Murphy's Diabetic Info

[Martie L]

I am sorry for just jumping right in without giving any info on Murphy. Murphy is a Mainecooc mix and his last weight as 19.4 pounds, which the vet said was pretty good for him. I has been just about a year Murphy was diagnosed with diabetes. We have always been giving Lantus Insulin since we started giving him shots. When he was first diagnosed I started our giving 2 units twice a day and within a month went up to three and than another month we went up to 4.5 units twice a day for the past 6 to 8 months. It has only been a month since we started Murphy on soft food all the time, he still gets treats but is not free fed dry food anymore. Murphy was on Kitten Chow for months before the vet told us to go to Catinfo.org to switch him to wet food all the time. Since we have been giving him only wet food and treats at night his BG levels have been between 85 and the highest 120, these were all vet check levels. I have noticed since he started wet food however, he lays around more really does not want to play much, he is 10 and really does not play like a kitten but likes to play at times, but really seemed almost depressed. After reading everything here I began thinking I was overdosing him on his insulin. I did not give him any insulin tonight as hi BG was only 85. My vet is so dead set on me doing home testing and feels I need to bring him in every two week to be tested, but, what bothers me about that is I bring him in four hours after his shot and after he eats, so how accurate is the BG test at that point? I really appreciate all the help everyone is giving us and hope I am doing what is best for my Murphy! Thank you all sooo much!!
Martie and Murphy

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Here is your other post today.http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/starting-bg-testing-today-update.150028/

As the other mentioned there, with the transition to an all wet food diet, his insulin needs have probably dropped. I would drop his dose, at least one unit.

We determine whether a Lantus dose is a good one for a cat by how LOW it takes the cat. The low point, or nadir, is typically somewhere between 4 and 7 hours after shot time, so taking him to the vet 4 hours later for a test would be a valid time. However, many cats experience stress going to the vet that can really inflate the numbers. You don't want to dose based on stressed blood sugar numbers, which is why we recommend home testing. My diabetic cat once tested over 220 at the vet, and 53 at home the next day. Your vet also makes more money when you take Murphy in to see him. Just tell the vet you can't afford to keep taking him in so you have to home test. And keep doing those tests somewhere in the middle of the cycle to see how he's doing.