Finetuning dose for 2 brother cats new to insulin

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

ekoren

Member Since 2011
Hi all,

(Reposting from main board at respondent's suggestion. Sorry for the duplication. Still learning where to post my questions for the most efficient responses...)

I'm trying to figure out how to finetune the dose of Lantus for my two brother cats, Sander and Tree, and I'd welcome the wisdom of folks on this list. The vet doesn't have a lot of diabetes experience, and I haven't figured out how to regulate them yet. They are responding very differently to the insulin. I've checked the dosing protocol sticky, but because I am new at this, I'd love real human feedback.

Sander: 3.5 weeks into Lantus twice a day, I now have Sander at .25 of a unit. This morning before his .25 shot, he was at 101 (after skipping both morning and evening shots yesterday because he was too low, AMPS 40 then PMPS 80). 6 hours after this morning's shot, he was at 45. At what blood glucose level is it safe to give him an injection tonight? Do I keep him at .25, or go even lower? And how do I go lower when my syringes only show 1 unit intervals and it's already guesswork to do .25?

Tree: 3.5 weeks into Lantus twice a day, I have Tree at roughly 0.9 unit (a skinny 1 unit). This morning he was at 247, this afternoon he was at 46 at his 6 hour blood check. Do I drop his dose? And if so, to what (.5?)?

Thanks, folks, for your help.

Elisa
 
Elisa:

There's really not enough data on your kitties spreadsheets for me to provide much guidance. I believe I mentioned this when you posted here on 3/29.

Without consistent pre-shot tests and spot checks, I just don't know what to tell you other than to test more and reduce Tree's dose until you can safely dose insulin based on the test data you have. Sander may be in remission but again, without data, there's no way to know.

You might want to take a look at this post about dosing suggestions and the need for data.
 
Elisa,

Sienne is right. Without daily testing we can't really make specific dosing recommendations. I do think it’s safe to say that both need reductions. Will you be able to start getting AMPS and PMPS tests on every cycle, plus mid-cycle tests some of the time? We at least suggest a before-bed test every night, just to be sure our kitties are staying in safe numbers.

Sander – hit 45 today after getting 0.25 on an empty shed. I would go to 0.1 and see what happens, if he is high enough to shoot tonight. Even that might be too much. 0.1 units looks like this.

Tree – it’s impossible to say what the dose should be, but 0.9 took him to 46 so he needs less than that. I hesitate to recommend a specific dose since there is nothing to go on. Definitely less than 0.9, though, and then test as much as possible so we can see what the new dose is doing. Again, it might be too much but the tests will show us.
 
Thanks, Libby and Sienne.

I understand the necessity of posting more frequent glucose numbers. Today was my first day testing +6, and yesterday I had a breakthrough with testing the cats yesterday, so I think I'll be able to test a lot more without driving all of us to the looney bin. (Turns out the cats much much prefer a new lancet device I got, and no longer freak out, yowl, struggle, and scratch when I test.)

I will go down to .1 for Sander and .75 for Tree, and keep checking numbers.

Elisa
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top