New Member - newly diagnosed Siamese

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Melissa Ellen

Melissa Ellen

Member Since 2022
So glad to have found this website! Wading my way through Feline Diabetes for Beginners - next the spreadsheet. Already gone through 1 full-on diabetic coma - with seizures. Horrific. Happened after vet doubled insulin dose. Sabiya's not doing too well today. Not drinking. Watching closely.

I have a question - rather than two large meals - of 3oz each - which are not finished, can I give 3 meals a day of about 1.5 ounces? Will that mess up insulin?

Did find out something helpful. Without insurance, you can use a Good Rx card to get a discount for Lantus Pen - that makes it cheaper than Vetsullin (horrible product) and it doesn't have to be refrigerated!
 
Melissa Ellen said:
can I give 3 meals a day of about 1.5 ounces? Will that mess up insulin?
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Yes with two qualifications. You do not want to feed 2 hours before AM and PM feeding/testing/shot. And you want to be consistent day to day except when an emergency prevents that.

Melissa Ellen said:
Did find out something helpful. Without insurance, you can use a Good Rx card to get a discount for Lantus Pen
Click to expand...
I use GoodRx all the time. Did you get real Lantus or glargine which is generic/biosimilar to Lantus? The biosimilar/generic glargine is a lot less expensive, especially w/GoodRx.
If the script says Lantus the pharmacist can substitute the biosimilar/generic with your agreement.
 
Welcome Melissa I see you have information when you tap on your profile that information needs to go in your signature, so sorry about what happened to your kitty, the vet doubling his dose was just crazy. Lantus has to be kept in the fridge all insulin's do. We keep them in the middle self . One pen of Lantus should last about 6 months depending on how many units you are giving
Humans using Lantus for themselves don't keep them in the fridge because they use them more often
Here is how to do it
If you can fill out what we call our signature that will be helpful,it's at the end of everyone's post in gray

To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine


We also use a spreadsheet to track our cats BG so we know how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping so we know when to either increase or decrease the dose
We adjust the dose by 0.25 units at a time . We don't adjust the dose by going by the Pre Shots

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers
I'll give you the link to set it up , if you have trouble just ask and we have a member who will gladly do it for you


You can look at any members spreadsheet to see what it looks like, it's at the end of everyone's signature just tap on it
 
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We never increase the dose by full units we increase by 0.25 units at a time.
We adjust the dose by how low the dose is taking our kitties not by the Pre Shot
Do you have the U-100 syringes with the half unit markings
We use the pens just like a vial, stick the syringe in the gray rubber stopper and draw out the insulin

We feed our cats the bigger meal at AMPS then smaller meals about 2 tablespoons @+2 ( 2 hours after giving insulin) then around @+4 ( 4 hours after giving insulin )
Same goes for the PMPS cycle
You just need to withhold feeding 2 hours prior to testing first thing in the AM and PM

The 5 pens will last about a year !
Just keep them in the fridge middle shelf ,they will have an expiration date on them
Its generic lantus

Generic lantus
https://www.goodrx.com/insulin-glargine?dosage=five-3ml-prefilled-pens-of-100-units-ml&form=carton&label_override=insulin glargine&quantity=1



I see some members will call CVS, Rite Aid, Costco, Walgreen's, to get the price for 5 pens

We use the pens just like a vial , just stick the syringe in the gray rubber stopper and draw out your insulin
Just take the cap off the pen and use a U100 syringes and pull the insulin out of the pen!
syringe-in-pen-pic-jpg.45006


Posted by another member
One members posted this
. I paid $175 for a box of 5 pens at Walmart pharmacy, but GoodRX coupon says you can get it for around $90 if you have a Rite Aid pharmacy near you.

The reason we don't use the needles that would go in the pens is because you can only dial the pens by whole units
With the U-100 syringes with half unit markings we can adjust by 0.25 units at a time

30-unit-insulin-syringe-markings.jpg
 
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It sounds like you and Sabiya had a rough start with her diabetes. I'm so sorry that happened.

Most of the members here feed their cats more than twice a day. In fact, we tend to encourage feeding several meals each cycle. It helps to provide a bit of a buffer during the active part of the cycle so numbers don't drop quite as quickly as then otherwise would. It also helps to not push the pancreas to work quite as hard all at once.

Much of the information that Diane provided can be found in this post on helping us to help you. It may be easier to keep track of the information when it's all in one place.
 
hi and welcome to the group. As others have said, almost everyone here feeds 3-4 times a day. Larger meals every 12 hours with the insulin shot, then a couple smaller meals usually within the first 6-8 hours of the insulin cycle.

[edit] btw Sabiya is a beautiful color point, looks like a Seal Point, yes? Two of my favorite cats of my entire existence were Seal Points, Rygel and Ziggy. RIP to them both.
 
Welcome to the FDMB. Ounce you get set up with a spreadsheet and signature I hope to see you on the lantus forum. Sounds like your cat had a symptomatic hypo. That’s why we mostly increase in .25 increments unless that’s not getting the job done. Did your vet mention ketones when diagnosed?

You do need to refrigerate lantus as then it lasts at least 5-6/months and for some even longer before losing potency. We use syringes instead of the pen to dose which is the only reason humans don’t refrigerate it.
 
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