Hello Lantus Land. I'm Shellie and my 12 year old cat, Blanco, was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of May. My intro thread is here, if you want the long story: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15798
The short version: Blanco is on budesonide for severe IBD. He's currently eating DM wet food. My husband was giving him a little DM dry when he seemed hungry, but we've put a stop to that. His appetite is great (the cat's, though my husband's appetite is fine too). He's about 10 pounds.
I feel a bit like a beginner with all of this. My husband and I have read the stickies and discussed them. We've been following the beginner advice to not shoot below 150, though when I've been around to do spot checks and watch for behavior changes, I've shot around or just under 150. My goal thus far has been to get Blanco regulated and avoid a hypo.
After looking at our last curve numbers and our spreadsheet, our vet gave us two options for Blanco: we could go down to 1u of Lantus once a day, or do .5u twice a day. (Technically, I guess he gave us three since he said we could keep doing what we were doing and give 1u when we were able, but since we were missing so many shots due to low numbers, he recommended lowering the dose.) After reading the stickies about how Lantus works, we've opted to go the twice a day, reduced dosage route. We were prepared to see Blanco's numbers in the 200s or even upper 100s this morning and begin implementing the new dose, but Blanco decided to give us a 117 instead.
Since I'm transitioning from beginner to being less of a beginner, I'd like some advice on how low to shoot at given the data we have (or we continue the beginner route until we have better data?) and I'd appreciate some feedback on the numbers. While I get the concept of the typical curve, I'm still not sure what I'm seeing in Blanco especially on days like 6/21. Also, I know I need to start getting some +1, +2, +10, +11 numbers. As I said, I'm just starting out on this journey and looking to learn and most importantly, I just want to do right by my cat.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your responses.
The short version: Blanco is on budesonide for severe IBD. He's currently eating DM wet food. My husband was giving him a little DM dry when he seemed hungry, but we've put a stop to that. His appetite is great (the cat's, though my husband's appetite is fine too). He's about 10 pounds.
I feel a bit like a beginner with all of this. My husband and I have read the stickies and discussed them. We've been following the beginner advice to not shoot below 150, though when I've been around to do spot checks and watch for behavior changes, I've shot around or just under 150. My goal thus far has been to get Blanco regulated and avoid a hypo.
After looking at our last curve numbers and our spreadsheet, our vet gave us two options for Blanco: we could go down to 1u of Lantus once a day, or do .5u twice a day. (Technically, I guess he gave us three since he said we could keep doing what we were doing and give 1u when we were able, but since we were missing so many shots due to low numbers, he recommended lowering the dose.) After reading the stickies about how Lantus works, we've opted to go the twice a day, reduced dosage route. We were prepared to see Blanco's numbers in the 200s or even upper 100s this morning and begin implementing the new dose, but Blanco decided to give us a 117 instead.
Since I'm transitioning from beginner to being less of a beginner, I'd like some advice on how low to shoot at given the data we have (or we continue the beginner route until we have better data?) and I'd appreciate some feedback on the numbers. While I get the concept of the typical curve, I'm still not sure what I'm seeing in Blanco especially on days like 6/21. Also, I know I need to start getting some +1, +2, +10, +11 numbers. As I said, I'm just starting out on this journey and looking to learn and most importantly, I just want to do right by my cat.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your responses.