First shot tonight at 7

[SidneysMom]

Hubby and I decided to get a good night of sleep and start Sid tonight instead of waking up at the crack of dawn and trying to do the first shot half asleep. Sid's ketones are totally negative, I tested that.

Vet's AlphaTrak2 read 18. something while my Freestyle read 10.7 once, and then in the 12 range, while his stayed between 17 and 18.

Sid is getting 1u of Lantus every 12 hours. We are going to do our very best to test him beforehand.

**At what number do I not shoot?**
I don't really anticipate that, but I still want to be safe, and I don't want to be running to the forum to check my answers before doing the shot.

One thing that's frustrating is that I have been giving low carb food for days, but Sidney is on a pill for the UTI infection that has to be crushed for him to take (I checked, it's okay). HOWEVER, it takes me four-five pill pockets to get the pill into him. I cannot use cheese or dairy as it's not allowed with the pill. I cannot pill Sid, not even with a pill gun. it's not an option. We have ten more days of this. *Sigh* He won't take the pill with food, and he spits pills out. So that's a sucky carb barrier I'm dealing with at the moment. However ALL his food is low carb.

I also have a lot of worries that if I can't get a test in, how do I give him a shot? What if it takes me 40 minutes to do the test and I end up late with the shot? It's fairly anxiety inducing because I simply don't *know* if I am going to be able to get a test every time. We are new at this, and I don't want to miss the 7 schedule. It's imperative to not go beyond that really because I will need help with the shots and tests and hubby leaves for work at 730 every day.

Anyway, I'm doing the best I can at the moment, and it's going to have to be enough, because that's all I have.

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

With Lantus The Diabetes Team at my Animal Hospital said not to give insulin if the bg was under 10 mmol (international) I'll get the american 180.

You can look at this http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-convert.htm

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Look at the number in US figures and you will see that there is the same variance.
10.7 = 193 11 = 306
12.0 = 216 12 = 324
Diff 23 versus 18

No shoot under 150 (8.3).

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Ask your vet if the antibiotic has a liquid version. Or if you can get it compounded that way. Obviously in a formulation without sugar. I found liquid meds easier to give, until Neko forced me to up my pill game.

The duck and pea allergy free pill pockets are low carb. Only come in dog version, but you can use a piece of one of them to wrap a pill.

You can give Lantus up to 30 minutes late once in a day and still be on time, there is a little wiggle room on the 12/12 schedule.

Good luck on day 1!

 

[SidneysMom]

I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to test Sidney much beyond the initial ear pricks for pre-shot testing. I know it's going to take time, but I'm slightly paranoid of a hypo. I might be able to do it once more but I don't know. *sigh* Going to be a rollercoaster. I'm sure he will be fine, but it's me that's a worried mama lol.
I made plain baked chicken tonight because it's his favourite, and im hoping to get a test in with chicken bribery, then a shot with more. HE LOVES it. So hopefully that will work. I hope I can get him to eat a regular meal, otherwise he's going to end up eating a LOT of baked chicken before his shot. But that counts as a meal, I hope!!?

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

As my SIMBA says about his worrying mama

Gee, my person is only my live-in housekeeper and secretary, I got her really cheap 15 years ago. I'm bossing her around all day, do this, do that, and when I got this diabetes five years ago she was already living in my apartment, so I made her my personal assistant too (without extra pay) to take care of all the practicalites. She often complains saying she is over-worked from taking care of everything by herself and can never leave the apartment, and then she sits or stands and stare at me, saying she does that to check every minute that I am okay. Gee, I don't know what all her frantic fuss is about, I go about my own usual business as napping, eating, napping, eating, napping and napping again and occasionally wrestle down my buddy Gustav. But she was really cheap, only requiring a bed, so I think I'll keep her.

Off to nap again now, it's midnight here and I need to sleep for a few hours so I can start partying at 4 am and keep partying to 6-7 am.



Hope Sidney's favourite chicken works and he will allow you to get a test, and even if not I would pampered him with eating it, just because he is he. Simba and Gustav also agrees there should be Free Chicken, Beef and Shrimps and Hugs and Love For All Cats.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Jen --

You've got the right idea with the chicken treats. I just posted this in another thread:

A big factor in getting your kitty acclimated to testing is treats! (It seems like you've sort of figured this out so forgive me if you're already doing this.) You want to set up a positive reinforcement paradigm. The first step is finding a low carbohydrate treat your cat really, really likes. Many people here use freeze dried chicken (or other protein) or even some cooked chicken. Whatever you use, it needs to be something Abu really wants. Start by scratching/playing with his ears -- give him a treat. Taking him to your testing spot, play with his ears -- give him a treat. Tell him what a good boy he is, lots of praise, give him a treat. Poke his ear -- regardless of whether you get any blood, give him a treat. I suspect you get the drift -- any behavior that is even close to testing is treat worthy.

The more you reward Sidney for pokes, the stronger the association. Once Sidney gets this figured out, the greater the likelihood that you will be able to test solo. The other factor to consider is how your are reacting. If you are calm and treat testing as "normal," chances are that Sidney will be better about the process. If you are anxious, Sidney will react to your emotional state. Cats pick up on our mood and anxiety signals fear and you don't want to have Sidney associate testing with being afraid.

Regarding whether to shoot, there isn't really a "no shot" number (well, it depends on just how low the number is). With Lantus, you will need to decide if you're following the Tight Regulation (TR) Protocol or the Start Low Go Slow (SLGS) method for dosing. This is the link to the sticky on dosing methods. With TR, we suggest that for new members, you use 150 as your "post and ask for help" number; with SLGS it's 200. The only time you don't want to give a shot is if numbers are low and again, that is interpreted differently with each of the dosing methods. I followed TR with Gabby. The only time I didn't shoot is if numbers were below 50, which is the point at where you give a dose reduction. (With SLGS the equivalent is 90.) But, there are options which is why we suggest you post so a more experienced person can walk you through what the options are.