Newbie + Risky Dosing

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Poodoodle

Poodoodle

Member Since 2015
My cat Pooey was diagnosed with diabetes March 23rd and set with a 2.0U dose that the vet increased to 3.0U the next week. She never told me about home testing or its importance so when I found out I kinda said heck with you I'm doing this on my own and started on this road below.

I haven't been very careful, disciplined or patient and I feel scared. I haven't held the doses for a full week, we are at 7.0U now. Seeing most references are for 1U or 2U I'm thinking I must be crazy. I swear I'll stop adjusting until I see a vet. They numbers don't look like they'll lead to hypoglycemia soon, but I'm so confused by my dosing versus what I seem to read everyone else is doing. Is this going to blow up at any moment? Or am I not too far gone yet?

Insulin: Lantus
Wet Food: 1can Tiki cat food or Rad Cat with shot AM & PM
Dry Food: Low Glycemic Nutrisca Dry Food, a small amount from an auto feeder ~every 4 hours (switching to Orijen when it runs out)

April 9th 3.0U AM+4: 481, +5.5: 445, +7: 510, +8.5: 516, PMPS 534, +2: 441
April 12th 4.0U AM+4: 402, +8: 498, +10: 464
April 17th 5.0U AM+4: 297, +5: 354, +7: 432, +9: 498
April 19th 6.0U AM+4: 276, +9: 453
April 21st 6.0U AM+2: 360, +4: 330
April 21st 7.0U PM+2: 336, +3: 280, +4: 280, +5: 238, +6: 189
 
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The 7 units is looking good but since you did not get a BG reading before the shot it is hard to tell.
Some cats do require a high dose. My MurrFee is on 13 units Levemir and 7 units BCP PZI twice daily.
 
Wondering if it's time to dump the dry food. It may be low-glycemic (which prevents major, rapid spikes) but still have enough complex carbs to be driving her sugars up. Remember, as healthy as it sounds to us to have fruits and veggies with our dinner, that's because we're omnivores. Cats aren't.
 
Hi and Welcome to the FDMB!

The first thing I notice is you're feeding dry food...Unless it's Young Again Zero Carb or Evo Kitten & Cat, it's not low carb, and even with those 2 foods, there are lots of good reasons to switch over to a low carb canned diet. The extra water in the food helps keep their kidneys in better shape. Here's a lot of information on Feline Nutrition for you to read over

Next, you're going up in dose too quickly. Lantus has a proven protocol that starts at a dose based on weight and only goes up .25 unit at a time, never a whole unit!

Too much insulin can look like not enough, so if Pooey were my cat, I'd probably drop back down to a reasonable dose and start over, as well as gradually getting onto a low carb canned diet. By going so fast, you can easily go past the "best dose" for controlling your kitties blood glucose and I suspect you have.

Whatever you do, please do NOT drop the carb level in the food and continue to shoot 7 units. You could very well put his life in danger. 7 units really is a huge dose unless your cat has been diagnosed with one of the high dose conditions such as IAA or acromegaly (which take special tests not done at your regular vets office). At 7 units, the only thing keeping your kitty from a life threatening hypo may be the high carb food you're feeding.

Are you home testing? It sounds like you are and that's great because it can really help to tell what's going on inside your cats body.

A lot of us did the same basic thing you did and kinda said "heck with you I'm doing this on my own" but we also used the wealth of experience available on this message board to guide us on dose and dose adjustments.

I do hope to see you again soon because I really think you're putting your sweet kitty in danger by increasing so quickly. Please let us help you!
 
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I think I'll start over...sigh, this is all so scary! My vet uped the dose by a whole unit originally which is why I thought it was normal. She said after a week at 2 units and her nadir being in the 400's, we would go up a unit. I created the idea in my head that the process must work like that, review the numbers, up dose by 1, repeat.
 
Dropping that dry food could decrease the glucose 100-200 mg/dL and drop the insulin dose 1-2 units. I would phase it out slowly, maybe 20% per day or two, so you can monitor the effects on the glucose and adjust as needed.
Lantus takes 3-5 full days to stabilze in dose, so give it time to show the food change effects.
 
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