new member with "Meow Man" + Lantus ?

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Lexifilly1

Member Since 2013
Hello,

I'd like to introduce myself and my cat in his mid teens that was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He is a former street/grade school dumpster cat. I have a previous life of a technician and animal hospital manager. Treatment of diabetes has changed for the better, still I am going a bit insane with the regulation process Meow Man is having. At three units he was Somogying, though 2 does not seem to be enough. How long have people seen that they needed to see the full effect of a change with a decrease and with that of an increase with Lantus?
Dorothy
 
Are you sure it was true somogyi and not just a bounce? With somogyi they drop to very low (under 50) levels and then back up over 400 or so. With bounces they tend to drop up and down but not as drastically and that is actually a normal thing. Do you have a spreadsheet we could look at to see? Ie http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

Lantus is a depot insulin, the depot takes a few days to fill so we usually wait 3 days (6 cycles) to see what happens.
 
Welcome to the boards! I'm not sure how big/small your adjustments are in doses, but we usually recommend changes in +/- .25u so you don't miss your "optimal dose." It could be Meow Man needs something in between?
 
I do not have a spread sheet. I am only using an iPad right now and do not have access to a spreadsheet. Perhaps there is an app for that, though I thought I saw some spot on this huge site to a link for a template of a bg spreadsheet. I'll get to a computer and load numbers in or make something in excel.

My last box of syringes I got from the pharmacy was incorrect. They have 2 units per increment on the syringe. He was getting 4 units at that time, so it was not a huge problem, but as he is decreasing it is. I will get new syringes if his 2 units does not work. Even at that, it makes me nervous at what one TINY air bubble could do to his dosage. Maybe I should just get a new box for more accurate dosing now and have the ability to increase or decrease slower if I need to.

His bg was running in the 500s at first, even on insulin. He was started and increased greatly. Curves never caught a low, but one blood draw from vet caught a 70. He seemed well at 3 units, when we slowly made it to there, but one day he his 23 in the middle of the day, so back down to 2 units though bgs are in the 300s mid (one day exact same number 2 hours apart, made me think glucometer was malfunctioning). Saying all this, maybe 2.25 units should be next step after one more full curve. Need to get back my clippers from my sister. His super thick black fur has returned on his ears. It is easier on him, if he his his kitty ear stripe.

Now how do I tell my vet about trying to change dose by the fraction of increments without sounding ahhhh hard to describe. I worked with many vets, some I loved who would be open to other ideas, others not so much. I used to be friends with my vet when she was a technician, in fact I hired her. Her next choice was to do an ultra sound to rule out pancreatitis. At 300+ bg would 6 days or so at 1 or more fractions between 2 and 3 be too harmful to him? I wish I paid more attention to diabetic cats, but it is a while since I worked. We did not see many diabetics, I wonder of it is because dry was only just becoming popular? I only remember it in obese cats. Oh I am old!
 
There's also ketone checking :smile: See my signature link for tips on that, plus some of the less specific, yet useful assessments you can make.

And I'd got get some U-100 syringes with half units. Its worth it to be able to see the lines.

You may want to pick up some magnifiers, too, as the half unit syringe markings are tiny. Anyone whose vision is less than stellar has found some sort of magnifier helpful. Check our shopping partner Amazon (click on link at top of page) for syringe magnifier, magnifier visor, clip on magnifier, or stand magnifier. I've used the Carson Clip 'n' Flip and found them quite helpful (severe myopia,then cataracts, and post-cataract still need 'em!)
 
Welcome to another member from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I'm up on the north shore in Newbury MA.

Yes, Walmart has good U100 syringes with half unit markings. I like the shorter needle, 5/16 " length but some people prefer the longer 1/2" needle. The needles with the 1/2 unit markings make a BIG difference when you need to give smaller amounts of insulin. You also wan to be using the 3/10 cc insulin syringes which are made for babies and small children.

So the good points to look for in an insulin syringe for a cat include 3/10 cc, 5/16" short needle or 1/2" long needle, 29 or 30 gauge, half unit markings. Since you are in Massachusetts, you probably need a prescription for the syringes but I'm not sure because I do my Walmart shopping in NH since it is much closer than any Walmart in MA.

People do say that the ipad and google can have issues but there is an app to make it work better. Someone did post about an app for the ipad to use our standard google spreadsheet and I'll do a search to find it. Here it is. I found that condo I remembered reading about using the Google Drive app on their Ipad :http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=93869&p=1007443&hilit=ipad#p1007443 but they did not give much info. You may want to PM Anne & Zener about this.

The spreadsheet we use is actually a google document. Instructions to create and link it into your user control panel, profile, edit signature are in the Tech Support Forum and the link is here. http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

Need to get back my clippers from my sister. His super thick black fur has returned on his ears. It is easier on him, if he his his kitty ear stripe.
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I just used a safety razor, running it very lightly over the ear barely touching, to get that stripe on Wink's ear for BG testing. He has long black hair and black ear edges so I completely understand why you like a little shaved stripe on the ear. It does make it so much easier, especially at the beginning.

ETA: Also, using a tiny dab of Vaseline or a little triple antibiotic ointment gel (not cream) to help the blood bead up is so very important with our longer haired kitties.
 
My cat is not under control yet and does show mild to moderate signs. Would this be ok to give to make him feel better while I work on getting him under control? Anything I should worry about? Dorothy
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I saw you had posted this in another members thread/post/condo and wanted to answer you here because you might look at your own posts first.

Yes, the Methylcobalamin form of B-12 can help your cat to heal from the diabetic neuropathy. Be sure it is the Methyl form of B0-12 and not the cyano form. The Methyl form can get right to the nerves and help to heal them. Any excess b-12 will simply be passed in the urine.

There are pills, Zobaline available from ilifelink.com, made specifically for cats without any ingredients to raise the BG levels. Some pharmacies have a liquid you can buy, but make sure it does not have any type of sugar as one of the ingredients becasue this can raise the BG levels.
 
And if you refer back to that other post, you can buy methly B12 from the human pharmacy, store and online. I got mine from vitacost and it was capsule form and only contained the vitamin and a little rice flour to bind it together.

I also understand vitacost is having a sale.
http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitami ... 0-capsules

The ideal daily dose is 3-5 mg -

Getting the size above (5000mcg), I would just mix the entire capsule in Maui's food. As sometimes she would eat it all and other times not and the others would eat it. And I wasn't concerned if the other cats ate it as it wouldn't do any harm.
 
Sorry I thought I had replied to this, I use google drive app which is free. If you download that and sign up etc I can have someone help set the spreadsheet up for you to use that way.

let me know
 
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