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MustLuvCats

MustLuvCats

Member Since 2012
Hi There, I have been advised to visit this board for some advice on my kitty Rylee who was diagnosed about 2 wks ago with diabetes. She is 9.5 yrs old.

I believe her initial BG at the vet was over 400 (didn't write it down). So she comes home on 1.5U of Lantus week ago Thursday. All is going well and then I learn to test compliments of a board member Lynnlee.

Her numbers go as follows and they are random at first because I am learning how to negotiate this whole testing process.

She eats at 8 AM and gets her dose shortly after then again at 8 PM and shortly after gets her evening dose.

1/5 - 111 @ 430 pm
1/7 - 166 1 hr after lantus injection (didn't write down AM or PM)
1/9 - 830 AM feed and give lantus
10:30 AM - 193
1:00 PM - 104
5:30 PM - 87
830 PM - 165 - shortly after eating and I was advised to NOT give her evening injection
1/10 - 7:45 AM - 178 - prior to eating
8:00 AM - food and insulin
10:30 AM - 104
8:30 PM - 107 - right after eating and again no injection tonight
1/11 - 10:40 PM - 124 - 1 hr after eating, no injection (she was at vet all day doing blood glucose curve)
1/12 - 8 AM - 169 after eating (vet said no inject if under 300)
10 am - 238
1:00 pm - 171
4:00 pm - 195

vet said don't give her any insulin, monitor her urine glucose for next week as opposed to blood glucose and do another curve Saturday to see where she is at. She said Rylee is trying to regulate herself and vet wants to see where she ends up to make sure .5 is appropriate dose.

Rylee is on a prescription diabetic diet which I know is a terrible diet but until I have a better handle on everything I want to follow the vet's advice all the way. Also Rylee is NOT fat but she was prior to diagnosis. Back in April I quit free feeding my cats because some are fat and Rylee lost the most weight, hence my taking her to the vet besides her swimming in the water dish all day :)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It's gonna be hard to monitor her urine as I have 3 others cats and Rylee won't take kindly to be cooped up in a bedroom for half the day.

Thanks and have a wonderful sunday!!!
 

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Oh Miss Rylee is TRYING to regulate herself! She's a bootiful baby too!

You're doing great with the testing now! Let me see if I can help you figure out how to post your numbers. Here is what you have (excluding those first date ones):

1/9 - 830 AM feed and give lantus
10:30 AM - 193
1:00 PM - 104
5:30 PM - 87
830 PM - 165 - shortly after eating and I was advised to NOT give her evening injection
1/10 - 7:45 AM - 178 - prior to eating
8:00 AM - food and insulin
10:30 AM - 104
8:30 PM - 107 - right after eating and again no injection tonight
1/11 - 10:40 PM - 124 - 1 hr after eating, no injection (she was at vet all day doing blood glucose curve)
1/12 - 8 AM - 169 after eating (vet said no inject if under 300)
10 am - 238
1:00 pm - 171
4:00 pm - 195
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AMPS (Morning preshot number - I don't see a number, only see that you gave Lantus) That number goes here
+2 - 193
+4.5 - 104
+9 - 87
+12 - 165 Notice that I did NOT use "PMPS" (evening preshot) because you did NOT shoot, you continue to count the plus hours after that.

1/10
AMPS 178 (you shot half an hour early - try to stay within 15 minutes if possible, works best for Lantus)
+2.5 - 104
PMBG +12.5 - 107 Notice I used "PMBG" - evening blood glucose rather than PMPS (evening preshot) because you did NOT shoot.

1/11
PMBG (+26) - 124 (assuming she didn't get injection at vet thus hours keep counting)

1/12
AMBG (+38) - 169
+40 - 238
+43 - 171
+46 - 195

So, as of 4pm yesterday, she'd not had insulin for 46 hours. This type of wonderful stuff can't easily be shown on the spreadsheet thus you use notes to show this.

I have a feeling you're going to learn this sugar dance quickly - Rylee really WANTS off this 'juice'!

Hope this helped a bit....

BIG HUG!
 
Welcome to Lantus Land, Stephanie and Rylee! If you can, try to feed several smaller meals throughout the day. It will help her pancreas, which appears to want to cooperate - yay! Some people add some water to canned food and freeze small portions to leave out when they are away. Others use auto feeders. Rylee is doing pretty well, so this might not be necessary.

Lantus likes consistency, so try to find a dose you can shoot twice a day SAFELY. It might be a tiny amount - people get down to .25u and even smaller as they work towards OTJ. You're almost there at .5u anyway!

Also, we all use a spreadsheet to track our numbers. It will help you to see trends and acts like a quick reference for people trying to give dosing advice should you need it. Here's how to set one up:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=77883 It's set up so you mark your readings at shot times (AMPS and PMPS - am preshot, pm preshot) and then you can track whatever tests you take counting the hours after the shot. So if you shoot at 8am, that's your AMPS number and then say you test at 10am, that would be +2. The colors automatically fill in once you move to a new cell.

Rylee looks to be doing pretty great! Great job on the hometesting!
 
I have three cats and a small apartment, and it is absolutely impossible for me to monitor anything with urine. I have to check bg and ketones with blood. It's hard at first (I'm a newbie too!), but I've been checking Zoozey's blood sugar and ketones for about two months now, and believe me, it does get easier. It didn't seem like checking his bg would get easier at first because he did not like me doing it, but I promise it does!

I also felt uncomfortable taking my cats off of the prescription diabetic diet because my cat almost died from dka, but I finally made the switch a month ago after he had fully recovered, and my sugar kitty is doing well. I've even been able to reduce his dose.
Good luck with everything! You and Ryleee are doing great!
 
Thanks Tara for your info. I will begin using the spreadsheet ASAP. So what do you think about the vet stopping Rylee for the next week on her injection and using the urine strips??? I don't want to dose Rylee without the vet telling me to go ahead and do it but also am confused about stopping her entirely for a week.

On a good note this has opened my eyes to feeding my other cats and I am transitioning most of them off dry food. One won't hardly eat wet food so I am going to buy him some Wellness Core Dry Food. I have 2 fat cats but the other ones including Rylee are a good weight.

Thanks!!
 
Hi guys welcome to Lantus Land! It is odd to stop insulin for a week. I understand you wanting to follow your vets advice but....... I would definetly try to change the diet asap. Have you checked out the food charts on here to see which foods are low carb? I would read all of the stickies at the top of the page to get yourself familiar with everything. It is a lot to take in at first but it will give you more perspective on lantus and the process. I am sure others will stop by and offer advice but again welcome and remember to breathe. We are all here to help you. The family here in LL is amazing!
 
Squeaky and KT said:
Oh Miss Rylee is TRYING to regulate herself! She's a bootiful baby too!


1/11
PMBG (+26) - 124 (assuming she didn't get injection at vet thus hours keep counting)

1/12
AMBG (+38) - 169
+40 - 238
+43 - 171
+46 - 195

So, as of 4pm yesterday, she'd not had insulin for 46 hours. This type of wonderful stuff can't easily be shown on the spreadsheet thus you use notes to show this.

I have a feeling you're going to learn this sugar dance quickly - Rylee really WANTS off this 'juice'!

Hope this helped a bit....

BIG HUG!
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sorry I didn't mention that Rylee did get .5U at the vet Friday but she refused to eat and dropped pretty low while she was there. They force fed her later in the day :(

thank you, yes Rylee is beautiful :)...we found her in the trashcan at the softball field when she was like 6 wks old :(
 
Welcome to LantusLand! I'm sorry you have to be here but it's the best place for a diabetic cat. There are dosing experts here who are incredible, much better than a vet when it comes to feline diabetes. We live with it 24/7 and we are all crazy cat ladies. :lol: :lol: That dry food is horrible. The sooner it is banished from your home, the better. I think it is highly possible that Rylee could go into remission but she's not ready yet. How much does she weigh? Our philosophy around here is to be very consistent with shots every 12 hours and measure the blood glucose at least 4 times per day. Two times are right before the shot to make sure she isn't too low for the shot. The other two times are around the middle of the cycle (3 to 6 hours after the shot) to see what the nadir is. You will need that since dosing is based on the lowest BG of the cycle. Be sure to read the starred sticky notes at the top of the forum. It's a lot to absorb but we are happy to help in any way we can.
Liz, Zener's other mom (I sign my posts and Anne doesn't)
 
emchic - I am going to talk to the vet again about the urine strips. I would actually rather check the BG instead because I have multiple cats and it's gonna be stressful on rylee to be cooped up in my room
 
Anne & Zener said:
Welcome to LantusLand! I'm sorry you have to be here but it's the best place for a diabetic cat. There are dosing experts here who are incredible, much better than a vet when it comes to feline diabetes. We live with it 24/7 and we are all crazy cat ladies. :lol: :lol: That dry food is horrible. The sooner it is banished from your home, the better. I think it is highly possible that Rylee could go into remission but she's not ready yet. How much does she weigh? Our philosophy around here is to be very consistent with shots every 12 hours and measure the blood glucose at least 4 times per day. Two times are right before the shot to make sure she isn't too low for the shot. The other two times are around the middle of the cycle (3 to 6 hours after the shot) to see what the nadir is. You will need that since dosing is based on the lowest BG of the cycle. Be sure to read the starred sticky notes at the top of the forum. It's a lot to absorb but we are happy to help in any way we can.
Liz, Zener's other mom (I sign my posts and Anne doesn't)
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Right now she is off Lantus until proly the end of the week because of her lowest numbers being under 90 I guess. Is this ok for her??? I am very nervous about doing anything different from what vet says and I am not the type of person to be able to handle a cat who tanks cuz I will tank along with her :(
 
Welcome, Stephanie!

If I had to guess, my best hunch is that your vet regards what is a normal blood glucose (BG) level differently than we do. In many ways, this makes sense since many caregivers (CG) of diabetic cats don't home test. As a result, the vet will want the cats to be in a higher range than we typically encourage. We look to see cats as tightly regulated as possible in the normal 50 - 120 range. Looking at Rylee's numbers, like Lyresa said, your kitty is heading in the right direction but in my estimate, her pancreas still needs some help. I do suspect you'll see a change in her numbers for the better once you ditch the prescription food.

There's an inherent problem with urine BG measurement. It's less of a problem if you're not giving insulin but it's still a problematic measurement. The following is from the Position Statement of the International Diabetes Federation:
The limitations and proper interpretation of urine glucose test results need to be understood. These include that urine testing gives the results since the last time urine was voided. If the urine is free of glucose, it is an indication that the blood glucose level is below the renal threshold, which can vary, but is usually accepted as corresponding to a blood glucose level of 10 mmol/l (180 mg/dl). Results also do not distinguish between moderately raised and grossly elevated blood glucose levels. A particular concern is that a negative test does not distinguish between normoglycaemia and hypoglycaemia.
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The point here is that when you monitor any urine value, the data is hours old since the BG levels are the result of the time it takes for food, etc. to be metabolized and the resulting waste products to be collected, and for your kitty to decide that it's time to pee! In addition, urine glucose testing doesn't tell you anything about high or low numbers. If your cat was in a hypoglycemic crisis, you'd never know. While there's no risk for hypoglycemia if your cat isn't getting insulin, it's still worth keeping that information in mind.
 
confusion is my middle name, don't know where to go from here. Listen to vet and keep her off insulin this week or put her back on at a smaller does then the .5 she was going to change her to before she decided to hold off for a week
 
I agree with the previous posters that Rylee seems to be trying to get OTJ, but she's not quite there yet. From what I can see, it doesn't look like she's hit any fairly low numbers (i.e under 50), but I might have missed something. The spreadsheet is a great idea to help us out with that.

MustLuvCats said:
sorry I didn't mention that Rylee did get .5U at the vet Friday but she refused to eat and dropped pretty low while she was there. They force fed her later in the day :(
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How low is "pretty low?" Did she go hypo at the vet's? If she did, my suggestion would try a .25u dose at her PMS shot time and see how her numbers fair with the lowered dose. Since she hasn't been on insulin since Friday(?), it might take a couple of days to see how this dose affects her. Also, since I'm not quite an "expert" at dosing, hopefully someone else will come along and confirm whether or not .25u is a good dose. :-D

What food exactly are you feeding her? Here's a food list with the carbohydrate percentage listed. We recommend food under 10% carbohydrates, so even the prescription wet might be what's preventing her from going completely OTJ.
 
so what's the consensus??? Should I go .25U over the vet .50U who said to wait till end of week before I start dosing her again?? I don't want to mess Rylee up by not giving her insulin for the week
 
How soon is her next regular shot time and what is her PMPS/PMBG number? Will you be able to test her around +6? I'm hoping someone else comes on to give more advice on dosing.

With Mikey, he is highly sensitive to dose changes so I wouldn't be able to drop him from .5u to no insulin. For me personally, I wouldn't want to interfere with the Lantus depot by unnecessarily skipping shots when all that's required is a slightly reduced dose. I'd probably give .25u for at least a few cycles (depending on nadir numbers) and perhaps even shrinking it lower than that before going completely off insulin. ECID, however, so depending on how Rylee has reacted to past dose decreases might help you to decide what to do next.
 
how can i give her lower than .25U??? and she hasn't had a shot since Friday. I tested her yesterday and the vet said hold off for testing for a few days. I think I am going to test her tonight and probably start with .25U tomorrow because although the vet has had many yrs experience this board all says the same thing. i am just afraid of dealing with a hypo cat, scares me :(
 
We figure that 0.25u is 3 drops. So you can give 2 drops. Ann and Tess and Ann and Maggie do this. This is my understanding of their procedure but you can send them a private message (PM) to get their description. Draw up insulin to the 0.5u mark. Squeeze out the insulin and count the drops. Usually it will be 6 but may be different if the mark is off. Then draw up the same amount and squeeze out 4 drops (if you squeezed out 6 before). There should be 2 drops left.

We use calipers from Harbor Freight so that might help to measure very small doses. Kind of crazy, isn't it?
Liz
 
Hi Stephenie,

These pics from the New to the Group Sticky thread might help with small doses:






carl
 

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Hi Carl, I practiced at .25 with water and like barely anything comes out of syringe, but I guess that little drop is .25U

So since I am confused lately with these changes can you tell me what number she should be at that would prompt me to give her insulin tomorrow morning. Do I feed then test right away or test before or what? I was told if she was below 300 then no shot, that was by her vet.

Thanks for your help!!
 
Stephenie

It almost sounds like you and I had the same vet :lol: after I had had Gracie on insulin a few months, I took her SS in and my vets jaw dropped. She had no idea that a cat would respond to insulin that way and I showed her SS after SS of other cats who looked similar.

Sienne is right...alot of vets use urine testing but there are so many reasons not to and the main one I have observed myself. Just as a little experiment, I tested Gracies urine a few times when she had been in the high 200s but then had dropped to the 40s. The urine glucose strip showed 3+ but Gracies BG was 40 something.....because it takes time for the sugar to clear out of the urine.

Also...vets like to keep cats higher because they don't have alot of clients who hometest. So they think if you don't shoot under 300, the cat is fine. And yet, they don't understand that a cat can be 300 at AMPS, 40 at mid cycle, and 300 at PMPS.

I wouldn't do any more curves at the vet. You can do spot checks at home. Her numbers are trending up a bit so I'd start her on .25u tomorrow if she is above 150 and then if you can get a +2 test to start, that would be great. If you need help shooting in the morning because she's around 250, post and someone will help you. We will also be here if her number start to come down. If you look around at SSs, you will see that those of us who have data and know our cats onset, nadir, and duration, will shoot above 50.

I think your precious Rylee just needs a little more insulin support and a better, low carb diet.
 
Stephanie,
You'll also notice, from looking at the spreadsheets of some cats who have been on insulin for a while, that once you are at low doses like .25u or less, the preshot numbers are "normally" not very high. As the cat gets better, as the pancreas heals, you'll observe a smaller difference between the preshot numbers and the nadir numbers. Lantus, when it's working well, will give you a flatter curve generally. That's because the dose is right, and the insulin level is more consistent over the course of 24 hours. Things "even out" pretty much.

It's terrific that Rylee is on such a low dose!

I sort of understand your vet's suggestion that you not give insulin even though the numbers are higher than we would believe are appropriate for not giving insulin. Most people treating a diabetic cat aren't able or willing to do as much as the people here. Many vets don't believe their clients can or will switch the diet, or test a half dozen times a day. They don't want to overwhelm people. Also, most vets don't have to deal with this on a day in, day out basis. They usually are dealing with critical cases, where a cat is really bad off, like with DKA or lipidosis, really high BGs.... an "emergency" situation or a brand new diagnosed cat.

But letting a cat remain above 200 or 300 for any length of time can cause the opposite effect you're hoping for. If the BG remains above the renal threshold, then the cat can suffer from glucose toxicity, and become further resistant to the insulin. I think that's "our" main concern. That Rylee not get worse before she gets better.

Carl
 
Good Morning Carl

your info has helped and hopefully it's understood my fear/concern to go against what the dr ordered. I did test Rylee this morning right after she ate and she was 190, however I have not given her a shot because of "what the dr ordered".

Should I test her again and when?
 
I see you posting here as well as in the health forum. Can I suggest you just post just in here? It would be good if you could set up your spreadsheet as a few others suggested above - it will help everyone know whats going on better.
 
Ok so I got my spreadsheet going even though I can't rename it to just say Rylee's Sheet. I tried with much help but for some reason just can't get it. Maybe someone can type it exactly what is should say and I can copy and paste.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html

This is my actual file link in the google drive.

So ok my vet doesn't want me to start dosing Rylee until she reaches 300, I say by the end of next week she will be there because her numbers are going up without insulin. She recommended that I use the pee strips but I haven't been able to get them yet although as you can see by the sheet I am still testing her.

I wonder if I start to transition her off the "bad" prescription diet onto Authority Turkey & Giblets which has lower carbs if this well help.

Any thoughts
 
Transitioning to a healthy, species appropriate low carb diet will help. Cats are obligate carnivores. You don't see a cat in the wild eating dry food.

When I click on your link to Rylee's sheet, it's named "Rylee's sheet." Do you mean you don't know how to label the link to the sheet? If so, it should look like this:

I gotta tell you, I disagree with your vet. Allowing numbers to hit 300 risks Rylee developing glucose toxicity as well as any number of problems. Let me approach this from different perspective. Do you think the vet would agree with his child's pediatrician saying that his child should be untreated for diabetes until the child's BG levels were over twice what the normal range is? I doubt that your vet would be OK with the potential for kidney or other end organ damage or think it's OK if his child feels lousy. You know that your vet would be looking for another pediatrician if this is the information he was given.

The problem here is this is what your vet is telling you to do with Rylee. I'm not suggesting you change vets. I also realize that it can be hard to not follow "doctor's" orders. However, you're Rylee's advocate. You're with your cat 24/7 and know Rylee better than anyone else. Your vet works for you -- not the other way around.
 
You need the brackets. What I do is click on the URL button above the text box. That inserts this: . Any of the codes that you use here have to be surrounded by the brackets. So, this:
[url=the url link goes here including the "=" sign]Rylee's sheet or whatever you want to call the link goes here[/url]​
if you keep the brackets in place, will result in

This is the link to how to use the code on this board. It may (or may not) make it clearer.
 
So, now that you've mastered the SS, do you think you're ready to tackle putting together a Profile on Rylee? We won't keep bugging you with the same questions if everything is in your Profile.
 
I think I can I think I can :)

I left a message for my vet, requesting to speak with her directly. Since she is not wanting me to dose Rylee until she is at 300 what are some good questions to ask her
 
Hmmm,

Ask her to explain what the "renal threshold" is and what harm can be caused if the BG stays above that "line"? (300 is above that)
Ask her what number in the cycle the Lantus dose should be based on? (the correct answer would be the "nadir", but I'm thinking she's going to say the "preshot")
Ask her what would be the indication to her that Rylee's dose needed to be either increased or decreased? (I have no idea what she'll tell you but I think her answer might help us to help you help her).
Ask her if she is familiar with the Tight Regulation Protocol? (if not, share this link with her)
http://felinediabetes.com/Roomp_Rand_2008 dosing_testing protocol.pdf

And let us know how it goes, :-D

Carl
 
Just because some are better than others, can you tell us....
What kind of meter are you using to test BG? I (and many others on this board) have had less than stellar experiences with drug store brand meters with the word "True" in their name (e.g. "True Test" True2go" etc).....they tend to give lower readings than is actually the case and can make you think kitty is doing great when really the BG is still too high. You might already know this, but just wanted to mention it in case you didn't! How fabulous that your baby is so close to OTJ right when you start out! :-D
(You're doing great so far!)
 
Good Morning All

I am using an Alpha Trak meter but will be purchasing the Walmart Relion soon because the Alpha Trak strips are like a tank of gas.

So for those of you who know what my vet has been saying about not giving insulin until 300 BG this is why. Apparently Rylee is super sensitive to the insulin and at .5U she tanked at the vet during a curve and even after glucose she was still really low. I don't have the figures yet but will today. Rylee has no other underlying issues so the vet feels comfortable with BG's 100-300. Rylee's BG have been below that but I will probably give insulin if it reaches 275. My vet works with a diabetic vet herself so I have to trust her treatment for now. However if Rylee consistently stays close to 250's I will reevaluate. My meter said her average for the last 14 days was 183. I think that's pretty good. I am also wondering if changing her diet again will help her. The Hills MD has like 14 carbs; maybe I will give her the Authority canned Turkey & Giblets I am now giving my other cats.

Any thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated.
 
A quick update - spoke with vet yesterday and she gave me the readings from the last curve done at the vet and this is why she won't start up Rylee's insulin yet.

11:10 am = 387
11:30 am - dosed .5u (Rylee wouldn't eat of course, she was at vet)
12:30 pm - 311
2:30 pm - 271
4:30 pm - 126
6:30 pm - 81
8:00 pm - 73 - gave her .25ml of dextrose and syringe fed 1/2 can of food
8:45 pm- 101
10:00 pm - 124 - after eating some more food

She consider Rylee to be super sensitive to the insulin and "MIGHT" start back at .5U once a day if she remains close to 300 for much longer. As you can see by her stats she doesn't know where she wants to be.
 
My feeling is that if the numbers are too low or your not comfortable, then the dose gets adjusted. IMHO, you'd be better served starting the dose at 0.25u twice a day and working your way up. We do have some cats who need micro-doses of insulin. FWIW, some cats respond to stress with a drop in BG numbers which may be what happened when the vet was doing the curve.

What constitutes Rylee's numbers "tanking?" Again, IMHO, numbers in the 20s or 30s (on a human glucometer) constitute tanking. Numbers above 50 aren't a problem. I am concerned that your vet's recommendation about when to dose is putting your cat's kidneys and other organs at risk to say nothing of causing glucose toxicity. Rylee's numbers are in the diabetic range and keeping them in that range isn't doing your cat any favors. Rylee's numbers did drop into dose reduction range (i.e., below 80) when she was at the vet's office. What that means is the dose needed to be reduced not that your cat was in a hypoglycemic crisis. The 73 at the vet's office is roughly the equivalent of a 43 on a human meter.

Vets are often very cautious about telling you to shoot. They are not used to having people who will home test or can manage the numbers with food. Frankly, when the vet gave dextrose, we would have suggested a teaspoon of high carb food and, chances are, Rylee would have been fine.

Also, let me suggest you start a daily thread (aka "condo") for Rylee.
 
My cat bailey is one of those cats sienne is talking about.

Without insulin He lost so much weight, was peeing incessantly, wasnt cleaning himself, was so weak he could barely walk. But he rarely went over 300 without the insulin, but that was obviously still too high.

We tried him on 0.5units and he had a hypo. We tried 0.25units and he dropped to 19 .. Another hypo. My vet said to take him off the insulin again and we tried but he got sick again. So he now gets literally two small drops twice daily. At one point he was only getting one drop.. Which is maybe 1/3 of 0.25units!

Sometimes they need small doses. And it is possible even though your vet might not get it.

Have you made the switch to all low carb canned yet? With rylee that might be all it takes to get those numbers down all the time!!
 
Well I purchased the Relion and used it today for the first time. Don't know what happened by the Relion was 100 points lower than the Alpha Trak. Did the test at the same time with both machines :(
 
The alphatrack claims to be keyed for pets; relion is coded for humans. Experience shows the AT runs about 40 points higher than human meters, more so at higher numbers. (keep in mind the 20% variance meters are allowed to have to be billed "accurate"; higher number equates to higher variance.) I wouldn't worry too much. It doesn't matter which meter you use, as long as you use the same one & don't mix & match. Remember, you're focusing on trends, not individual numbers.
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the only time you really need to be concerned is if you see a low number. Whether it's a 350 or a 450, you'd still give insulin. When you get down to 50, then you want to make sure your meter is close to the mark. From what I have read here, the variance between AT meters and human meters is less the lower the numbers are.

I know that when people follow the Lantus tight regulation protocol, a cat will have the dose reduced when they see a low nadir. For those using human meters, the line for the automatic dose reduction is 50. If they use an AT meter, the line is 80. So most people figure a 30 point difference between the two in the low ranges. I know that one of the first things my vet told me, when she told me to buy a relion meter, was "keep in mind, that number you get is going to be 30 points or so less than "reality". Of course, reality depends on your point of view. To my vet, the Alpha Trak was "reality". To me, what my relion micro said was the reality.
Carl
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So confusion has set in again as well as frustration. Rylee doesn't like being cooped up in my room to do the glucose strips and when she did pee she missed the little squares. So that was a waste. I have tried 2x to test her today and got no blood. What the heck!!!

Then these meters....if the Relion is showing 160 but the Alpha Trak 260 how can I give her a proper dose of insulin (when and if she goes back on it)?

I have been doing more research on the food and the MD she is currently on has 46-Protein/41-Fat/14-Carbs. I am thinking of switching her to the other cats wet food Authority which has 34-protein/59-fat/7-carbs. Is that enough protein and is that too much fat??? Although Rylee could afford to put on some weight for sure.

Help, I am still unsure of my course of action here and I know you all say she needs insulin but please understand my concern about going against her vet. Her vet is in her 30's and I would assume would have the latest info on board.

I watch her play and act her old self and I never see her visit the water bowl anymore.
 
Hey there

I hated those strips so I went and bought ketodiastix. They do the same but also test for ketones which is good because if you get ketones it's a bad thing. Anyway what I do is I wait till my boys go pee and then I take 1 tablespoon of peed on litter (it has to be non clumping for this to work) and mix with the same amount of water and dip the stick in. And then I multiply the results by two. Before you do this though you need to buy non clumping litter and test the clean litter with fresh water to make sure you don't get a false positive.


Blood testing becomes easier over time. Relion is usually lower than the alphatrak at high numbers but when she goes low (like under 200) the meters start to match .. And it's low numbers that you worry about.

14% carbs is too much , you want under 10%.


Wendy
 
Wendy&Tiggy said:
Hey there

I hated those strips so I went and bought ketodiastix. They do the same but also test for ketones which is good because if you get ketones it's a bad thing. Anyway what I do is I wait till my boys go pee and then I take 1 tablespoon of peed on litter (it has to be non clumping for this to work) and mix with the same amount of water and dip the stick in. And then I multiply the results by two. Before you do this though you need to buy non clumping litter and test the clean litter with fresh water to make sure you don't get a false positive.

Where do you get the ketodiastix? Are they are a pharamcy??


14% carbs is too much , you want under 10%

What about the percentage of meat & protein?


Wendy
Click to expand...
 
Yep you get them at a pharmacy, even walmarts pharmacy does it. No prescription needed.
I don't worry about the percentage of fat and protein, I have enough to worry about with carbs and cost and I have to hope the food manufacturers know what they are doing with that at least.
 
Thought I would give a quick update and ask yet another question

Rylee's numbers appear to be dropping consistently. Check her stats. We are so amazed and hope it continues. She still hasn't been put back on her insulin and is doing really well.

My question is I have a bottle of Lantus that was used for 1 week. Can I sell it here? I paid $150 and would let it go for half the price. It's 1 month old now. Can anyone advise is this is ok to do? I have syringes also, have to check watch gauge. Only used probably 20 of 100, will give those away to who buys the Lantus. Just need to recoup some of this money back if possible. I have a feeling it was all a waste of money and maybe we just needed to see what the diet would do in the beginning

Thanks!!
 
Yay for Rylee going otj_icon

You can post about it on the Supply Closet board and/or the Lantus forum. As a warning, insulin isn't something that is particularly easy to ship so you might also want to ask about the best way of sending it to someone.
 
Keep it for now, she isnt out of the woods yet.. until you see numbers constantly 50-130 (for at least 10 days) I wouldnt count my chickens. Sorry for the downer. I am keeping my fingers and babies paws crossed though.
 
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