Dosage Advice for Max (Lantus)

[MommaOfMuse]

Hi all!


Since I have adopted Max and changed his diet he has been surfing in the blues even without insulin. He was started on 1u, which I'm not comfortable giving him with such low 100s that he has been giving me. So my question is should I go ahead and drop him to .5u just to get him some insulin on board to try to drop him into the greens or let him continue without and see if he will regulate on diet alone? Tomorrow will be the soonest that I will be around all day to do spot checks on him. This morning with no insulin last night and after having his breakfast when I just checked him he was only at 118. He is due for his shot in 1 hr. Just not sure if I should shoot or not and if I do how much. Really leaning to .5 just to see if we can get him in the greens.
See his spreadsheet to see current numbers. Not alot of data yet.

Mel

 

[Venita]

Mel, I would do a food test on him to get an idea of how much insulin his pancreas is making on its own.

Test, feed, don't shoot, test at +2 or +3 post food.

A drop post food indicates that he is making insulin. How much is indicated by how far a drop he has.

He may be getting into greens on his own, and you just haven't seen it.

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Thanks Venita,

He is scheduled to eat again at noon so I will try that then. Just to see where we are at. Otherwise he is a nice happy kitty. Oh just weighed him yesterday and he is up 1/2 lb.

It is just amazing what a little TLC and a good diet does for a kitty.

Mel

 

[Mindy & Max]

If it were me, and he was my kitty, I'd probably not give any insulin at all until you can do a full curve on food alone. Those numbers are low, and would be nerve-wracking to shoot on any dose, especially since he's still new to you and you may not be able to notice subtle shifts in his behavior. You might have one of the lucky ones that just doesn't need insulin if he's on the right food! :mrgreen:

 

[MommaOfMuse]

I think my plan is going to be at least for today. To hold off on the insulin until either tonight when I check him again at 9pm then only shoot if he is over 150. Which at this point I am highly doubting. Then tomorrow when I have the whole day with him. do a full curve on food alone. I'm kind of suspecting that he will be packing his bags and booking his ticket to the falls shortly.

If he was any of my other kitties I won't be so nervous about giving him anything, but because he is so new to me I haven't yet figured out what "normal" behavior is for him. So far he seems to be a very mellow, laid back regal gentleman. While I'm loving those numbers they are really much lower than I would like to try to figure out dosing on at this point without more data on him. But so far, 3-4 small meals of wet food between 4-6% carbs a day seems to be working for him.

Everything else about him is just so well....normal. Happy, alert, purring, making mad biscuits, no excessive drinking or urination. Little on the skinny side for his frame but other than that just a really sweet boy and oh so snuggly.

If it helps anyone else: Max is being fed 1.5 to 2 (5.5 oz.) cans of 9-lives (Liver & Bacon, Ground Chicken Dinner, Super Supper & Ground Tuna and Chicken Dinner). Originally weighted 10.5 lbs in two weeks he has gained 1/2 lb. He was in the 400s at time he was DXed, now without insulin is staying in the low 100s. I do home test. I adopted Max last friday as a diabetic from the DCIN. (Just thought I would throw this in encase any newbies were wondering).

Mel