Lantus newbie

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Karisa and Tasha(GA)

Karisa and Tasha(GA)

Member Since 2011
Hi everyone, lantus newbie here. I did an intro in the other forum.

Is it ok to make sure tata eats at least 3/4 of her food before i give the shot? She's going from a grazer to a twice a day feeding. Dry to canned, still trying to find the best type, that she'll eat.

Still learning how to monitor. Just got the monitor last night. This am didn't get enough blood for a good test. She, however, got more than enough of my blood for a test. :lol:
 
hahaha, sweet little vampire kitter, making sure to get a bit of blood from you! :lol:

a lot of people test the BG, then feed the kitty and either give them the shot while they are inhaling the food or immediately after.

wishing you luck with the testing - it took me maybe 3 weeks before i consistently got a blood drop every time. it gets easier.

and welcome to both of you!
 
Hello and welcome to Lantus Land!

Feeding right before the shot is okay, even if it is a bit of food. Lantus doesn't really kick in for a couple hours after the shot, and many here give the shot while their furbaby is eating. You can still free feed canned if that works for you... many cats respond better to having smaller meals throughout the day. You can add some water to the canned food (which is always good as it helps ensure the cat doesn't get dehydrated) or you can freeze in smaller portions and then leave them out to thaw during the day if your Tasha would otherwise scarf them down!

As for hometesting, what meter did you decide to go with, and more importantly, what is the gauge of the lancets you are using? Cats ears have to "learn" to bleed well, and if you are using a very thin lancet, it can be exceedingly difficult at first. The larger the number, the thinner the lancet. I would make sure you don't have anything above a 30, and preferably a number below that to start. That and the rice sock technique will make things much easier. Don't worry... it's something we've all been through. :)

Please be sure to read the stickies at the top of the board as there is a wealth of information there about how lantus works and the protocol that we follow here. You're definitely in the right place! If you haven't done so already, get the spreadsheet template and start working on getting that set up. It is truly an invaluable tool. Also, I would encourage you to read through our "condos" (our word for our daily posts) and spreadsheets as well. Not only is there valuable info you can glean, but you quickly realize you're not in this alone. :)

Please be sure to continue to ask questions as you have them, and once again, welcome!
 
Today's link from Health

Welcome to Lantus Land!

I linked your post from the Health board.

If you are already seeing numbers in the 100s, I'm going to strongly encourage you to get a blood test prior to every shot. Your AMPS and PMPS blood test are critical. Likewise, with numbers that are already that good, you need to bet more tests in. Lantus dosing is based on the lowest point in the cycle, the nadir. Right now, you are shooting blind and that can be dangerous, especially if you don't know where your cat's nadir is. With a 139 at +2, it is very possible that your cat was in double digits last night. There are members in Missouri and if you're having trouble testing, there may be someone near enough that they can give you a hand.

These instructions are from the Tight Regulation sticky.
WHEN FOLLOWING A TIGHT REGULATION PROTOCOL WITH LANTUS OR LEVEMIR...

* Kitty should be monitored closely the first three days when starting Lantus or Levemir.
Blood glucose levels should at least be checked at pre-shot, +3, +6, and +9.
More monitoring may be needed.

* It will be necessary to test kitty's blood glucose levels multiple times per day.

* Learn the signs of and how to treat HYPOGLYCEMIA and prepare a HYPO TOOLBOX.

* Test regularly for ketones and know about DIABETIC KETOACIDOSIS (DKA).

* Use U-100 3/10cc syringes with half units marked on the barrel for fine dosing.

* Feed a high quality low carb canned or raw food diet.

* Feed small meals throughout the day. Some kitties adapt well to free feeding.

Twice a day feeding really isn't necessary. In fact, it may work against you since loading all of the food at pre-shot may overwhelm Tasha's pancreas. Allowing her to free feed or giving multiple small meals spread out prior to nadir may be a better strategy.
 
Karisa, can you give me a general sense of where you're at in SW MO? I think we have some folks in Springfield and Tulsa, and I'm in KC, but would be happy to take a drive (especially in gorgeous weather like this!!). Just let us know if you need any assistance!
 
You want to hold back food during the two hours prior to shots because even a bit of food could artificially raise BG numbers.

You can have food ready to put down, but be sure to test and decide if you are giving a shot or not.
There will be times when the number may be a bit low, and you want to delay the shot until you know the number is rising, so no food till you are shooting.

Many people test, then prepare shot and food, put down food and give shot while cat is eating.
 
Welcome Karisa and Tasha!

Sienne has given you some excellent links to read. The only thing I would add is that if you are switching from dry to wet it is very important to test. Low carb wet food can bring her #'s down by itself. So you don't want to shoot blindly as she may go to low and you wouldn't know.

As far as testing you can do a dry run to get her used to it. I used to take all the supplies over to her where she was sitting/napping. Than I would take out the meter turn it on [so she would get used to the beep] play with her ears a little than give her a treat than walk away. This way it wasn't "Whoa what may I say do you think your doing" She got more familiar with it and it became routine before I even tried to stick her. Remember your not hurting her, [it's more of an annoyance] they don't have that many nerve endings in their ears. My Sara has slept through it or sometimes she'll pick up her head and than lay it back down as to say "oh it's only you".

At first warming the ear helps. If you don't have a rice sock [just a sock filled with rice, not minute rice that you put in the microwave] try massaging her ear a few times to get the blood moving. If you want to make a rice sock use a small sock or cut the end of a sock off put the rice in and sew across. If it's to big Tasha might like it. My kitty didn't like anything to big near her ear. When you put it in the microwave you have to experiment with the time. You don't want it to get to hot just warm. I think i did it for 20sec I'm not sure, but every microwave is different.

The more you practice the easier it will become. Before you know it you will be doing it like a pro.

Start a new condo each day and let us know how you are doing.
Good luck and again welcome.

jan and sara
 
it sounds like your first issue is getting enough blood to test. i'm procrastinating what i should be doing here at home so will pass on the suggestions that people gave me. eventually something will work.

first of all, as you keep poking her ears (which i also would think will be more successful and hurt less than her paws) her ears will grow more capillaries and the entire thing gets easier and more successful. so those unsuccessful pokes actually have a benefit.

some things to try:

the rice bag that Sara mentioned above - i think that helps tremendously.

you want to poke in the area between the vein and the edge of the ear, starting above that little V cartilege thingy and going up over the top. if i was desperate i just hit the vein, but that's not good because it will scar, plus it bleeds quite a bit. but in my ignorance and desperation, i did it some.

to see where you're aiming, put a flashlight from inside the ear aiming through it. you want to poke from the furry outside, although i saw someone said they have better luck on the inside.

put the tiniest schmear of vaseline on the hair - you don't want much or it will goo up your test strip. that helps the blood bead up and not soak into the hair or skin.

if the sweet girl isn't keen on you stabbing her, but as the mom you know you need to for her to be healthy, you can burrito wrap her in a beach towel. there are youtube videos that show you how. we had to do that for 2-3 weeks but don't anymore. it's not painful even if they don't like it. i actually thought it calmed punkin down because there was no getting away and he could stop trying.

you want to make sure you apply pressure to her ear afterwards so it doesn't continue to bleed and then bruise.

we also apply neosporin cream with pain relief at the end of the day to help punkin's ears recover for the next day. it doesn't work to use it instead of vaseline, just fyi, because the blood seems to just disperse in the cream. i did see someone here say that they use it to numb the ear a little in advance. haven't tried that one yet.

to get her used to the lancet pen click (if that's what you're using) you can just click it near her head lots so she gets desensitized to it.

someone also suggested holding the lancet pen on the spot for a few seconds before and after. i don't do it before, but it does seem to help the blood well up afterwards. i use a Freestyle Lite lancet pen (no choice on size of lancets, but you can choose the depth) and it has a clear cap so i can see the blood welling. that helps.

really, i think what helped us most was probably the capillaries growing so that every hit was successful. we occasionally miss still, but not often. i've been doing it since the end of February. you just have to persevere and you'll get it.

a lot of people start with the Alpha Trak and switch to a human glucometer because the strips cost so much and are harder to find. just fyi - the main cost through this whole thing is the strips, not the one time purchase of the meter.
 
You've gotten great advice for the others, but I wanted to stop in and say "Welcome!" We're newbies, too, though it's hard to believe that we've been at this for two months now. Like Julie said, it does get easier...although even just this morning, Trixie made sure I contributed a decent amount of blood, too :lol: ! (Hey, to quote Jimmy Buffet, "If we just couldn't laugh, we would all go insane!", right?)

When we first started testing Trixie, I would distract her by scratching both of her cheeks after I did the poke. I would to this by holding her head from behind; this kept her head steady while I waited for the drop of blood to form, and clamed her down at the same time. Now, her ears bleed pretty easily so I'm able to poke, test, and treat in probably under 10 seconds. Tasha will get there before you know it!

Amy
 
Welcome to LL Karisa and Tasha!!! You've gotten tons of good info and we're a close group here to help each other as much as possible.

One thing on the neosporin...if you get the pain relief OINTMENT, not the cream, it will help bead up the blood like vaseline. The cream just smears the blood. I put the ointment on Gracie's ears every time after a pokey and if I forget to clean it off, it's ok...

Let us know if you have questions. Looking forward to your condo and having you part of LL!
 
Thank you everyone for so much advice. Some of it seems contrary to what my vet said, but everyone here has been dealing with it much longer. I think she said she has seen one other diabetic kitty.

I live in SE McDonald county about a mile from the AR state line.

I hope I did it right last night. Her pmbg was 104 so we didn't give any insulin. This morning it was back up to 397 so she got 1.5u. The vet told me that if bg is between 80-150 to feed her, wait 30 mins then shoot. I was nervous about doing this, didn't want to cause hypo, so I didn't. I have started on the ss, but will take me some time to remember to do it, I do write everything down though.

This is all so confusing, but I know I'll get it figgured out.

I'm gonna try to get the +3, +6, +9 and see what they are.

Karisa
 
Hi Karisa! I'm just here to welcome you and offer encouragement. I think your plan to get the tests at +3, +6 and +9 is excellent. It will provide you with incredibly useful data and will also get your kitty used to being tested. Also, even if it seems like a pain, the spreadsheet is the most important tool the wise ones here will use to help you when you have a dosage question. Being able to look over your cat's BG numbers and find patterns will also help tremendously. Just hang in there and the testing will get easier. It may help to take a few nice deep breaths before you start the test so that you are calm, your kitty will sense that and eventually relax.
 
Good morning Karisa.

A bit of housekeeping and Board conventions.

It will be easier for you and us if you start a new thread (we call them "condos") every day. We use a particular format for subject lines:
date cat's name AMPS#, +hour#, etc.
4/3 Tasha AMPS-397​
Keeping numbers in your subject line will alert the people on the Board if they see something that's cause for concern or to just stop by to introduce themselve, be social, etc. You'll want to update the subject line throughout the day. To change the subject line, go to your first post of that thread, click on the "Edit" icon that's at the top of the text box, make the changes, then click on "Submit." The only way to change what's visible on the Board is by changing the subject line in your first post of the day. If you need help, it's the same process. To bump your condo to the top of the board, you just need to add a new post.

In general, we do shoot low numbers the way your vet was suggesting. However, you don't have enough data yet to shoot below a BG of 150. We are big fans of people becoming data ready. You might want to take a look at the Data Ready sticky and this post on How to Handle Low Pre-shot Numbers.

Please try to get tests at +3, +6 and +9 if you can today.
 
I started another post.

I won't be able to post every day due to work and school, but will do a big update when i can.

I did update the ss, when i logged into google and went to the doc page it was in japaneese :? oh well got it anyway :lol:
 
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