Dosing help! Mom's cat Francis - may need to be OTJ!

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Traci and Boomer

Traci and Boomer

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Talked to my Mom tonight about Francis. I don't have a ss for him. He's on .25 u Lantus BID. He's been doing very well with great numbers and then she told me in the past week he's gotten into the 40's 3 times!!! nailbite_smile I said OMG Mom, that's a dose reduction!
Question: where do you go from .25? Is this an OTJ trial? What are the steps? Do you test like usual for 2 weeks? What is the top BG number to be considered OTJ for this trial?

With the help of this board my Mom's cat was able to go from 3.5 units of PZI and numbers that were over 500 to starting Lantus and within a month or so (can't remember exactly when he started) he's practically OTJ. She doesn't have vet support, but I bet if she called the vet, they'd tell her to stop insulin immediately.

Please let me know what I should suggest she do with Francis. Thanks everyone - I know this is hard with out a SS.
 
How long has Francis been on insulin? Is he eating low carb wet food? Any idea what his preshot readings are?

Usually we go to 0.1 units for a while before stopping the juice. Do you think she could learn to measure that? It's literally just a drop or two of insulin.
 
Hi Libby-

Thanks for answering. His preshots this past week:
AM (highest and lowest numbers) 92-123
and
PM (highest and lowest) 49-151.

The 151 was after a hypo the night before. The 3 hypo numbers: 42, 49 and 42 - all this week!

Yes, he's eating LCW but gets about 5 treats (T/D kibbles) a day. I think she'll be able to do the drop of insulin - she has been doing .25 and she showed he vet how she measured it!

I can't believe the recovery this cat has made! He was SOOOO bad off just a couple months ago. Forgot to ask how long he's been on Lantus. I'd guess PZI for 4-5 months, and Lantus for 1-2 months at the most.
 
hi traci. :smile:
yeah it is hard w/o a SS but i think that the 0.1 unit dose should be run for a bit, like until cat drops under 50 or has almost all green numbers (there is many more signals we use to say if a cat is ready to fly solo, but w/o a SS can't really get into those).

question?
"The 151 was after a hypo the night before. The 3 hypo numbers: 42, 49 and 42 - all this week!"
when you say your mom's cat had a hypo you mean like symptoms from the list of hypo clinical symptoms or do you mean that cat was fine and meter had numbers in 40's? the word hypo = symptoms so i can't tell if you are just misusing the word or if cat was walking into walls and stuff. need to know cause if there was symptoms then would suggest stopping insulin and monitoring very carefully (and that way is not as good a path to remission but would be forced to say stop insulin of there was actual hypo symptoms). the 40's, while not the numbers a newbies need to be in, are fine. that is normal range for some OTJ cats.

hey is there any way she can use freeze-dried chicken or something as the treats? t/d is sooo high in carbs, the last thing a coming back to life pancreas needs. 5 pieces doesn't sound like a lot but it is like a human child diabetic eating 5 chocolate hersey's kisses, can do a lot to hurt the BG's. want to do everything to help this kitty get OTJ, kwim? my cats go crazy for the halo brand freeze dried chicken liv-a-littles, is an awesome treat in their eyes.
~jojo
 
Jojo! Wow! :shock: Nice to meet you. You are a legend on this board, fyi. I'm flattered that you're chiming in. :oops:

The hypo was the number - not symptoms, though Mom told me Francis has been howling and she tests and he's been in a "hypo" number. She says "he tells her".

I'll tell her she shouldn't give the T/D and I'll give her the Hershey Kiss analogy; that's very effective. I'll suggest the Liv a Littles.

She's in a different state than me, so I need to call her to get more details. I'll question her more about potential hypo symptoms. Is there anything else I need to ask/tell her?
 
is she computer literate at all? a SS would be so helpful.
tell her things look so promising for having a diet controlled diabetic soon. but make sure you emphasize diet controlled, cause that is what they are. he has to stay on the LC wet only diet forever or he'll end up back on insulin.
tell her that 0.1 units of lantus is an ultra safe dose and no worries about lower numbers, if he gets them it is just a signal that he is probably ready to start the 14 day countdown. she has to do the countdown just like we do, testing in morning, if green number then can wait until PM to test if she wants, but if number is blue then she feeds and rechecks number 3 hours later. if number doesn't drop, pancreas has not kicked in, then he might not be ready to fly solo.
make sure you read the countdown condos so you can help her with what they usually look like, have over 100 examples of them in the list of SS's too. is a tricky time, wish she could drop by LL herslef, but if not you'll have to be her source of info, k?
 
Just talked to Mom, she shot before we talked and now Francis is down to 55 at +3, so we're looking at another "hypo" probably. She knows what to do because I've sent her all the information, so no need for worry. She's got the HCW and Karo ready.

Her computer died and she doesn't have the $$$ to buy a new one, so I am her messenger right now. I faxed her a spread sheet for her to fill out and then I can post it here.

Francis has been on Lantus since 1-15-10. Before that PZI for 4-5 months.

I told her the hershey kiss analogy and she got it. I gave her the Liva little suggestion and the freeze dried food idea for treats and she's gonna try them. I'll stress that he needs to be diet controlled or diabetis will come back.

I wonder if anyone else in LL has done an OTJ countdown for another person's cat - I can see myself doing the OTJ countdown for Mom's cat. How crazy is that? And how crazy is it that mother and daughter BOTH have diabetic cats??? We are quite a pair.
 
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