J.C. First Dose Question, AMPS 394

[MollyWalcott]

Good morning all! My name is Sydnee and my cat's name is J.C! We are extremely new to this (diagnosed on 7/28/26) and I have questions about how I should go about giving my baby with his first dose of insulin.

I feed him this morning around 5:30am, ~22g dry food (just started switching his diet from Purina 1 Senior 7 plus dry food to Royal Canin Glycobalance dry food. I know, I read the reviews after purchasing the vet recommended food ). I took a BG reading around 6:30am-6:45am and his BG was at 394. With this reading, should I give him 1u of Lantus? Or should I hold off and take a nothing reading in +2 and give him a dose once his BG fall? Any information helps, I'm incredibly nervous and don't want to throw him into hyperglycermia. Thank you!

-Sydnee

 

[MollyWalcott]

After searching through the forum since my initial post and gathering as much info as I could, I decided to give J.C his first dose, 1u Lantus, at 8:55am. Will take another BG reading at +3 and update my spreadsheet. Thank you!

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley)]

After searching through the forum since my initial post and gathering as much info as I could, I decided to give J.C his first dose, 1u Lantus, at 8:55am. Will take another BG reading at +3 and update my spreadsheet. Thank you!

Welcome! The first one is over! You did it!
And I can see your spreadsheet! The AMPS column is where you enter J.C.'s BG reading. So whatever you got on your meter right before you shot goes there. Was it 394? Or that might have been earlier. If you want to tell us what time you shoot every day, you can put that info in an empty cell at the top of your sheet. Mine says 6am and pm at the top. You can click on Kobe's sheet it you want to see an example. You can look at everyone's sheet. I do it all the time. It helped me start to understand what to expect.

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley)]

J.C.'s next shot should be 12 hours after the one you gave. For Lantus, we test, feed, shoot, all in 5 to 15 minutes. If possible, you want your cat to have fasted for about 2 hours before you test, feed, and shoot. This is so the BG that you measure is from a fast and not altered by a meal. (meals can have the effect of raising a BG, or even lowering it when the pancreas starts to heal).

(just started switching his diet from Purina 1 Senior 7 plus dry food to Royal Canin Glycobalance dry food. I know, I read the reviews after purchasing the vet recommended food ).

Don't beat yourself up about this. So many of us have done the same thing. It might be a right of passage. In general, low carb wet foods (under 10% calories from carbs on a dry matter basis) are going to be your best bet. This site is full of tips for transitioning to low carb wet food. When you make the switch, do it gradually. Switching fast can cause GI upset and precipitious BG drops. You can use this food chart to find lots of low carb options. The Classic Fancy Feast Pates are popular here and Weruva has some really good ones. and Tiki Cat. What my boys liked about the Weruva pates is the amount of juice in them. They have a good amount of broth.
Dr. Lisa's Food Chart

There are low carb Dry Foods, and we have used them in our house. Unfortunately, they aren't as good for the kidneys. When Kobe went into remission, we was eating about half of his calories from kibbles and half from wet. All low carb. This post talks about the importance of water content in a cat's diet.
Dr. Lisa's Post about Dry Food, Carb Content and Water Content