will tag @manxcat419 as she is more knowledgeable and can shed more light....

 

[Shadowboy]

I've wondered the same thing! I give the same dose, perfect timing, same amount/kind of food and one day numbers are beautiful, next it's like I gave nothing.....

 

[manxcat419]

It does happen sometimes, yes. It's because insulin is a hormone rather than a drug. So every shot is used slightly differently - plus of course there are differences anyway between every individual cat. It does, unfortunately, make it a less precise science than giving an antibiotic or similar, but it's just the nature of the beast. The only advice I can really give is to try and roll with the punches when you get a day where the insulin doesn't seem to be doing as much and hope for better numbers on the next cycle.

I've found dehydration has an effect too. I don't know if it's a direct effect on how the insulin works, but a dehydrated cat in my experience will have higher numbers whether on or off insulin - if I had to guess I'd say it might be because when there's less water in the blood, everything including the glucose level is more concentrated. Anemia can also make the BG read higher - I found that out quite recently. That seems to be to do with the way that meters work rather than an actual raise in the BG, but it's still significant when we're home-testing.

 

[Ruby&Baco]

I wondered the same thing, thanks for explaining it!