Long time female short hair cat owner. Raised both of our 11 yr. cats from time they were 8 hours into the world, mother passed during delivery, tube feed for first 43 days until eyes open, manually stimulated them to P&P, bottle feed, then onto kitten food, the rest is history. Both girls are 100% indoor, except for visits to Veterinarian.
Of Abby and Cabby, Cabby has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Her symptoms were very much like all others posting to this board.
Diet for both girls has always been Orijen 6 fish or Fromm Salmon Tuna Chovy. Both are now on Young Again Pet Food. Currently both girls are on a timed feeing schedule, 6 AM until 8 PM nightly. After 8 PM, bowls are pulled up from feeding area, until placement at 6 AM next morning. Their intake is 1/3 cup of Young Again Pet Food, Zero Carb Mature. This food is high protein, with less than 1% carbohydrates, 10% moisture, in a dry food format.
Cabby has always loved to drink water from our bathroom faucet and has always like drinking water from the faucet when we are using sinks.
After consulting with our Vet with symptoms, she was tested and diagnose DM. Initially her treatment was Novolin N. Novolin N had a desirable effect on Blood Glucose (BG) levels, and to the day we switched to Lantus Glargine, Novolin was doing what it should have. That said, Novolin being a short to intermediate acting insulin, its use produced some dramatic BG curves. Cabby BG levels in morning initially were mid to high 400's. Her midday levels, Nadir or peak, might be in the mid to high 100's or low to mid 200's, then returning to the 400's by end of day. Her ending dose/injection was 5 units, twice daily, and prior to switching to Lantus Glargine (LG). The very problem with Cabby, were the curves and the dramatic swing between peak and starting points.
Switch to LG, her BG levels seem to have experienced more of a moderate swing, more consistent gradual curve, though since beginning LG, a week ago, we have not performed a true BG curve on her. This will happen the weekend of May 13,2017. At that point the effectiveness will be plotted on a two hour BG curve, once every 2 hours, beginning 6 AM until midnight that night. While Cabby has been using LG, her beginning BG numbers have shown to be mid 350's, with an ending day BG usually 7 - 10 points lower, which transposes to lower starting BG levels for the following day. Again, we will be curving her this weekend.
Cabby performance on insulin has always had a variable effect, one being my effectiveness to administer her injections. Some days, the injections seem to have a limited effect, and I have to take credit for that and my lack of skillfulness administering the injections. We use a U100 BD syringes with half markings, and 31ga, 6mm needle. Injections are upper sections of shoulder blades, sometimes the scruff area. Though, the preferred location for me is the shoulder blade area.
We home test, and plot values on a custom spreadsheet with basic calculations built into some of the spreadsheet columns. Our meter is a Nova Max Plus.
What I have observed so far, LG seems to be a slower effecting Insulin, which it is, gradually affecting Cabby numbers from day to day. This seems to be acceptable. Use of LG will not produce dramatic numbers, like Novolin. One must have patience when going through any of these DM injection processes, it is slow going. On some days, the numbers will look fine when pattered over a few days prior. Then out of nowhere, I might see a high BG reading. At that point, I take a second sample with another strip, and different sample point, and sometimes get more of a reading consistent with the patterned effects of her Insulin use.
As stated previously, LG seems to have more of a stabilizing effect, gradually effecting BG levels from day to day, a gradual lowering effect. I have a question about this, specific to use of long acting and short acting insulins at the same time in cats, dosed in separate syringes.
The scenario:
As I have read where humans use LG as a long term daily insulin, and at the same time, I have read where they have used a short acting insulin, Novolin to be exact, both in separate syringes, and injected into different areas. The idea was to quickly lower the BG with the quick acting, then stabilize the BG with the long term.
I have looked for studies on this same approach to cats, using a long term insulin and a quick acting insulin, in different syringes, and in different injection sites, and dosing. Of course, I would assume the quick acting insulin would be dose adjusted, to a lower dose.
What might be the immediate effects of using both insulins, in separate syringes, and injected in different body areas?
Is this even reasonable to think of using two differing insulins at the same time, for a short period of time to bring down BG levels, then terminate the quick acting, while still using the LG to keeps lowered numbers stable?
To be clear, I am not performing this. This is a question in my mind that I have not yet been able to find any study writing on. Thus, I have posted to the message board for input. I continue working closely with our Vet and when I next visit him, will pose the same scenario to him.
Of Abby and Cabby, Cabby has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Her symptoms were very much like all others posting to this board.
Diet for both girls has always been Orijen 6 fish or Fromm Salmon Tuna Chovy. Both are now on Young Again Pet Food. Currently both girls are on a timed feeing schedule, 6 AM until 8 PM nightly. After 8 PM, bowls are pulled up from feeding area, until placement at 6 AM next morning. Their intake is 1/3 cup of Young Again Pet Food, Zero Carb Mature. This food is high protein, with less than 1% carbohydrates, 10% moisture, in a dry food format.
Cabby has always loved to drink water from our bathroom faucet and has always like drinking water from the faucet when we are using sinks.
After consulting with our Vet with symptoms, she was tested and diagnose DM. Initially her treatment was Novolin N. Novolin N had a desirable effect on Blood Glucose (BG) levels, and to the day we switched to Lantus Glargine, Novolin was doing what it should have. That said, Novolin being a short to intermediate acting insulin, its use produced some dramatic BG curves. Cabby BG levels in morning initially were mid to high 400's. Her midday levels, Nadir or peak, might be in the mid to high 100's or low to mid 200's, then returning to the 400's by end of day. Her ending dose/injection was 5 units, twice daily, and prior to switching to Lantus Glargine (LG). The very problem with Cabby, were the curves and the dramatic swing between peak and starting points.
Switch to LG, her BG levels seem to have experienced more of a moderate swing, more consistent gradual curve, though since beginning LG, a week ago, we have not performed a true BG curve on her. This will happen the weekend of May 13,2017. At that point the effectiveness will be plotted on a two hour BG curve, once every 2 hours, beginning 6 AM until midnight that night. While Cabby has been using LG, her beginning BG numbers have shown to be mid 350's, with an ending day BG usually 7 - 10 points lower, which transposes to lower starting BG levels for the following day. Again, we will be curving her this weekend.
Cabby performance on insulin has always had a variable effect, one being my effectiveness to administer her injections. Some days, the injections seem to have a limited effect, and I have to take credit for that and my lack of skillfulness administering the injections. We use a U100 BD syringes with half markings, and 31ga, 6mm needle. Injections are upper sections of shoulder blades, sometimes the scruff area. Though, the preferred location for me is the shoulder blade area.
We home test, and plot values on a custom spreadsheet with basic calculations built into some of the spreadsheet columns. Our meter is a Nova Max Plus.
What I have observed so far, LG seems to be a slower effecting Insulin, which it is, gradually affecting Cabby numbers from day to day. This seems to be acceptable. Use of LG will not produce dramatic numbers, like Novolin. One must have patience when going through any of these DM injection processes, it is slow going. On some days, the numbers will look fine when pattered over a few days prior. Then out of nowhere, I might see a high BG reading. At that point, I take a second sample with another strip, and different sample point, and sometimes get more of a reading consistent with the patterned effects of her Insulin use.
As stated previously, LG seems to have more of a stabilizing effect, gradually effecting BG levels from day to day, a gradual lowering effect. I have a question about this, specific to use of long acting and short acting insulins at the same time in cats, dosed in separate syringes.
The scenario:
As I have read where humans use LG as a long term daily insulin, and at the same time, I have read where they have used a short acting insulin, Novolin to be exact, both in separate syringes, and injected into different areas. The idea was to quickly lower the BG with the quick acting, then stabilize the BG with the long term.
I have looked for studies on this same approach to cats, using a long term insulin and a quick acting insulin, in different syringes, and in different injection sites, and dosing. Of course, I would assume the quick acting insulin would be dose adjusted, to a lower dose.
What might be the immediate effects of using both insulins, in separate syringes, and injected in different body areas?
Is this even reasonable to think of using two differing insulins at the same time, for a short period of time to bring down BG levels, then terminate the quick acting, while still using the LG to keeps lowered numbers stable?
To be clear, I am not performing this. This is a question in my mind that I have not yet been able to find any study writing on. Thus, I have posted to the message board for input. I continue working closely with our Vet and when I next visit him, will pose the same scenario to him.
