First, introductions. Our 7 year old kitty, Obie, was diagnosed with diabetes this month, after losing a fair bit of weight in the last year or so. We just had our other kitty put down in August after living with kidney disease for over two years, so it's kind of tough to have our other kitty diagnosed with another chronic disease.
Our vet started Obie on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day. We did a curve at home about a week later, and found that his highest BG was over 500, and his lowest was 312. No real change in his behavior. None of his spot BG checks ever below 300. Vet recommended we increase his dose to 2 units twice a day which we did a week ago. We weren't checking his BG before giving his insulin (1st mistake, I know now). We did get one BG on Tuesday about 6 hours after his insulin that was 171, so I was happy. Wednesday after Obie ate supper and I gave his insulin, I thought I'd check his BG, and it was 117. Checked it again in the evening and it got as low as 50, although he wasn't symptomatic. I got pretty nervous and gave him 1/2 can of high carb cat food (24% carb). Yesterday morning his BG was over 600(!), so we gave him 2 units. Talked to the vet, who said to hold the insulin if his BG was below 180 and to do another curve. We aren't around to do one until Sunday, but last night his BG was 57, 44 on recheck, so we held the insulin. BG 241 at bedtime. This morning his BG was over 600 again. We gave him 1.5 units, on the presumption that he would just bottom out again if we gave the full dose. At supper BG was 117, so we gave 1/2 unit because I didn't want him to be over 600 again in the morning. However, I'm not very comfortable adjusting his dose myself.
My questions are: should I just keep going with the vet's recommendation of 2 units twice a day, hold if BG below 180? Should I go with a lower dose of insulin and if so, what dose? This is so confusing (and I'm a nurse!)
(Further info: Obie weighs between 7 and 8 lbs, we are feeding a mixture of 9lives tuna flakes( about 2% carb IIRC) and science diet tuna in gravy (about 24% carb). We test with the Relion Micro, which I know gives lower readings than the Alphatrak. Obie does seem to be gaining some much-needed weight since we increased his insulin dose, and he doesn't seem as ravenously hungry and thirsty.)
Our vet started Obie on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day. We did a curve at home about a week later, and found that his highest BG was over 500, and his lowest was 312. No real change in his behavior. None of his spot BG checks ever below 300. Vet recommended we increase his dose to 2 units twice a day which we did a week ago. We weren't checking his BG before giving his insulin (1st mistake, I know now). We did get one BG on Tuesday about 6 hours after his insulin that was 171, so I was happy. Wednesday after Obie ate supper and I gave his insulin, I thought I'd check his BG, and it was 117. Checked it again in the evening and it got as low as 50, although he wasn't symptomatic. I got pretty nervous and gave him 1/2 can of high carb cat food (24% carb). Yesterday morning his BG was over 600(!), so we gave him 2 units. Talked to the vet, who said to hold the insulin if his BG was below 180 and to do another curve. We aren't around to do one until Sunday, but last night his BG was 57, 44 on recheck, so we held the insulin. BG 241 at bedtime. This morning his BG was over 600 again. We gave him 1.5 units, on the presumption that he would just bottom out again if we gave the full dose. At supper BG was 117, so we gave 1/2 unit because I didn't want him to be over 600 again in the morning. However, I'm not very comfortable adjusting his dose myself.
My questions are: should I just keep going with the vet's recommendation of 2 units twice a day, hold if BG below 180? Should I go with a lower dose of insulin and if so, what dose? This is so confusing (and I'm a nurse!)
(Further info: Obie weighs between 7 and 8 lbs, we are feeding a mixture of 9lives tuna flakes( about 2% carb IIRC) and science diet tuna in gravy (about 24% carb). We test with the Relion Micro, which I know gives lower readings than the Alphatrak. Obie does seem to be gaining some much-needed weight since we increased his insulin dose, and he doesn't seem as ravenously hungry and thirsty.)
