New member 2/28/21 - I overdosed her already!

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Haleysmom

Haleysmom

Member Since 2021
Hi. I found out a few days ago that my cat, Haley, is diabetic. She’s 10 yrs old and is on Lantus. The instructions on the Insulin said to give her one unit. Stupidly, I gave her five units, in error. Last evening at 10 PM was when I gave her her first dose and then I gave her her second dose this morning at 10 AM, both at 5 units. Thank God, she’s fine. I received my Alphatrak2 Glucometer in the mail today. I tested her this evening and her number was 94. I had been having a conversation with some wonderful people on a Facebook group called Feline Diabetes. They told me not to give her her insulin shot tonight and test her again in the morning. I have NO IDEA of what I’m doing. They helped me realize that I gave her an overdose. I know how to give her a shot because I have to give my other shot cat a shot once a week, for something else, so I’m fine with that. I’ve learned how to use the glucometer. Now, I just have to understand how to regulate her, what signs to look for if she’s having a hypoglycemic episode/crashing and what to do about it, and just understanding all the numbers, in general. It seems so overwhelming and is such a huge responsibility. I’m one of those pet Mom’s that does take care of her fur babies. Whatever it takes to keep her/make her well, I’ll do it. This is just way over my head, right now. I know eventually I’ll get it and understand but I’m scared still that I won’t. I’m overwhelmed. Ty for being there!
 
Hi. We have Lantus Land.
Here you can read up on all You Need To Know info about Lantus, diabetes and bgs.
1. Read https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/
2. Read https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...-low-go-slow-slgs-tight-regulation-tr.210110/

Honestly you wouldn't know if she was fine on the 5 + 5 units, since they go into face, head, front paws severe cramping first with severe brain injuries, blindness and paralysings e.t.c.
Hope you gave her plenty plenty of free feeding high carb dry food and glucose to stave off the severe insulin hypo. If not, do.

Yes, take it slow from here. Do a simple day bg curve without any insulin at all first. Test bg pre a.m food time, then +3 hrs after morning a.m food time, and +6 hours and +9 hours after a.m food time, then at +12 hours before evening p.m food time.

You can set up a Bg Spreadsheet too. Instruction are in the first link above.
 
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I'm glad she's ok. I'll bet with this scare you won't make that mistake again. I'm glad your cat seems ok. I am really glad you are learning to test at home. Pretty soon it will routine.
 
sdirisio said:
Hi. I found out a few days ago that my cat, Haley, is diabetic. She’s 10 yrs old and is on Lantus. The instructions on the Insulin said to give her one unit. Stupidly, I gave her five units, in error. Last evening at 10 PM was when I gave her her first dose and then I gave her her second dose this morning at 10 AM, both at 5 units. Thank God, she’s fine. I received my Alphatrak2 Glucometer in the mail today. I tested her this evening and her number was 94. I had been having a conversation with some wonderful people on a Facebook group called Feline Diabetes. They told me not to give her her insulin shot tonight and test her again in the morning. I have NO IDEA of what I’m doing. They helped me realize that I gave her an overdose. I know how to give her a shot because I have to give my other shot cat a shot once a week, for something else, so I’m fine with that. I’ve learned how to use the glucometer. Now, I just have to understand how to regulate her, what signs to look for if she’s having a hypoglycemic episode/crashing and what to do about it, and just understanding all the numbers, in general. It seems so overwhelming and is such a huge responsibility. I’m one of those pet Mom’s that does take care of her fur babies. Whatever it takes to keep her/make her well, I’ll do it. This is just way over my head, right now. I know eventually I’ll get it and understand but I’m scared still that I won’t. I’m overwhelmed. Ty for being there!
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Hi. Ty fir your reply. Continuing on from the previous conversation. I took her glucose reading this morning it was 296. I was told by the feline diabetes group on Facebook that it would probably be high this morning. I did not give her any insulin. What should I do now?

I will go through all of the answers and information that you guys have given me. I’m just a little overwhelmed since I’m so new to this and it took me about 10 pricks to get a good drop a blood, at all.
 
Shirley, the warmer the ear, the easier it will bleed.
What you need is a rice sock. You get a small cotton sock, like a baby's sock, and fill it about halfway with uncooked rice. Tie it off or sew it shut and you have like a little rice bean bag. Toss that in the microwave for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds, enough to make it very warm but not enough to burn. Then use the sock to warm the ear. You can massage the ear or hold it against the ear or rub it back and forth but it'll bring the ear up to a lovely toasty temperature, and then poke.
 
If you don't already have them, using a larger gauge lancet is very helpful when first starting out. It takes a couple of weeks for the capillary bed in your cat's ear to better develop which will make it easier to get blood. You want a lance that's around 26 gauge. (The larger the number the thinner the lancet, or syringe for that matter.) Eventually, you'll be able to use a 29 or a 30 gauge lancet without a problem.

There is a ton of information in the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board.. Actually, there's an overwhelming amount of information there. It's a place to get started.

It will also be helpful if you can get started keeping a spreadsheet and putting some information in your signature. This post, on helping us to help you has all of the information on getting this set up. The spreadsheet will allow you to keep track of your test information and when you link the spreadsheet to your signature, we can follow along and offer feedback.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If you don't already have them, using a larger gauge lancet is very helpful when first starting out. It takes a couple of weeks for the capillary bed in your cat's ear to better develop which will make it easier to get blood. You want a lance that's around 26 gauge. (The larger the number the thinner the lancet, or syringe for that matter.) Eventually, you'll be able to use a 29 or a 30 gauge lancet without a problem.

There is a ton of information in the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board.. Actually, there's an overwhelming amount of information there. It's a place to get started.

It will also be helpful if you can get started keeping a spreadsheet and putting some information in your signature. This post, on helping us to help you has all of the information on getting this set up. The spreadsheet will allow you to keep track of your test information and when you link the spreadsheet to your signature, we can follow along and offer feedback.
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I was able to get it the first time! Warming up the sock with rice worked! She wasn’t happy but at least it didn’t take long. She’s at 356, up from 326 from 12 hours ago. Should I still give her the 0.5 you shot in a little bit?
 
sdirisio said:
Should I still give her the 0.5 you shot in a little bit?
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Yes, let's stick with the .5 dose for awhile until we know for sure what's going on. As you start to gather data by testing in between the shots, we'll start to get a better idea of how she's responding to the .5 dose.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Yes, let's stick with the .5 dose for awhile until we know for sure what's going on. As you start to gather data by testing in between the shots, we'll start to get a better idea of how she's responding to the .5 dose.
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I love this rice sock!!! Haley sat on my lap while I rubbed the top and bottom of her ear with the rice sock and she seemed to like it. Then she got antsy and hopped up on the back of the couch. I tried to get a sample and it took me two tries but I’m so pleased with that! She’s at 335 so I gave her the .5 dose. I’ll test her again in two hours.
 
We're only a couple of weeks ahead of you in terms of being new to this and we accidentally were too high in dosing as well - you can see our journey here. We would have good days and bad days with the testing until we switched to bigger lancets now it's rare that we have to try more than once.

Good luck - it's not a fun beginning but the people here are absolutely beautiful.
 
Ty so much for writing! Today is my 3rd day testing. It’s been going ok except for yesterday when I had to try 10 times in the morning and I think six times in the evening. Since I’ve been using the rice sock I’ve been getting it on the first try except for the one time she scooted away from me. All I had to do was get the blood drop! I’m using a 28 lancet. Ty! Good luck to you, too! I think this is the least fun I’ve ever had in my life. It’s so overwhelming and I’ve been in tears every day. Yes, everyone has been so nice and wonderfully patient!
 
sdirisio said:
Ty so much for writing! Today is my 3rd day testing. It’s been going ok except for yesterday when I had to try 10 times in the morning and I think six times in the evening. Since I’ve been using the rice sock I’ve been getting it on the first try except for the one time she scooted away from me. All I had to do was get the blood drop! I’m using a 28 lancet. Ty! Good luck to you, too! I think this is the least fun I’ve ever had in my life. It’s so overwhelming and I’ve been in tears every day. Yes, everyone has been so nice and wonderfully patient!
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Size 28 is what we're using. We were started with size 30 and 33. And yes, it was very overwhelming. Within a week or so you'll settle quite a bit more, and so will your cat. The learning curve is steep, but the scary part is really the first several days. At least it was that way for us. Now we still don't know much, but we're not panicking at every little thing. We're allowing him to be higher in his numbers for the next while as we slowly bring him down. So much easier than being afraid of hypo.
 
Hi! Today is a better day for me. I was trying to test her every two hours yesterday. At one point I had everything done except for getting that drop of blood and she scooted away and I couldn’t catch her. So that was a wasted one. I got the next 12 hours later. Then I wasn’t able to find her for the one after that and I did get one for the end of the day. Today it took two pokes but she’s such a good girl. I think she knows that I’m trying to help her. She cries but she stays for me, for the most part. I’m still overwhelmed about learning so much and such a quick period of time. Not to mention I have a 15-year-old kitty, to who has pancreatitis, hyper thyroidism and irritable bowel disease. He looks more frail every day. I have another kitty too and right now his health problems are behind him. He had stomatitis a couple years ago and I had to have his teeth surgically removed. But he’s thriving and he’s gorgeous! She’s still high, too. In the 300’s. I agree. It’s so much easier than worrying about hypo. I read that poem on here from the cat to the owner. I kept that in mind when I got up in the middle the night to check on her and she was just sleeping. I watch her like a hawk. It’s nice do you have someone to check in with that’s going through the same thing that you are. I’m sure everyone on here can understand what a mess we are. It’s a huge responsibility. Ty for writing me!
 
Hi Shirley!

I'd like to officially invite you over to the Lantus, Basaglar and Levemir forum. You'll get the most experienced help there since everybody uses the same type of insulin.

We generally start a new post every morning and in the subject line you put the date, cat's name and AMPS.....as the day goes on, you "edit" the subject line to add new test data. If you look at the forum, you'll see almost all the thread are done like that. It makes it easier for the people scanning the forum to see how each cat is doing.

If your post includes a question, you can use the ? prefix in the subject line. Once your question is answered, you can remove the ? by editing your original subject line to "no prefix".
 
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