Friend's cat just diagnosed--Lantus starting dose?

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Helen & Snickers

Helen & Snickers

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One of my close friends just emailed that her cat was diagnosed last night with FD, and the vet has started him on 5 units BID of Lantus. Of course I think this is too high a dose, but I wanted to check with the experts here since I don't use Lantus. Would 1 unit BID still be the recommended dosage for Lantus?

I have directed her to the FD board and the Lantus ISG in particular, but I wanted to get a quick response so I thought I'd post here. Thanks!
 
First I wanted to make sure I got this right...five units twice a day? Way too much!! If your friend hasn't given her cat any insulin yet, tell her to hold off. That dose could overdose her cat. One unit or a half a unit twice a day is the usual starting dose.
 
Thanks for the info. I told her that, but it appears she wants to trust the vet, despite knowing I've been dealing with FD for five years.

The cat's reading at the vet last night was 496, and the vet gave him a shot, so I assume it was for five units. My friend said she will "think about " hometesting, and she's going with the pricey vet diet.
 
Tell your friend to buy a blood glucose meter.She souldn't be giving insulin without moniterring blood glucose regardless of what her vet might have said.She can get an inexpensive one at any chain store with a pharmacy.I also suggest everyone get urine test strips or a precision XL meter to test for ketones. Without knowing much about your friend's cat I can't give too much more guidance.

Have your friend get on line here so we can get more info. on her cat.You can get on line to this site even if you have a cell phone with internet access. The most important thing is tell your friend not to give her cat five units of lantus at one time.If she already has, print out the announcement on how to treat hypos and give it to her.
 
Way too much for any insulin.....agree with Patrick......no one has a Master Degree in experience, including vets, and if she doesn't listen to you about dose and hometesting and she loses her kitty, the vet isn't going to grieve, she will.
 
I've told her all that, but right now, I also have to be careful not to push TOO much or I'll completely turn her off, I think. You can lead a horse to water, you know? But she knows about the vet experiences I've had, and how much research I've done, so I'm surprised she doesn't appear to be listening right now.
 
If I told my human patients to give themselves insulin without testing their BG first, I would lose my license.I don't understand the logic behind some vets..my vet was indifferent to hometesting but I knew to do it because of my medical background.

It is very frustrating when you know someone is doing something potentially dangerious and there is nothing you can do about it because they won't listen.I had a neighbor who went off his cardiac medication because he had read some dumb thing posted on an internet blog. A month later I went to his funeral. :-(
 
I know my friend is on information overload right now. I did mention that she wouldn't give herself a shot without testing, so our babies deserve the same consideration. Her vet is open to the idea of hometesting, so that's a good thing. I've told her I would have probably killed Snickers without hometesting. I know when she has time to digest things she'll be considering all the information out there, but in the meantime, I'm worried about that five unit BID dose, although she said she'd probably only give four units since the vet was debating about four versus five.
 
Oh dear. Unless the cat has been diagnosed with acromegaly, that is too high a starting dose. Starting dose - without complications of acromegaly or DKA- is no more than 1u BID, regardless of BG.

Print out Melissa's info on hypos and how to treat them and give that to her - she may need it. :sad:
 
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