New member low numbers

[Alice22]

Hi everyone,
My cat was diagnosed two weeks ago. At the time he was eating only dry food (Hills CD for urinary issues). He is 12 years old and had lost quite a bit of weight, excessive water consumption and lameness in back legs. We have been blind dosing due to not being able to get supplies delivered. He's been receiving 1unit of Lantus 12hrly. The vet wasn't overly helpful and initially told us not to make any changes to his diet however, we felt we could start making gradual moves towards a low carb diet. He's now been low carb only for a week. Today I finally got the home testing supplies and tested him for the first time prior to feeding. He was 3.2 on the Abbott Freestyle Lite. I was under the impression that this number is a 'normal' reading. Am I still supposed to administer insulin? Could this be signs of needing to reduce dosage or stop insulin completely? How often should I be testing and at what point would I start reducing the dose? I will make an appointment with a new vet but I would feel better if I were armed with some stats or readings prior to going in.
Thanks everyone!

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Sore, I’m not familiar with pet meter/Libre numbers. Did the vet do a fructosamine test? Is that how the diabetes was diagnosed? The good news is that Lantus is a great insulin for cats and 1 unit is a good starting dose. Let’s wait for others to chime in.

you want to test before each shot making sure he hasn’t eaten at least 2 hours prior to the test. Then you want to do a few spot checks throughout the day to find his nadir. You can try +4 or +5,+6. It’s also always good to do a +2 after the evening shot.

Lastly, you may want to post this on the Lantus forum to get more eyes on it. Copy the post or the link to it.

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

What’s your cat’s name btw?

I would also recommend you set up a spreadsheet so that we can see the data and can help you with dosing, and a signature. This will appear below all your posts. Also I would recommend strongly setting up a hypo kit if you have not already done so
HELP US HELP YOU
This link has the spreadsheet , signature and hypo kit and other information for new members.

Lantus is a depot insulin. Information about the DEPOT

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I would encourage you to lower the dose for now. Most of the members here do not use mmol/L as their measurement. You need to multiply the number you get on your meter by 18 to convert to convert to the measurement system used in the US. So, your cat's blood glucose reading was 58. While that is in the normal range, it's in the low end of the normal range. Depending on when in the cycle you got that number, you may need to re-think what to do going forward. If you tested right before shot time, Lantus starts to work about 2 hours after you give a shot. The low point in the cycle is about 6 hours after you shoot (give or take). So it's important that you keep testing. Most members who are new to managing their cat's diabetes would not risk shooting that low of a number until they are more experienced. No doubt the change in food is having an effect but we don't want your kitty's numbers to drop too low.