Hi. My 16 year old kitty Biddy became diabetic again after being in remission when she started budesonide for IBD. Her glucose has been fairly stable and she has been on two units of Lantus twice daily. Her bg at the vet was usually around 217. I was bad recently and used temptations treats to give her some additional pills. Last week at the vet her bg was 391 so he put her on three units twice daily. This morning her fasting bg was 101 before insulin. He said to put her back on two units. I am skipping her morning insulin because it is so low. Up to this point she has not had any low results. I have not been able to test her at home. Now I'm afraid to give her even the two units tonight. I tried testing but wasn't able to get blood. Also she ran away before I could get a sample. She was not having it. I give her shots and pills and she more or less tolerates it. There will be no more treats of course. That was stupid. I don't know what to do about giving her the two units after dinner tonight because I am afraid she may go low. Any guidance very much appreciated. She has my heart .
Having trouble testing.
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Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)
Member Since 2019
Hi and welcome to you and Biddy!!!
I’m not sure that just a few temptations treats would have cause the jump. I think you were right in skipping this am, 101 is low. Was that number at the vet? Cats get stressed out at the vet and their numbers then tend to be higher much higher than at home. Have you been on this forum before or is this your first time? Folks here don’t recommend increasing or deceasing by a full unit, most vets do I know I’ve been told to do that quite often by many. Here we go up and down by .25 so it’s more gradual and gives the cat’s body time to adjust. There’s a Lantus forum you can check out with a lot of information for cats on Lantus, my Minnie is on it too. But we would love to help you get home testing down because it is the best way to monitor your cat’s BG and to be able to adjust the doses. So, there are a lot of tips for testing here as well. Can you tell us how you’re doing it so we can try to guide you and give you tips? For instance, are you warming up the ear first? Are you using a lancet or lancet pen? What glucose meter do you have? And what are you feeding your cat?
Don’t worry, it gets easier and I’m sure you can do it
Hi. Biddy is on fancy feast classic pate. The bug at the vet was 101 and last week it was 391 at the vet both fasting. Is it safe to give her the two units after dinner tonight? The vet said I could this morning if she ate but that scared me so I didn't. He did say to go down from 3 units to 2 units because her bg was so much lower than last week. I will try to test her tomorrow but have to work today until 8 pm so she will get the insulin for the first time today late. She never was 3 units before except this past week because of one 391 bg. I don't know what to do. Should I skip tonight insulin too?
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)
Member Since 2019
I’m not an expert in dosing so let me tag some folks here who can better advise you. I do think testing tonight especially before the shot is important, but hang on!
@Chris & China (GA) @Nan & Amber (GA) @Sienne and Gabby (GA) @Bron and Sheba (GA)
guys, thoughts here? Thanks!
Nan & Amber (GA)
Member Since 2016
Hi there--
I'm sorry your kitty dropped out of remission and had to go back on insulin, but I'm very glad you checked in here! We can definitely help, but I think the first step is to move this question to either the Feline Health or Lantus forum to get more eyes on it. This forum is for technical website questions, and doesn't get a ton of visitors.
Tagging some moderators, one of whom can probably just do the move directly: @Sienne and Gabby (GA) , @Wendy&Neko , @Marje and Gracie
If it doesn't happen in the next hour or so (depends when people see the tag!), I'd go ahead and start a new post with your information in one of the two boards I mentioned: Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum) or Lantus / Basaglar (glargine) and Levemir (detemir)
It does sound like she's on too much insulin and that the vet was increasing dose too rapidly, but most people here won't be comfortable giving specific advice on dose without some more BG data. Our usual guidance until there is data and experience with a dose is not to shoot below 200 (150 on the Lantus forum).
It sounds like you do have some tests to report, so any data you can show us would really help. Best would be to set up a spreadsheet (instructions: FDMB SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS ), but even just writing some of the recent tests out would be helpful.
See you soon in FH or LB+L!
I'm sorry your kitty dropped out of remission and had to go back on insulin, but I'm very glad you checked in here! We can definitely help, but I think the first step is to move this question to either the Feline Health or Lantus forum to get more eyes on it. This forum is for technical website questions, and doesn't get a ton of visitors.
Tagging some moderators, one of whom can probably just do the move directly: @Sienne and Gabby (GA) , @Wendy&Neko , @Marje and Gracie
If it doesn't happen in the next hour or so (depends when people see the tag!), I'd go ahead and start a new post with your information in one of the two boards I mentioned: Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum) or Lantus / Basaglar (glargine) and Levemir (detemir)
It does sound like she's on too much insulin and that the vet was increasing dose too rapidly, but most people here won't be comfortable giving specific advice on dose without some more BG data. Our usual guidance until there is data and experience with a dose is not to shoot below 200 (150 on the Lantus forum).
It sounds like you do have some tests to report, so any data you can show us would really help. Best would be to set up a spreadsheet (instructions: FDMB SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS ), but even just writing some of the recent tests out would be helpful.
See you soon in FH or LB+L!
Absolutely they would increase the blood sugar, depending on how many. Some people use them instead of karo.
I would rather skip the insulin tonight in addition to skipping it this morning than take a chance. She has never had a bg of 100 so the 3 units was too much. I won't be able to test her tonight because I will get home late and am still figuring out how to do it. She had a lot done at the vet this morning and I don't want to poke around too. I definitely need to learn how to do it but I am sqeemish even though I give her shots and pills. Thank you very much.
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)
Member Since 2019
Thanks for clarifying that Wendy! Good for me to know as well
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