Need Info about Timing Affecting Glucose Levels

[Casey Warner]

Let's say that I always feed Brownie the same food, at the same amount at the same time of day everyday. Would the time that I shoot the insulin affect the glucose levels? Like would shooting at say 6/6 affect it differently than shooting at 8/8? Would it affect it to the point of needing 0.50U if doing 6/6/ vs. maybe needing 1U if doing 8/8? Or is that not how the insulin (Lantus) works?

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

HI.......Lantus is a 12hr insulin which means each 12 hrs you shot the required dose. It does not matter what time you pick as long as you are consistent. However, when it comes to feeding you want to make sure that Brownie does not get any food 2 hrs prior to the shot (injection). Therefore you need to time your feeding/shooting as to what works best for you. I was using the 9/9 for Davidson since I was up at 5am and fed him and was able to remove any leftover food. Since it's summer, adn sometimes Davidson behaves with this numbers and lets me golf - I am at 5:30 each 12 hrs as we've slept all night (sometimes) and just wake up, test, shoot and feed and no need to remove anything since he's not had anything for several hours.

Lantus is a depot insulin so you need to find the dose and stay with it until such time as increases or decreases are warranted - nothing to do with food. Hopefully you are feeding FF LC only

 

[Casey Warner]

Well... I'm not sure I'm understanding this correctly. I'll try to be more specific with my question.

So let's say that I always feed Brownie the Sheba pate wet food at 6:30 am, 9:30 am, 10:30 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm, 6:30 pm, 9 pm, 10:30 pm, 12:30 am, and 1 am.

Would testing and shooting at 6/6 vs. 8/8 or 11/11 affect how much insulin she needs? Or is that always going to be the same no matter what? Or is that the whole point of curve testing? If food makes the glucose go up, then it seems like the preshot numbers would be drastically different based on the time of feeding and shooting.

I suppose I'm trying to figure out why I'm seeing a rise in glucose. Did the insulin go bad after one month (I keep it in the fridge), does the food have more carbs than what is on that food list, is Brownie extra sensitive to carbs and need food with very low carbs, is she getting into more dry food than what I think she is (the other cats will literally eat objects in the house if there is no dry food - they're demonic a-holes), am I giving her too much wet food, does she have a more serious problem than just diabetes (Cushing's), is something seriously wrong with her pancreas?

Unfortunately, the shooting schedule got off about two hours in late June and that's when things started going downhill. So I'm trying to get back to that schedule and start from there. Of course, that's also around the time her appetite improved so maybe I was feeding her too much. And I also switched foods to primarily Sheba pates from Friskies, Fancy Feast, Paws & Claws, and 4health. I need to figure this out and the vet is of no help. She just doesn't understand that I don't have to give insulin in whole units and that sometimes an OTC diet is better than a prescription diet.

This just stinks because I don't have time now to do a lot of research on diabetes and insulin. Bad time of year. I guess I just need to come up with a feeding schedule, count calories, and stick to it.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Would testing and shooting at 6/6 vs. 8/8 or 11/11 affect how much insulin she needs?

No. The timing of food may impact the speed of drops in the curve, or how fast she rises at the end of the curve, but not the dose. As a general guidelines, it's best to feed the majority of the food in the first half of the cycle before nadir. Any carbs given later in the cycle as the insulin is waning, can put the brakes on the insulin action and cause her to lose duration, resulting in higher preshot numbers. If your cat is one that likes to drop a lot at onset, giving her some carbs just before then can help slow those drops. Fast drops can cause bounces, so it's good to try to prevent that.

is she getting into more dry food than what I think she is

That has been the downfall of many a caregiver. Are you giving lower carb dry food to the others?

I can't see any spreadsheet data after July 7th so can't make any suggestions on dose. All the tabs seem to be on one page.