First day of home testing, need help

[HillaryKitten]

Hillary was diagnosed Oct. 14 and started on 3 units of Lantus twice daily. I took her back to the vet last Friday for a blood glucose curve - it was useless because she refused to eat. I bought an AlphaTrak 2 and was finally able to get good blood samples today. Here is what it looked like:
7am 182 , gave 3 units, Hillary ate 1/2 can Fancy Feast
8am 78 - called the vet and let her know what was going on
11am 47 -feed Fancy Feast with Karo syrup
11:30 62 -feed more Fancy Feast with Karo syrup
12:30 82
3:30 121 - spoke with vet - was told to back down to 1 unit of Lantus twice a daily
6pm -offered 1 can of Fancy Feast
8pm 146 - I opted not to give insulin tonight
Question - should I completely skip the insulin tonight and recheck BG in the am before giving any?

Thanks for the help

 

[BJM]

I'd skip and restart in the morning. Lantus has carry over effects that need to drain off a bit, so you have a better idea of the optimal dose for your cat.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Welcome to the FDMB Hillary's mom or dad!

3U is a huge starting dose...we usually start them at .5 to 1U twice/day so it's a good thing you're starting to home test!

Lantus needs to be given every 12 hours (as close as possible) so since you're already late, I'd probably skip tonight

In the morning, she may be high due to a "bounce" from the low today....that's where the liver releases stored sugars and hormones to bring the blood glucose back up quickly. Bounces happen for 3 reasons...Going too low, dropping too much, too quickly and going into a lower number than the cat's body has gotten used to being at (or any mix of the 3)

In this case, I agree with your vet....I think you should drop back to 1U and stay there for at least 3 days (unless she drops below 50 on a human meter or 68 on a pet meter)....let the people here help advise you going forward! They have years of experience using Lantus! Most vets may see a handful of diabetic cats in their entire career so they just don't have the real life experience the people here do

Keep testing!! It's the only way to know what's really going on inside your sugarcat's body and most importantly, the only way to keep her safe!