Dosing question - new to Lantus

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Barbara

Barbara

Member Since 2011
Hello!

I have only been using Lantus a week...wouldn't you know Thumper would pick tonight to throw me a curve ball. Her SS is updated but she is at +14 & just hit 100. I had to feed at +12, she ate 1/2 can BG 96% chicken. She is just getting over a pancreatitis attack & has not gotten her appetite back yet. She is refusing to eat FF classic anymore so I've been having to jump through hoops to get her to eat. I have been shooting 1 unit but at this point since we are 2 hrs late I don't know if I should go ahead & shoot the full 1 unit. I can't sit up all night with her tonight. I'm already pretty exhausted but can probably get a +2 if I shoot right now. At this point I just want to shoot something safe so she doesn't go too high before morning. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Barbara
 
I am not sure what to suggest. A BCS (big chicken * ) dose would seem fair, if you can't stay up. These are actually pretty nice numbers.

What's the last pre-food test number?
 
mmmmm, i don't know the answer to your question but this will bump you up.

with pancreatitis it's important to have the insulin - but when you are stalling you don't feed because what you're stalling for is to see the BG is rising naturally.

i'll send a pm to a couple of people with experience on this and see if we can get you an answer asap.
 
It was 78 and she ate that 1/2 can @ 7:30 pm EST then she ate some ham cause she wouldn't leave DH alone around 8:15. She was acting like she was starving. I think it's cause she just won't eat the FF anymore. :YMSIGH:
 
julie & punkin said:
but when you are stalling you don't feed because what you're stalling for is to see the BG is rising naturally.
Click to expand...

I realize I shouldn't feed...in a perfect world, but I had 5 cats screaming at me & company here. I also hate to not feed her at this point since I'm having such a hard time getting food in her, if she acts interested I didn't want to let it go. Thanks for helping. :smile:
 
if thumper was 75 at +10, that would likely mean she was lower mid-cycle, so personally, i would assume she needs a .25 dose reduction. even though you didn't catch a test then, and it's possible that she didn't get below 50, i would think she may have and i would reduce. your choice, of course.

if you can't stay up to test i think i'd be inclined to give a token dose, like .25. you could also skip. her numbers are overall low enough that i would be concerned she would go too low tonight if you shot a .75. then you could go back up to .75 in the morning and return to that as a normal new dose.

i'm not seeing anyone online that i know has experience with pancreatitis, so i guess that's the direction i would go. but i am uncertain and am just giving you my best guess.

what are you thinking?
 
it's fine - when i saw your "new to lantus" i wasn't realizing you were overall experienced with the FD until i looked at thumper's ss. ya gotta do what you need to do.

but given that it's now +15 and she's just over 100 . . . honestly, i might skip. but you have to choose, i'm not an expert at all.
 
I'm not sure what to think...if I were still shooting Pro Zinc I would not shoot but I haven't figured Lantus out. She has had several cycles that she is lower at the end of the cycle than at the beginning. I was planning on giving fluids tonight but that has made her go lower the before so I was afraid to give them.
 
Not knowing your cat and how she responds to Lantus, my inclination is to suggest shooting a reduced dose. It's hard to know if her numbers are starting to come up or if the rise is due to the influence of food. If you're not able to monitor past +2, it's safest to shoot a reduced dose (either 0.75u or 0.5u). Unless her numbers are very low tomorrow at AMPS, I'd go back to your 1.0u dose. It looks like Thumper is responding well to Lantus and I'd hate to see you lose that momentum.

I suspect the reason that your cat isn't eating the FF is because with pancreatitis, most cats are nauseous. If she was eating the FF during the attack, she may have developed a food aversion. I'd feed her something else for a while and see if she'll go back to eating the FF after a hiatus.
 
Hi, Barbara and Thumper!!

I believe i mentioned this before...but Binks thinks you are absolutely gorgeous! :lol:

Happy holidays...

celi
 
+15.5 - 103

Didn't update that on the SS yet. I think you are right Sienne about the FF, she had an excellent appetite before this attack so I'm really struggling with the food. She loved the FF Elegant Medleys but I think that's what happened to her BG a couple days ago so I didn't want to feed that again. She picks at Cowboy Cookout & has probably eaten the Before Grain a little better. The think she loves is just plain old chicken baby food, just meat & broth. All my crew think it's just wonderful but I'm not sure of just feeding her that all the time. I know I can't long term but would it be a bad thing to do for awhile? She went nuts for the ham tonight so I know she's not nauseaous (sp?) anymore.

I'm tempted to skip but you are right, I don't want to loose this momentum. I could get a few hours sleep & get up about 6:00 am to check & go ahead & shoot then? That's 7 hrs from now? I'm clueless as to how Lantus works at this point. Like I said I would NEVER shoot this low on Pro Zinc. Thanks for your help.

Julie, I didn't mean to sound short about the feeding...I hate messages & email just cause of this kind ofthing...it's hard to know the "tone". I truly appreciate your help!
 
+15.5 - 103

Didn't update that on the SS yet. I think you are right Sienne about the FF, she had an excellent appetite before this attack so I'm really struggling with the food. She loved the FF Elegant Medleys but I think that's what happened to her BG a couple days ago so I didn't want to feed that again. She picks at Cowboy Cookout & has probably eaten the Before Grain a little better. The think she loves is just plain old chicken baby food, just meat & broth. All my crew think it's just wonderful but I'm not sure of just feeding her that all the time. I know I can't long term but would it be a bad thing to do for awhile? She went nuts for the ham tonight so I know she's not nauseaous (sp?) anymore.

I'm tempted to skip but you are right, I don't want to loose this momentum. I could get a few hours sleep & get up about 6:00 am to check & go ahead & shoot then? That's 7 hrs from now? I'm clueless as to how Lantus works at this point. Like I said I would NEVER shoot this low on Pro Zinc. Thanks for your help.

Julie, I didn't mean to sound short about the feeding...I hate messages & email just cause of this kind ofthing...it's hard to know the "tone". I truly appreciate your help!
 
mybuddybinks said:
Hi, Barbara and Thumper!!

I believe i mentioned this before...but Binks thinks you are absolutely gorgeous! :lol:

Happy holidays...

celi
Click to expand...

Thank you Celi...she actually looked more like Binks when she was younger...she was 15 in August. I need to find a face view to put on here!
 
no worries. i always assume there's never an attitude in the written word - too easy to have misunderstandings. i wasn't offended one bit.

i'm just glad sienne popped on with good advice!
 
Don't know what the above message posted twice?

So now by the time I would be ready to shoot we would be +16....would it be better to shoot say .5 now or just wait & see where she is in 7 hrs?

She's looking for food now.
 
No advice on the shooting question, but I do have experience with pancreatitis and kitty not wanting to eat. Right before Muffin went OTJ, she got pancreatitis, a UTI, and FLUTD. She was still eating dry food at that point (VERY stubborn, hard-core kibble addict she was :lol: ) and the vet told me absolutely NO dry food for one week. The only other thing she would eat was rotisserie chicken and honey smoked turkey lunch meat. The vet said that was fine to just feed her that...for just a week it wouldn't hurt her. I know how you feel when they've been having little to no appetite, and suddenly they're asking for food. I would have fed, too, whatever she would eat. Anyway, IMO, feeding her just baby food should be ok for a few days.
 
Sienne thought that getting some insulin into him was important. What's your schedule like? Do you need to be on a 7a/7p schedule?
 
I'm somewhat flexible until Tuesday. My normal time is 6:30/6:30 but we had gotten off schedule a few days ago so I was 7:30/7:30. I was just thinking instead of waiting till 7:30 I could just go ahead & get up earlier, it's only 6 hrs at this point and she's still hovering around 100.
 
You would have to delay your schedule and work back slowly. I don't see how you're going to get anywhere close to your schedule by Tuesday.

A late shot is like a decrease; an early shot is like an increase.

I don't feel qualified to say, because of the schedule. A half-unit would be safe, especially with this delay, but I believe you really can't work backwards more than half an hour a cycle.
 
That's also what I was thinking with just skipping since she's still only around 100. She would end up going 22 hrs since last shot & I could get back on track. There's also the fluids, I'm supposed to be giving 2 times a week but it lowers BG so I didn't do it today. If she does go higher tomorrow I could give fluids without worrying about low BG. On the other hand does this mean she doesn't need fluids anymore?? confused_cat
 
Without a more experienced voice here, I would say perhaps a token dose - maybe .25. Or call it a fur shot, i.e., skip.

You want to give her the fluids, so you could skip and then shoot at 6:30. How does that sound?
 
Good grief...I can't believe I've stayed up this late! At least I started doing some things here in between checking in. I have got to do something & go to bed...even if it's wrong. This girl is always a challenge...I should have known she would give me trouble on Christmas Eve! :lol: Thanks for all your help!

Merry Christmas!

Barbara & Thumper
 
Kathy and Kitty said:
Without a more experienced voice here, I would say perhaps a token dose - maybe .25. Or call it a fur shot, i.e., skip.

You want to give her the fluids, so you could skip and then shoot at 6:30. How does that sound?
Click to expand...

I think that's gonna be my plan....a fur shot...lol that sounds better than skipping! :lol:

Thank you!
 
If you want to skip to get back on schedule, that's fine.

As for the baby food, why not mix it in (or put a dollop on top) of your cat's food. The problem with giving it as a meal is that it's not nutritionally complete. It's missing some essential nutrients, like taurine. It's OK for a day or two but not for much longer.
 
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