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Christina & King Chuck

Christina & King Chuck

Member Since 2023
Hi everyone, I’ve been lurking on this site for a couple weeks and finally created an account. My name is Christina and I have a newly diagnosed cat, King Chuck. He’s 13 and prior to the diagnosis he was an energetic senior but he’s moving a little slower these days. Chuck has been on Tresiba for about a month now and so far we’re not having great results (mostly due to my novice injection technique). He’s on 5 units 2x daily. I’m home testing him and he’s been steady 300+ but is urinating and drinking less. Small victories right? After reading a thread about the “roll technique” I think we had a good injection for his dinner. Anyway, thanks to everyone who posts their stories on here, it’s been exhausting caring for Chuck and it’s great to have a community of people who understand!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum Christina and King Chuck.
I am not experienced in using Tresiba at all. We have had a few people use it, but not many. We do have a Tresiba insulin group page HERE which you might like to look at, but it doesn't look as if anyone has posted there since 2020.
I can try tagging a few of the people who posted there but not sure if they are still around.
@Sue and Luci
I can't seem to get the others up to tag. Maybe they are not here any more.
Maybe @Wendy&Neko may have some ideas.

I would suggest you set up one of our spreadsheets and add the last months data so we can see it please.
Information on how to set up the spreadsheet is in this link HELP US HELP YOU

5 units twice a day after 1 month is a lot of insulin. How did the vet increase the dose? Did he increase the dose on the nadir or the preshot BGs and by how much insulin each time?
Are you testing before each dose and also getting some tests in during the am and the pm cycles?
Are you feeding before each dose of insulin and offering some snacks of low carb food during the first half of all cycles?

It is very tiring and overwhelming in the beginning. I am sure we can help you with King Chuck.:)
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to the forum Christina and King Chuck.
I am not experienced in using Tresiba at all. We have had a few people use it, but not many. We do have a Tresiba insulin group page HERE which you might like to look at, but it doesn't look as if anyone has posted there since 2020.
I can try tagging a few of the people who posted there but not sure if they are still around.
@Sue and Luci
I can't seem to get the others up to tag. Maybe they are not here any more.
Maybe @Wendy&Neko may have some ideas.

I would suggest you set up one of our spreadsheets and add the last months data so we can see it please.
Information on how to set up the spreadsheet is in this link HELP US HELP YOU

5 units twice a day after 1 month is a lot of insulin. How did the vet increase the dose? Did he increase the dose on the nadir or the preshot BGs and by how much insulin each time?
Are you testing before each dose and also getting some tests in during the am and the pm cycles?
Are you feeding before each dose of insulin and offering some snacks of low carb food during the first half of all cycles?

It is very tiring and overwhelming in the beginning. I am sure we can help you with King Chuck.:)
Click to expand...

I’m going to start using the spreadsheet asap, we have so many numbers. Chuck started at 2 units on May 5 and after a week I saw no difference in his numbers throughout the day. The vet is increasing by 1 unit (which admittedly seems like a lot) based on the curves I’m doing at home and we’re giving the tresiba 3-4 days to build up before increasing again. Chuck has never been below 200 (pet meter) and hasn’t seen a number in the 200s since last week. I’m a diabetic and was prescribed Tresiba as a Lantus alternative so I’m wondering if those are drastically different in cats?

He was doing okay two weeks ago with numbers slowly coming down, but his numbers have been increasing the last week or so. I take a reading each morning before his shot, then another between 4-6 hours after then before his dinner shot or before bed. We’ve done a few curves as well with readings every 2 hours. I give a couple snacks during the day, usually at the 4-6 hour mark then about 2 hours before dinner so I’m not shocked if he’s a little higher at dinner. We are very low carb and his snacks are either Dr.Elseys high protein dry food or freeze dried minnows.

We’re going to the vet today to rule out a UTI, poor guy urinated outside the box last night and his water consumption has picked back up.
 
I’m glad you are testing before each shot and again during the cycles. That is very good.
Also giving snacks. Giving low carb food for snacks is ok too.
With increases, I would only increase in 1/4 unit increments. Going up in 1 unit increments is too much for a cat and you might miss the best dose.
I would not increase any more until we have had a chance to see the spreadsheet. please let us know how you get on at the vet visit:)
Lantus is a very good insulin for cats.
 
Good to know about the increases. I'll admit, I don't love his current vet. When he was first dx'd he was on Vetsulin, I had called the vet to ask about increasing his dose because he wasn't showing any clinical signs of improvement. Another vet returned my phone call and she seemed concerned he was started on Vetsulin and not Prozinc.

I only have about 2 weeks of numbers from his pet meter. We were using a human meter before but I seem to have misplaced it. I'm doing another curve today since the vet increased his dose recently and unfortunately they can't get him in until tomorrow to screen for a UTI. I'll update his curve throughout the day and plan to take readings every 2 hrs.

Here's his spreadsheet and I'll also add to my signature: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_Vst8Gl4jyLi2BXzC7xyctX0SkI58IE_4YpgMQrGhEc/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for the support! :)
 
It doesn’t look as if you are testing much before the pm dose. That is just as important as the morning Preshot. also try and get some tests in during every cycle so we can see if he is bouncing, which I suspect he is.
 
Roger that! Using the spreadsheet really helped me see the gaps. After we do our curve today I'll test every 4 hours and make sure I'm doing the pre shot PM test. Chuck is so good about testing, he comes running when he hears the meter beep because he knows he's getting a snack. It's on me to find the right cadence and commit!
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
It doesn’t look as if you are testing much before the pm dose. That is just as important as the morning Preshot. also try and get some tests in during every cycle so we can see if he is bouncing, which I suspect he is.
Click to expand...
I forgot to ask, is there a timeframe when a bounce occurs? I've tested at random points during the day and haven't seen anything low, although I'm sure 200 can feel low to a cat that's been in the 400s.
 
Here is information about bouncing
  • Bouncing - Bouncing is simply a natural reaction to what the cat's system perceives as a BG value that is "too low". "Too low" is relative. If a cat is used to BGs in the 200's, 300's, or higher for a long time, then even a BG that drops to 150 can trigger a "bounce". Bouncing can also be triggered if the blood glucose drops too low and/or too fast.The pancreas, then the liver, release glucogon, glycogen and counter-regulatory hormones. The end result is a dumping of "sugar" into the bloodstream to save the cat from going hypoglycemic from a perceived low. The action is often referred to as "liver panic" or "panicky liver". *Usually*, a bounce will clear kitty's system within 3 days (6 cycles).
 
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