My John is new to insulin...

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darlingjohn

Member Since 2014
My cat, John, started his Lantus (thanks to Venita @ Diabetic Cats in Need!!!!) about 2.5 weeks ago. His numbers were in the high 500s when I started him. He was also losing weight at a rapid pace and was starting to get the peripheral neuropathy in his back legs. He was having trouble going up and down the stairs even. He was always a big cat but got down to 7 lbs at his sickest.

I started him on 1U at first even though his prescription was for 2U. I was nervous to give him so much. After much testing and seeing that his numbers baaaaarely dropped, I upped it to 1.5U. He is doing much better now but is still somewhat all over the board as far as his numbers. I will up it to the 2U after a while if need be. He has already gained 1 lb and is RUNNING up and down the stairs and jumping onto the counter tops (not the best thing in the world but I am happy he is able to!) The only thing that is so frustrating right now is that he is totally ravenous for food. I feed him his fancy feast 4 times per day and if I leave the house and there is any way he can get into ANY food, he does it. I came home the other day and he had gotten into the lazy susan and ripped open the flour, sugar, brown sugar, coffee filters, bread, etc. It was a disaster. He also tries to get into things during the night and I have to stop him. What can I do for this?! have to block cupboards and make sure the trash is hidden and all food is put away. Even then he opens the silverware drawer and jumps onto everything just searching for food. I I am happy that he looks so healthy and is so active again but he is constantly trying to find food like he is starving to death. Needless to say, after that mess, his BG was through the roof!! Any suggestions!? I will post some examples of his numbers:

Before breakfast: 434 (lantus injection)
Before lunch: 492
Before dinner:380
Before Bed: 400 (lantus)


Before breakfast: 570 (lantus)
Before dinner: 491
Before bed: 313 (lantus)
2 hours later: 191

Breakfast: 478 (lantus)
Lunch: 85!! What in the world?!
Bedtime: 547

See! It's all over the place!! I get frustrated and do try to keep it as consistent as possible. I fed him this evening and his BG was 567! I gave him his lantus and he has calmed down already but was just on the counters as I was typing this. Help! Thank you, all!!
 
Hi and welcome!

I want to first apologize because I'm on my phone so It will be difficult to link to everything and I might miss some points in your post. Hopefully, you'll get a few more replies to make up for what I miss. ;-)

It's fantastic that you're testing his BGs at home! I'm a little concerned with the 85 at lunch the one day. How long after his shot was that number and what glucometer are you using? I have a feeling that even the 1u might b a tad too much and he might be dropping lower than that 85. That would explain his ravenous hunger because they will usually search out food if their numbers are dropping too low. There's also the possibility that you're just not feeding him enough for the time being. Newly diagnosed cats are usually starving due to their bodies being unable to properly process nutrients from food. What foods are you currently feeding him? Some people report that their cats need up to 50% more food at first.

You've found a fantastic resource and we'll be able to help you figure out the steps to this new sugar dance that you're learning. :-D
 
Hi John's caregiver and sugardude John and welcome to the message board. Would you share your first name with us?

Before breakfast: 434 (lantus injection)
Before lunch: 492
Before dinner:380
Before Bed: 400 (lantus)


Before breakfast: 570 (lantus)
Before dinner: 491
Before bed: 313 (lantus)
2 hours later: 191

Breakfast: 478 (lantus)
Lunch: 85!! What in the world?!
Bedtime: 547
Click to expand...

Would you please put some dates and times to go with these BG numbers you gave us?

Since we all live in different time zones and eat and go to bed at different times, we have come up with our + hour numbering system to level out the playing field and let us all talk in the same terminology. For example, we call the morning test the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) and the evening test the PMPS (evening pre-shot test) The test times after that are all expressed in number of hours since the shot was given. So if before dinner was 6 hours after the AMPS, it's a +6, if 8 hours after the AMPS, it's +8, etc.

For now, if you could list the numbers like this, putting in your actual elapsed or + hours, that would help us.
1/xx/14 AMPS 478 1.5U +4 85 PMPS didn't get 1.5U +3 547

Also, there is a great color coded spreadsheet we use, and here are the instructions on how to set that up. The one step the instructions are missing, is you need to change the share options to "'Anyone with the link" to let us view the SS (spreadsheet).

That would help us a lot.
 
Lantus is a depot insulin. This means it builds up effectiveness over time. My guess is that when you hit 3 days at the most recent dose of 1.5 units, you might have seen evidence that it was really starting to kick in.

You have to wait a minimum of 3 days now that you're past the first dose level, and get mid-cycle tests around +5 to +7 hours after the shot to evaluate safety (no lower than 50 mg/dL) and effectiveness (nadir or lowest glucose below 150 mg/dL).

If a diabetic's glucose level drops very quickly, or drops to an unfamiliar lower value (even if safe), the body may react by releasing compensatory hormones which allow stored sugar (glycogen) to enter the bloodstream and be converted into glucose. When this happens, you may see a low test value followed by relatively much higher values for up to 3 days. Never increase a dose based on a pre-shot glucose level when using Lantus or Levemir.

Sometimes whn you change a dose, the cat may react with unanticipated higher numbers. This can be "New Dose Wonkiness" and just requires waiting a couple days for it to settle down.
 
Hi extra sweet John and John's extra sweet Bean!

I haz a feeling that 85 was a 'hokey pokey'.....too big of dive and zoom in a short time for it to be right. If sweet boy were mine, I would have tried again when I got that big of a difference....but then I'm a testaholic...one of my sugarboyz require it.

BIG HUGS and WELCOME AGAIN!
 
For the hunger, I would suggest feeding him a bit more than usual. While John is in the process of getting regulated, his body does not use food as efficiently. Thus for a normal, well regulated diabetic cat, 200 - 300 calories/day may be sufficient, however, for a newly diagnosed cat, John may need 300-400 calories a day until his BG is under control.

Gus had this problem at first. I purchased a 'Knock out Nibbler' toy from Target that is basically a wobble toy with a small hole in the side. I put some low carb treats in it before leaving for work and before bed. Gus would bat it around and every so often a treat would fall out. This kept him occupied and kept him from getting too hungry between meals.

Liz

*edited for spelling
 
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