just gave our 1st dose of insulin!

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wsugold

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well it didnt go as bad as i thought. its amazing how such a little dose of insulin should help simba. i believe i did it right lol.

b/c this is his first dose, i want to stay home and monitor him to ensure he is ok. how long should i monitor him for? and any signs to keep an eye out for?
how long will it take to notice if he is doing a good job w/the lantus?

also they said to give it every 12 hrs. how on the nose of the 12 hrs do i have to be? is there any wiggle room or no? what happens if a dose is late....do you skip it or give it right away? or does it matter on the type of lantus?

does anyone else give lantus 2x a day? i know for humans its a 24 hr insulin so i was just checking.

thanks again for all your support. you all are lifesavers!
 
Good job!
Are you home testing?
Some cats go into a hypo range, but don't show visual symptoms. This is where home testing is extremely important.

I don't use Lantus so I will let others respond to your other respond.
Jenn & Baxter
 
Good job. I would definitely suggest going to the Lantus forum and reading through the stickies. There's a lot to read. So, read what you can now, and some more later, and some more later, until you've read through them all.
And ask all the questions you want or need to.

I would very strongly recommend learning to home test, and then setting up a spreadsheet, so that we can help you with the dose. You'll want to test before giving insulin, at every shot. You wouldn't give your child insulin without testing her blood sugar beforehand to make sure she's not too low to give insulin to. You don't want to do that to your kitty, either.

The people here, have a ton of feline diabetes experience, and together, we can help you more than your vet can.

To answer your question about the timing. Yes, Lantus should be given 12 hours apart, whenever possible.
A late shot is like a dose decrease, and an early shot is like a dose increase.

Have a great day!
 
Hi Dyana,

Welcome to the board though sorry for the reason. :smile:

I use Lantus. What dose are you using and how large is your cat? Cats process insulin much faster than people do. 12 hours is max for them. You have a little wiggle room but not much (1/2 hr to an hour usually). If you are late or early you have to adjust your next dose too if its more than an hour. The only time you want to be late is if he is too low to shoot because that could be dangerous for kitty and you won't know that unless you home test. I can't urge you strongly enough to go get a testing kit if you haven't already, a meter with strips and lancets and learn how to use it and use it at least 3x a day if you can - before his morning shot, at his +6 (nadir) or whenever his lowest point turns out to be, and before his night shot. You don't want to give him an overdose (hypos). We have photos, videos and we all have our own little tips and tricks. We can even point you to the cheapest supplies.

For symptoms to watch out for, read and print this out and assemble this tool kit. It may save his life one day. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887#p159092

We will teach you all you need to know. You can do it and your cat will be so much safer.

Melanie & Racci
 
simba used to be 19lbs, but now he is 15. we are doing 1 unit every 12 hrs of lantus.

i just tested him and his blood was 440. when i did it the other day it was 359. the vet said i didnt have to do everday but have been trying until i'm comfortable, but i've been having issues getting blood from simba and after so many tries would give up.

but i am nervous/upset over him being 440...or am i overreacting? i know this is high....
 
It is great that you are testing him! I know it is so hard at first... it will get easier.

You are right that 440 is high, but Lantus is a type of insulin that needs to build up a reservoir called a "shed" or "depot" before you will start seeing results from it. This takes 3-5 days, so if you don't see improvements prior to then, don't panic. In the meantime, congratulations on giving the insulin shot and on the testing you are doing! Hang in there with it, take the advice you see here and in the Lantus reference materials mentioned upthread, ask lots of questions here... and soon your kitty will be feeling better and showing better numbers. I know everything can seem overwhelming, but everyone here is so patient and helpful (they were with me) and are here to help you navigate through this process. :-D
 
Are you warming the ear first before testing? In the beginning I had to leave the warm rice sock on Baxters ear for over a minute. It really seemed to help. I still warm his ear, but it doesn't take as long now.
Keep home testing & recording your numbers.

You are doing a really good job. Keep it up.
 
Welcome and how WONDERFUL that you are home testing and hats off to your vet for suggesting it; however, you will want to test before every shot and mid day for nadir...so, your vet was only 1/2 right....
Please take a look at my spreadsheet for the first test I got from Bean, from the gentle pushing from this site to test at home. As my vet told me not to test at all! eeeeks..... could not imagine what would have happened if I did not test everytime after that first low low reading....
Bean and I had a hard time with the testing at first too. Probably more me than her, but I kept at it, and just like others will say, it does get better....
GOOOD GOIN!
 
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