NEED DOSING HELP ASAP - New to Forum

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Wendy and Oliver

Member Since 2012
Good Morning...

Last night I introduced Oliver on the Health Board. His background story is long so I will not repeat it here. Didn't really expect to be needing advice so soon but Oliver's BG is 107 this morning so I don't know where to go from here. He has been on 2.5 u for the last 3 days. Previously to this morning he had been running in the 300's-400's again.

Here's a little background... Last Thursday his first reading of the day was 64 after having been on 3.5u for a couple of weeks. Oliver was alert and perky and not hypo by any means. He had a bit to eat and retested at 88. (The mornings prior he had been running in the low 300's.) So we skipped his am shot and his BG climbed steadily all day. By the time he was to get his pm shot he was 555. The vet had me reduce him to 3u at that time.

The next day...
7am... 261
Gave him 3u
1pm... 100
7pm... 262
Gave him 3u

The following day...
7am... 141
Skipped the injection because I couldn't reach my vet in time for advice and I would be away all day and unable to monitor Oliver. So of course his BG climbed all day. When I did finally hear from the vet she told me to drop him to 2.5u which is what he got that evening.

Since then his numbers ran high in the 300's-400's for the past two days. Now this morning we're seeing the 107. What should I do? I know if I don't shoot at all then we will keep bouncing all over the place... But I don't know what might be the right amount to give so he doesn't go hypo. I am trying to stick with my current injection schedule as I travel a lot and my cat sitter visits on a set schedule.

Need advice ASAP please about what to do this morning.
Thanks,

Wendy and Oliver
 
well he is definitely telling you that his current dose is too high....I haven't been over to health yet to check out his background....but if he was started at such a high dose and he was one of mine I would back the dose off to 1u twice a day and hold that for a week unless he gives you a very low number again. Then after a week run a curve (testing evry two hours from shot to shot) and see where you need to go with his dose then.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Thank you for your input, Mel. Oliver was started on 1 unit at the beginning of August. Every week or two after a curve the vet had me bump him up until we reached his all time high dose of 3.5u on September 2nd. Since then his numbers started dropping so we're working our back down in dosage again... 3u started on September 20, then 2.5 on September 22. Now we need to figure out what tonight's magic number should be. So far I have gotten suggestions of 1, 1.5 or 2. I guess we'll have to see what his numbers are for the rest of today and try to figure it from there.

Wendy
 
Hi. I agree with Mel 100% on this one, but please get some Ketosticks to check his fresh urine for ketones while you are lowering the dose. EDITED to add: However, I noticed that someone in TR suggested lowering the dose to 1.5u, and that also is a good possibility. You want to, in my opinion, watch very carefully for ketones, and make sure that your pet sitter will test for them every day. (End edit.)

What can happen is that a cat's dose might be raised too much too fast, and then he is over-dose. Even just the very last dose increase can be a little too much. When that happens you will see these low pre-shot numbers that you can't shoot, and of course, higher numbers throughout the rest of the day. (See Max's spreadsheet for an example.) Yo-yoing is not fun the cat or for you, huh?! I tried lowering the dose a little at a time with my cat, and I now wish I had dropped to 1 unit and started over with this dosing plan: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/SLGS.html. EDITED to add: HOWEVER, my cat never tested positive for ketones! (End edit.) You may want to print this out the Start Low, Go Slow page and show it to your vet?

If you need help figuring out how to catch fresh urine, please post. Oh, and you have to follow the instructions on the Ketosticks bottle exactly. You can get Ketosticks very inexpensively at any pharmacy in the diabetic supplies section.
 
VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO ALL ADVICE GIVERS:

1. Wendy is using an ALPHA TRAC which registers 20 to 30 points lower than a human meter. The 64 she got a few days ago was probably a 34 or a 44.

2. Her cat has tested positive for KETONES in the past as recently as about a week ago. He was treated for ketones in the pet hospital in the past, and he had low potassium, and pancreatitis at that time. Blood tests showed he was anemic and had elevated liver enzymes. (Wendy, did he ever get antibiotics after the pancreatitis test?)

3. He gets omeprazole and potassium every day. Wendy "had been giving daily subq fluids for a few weeks, then every other day for a couple weeks and now have tapered them off entirely. He is drinking a lot less and there are smaller and a lot fewer wet spots in the litter box too."

4. Oliver weighed about 9 lbs about a week ago. He had lost 4 pounds in 2 months and was down to 6.5 lbs. recently. Wendy "managed to pack 2.5 lbs back on him in the last two months."

5. Back in May of 2011 he started getting eruptions and scabs on his face and ears. It was determined that he had some kind of allergies and was given a prednisone injection. He got another prednisone injection after that, and he also got oral prednisone for about 11 months and then Atopica for about 2 and 1/2 weeks. (Wendy, did you stop the Atopia at that point?)

Wendy travels for work, but is also lucky enough to have a pet sitter who knows how to BG test and who works in her vet's office. However, her vet does think it is okay to shoot without testing! Wendy does not agree.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top