Mr. Kitty, our new sugar baby. Home at last!

Meridith and Zeke

Meridith and Zeke

Member Since 2017
Hi,

We are going to pick up our new sugar baby tomorrow. Currently they have been giving him Vetsulin, and we are going to of course switch him to Levemir since it is better and it is what Zeke is also on. My question is this, should I start him at .25u or .5u on the Levemir? I will post what his current mommy sent me from his last visit at the vet on June 8th. They aren't testing at home, so we will be starting that immediately. They are also giving him the crap hills glucose management food, so another change coming for him.

Here is his story.
https://www.facebook.com/DiabeticCatsInNeed/photos/a.156034204426611/2631572953539378/

Info from his current mommy below.

On Saturday, June 8th, the Vet did a:
Fasting Blood Glucose - results were 430

On Monday, June 10th, the Vet did a:
1) Fructosamine Test - results were 392, the normal range is 300 - 400.
2) A Glucose Curve -- results are as follows

7:55 am, FBG - 439, fed 1/3 cup and given 8 units
9:55 am, BG - 183
Noon, BG - 65, fed 1/4 cup
2:15 pm, BG - 190
4:15 pm, BG - 365
5:30 pm, fed 1/3 cup and given 7 units

We continue to give him 7 units with his 5:00 am breakfast (1/3 cup food), NO Vetsulin with his 11:00 am lunch (1/4 cup food) and 7 units with his 5:00 pm dinner (1/3 cup food). Mr. Kitty does not like canned cat food so we feed him Hill's Glucose Management M/D dry cat food. He absolutely loves it!
 
OMG! I am soooooo delighted to know Mr. Kitty is going to have a loving experienced family to give him the life he deserves. He melted my heart when I saw him on DCIN FB and I am fighting back happy tears for him! And for you because he looks to be quite the lover boy!

golden-sparkle-firework-gif-pic.gif


Now on the insulin front, if he is currently on 7u of Vetsulin BID, you can't back him up that much and don't need to start as if he is a new diabetic. You take the dose of Vetsulin into consideration and use that as a baseline. If you back up at all, I think a 2u decrease at most, so a dose of 5u. That said, I've never seen a cat go Vetsulin to Levemir so others may have a better suggestion. Thoughts @Sienne and Gabby (GA) ?

I'm assuming it's going to take some time to get this fella to transition to a wet/Young Again diet but you don't want to lose any ground gained while you do the transition.
 
Tracey&Jones (GA) said:
Congratulations on your new addition and hope Mr. Kitty settles in nicely.
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Thank you!

MrWorfMen's Mom said:
OMG! I am soooooo delighted to know Mr. Kitty is going to have a loving experienced family to give him the life he deserves. He melted my heart when I saw him on DCIN FB and I am fighting back happy tears for him! And for you because he looks to be quite the lover boy!

Now on the insulin front, if he is currently on 7u of Vetsulin BID, you can't back him up that much and don't need to start as if he is a new diabetic. You take the dose of Vetsulin into consideration and use that as a baseline. If you back up at all, I think a 2u decrease at most, so a dose of 5u. That said, I've never seen a cat go Vetsulin to Levemir so others may have a better suggestion. Thoughts @Sienne and Gabby (GA) ?

I'm assuming it's going to take some time to get this fella to transition to a wet/Young Again diet but you don't want to lose any ground gained while you do the transition.
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I know the normal is Vetsulin to Lantis, but doing the Lev since Zeke is already on that. I am just worried that the 7u is already way too much considering they aren't home testing, so only numbers are while at the vet which is often higher then if he is at home. But you are correct in that I don't want to loose much ground. Plus, It was towards the end of April that he was dx'd, and to already be on that high of dose, seems to be a little fast to me.

It took me almost a full day to email them on Mr. Kitty. I just couldn't stop seeing his sweet little face, and with him being so close to me, the more I thought about it, then more I couldn't say no. So we are taking a 4 hour drive in the morning to meet them halfway. :D
 
What a sweet little kitty! He's been through so much, poor little guy. You're incredible people for doing this, giving him a loving forever home. Looking forward to seeing more of him and Zeke!
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Bless you for taking in Mr. Kitty. Those poor FIV+ kitties are often not adopted. There is one very close to me that I'd take in a heartbeat if not for the FIV+ but can't take any chances with my little girl and my middle child has a bit of a rough housing habit that just wouldn't be safe either.

On the insulin front, I see your point but his BG is liable to be elevated with all the new changes in his life for a few days at least. I might be inclined to keep him on the higher carb food while you make the transition to Lev because if the Vetsulin dose is too high, the higher carb is probably helping keep him stable. It's so hard to know with so little data but he looks to be getting a pretty typical Vetsulin curve on the 7u which I doubt would be the case if the dose is too high by any significant amount. That said, one day curves can be deceiving.
 
Sonia & Leo said:
What a sweet little kitty! He's been through so much, poor little guy. You're incredible people for doing this, giving him a loving forever home. Looking forward to seeing more of him and Zeke!
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Thank you!

MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Bless you for taking in Mr. Kitty. Those poor FIV+ kitties are often not adopted. There is one very close to me that I'd take in a heartbeat if not for the FIV+ but can't take any chances with my little girl and my middle child has a bit of a rough housing habit that just wouldn't be safe either.

On the insulin front, I see your point but his BG is liable to be elevated with all the new changes in his life for a few days at least. I might be inclined to keep him on the higher carb food while you make the transition to Lev because if the Vetsulin dose is too high, the higher carb is probably helping keep him stable. It's so hard to know with so little data but he looks to be getting a pretty typical Vetsulin curve on the 7u which I doubt would be the case if the dose is too high by any significant amount. That said, one day curves can be deceiving.
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Our guys are pretty gentle with their play fighting, so as long as everyone gets along, I am not seeing any problems with him being FIV+. That was part of why I couldn't say no, I knew it would be really hard for him to find a new home with both diabetes and FIV.

I won't be able to start the transition on food until next Tuesday when my order of young again comes in. I am going to have them only give half his normal dose in the morning before they leave since he might not each much after that and his first shot with us will be at 2am central time. We have Zeke on a 3/3 cycle and figured 2/2 would help us starting out, keep from giving the wrong dose lol. But anyways, with that late of shot, we will be able to hopefully get in a couple tests. Hopefully he won't be too stressed when he gets here, but you never know. If I get a test when we get home, I will post it here. With as fast acting as vetsulin is, and being stressed, might give a better idea of where to start on the dosing. They did say he rides really well, so he might not be stressed at all, would be a first with us for kitties lol.
 
Typically it's a direct, unit to unit switch from a short acting to long acting (Lantus or Lev) insulin. However, looking at the curve you posted, it looks like the nadirs on 7u of Vetsulin bring Mr. Kitty to a 65 and his fructosamine was in the normal range. In other words, there's a good chance he's spending a fair amount of time in green numbers on the 7u dose. Without more test data, I'd be conservative. I like the idea of a 5u dose of Lev. If numbers indicate more insulin is needed, we can always fast track the dose.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Looking forward to following Mr. Kitty's and your new journey! Safe travels! :D
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Thank you! Hopefully he won't mind testing. At least now that I have tested way more times then I could even count, I won't be nervous about it which would make him more nervous lol. All our kitties have been tested at this point, just to see how they would do. :smuggrin:

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Typically it's a direct, unit to unit switch from a short acting to long acting (Lantus or Lev) insulin. However, looking at the curve you posted, it looks like the nadirs on 7u of Vetsulin bring Mr. Kitty to a 65 and his fructosamine was in the normal range. In other words, there's a good chance he's spending a fair amount of time in green numbers on the 7u dose. Without more test data, I'd be conservative. I like the idea of a 5u dose of Lev. If numbers indicate more insulin is needed, we can always fast track the dose.
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Ok. I am going to have to get back into the habit of keeping the SS up to date again lol. I print sheets out and we put the test results on there since it is more then just me testing, then I will sit down once every couple weeks or so and enter them into the computer. Sometimes im way behind on entering them lol.
 
Bless you for taking that poor little fellow! What a kind and loving person you are to open your home and hearts to Mr. Kitty. I saw him on FB DCIN - and felt so badly for him. Looking forward to reading about his progress and hope to see some pics of him in his new home soon :) Sending hugs to you for your huge heart!:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Sue and Luci said:
Bless you for taking that poor little fellow! What a kind and loving person you are to open your home and hearts to Mr. Kitty. I saw him on FB DCIN - and felt so badly for him. Looking forward to reading about his progress and hope to see some pics of him in his new home soon :) Sending hugs to you for your huge heart!:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Thank you. Yes I will be posting updates. :)
 
Well..... Not having an up to date spreadsheet makes it very hard for the experienced people here to lend you a hand if you need help with dosing. I open a spreadsheet every single time I read the posts in someone's condo. I will rarely offer any suggestions without benefit of current numbers. Just my 2 cents.... (because I'd never want to make a suggestion that was based on limited information and potentially cause harm to your kitty).
 
Oh Meredith! Thank you so much for taking Mr. Kitty in. I too saw his DCIN post and I just wanted to scoop him right up and hug him. I was soo hoping someone would take him in. It makes me indescribably happy to see that you are that person and that I can follow his progress here. :cat:
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Well..... Not having an up to date spreadsheet makes it very hard for the experienced people here to lend you a hand if you need help with dosing. I open a spreadsheet every single time I read the posts in someone's condo. I will rarely offer any suggestions without benefit of current numbers. Just my 2 cents.... (because I'd never want to make a suggestion that was based on limited information and potentially cause harm to your kitty).
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Yep I know. We are home now with him and I have gotten a test in, which is +12 his AM shot of only 3.5U of vetsulin. He was only 303 after half his normal dose this morning and traveling for probably 8 hours total in a crate! He was able to eat the last half of the drive that was with us, so it isn't a fasting number either.

So should I do 5 U tonight of Levemir? or wait and see what his preshot number is? With them not doing home testing, going in blind on this since data is just now starting for Mr. Kitty.

Not letting me add an image, so here is a link to an image of him home at last! Mr Kitty
 
Here's my 2 cents...

I'd give your cat his last shot of Vetsulin tonight and start with Lev tomorrow. Sometimes, a cat will have a mark response (in other words, drop into low numbers) with a change in insulin. I suspect you'd much rather have a decent night's sleep than be trying to steer numbers tonight. Trying to shovel high carb food into a cat you barely know doesn't seem like the best way to welcome Mr. Kitty home.

 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Here's my 2 cents...

I'd give your cat his last shot of Vetsulin tonight and start with Lev tomorrow. Sometimes, a cat will have a mark response (in other words, drop into low numbers) with a change in insulin. I suspect you'd much rather have a decent night's sleep than be trying to steer numbers tonight. Trying to shovel high carb food into a cat you barely know doesn't seem like the best way to welcome Mr. Kitty home.
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Since I was changing him to Levemir, I didn't get the vetsulin from them. So thoughts?
 
Bless you Meridith for taking Mr Kitty. He is just adorable and such a tough little guy. He deserves a loving home.
I would drop the dose of levemir to at least 4 units, maybe 3.5 if he is only 303 from a half dose this morning.
 
He looks like a very sweet kitteh. He is so lucky to have you adopting him as new parents. I bet he will adapt quickly to your and your new home.:bighug:
 
Thanks everyone.

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Sorry -- I didn't log back in.

What did you do?
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I went ahead and did a bcs of 2u and then with his numbers raised him to 3u. After only 2 doses he hit a 70 preshot so went ahead and dropped him back to 2u. Tomorrow we are going to start transitioning to young again zero to get him on a better food, so even though he looks like he could be raised a little, figured I would wait til after we start the transitioning before making anymore dose changes since he is getting some yellows and most pinks are on the lower side.

Would have responded sooner but been busy.
 
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