Help / advice needed!

KRams

KRams

Member Since 2019
Hi all,

My Xena has recently been diagnosed- only 1.5 weeks ago, so that's the length of time she's been on Lantus (my hello post). My vet had me start at 1 unit 2x per day, then I came back in a week later, 6 hours post-dosing. Her BG was 360, so she increased the dose to 2 units 2x per day.

As far as diet, (and I know it's not ideal) Xena has been having intestinal troubles so my vet recommended keeping her on Hills i/d until that is resolved.

I purchased a glucometer yesterday. Xena had been eating dry Hills i/d for the past 1.5 weeks. All my kitties have been having intestinal troubles and issues with appetite, so last night I gave them all wet Hills i/d for the first time to tempt them in to eating (which thankfully worked). After eating, Xena's BG was 277, so I administered the 2 units of insulin my vet recommended.

This morning, I gave all the kitties wet Hills i/d again and tested Xena- her BG was down at 54! I re-tested a half-hour later to be sure I (and the monitor) hadn't screwed it up- her BG was 77. Obviously, I didn't give her any insulin!

I tested once more in the afternoon, and it was up to 142. I fed everyone and re-tested Xena- her BG was up to 152.

Any advice about how much I should administer (if at all) tonight? She's on Lantus and I'm leaning towards no insulin tonight...

Thank you!!
 
Good on you for starting home testing and getting the spreadsheet going. I would drop the dose. Are you using syringes to administer the insulin. Maybe try a 1.5 unit dose tomorrow? Sounds like you didn’t have any other health complications on diagnosis. With kitties on dry food, we would start on a 1.0 unit dose, and move up to 1,25 units if an increase was needed after a week. A single spot check mid cycle doesn’t really tell you what the dose is doing.

Did the vet have any theory why the intestinal issues? We might be able to help you find a better low carb diet.

BTW, love the black and white fuzz balls. Zena is gorgeous.
 
Hi there, welcome to Lantus Land!
It appears the 2 units was too much for Xena. We normally move by increments of .25u so that we don't miss what might be the good dose for a kitty. Since you skipped the shot this morning, you should be ok to shoot tonight as long as you are able to test periodically? You could either start back at 1.0u or you could try 1.25u.
 
Hi all, thanks so much! I've decided to not shoot tonight and will probably try 1.5 units tomorrow morning (after checking BG, this time before feeding). I will definitely heed the advice to adjust by 0.25u going forward!

Re: intestinal issues, the vet thought that since she's diabetic, her immune system probably wasn't able to deal with a relatively normal bacterial problem. I'm hoping that the i/d wet food plus the probiotic the vet gave Xena will resolve the issue soon so we can get her on a lower carb diet.

And re: fuzz ball, thank you! Even when she's sick she's adorable. Looks like Neko was a beautiful ball of fuzz himself- and what a handsome fellow Boomer is!
 
I would agree with Wendy that you need to drop the dose back and see how she does. Testing is your friend and allows you to know when a dose increase or reduction is needed.

I love tuxies....she’s really cute!!! Good luck with the reduction.
 
Good morning! Xena's AMPS value is 172. That still seems pretty low to me, so I'm going to go with 1 unit and see how she responds.

The probiotic we have is Proviable- do you have any experience with it?

I'm sorry for your loss of Neko :(
 
Hi and welcome. If you have ditched the dry food, which is higher carb, you might see that she requires less insulin so monitor closely. The dry food could have been responsible for all your kitties and intestinal issues. The dry is loaded with fillers and preservatives that cause a lot of GI issues.

Oh and Welcome to L, B, & L !
 
Hi all, I was able to re-test now (about +6) and she's at 75 (!!). My understanding is that's low; seems like I should potentially pull back further to 0.75u?
 
Since Xena is on high carb food and you got a 75 (which is still safe by the way) after a couple skipped doses, I would reduce the dose. The 0.75 units sounds like a good idea. If there isn't any food out for her, maybe put out a couple tsps of her regular food.

Numbers we worry about are below 50 on the human meter. That's when we'd intervene with food. 75 is a nice normal blood sugar value, that is giving her pancreas a rest and letting it heal. However, you might want to test her again in an hour to make sure she's not dropping any more.
 
One request, could you put either NS (for no shot) or 0 or Skip in last night's dose cell on the spreadsheet, so that we know you deliberately skipped instead of just forgetting to enter the value.
 
Thanks for the advice- I'll check again in about an hour and I fixed last night's dose on the spreadsheet!
 
Okay, it's been 1.5 hours (so +7.5) and she's down to 58. She's getting a few spoonfuls of her food. I'll keep monitoring...
 
Hi and welcome to you and Xena (what a beauty she is). She is probably at her nadir now, so since you gave her a little food it will be instructive to see what she does next. She may very well bounce because her body isn't used to lower numbers. I agree with Wendy that you should drop the dose. Is she still eating dry food? When you make the switch to a low-carb wet food, you may find that you will have to drop the dose again. One thing to remember is that Lantus, being a "depot" insulin, takes a few cycles to re-adjust (re-calibrate) every time you skip a shot or make a change in dose (see the informational "Sticky" "What is the Insulin Depot" at the top of the forum).
Welcome again!
 
I just tested pre-feeding (we had some technical difficulties getting a point after the 58 reading... Since my husband was home to monitor, I felt okay leaving her without having tested). She's only up to 64, so I'm planning on not shooting again tonight. It really seems like the wet food has led to some major BG changes!
 
So we didn't get to check Xena's levels again until +9, when they were at 90. It makes me suspect that she was lower than 90 at some point today. Her PMPS was 154, so I gave her 0.5 units. I'll try to snag another measurement later tonight to see how that works.
 
Okay, last night at +2.5, her BG was 246. Her AMPS was 299. I won't be around to monitor today, so I've stuck with 0.5 units; I suspect the "depot" insulin from the 2 unit doses a few days ago may be finally wearing off. We'll see how she is this afternoon/ tonight and I may bump the dose back up to 0.75.

Thanks again to you all for the guidance and support in these early days. I feel a little bit more confident about monitoring and adjusting... thank goodness for being able to test at home!
 
Good to see everything is a bit more calm today, lantus works better if you keep consistent, so given his history and the Lantus protocols I think it would be best if you stick to the 0.5 dose for at least 6 cicles (3 days) so that he can get used to the dose and you allow the depot for 0.5 dose to form properly and you can see how he's doing before going back to 0.75
 
Good luck with that new dose. The higher numbers are probably a bounce, and will pass.

Next time you post, could you start a new thread with a link to this one. It’s busy enough here that we ask people to start just one new thead per day.
 
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