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Diana_578

Diana_578

Member Since 2022
Good morning. My cat, Lily was diagnosed March 19- I just filled in the spreadsheet. Looking for advice since my regular vet is closed today.
After spending the weekend at the ER vet, we followed up with regular vet this past Thursday...her dosage has increased from 1.0-2.0 units of Lantus over the past week.
Since increasing, on both yesterday and today- Lily's bg dropped to 48-52 +5/+6 hours after eating/insulin.
Both times, I gave Karo syrup and 6-8 pieces of dry c/d food (since she had ketones at diagnosis, we have not changed her food yet). MY WORRY- 2.0 is too high for her. With me going back to work tomorrow, I will not be home +5/+6 hours after feeding/insulin injection...I don't want her to have a significant drop in bg with no one home to monitor. ANY ADVICE???

Here is her spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...l-pGYj7JMGfc0qm5VHhYf1r4LQNn7kJqa5nyb/pubhtml
 
Just called ER vet where she was diagnosed. Their advice:

-NO insulin tonight
-Tomorrow morning, if bg>250, give 1.0 unit of insulin, if less, call ER again. Follow-up with regular vet once they open on Monday
 
You need to reduce her dose. If you are feeding some dry food the reduction is earned if the bg ever goes under 90. You would follow our SLGS method. If following TR, no dry food is allowed. If you gave the dry because of the low bg and are feeding all wet or canned, you could follow TR.

So with either method you need to reduce to 1.75 starting tonight.
 
Diana_578 said:
Just called ER vet where she was diagnosed. Their advice:

-NO insulin tonight
-Tomorrow morning, if bg>250, give 1.0 unit of insulin, if less, call ER again. Follow-up with regular vet once they open on Monday
Click to expand...
We would say no insulin if under 200. Your cat might bounce high from the low bg tonight.
 
Hello and welcome. Looks like a trial by fire for you!

Since your cat had ketones at diagnosis, it's really important that she get insulin each time. I see she's up over 300 now on the spreadsheet. You should be fine giving her 1.5 units tonight. The dose was increased too fast. We hold the initial dose 5-7 days because it takes that long for the depot to form. Subsequent doses are held 3-7 days, depending on dosing method and diet being fed. The 1.5 units dose should was only held 3 cycles and should have been at least 3 days/nights. If you are feeding dry food, I actually would hold each dose at least a week. So, go back to 1.5 units and keep it at that dose for 7 days, unless you see a number under 90, in which case you'd reduce the dose again.

As for going to work, you might wish to invest in an automated feeder. The Petsafe 5 is the model I used. It allows you to have food available while you are gone. Food is what will keep Lily safe. If Lily is a grazer you can just leave food out. Mine was a hoover so I needed a feeder so there would still be some food out later.

It's important to note the ketones. We have some items items we like to see in your signature, the details are in here:
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Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome. Looks like a trial by fire for you!

Since your cat had ketones at diagnosis, it's really important that she get insulin each time. I see she's up over 300 now on the spreadsheet. You should be fine giving her 1.5 units tonight. The dose was increased too fast. We hold the initial dose 5-7 days because it takes that long for the depot to form. Subsequent doses are held 3-7 days, depending on dosing method and diet being fed. The 1.5 units dose should was only held 3 cycles and should have been at least 3 days/nights. If you are feeding dry food, I actually would hold each dose at least a week. So, go back to 1.5 units and keep it at that dose for 7 days, unless you see a number under 90, in which case you'd reduce the dose again.

As for going to work, you might wish to invest in an automated feeder. The Petsafe 5 is the model I used. It allows you to have food available while you are gone. Food is what will keep Lily safe. If Lily is a grazer you can just leave food out. Mine was a hoover so I needed a feeder so there would still be some food out later.

It's important to note the ketones. We have some items items we like to see in your signature, the details are in here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
Click to expand...
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome. Looks like a trial by fire for you!

Since your cat had ketones at diagnosis, it's really important that she get insulin each time. I see she's up over 300 now on the spreadsheet. You should be fine giving her 1.5 units tonight. The dose was increased too fast. We hold the initial dose 5-7 days because it takes that long for the depot to form. Subsequent doses are held 3-7 days, depending on dosing method and diet being fed. The 1.5 units dose should was only held 3 cycles and should have been at least 3 days/nights. If you are feeding dry food, I actually would hold each dose at least a week. So, go back to 1.5 units and keep it at that dose for 7 days, unless you see a number under 90, in which case you'd reduce the dose again.

As for going to work, you might wish to invest in an automated feeder. The Petsafe 5 is the model I used. It allows you to have food available while you are gone. Food is what will keep Lily safe. If Lily is a grazer you can just leave food out. Mine was a hoover so I needed a feeder so there would still be some food out later.

It's important to note the ketones. We have some items items we like to see in your signature, the details are in here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
Click to expand...
Omg! This is so stressful. I listened to the ER vet and skipped the dose- she was do at 5:30 pm est. I even mentioned again that she had ketones at diagnosis. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Of course Lily is running “HI” now….I don’t understand. I thought when my reg vet suggested going up to 2 units- it was too much, too fast. But he is the doctor, right?!?! Urghhhhhhh!
 
Hi there! I am so glad that you have gotten some good answers here. I was really worried when I read about your Lily good from one unit to two so rapidly. Definitely leave food out for her tomorrow while you are gone and, of course, reduce the dose per Wendy’s advice. I am glad you are here. You will find a great deal of support and experience here.
 
Diana_578 said:
Omg! This is so stressful. I listened to the ER vet and skipped the dose- she was do at 5:30 pm est. I even mentioned again that she had ketones at diagnosis. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Of course Lily is running “HI” now….I don’t understand. I thought when my reg vet suggested going up to 2 units- it was too much, too fast. But he is the doctor, right?!?! Urghhhhhhh!
Click to expand...
It sounds like you have good instincts.
 
So sorry the ER vet didn't clue in on the ketones. Are you testing for ketones at home? Might be a good habit to get into. You can buy ketostix or equivalent at most human pharmacies. Tips to catch and test a urine sample

How is Lily's appetite now? It's really important that she get lots of calories (not carbs) and fluids to help flush out the ketones.

Unfortunately, not all vets have detailed knowledge of diabetes. They have to look after so many different types of animals and conditions, whereas people here live diabetes 24x7. One of our members asked at a very good veterinary school, and was told they get 5 hours of training on diabetes, for both dogs and cats.
 
Hi Diana and welcome! Yes, it is indeed very very stressful at the beginning, but it gets easier. :bighug: Do you have syringes with half unit markings? I was listening to my vet too before I found this forum, but at least they told me to increase by half units rather than whole ones. We adjust doses by .25 units here as cats can be sensitive to even a drop of insulin. Was the dose increased after doing a curve at the vet on Thursday? Or just from a regular blood draw?
 
Diana_578 said:
Good morning. My cat, Lily was diagnosed March 19- I just filled in the spreadsheet. Looking for advice since my regular vet is closed today.
After spending the weekend at the ER vet, we followed up with regular vet this past Thursday...her dosage has increased from 1.0-2.0 units of Lantus over the past week.
Since increasing, on both yesterday and today- Lily's bg dropped to 48-52 +5/+6 hours after eating/insulin.
Both times, I gave Karo syrup and 6-8 pieces of dry c/d food (since she had ketones at diagnosis, we have not changed her food yet). MY WORRY- 2.0 is too high for her. With me going back to work tomorrow, I will not be home +5/+6 hours after feeding/insulin injection...I don't want her to have a significant drop in bg with no one home to monitor. ANY ADVICE???

Here is her spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...l-pGYj7JMGfc0qm5VHhYf1r4LQNn7kJqa5nyb/pubhtml
Click to expand...
I would trust the advice you get on this forum more than what your vet says. The people on this forum are a lot more experienced with feline diabetes than your vet. My cat was diagnosed 2 years ago with diabetes. I had a hard time trusting the advice on this forum since my vet was giving me different advice. I would get angry with the advice giving me on this forum because I thought that surely my vet knew better.

After a lot of stress and worry, I learned to trust the advice on this forum. The help and support you will receive is extremely valuable. It is a learning experience and will take you a long time to learn everything you need to know. Have a great day and I hope your kitty is doing better.
 
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