New member starting Lantus tomorrow, last-minute question

U

user47045

Member Since 2026
Beau's previous thread

Beau is going to start Lantus tomorrow morning. His BG was 223 when last tested this morning, so the doctor would like to start Beau on just 1 unit, 1x a day. However, I've been reading about Lantus and I understand that it should be given 2x a day because it's much faster-acting in cats than humans.

Should I still plan to give him just 1 unit in the morning/all day? Or should I give him .5 and the other .5 12+ hours later? Does it depend on what his testing numbers are? I'm so stressed, I have been preparing for days to start his insulin treatment and finally felt ready until about an hour ago when I stumbled across this fact about Lantus.
 
I see no one has responded yet, and I am not the person to give advice, as i am new here myself.

If you edit your post title to include the question mark at the beginning, it's under the drop down arrow, maybe someone will notice. You could also tag one of the experienced members who responded to you earlier. I think you do that my putting an @ sign then their name,

Good luck.
 
Hi! I will say I am a newer member, and I don't generally give dosing advice, but you are correct that Lantus should be given 2x a day (at 12 hr intervals specifically), not once daily.

What I personally did is select the protocol from here that fit me best and got started there. I'm doing SLGS, so that means starting with .5u.

You do sometimes have to take what the vet says with a grain of salt; the vet recommended starting Crowley on 2u 2x a day and never mentioned hometesting to me until I brought it up and said hey I want you to walk me through this. Giving him 2u 2x a day without testing (or not testing in general) would have been a disaster.

I did just also want to mention that I tried pulling up your SS to see if you had selected a protocol, and it said access denied. You do need to select publish to web and make sure you select that anyone can view it. Steps 5-7 here~

More experienced ppl will be through during the day! But good luck! I promise that it does get easier! The first time I was so nervous I was gonna mess it up or that he'd hate me for giving him shots, and now I don't even sweat giving him his shot and he loves shot time. 🥰🥰🥰
 
The Accu-Chek Softclix pen doesn't work. I lanced Beau's ear by hand and fed the blood into the glucose strip/meter and nothing happened. This is day one and I am losing my mind.
 
Hey I’m sorry that you haven’t gotten a response. Most people start their cats on 1u 2x a day on Lantus. Lantus has a duration of 12 hours so 1x will not be sufficient.

I noticed your SS isn’t set to allow other people to see without permission. You’ll probably want to change that for better dosing advice :)

You can always use “?” by the title and use “dosing review” in the title to ask someone experienced to prioritize the thread.

Testing can be really tough and frustrating. I cried a lot when I first started trying to test but it gets much much easier with time and now it’s just a part of our regular routine.

I’m sure you’ve seen this but resharing in case helpful - Info - TESTING AND SHOOTING TIPS

For me personally warming Moonie’s ears with a hand warmer, rice sock in microwave, or even my hands was the biggest game changer. I also started out using 28g and realized I needed 26g to get any blood at first. Your cats’ ears will learn to bleed better with time and we’re now at 28g. Many people here freehand but I don’t because I didn’t feel comfortable. I use a pressure activated lancet like this one. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AAW9DRS?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

You may also find that one ear bleeds much better than the other.

Finally, we started out on the AlphaTrak. It’s very expensive and it sucks buying the strips but it requires less blood than the human meters so in the worst case, if it works for you financially, it could be something you consider.
 
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I warmed his ears, we got blood, it's not working. I don't know what to do. He's really upset. I don't know if I should feed him or what, I can't keep poking at his ears.
 
It's the CVS Advanced Blood Glucose Meter. I'm not getting an error message, more like I fed the blood into the strip and nothing happened. The screen did not change. I already cleaned up the blood from before so if I try again I'll need to draw more blood.

It seems almost impossible that both the pen and the reader are faulty, I just bought them. I have to be doing something wrong but I have read every instruction backward and forward at this point.
 
MyBeau💚 said:
It's the CVS Advanced Blood Glucose Meter. I'm not getting an error message, more like I fed the blood into the strip and nothing happened. The screen did not change. I already cleaned up the blood from before so if I try again I'll need to draw more blood.

It seems almost impossible that both the pen and the reader are faulty, I just bought them. I have to be doing something wrong but I have read every instruction backward and forward at this point.
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Have you tried using your own blood? Does it work for you if you poke yourself?

Sorry I don’t use that one so I’m not as familiar with what might be going wrong :(
 
The only thing I will say is for the meters I’ve used - if you feed the blood in too early, it will give off an error message. So you might want to confirm that you’re waiting for the appropriate moment before you put the blood on the strip.

Usually the biggest sources of meter error for me were not enough blood, feeding blood too early or too late.
 
Connie & Parker & Moonie said:
The only thing I will say is for the meters I’ve used - if you feed the blood in too early, it will give off an error message. So you might want to confirm that you’re waiting for the appropriate moment before you put the blood on the strip.

Usually the biggest sources of meter error for me were not enough blood, feeding blood too early or too late.
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I'm sorry, I don't understand. What is feeding it too early?
 
MyBeau💚 said:
I'm sorry, I don't understand. What is feeding it too early?
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At least for the AlphaTrak and the contour you have to wait to put the blood on the strip. The AlphaTrak’s screen has to turn and show a blood drop before you put the blood on the strip, and the contour has to beep and turn on to a specific screen to indicate it can accept blood. It’s not like a huge long wait, but you can’t just turn it on and immediately put the blood drop on the strip.
 
Oh yeah, the CVS meter has that too. But I just fed my own blood into the strip/meter and nothing happened.

I don't know what to do.
 
MyBeau💚 said:
Oh yeah, the CVS meter has that too. But I just fed my own blood into the strip/meter and nothing happened.

I don't know what to do.
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Ok I guess the meter is malfunctioning? I’m really sorry.

Any chance you could run out and get another meter or get one delivered asap?

You can give your shot up to 2 hours delayed and then work your way back 15 minutes a day to get back to your regular time. More than that I think you’re supposed to skip.

I can’t give dosing advice so if you can’t get the number it’ll have to be your call. Normally for most diabetics it’s safe to give a half dose since hospitals will tell you to give a half dose even when your cat is fasted. With your cat though, this is a new dose so it’s hard to say how the 1u will affect him.

Does your cat have a history of DKA? That also would make it more dangerous to skip.
 
No, no DKA.

Since he's never had insulin before, it's not like we're skipping a dose, more like delaying his start date. He was diagnosed around 9/15, however, and I worry I'm taking too long to start. I did everything possible to get ready, I can't believe this is happening.
 
MyBeau💚 said:
No, no DKA.

Since he's never had insulin before, it's not like we're skipping a dose, more like delaying his start date. He was diagnosed around 9/15, however, and I worry I'm taking too long to start. I did everything possible to get ready, I can't believe this is happening.
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I’m very sorry. This must be really frustrating and stressful.

I’m too new to be giving advice, but if it were my cat, I would skip this dose and go out to get a new meter. Most people here use Relion from Walmart or Contour Next Gen. And I would test the meters on myself before you need to test him for the pm shot.

If he doesn’t have a history of DKA, I personally think it’s always better to err on the side of safety.
 
I used the SoftClix device. Have you tried all of the depth settings? is the lancet inserted correctly. It is very easy to place the device on the ear and have the hole where the lancet pokes out of just off to the side of the ear so you're just hitting air. Move the device a little further onto the ear. The SoftClix used to have a clear cap so you could see where you are poking. There are lancet devices with clear "alternative test site caps you can buy.

Tip: insert the test strip only partway into the meter, just far enough so that it holds in place but doesn't turn the meter on. Get your cat's ear ready by warming it up well. Poke to get blood. Push the test strip all the way into the meter to turn it on. When you see the ready for blood icon (see the manual for what that looks like it), touch the edge of the test strip to the drop of blood and let the blood completely fill the strip. Set the meter aside to do it's thing while you reward the cat. You can't put blood on the test strip first and then insert it into the meter.
 
I've tried the SoftClix on every setting, and the lancet is inserted correctly. I have read the directions thoroughly and watched several videos about the pen, nothing comes out of the hole in the cap, even on 5. I've thrown out at least a dozens lancets testing this thing.

The strip was in the meter when I fed it a good amount of Beau's blood. The blood icon had already appeared. Nothing happened. I tried again with a new strip and my own blood and nothing happened. I am not putting blood on the strip and then sticking it in the meter.
 
The lancet comes out so fast that you won't see it. Try poking a piece of paper or piece of cardboard. You should see a teeny hole if the device works correctly. You can also try on yourself with a brand new lancet. Press the device firmly against a fingertip and click. If you get blood, the device works and you just have to troubleshoot the cat's ear.
 
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