How to calculate correct dose - home testing?

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Zee

Zee

Member Since 2019
I’m currently thinking of home testing Mum who’s currently snoring next to me...

I’m injecting Caninsulin twice a day. How do I calculate correct dose? Is there a ‘table’ you can use for guidance? I’ll obviously discuss with vet but feel that there are people on here with such wealth of experience..
 
Great that you’re considering hometesting. It’s the best way to keep Mum safe and see how well the insulin is working. Here is some info on Caninsulin, testing and dosing.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.186099/
Once you start testing, you can post here or in the Caninsulin forum and other users (. @Kris & Teasel or @JanetNJ ) can help you with dosing. After awhile you’ll know how Mum reacts and will be able to figure a dose by yourself.
 
Congrats on considering home testing! It's the best way to keep Mum safe. :) The way we assess dose here is to collect blood glucose test data in our spreadsheet and look at trends over time. The biggest factor in deciding whether a dose is too high, too low or in the right range is how low the BG drops when the insulin is at its peak action, roughly midway between the two injections. That's usually around 4 to 6 hours after a shot for Caninsulin.

There's no specific table to calculate dose because every cat is different. A fraction of a unit might drop the BG to a good range for one kitty whereas several units per dose might be needed for the same effect in another. Generally, a good starting dose for most cats and most insulins is 1 unit twice a day. Your girl was diagnosed only three weeks ago so I'm surprised that she's on 3.5 u. That's a high-ish dose, especially in a newly diagnosed kitty.

Here's the basic testing routine we recommend:
  1. test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe
  2. test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes
  3. do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture
  4. if indicated by consistently high numbers on your spreadsheet, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose
  5. post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do.
This is useful: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Here are the spreadsheet instructions:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Here's why we worry about kitties on a high dose when home testing isn't being done. A phenomenon we call "bouncing" can confound the dosing decisions:
  1. BG goes low OR lower than usual OR drops too quickly.
  2. Kitty's body panics and thinks there's danger (OMG! My BG is too low!).
  3. Complex physiologic processes take glycogen stored in the liver (I think of it as "bounce fuel"), convert it to glucose and dump it into the bloodstream to counteract the perceived dangerously low BG.
  4. These processes go into overdrive in kitties who are bounce prone and keep the BG propped up varying lengths of time (AKA bouncing).
  5. Bounce prone kitty repeats this until his body learns that healthy low numbers are safe. Some kitties are slow learners.
  6. Too high a dose of insulin can keep them bouncing over and over until the " bounce fuel" runs out and they crash - ie., have a hypo episode. That's why we worry so much about kitties that have had too high a starting dose prescribed by the vet and the owner isn't home testing.
 
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Also important: any type of dry kibble is high in carbs. We recommend feeding low carb wet food only. That switch can have a big effect on blood glucose levels. @Elizabeth and Bertie can help you with food selections available in the UK. :)
 
Sharon14 said:
Great that you’re considering hometesting. It’s the best way to keep Mum safe and see how well the insulin is working. Here is some info on Caninsulin, testing and dosing.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.186099/
Once you start testing, you can post here or in the Caninsulin forum and other users (. @Kris & Teasel or @JanetNJ ) can help you with dosing. After awhile you’ll know how Mum reacts and will be able to figure a dose by yourself.
Click to expand...
Bless you.. going bit cross eyed with all the reading I’m doing on top of all the Brexit stuff... will take reccommendations on board! Zee and Mum.
 
Zee said:
Bless you.. going bit cross eyed with all the reading I’m doing on top of all the Brexit stuff... will take reccommendations on board! Zee and Mum.
Click to expand...
We are here every step so if you have any questions just ask
 
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Thank you all so much. Cat and dog people are the nicest..
Bonus on these pages is seeing all the gorgeous kitties!
 
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