? Need help please!

erika_tai

Member Since 2026
My cat was diagnosed with diabetes Wed Jan 21 2026. My cats vet and I are currently trying to figure out the best dosage of Lantus. I was instructed to give him ONE UNIT twice a day. I understand that a reading under '4' is the danger zone. His BG readings today are as follows:

Sat Jan24
12:30am BG 13.2
2:30am BG 11.0
1030am 11.0
10:45 Breakfast
11am INSULIN ONE UNIT
12:30pm 8.7
2:00pm 6.1
5:30pm 4.8
Eating 5:35pm
7:30pm 5.0
10:45pm 6.0

According to veterinary instructions, I should be administering ONE unit of insulin right now. However, a reading of 6.0 seems quite low, and I am hesitant to administer the insulin for fear of him dropping under 4. That being said, he has just started insulin and this is his only his fourth shot ever. I'm not sure if I will be messing up the insulin onboarding process. Does anybody have any advice for me? Is it safe to give a unit of insulin when the blood glucose reading is only out of six????
 
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I am brand new. I can't answer but if you have access to a virtual vet through insurance, they might be able to help. I have figo and they offer 24/7 vet help online. Sorry I can't help more than that.
 
Ahhhh thank you so much for the useful tip! I have done so.
I hope it helps. I don’t have much advice for you, I’m just started with lantus and figuring it all out.
I know a lot of times depending on what type of regulation your doing the folks here will recommend to stall for 30 minutes and check again for tight regulation or for go slow they say to skip a shot if below a certain number. I don’t want to give you bad advice, just know that it will probably be one of the two.
 
Hello and welcome. I've moved your post to the Feline Health forum, where we ask new people to post first. The Lantus forum is a busy one and we want people to have their spreadsheets set up before move to that forum. If you are comfortable with spreadsheets, the details on how to set up a spreadsheet are in this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Note, we also use dg/ml for blood sugar readings as most of the members, and the forum itself are hosted in the US. Having said that, some of us are from other countries and do "read" mmol/l. The spreadsheet actually does the conversions for. you.

To answer one of your questions, we suggest that new people do not shoot below 200 dg/ml or 11.1 mmol/L. So you have good instincts. Whether 4.0 is "too low" depends on a few things. First of all, the type of blood glucose meter you are using for testing and second the dosing method you are following. It is rather low for someone so new to Lantus and feline diabetes and best to start with a lower insulin dose then work your way up if needed.

If you have half unit marked syringes (if not, get some), you might want to try a 0.5 unit dose in the morning.
 
Hello and welcome. I've moved your post to the Feline Health forum, where we ask new people to post first. The Lantus forum is a busy one and we want people to have their spreadsheets set up before move to that forum. If you are comfortable with spreadsheets, the details on how to set up a spreadsheet are in this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Note, we also use dg/ml for blood sugar readings as most of the members, and the forum itself are hosted in the US. Having said that, some of us are from other countries and do "read" mmol/l. The spreadsheet actually does the conversions for. you.

To answer one of your questions, we suggest that new people do not shoot below 200 dg/ml or 11.1 mmol/L. So you have good instincts. Whether 4.0 is "too low" depends on a few things. First of all, the type of blood glucose meter you are using for testing and second the dosing method you are following. It is rather low for someone so new to Lantus and feline diabetes and best to start with a lower insulin dose then work your way up if needed.

If you have half unit marked syringes (if not, get some), you might want to try a 0.5 unit dose in the morning.
Thank you ever so much for all of this useful information 🙏. I will take a better look around the site today to understand how best to operate within it.
 
Welcome. If you need help setting up your spreadsheet we have people more than happy to help you. Please set up a signature and directions can be found in the sticky that Wendy linked. It’s most important to know what you are feeding and the type of meter you are using, human or pet.
 
Welcome. If you need help setting up your spreadsheet we have people more than happy to help you. Please set up a signature and directions can be found in the sticky that Wendy linked. It’s most important to know what you are feeding and the type of meter you are using, human or pet.
Thanks very much, I'll do that! I appreciate the helpful guidance 🙏
 
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