Newbie (Tiki) Preparing to Start Insulin on Saturday

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Tonya and Tiki

Tonya and Tiki

Very Active Member
Hello everyone,

Many thanks to everybody who got me up and running last weekend. I have been spot checking Tiki this week just to see where we are starting. I plan to go ahead with the Insulin this weekend. I didn't want to start it and not be home to watch him for the first couple of days. He has settled right in to being poked, anything for a treat. He is surprising me with his tolerance of the whole thing.

The vet recommended 2 units twice a day, 12hrs apart and last weekend there was a lot of discussion about whether or not that was an appropriate amount.

Can someone explain a curve? I figure Saturday I will need to do this. Is it simply blood tests every hour?

I am feeling less overwhelmed but still nervous to inject him with something I still dont fully understand.

Many Thanks,
 
Hi,
Good for you for learning the "poke" routine quickly. I just looked at TIki's SS, and all those yellow numbers look very nice.

I would recommend no more than 1 unit of insulin to start. Those numbers are really not that high, which is a great thing.
And other than that one ugly black number - which I believe was an error with the meter or the strip because his BG wouldn't have dropped from 518 to 248 in just one hour with no insulin to help, it's all yellows.

A curve - you can do it a couple different ways. A "complete" curve is a test, starting with the AM pre-shot test, every two hours over the 12 hour cycle.
A "mini-curve" would be every 3 or 4 hours.

Don't be nervous. The shots are actually easier than the tests, in my opinion. Most people are able to give the injection while kitty has his face in his food bowl, and kitty rarely even notices it happens. An important thing to keep in mind is that insulin is not a "drug". It is a hormone. It's purpose in life is to lower BG. That's it. It doesn't cause a million side effects. As long as you are testing prior to every shot, so you know Tiki is not "too low to shoot", he will be just fine.

I am hoping that some experienced Lantus users can post here soon, or tomorrow regarding the dosage. When I said 1 unit, that is the maximum I would even consider shooting. I never used lantus, however. Someone with a lot of experience with it may suggest an even lower starting dose based on Tiki's numbers over the past couple of days. Listen to THEM, rather than me, because they know a heck of a lot more about that specific insulin than I do.

Don't sweat this. You are doing great so far, and that will continue. A couple weeks from now, assuming Tiki even needs insulin that long, you will just about be able to do this stuff in your sleep!

One last question, I am wondering what Tiki is eating now. I'm just wondering if he's already a big fan of low-carb canned food or not yet.

Carl in SC
 
He has been eating all wet food for about 2 months now. The thing is he doesn't eat it all at once (which has me a little nervous about the shots). He will have a couple of mouthfuls when I first feed him and then he walks away and grazes on the rest throughout the day. I have been feeding him in the morning and at night and another one when I go to bed about 2a). One can each time of Fancy Feast Classics. Lately he seems to be getting kinda fussy in that he never seems to finish a whole can (I also just started adding water to it based on things I've read on here). I've been giving him Halo dehydrated treats for his testing and he LOVES those.

I also just weighed him - 16.6lbs....how do I know what his ideal weight is. He is a big cat but not obese (especially since the onset of this mess, I think he looks SKINNY now).
 
PS - that BG reading in the BLACK I believe was due to not having enough blood on the test strip....someone suggested to do it again so that second reading was within the next hour (it sure did freak me out though!!!!) lol
 
Let's see if someone else chimes in on starting dose, but with fairly steady numbers in the 200s, I am a little nervous about even starting with 1U. The insulin is Lantus, correct?

Lantus works best by using a step-up approach, meaning you have to start below the optimum dose in order to increase dose slowly and find the best dose. 2U is way off the mark with the longer-acting insulins Lantus or Levemir, no matter how much the cat weighs. My recommendation is to start with half a unit/.5U. It's much easier to increase dose, than it is to start too high and have to backtrack.
 
Hi Tonya,

We have a very active board for Lantus users here. If you post there I just about guarantee you'll get answers very quickly from expereinced Lantus users.
 
The starting dose guidelines for Lantus are .25u per kg of ideal weight, so 2u isn't way off for a starting dose for a 16 lb cat if that is his ideal weight (but it is a bit too high). However, I agree with Vicki that it is much easier, accurate, and safer to work up to a dose than down from it, and weight doesn't necessarily determine how much insulin a cat will need, because every cat is different. Most cats do not need much more than 1u on a low carb canned diet, so I think 1u is a safer starting dose.
 
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