Not sure what's going on...

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supervix56

Member Since 2012
Hi everyone,

LeeLee's spreadsheet is updated except for this morning. Her AMPS was 131 and I did not give her a morning shot.

As you can see in the spreadsheet, this is now the third shot in a row that I've skipped. I'm not sure what to do. I feel like this should be a happy thing, but I'm worried I'm missing something. Is my glucometer broken (I've got a new Bayer Contour)? Should I be giving her insulin anyway? My vet said that for anything over 7 mmol/L (or 126), I could give her a shot. But that seems a little scary to me. Am I doing LeeLee harm by skipping all these shots?

Previous advice on this board was to try a skinny 0.5u, but I've been unable to get any syringes marked with half units as of yet. If I can get some, should I maybe even try 0.25u?

Also, I was hoping to finally do a glucose curve this weekend. Even if I wind up not giving her a shot AGAIN, should I still do the curve? Is there value in that? I guess maybe to see how high her BG gets without insulin?

So confusing.

Thanks,
Erin & LeeLee
 
I would run out and grab those syringes from Walmart. You don't need a prescription in most states.

Her numbers are good, but still a tad too high, so yes, I would recommend going down .25u and seeing what that does. When cats are headed off insulin, it helps to slowly wean them off insulin with microdosing rather than stopping insulin completely.

What's LeeLee's weight like? Is she overweight at all? I found Bandit was getting numbers in the 120-160 range when he went off insulin, but he was carrying around an extra lb and a half of weight. Once I tweaked his diet a bit and got him down to an ideal weight, his numbers dropped to the 70-120 range.
 
I'm in Canada, so I'm free to buy as many syringes as I like :smile: On my lunch break I'll run out and get some from the drugstore.

LeeLee is overweight. I don't think horribly so, just somewhat chubby. I'm really glad I'm switching everyone over to low carb canned. I've got one cat that is quite overweight, so hopefully he'll slim down and I can avoid all the weight-related diseases with him.
 
OK...so none of the pharmacies (including Walmart and well.ca) sell syringes with half-unit markings. Any ideas what to do? Eyeballing 0.25u when there are only 1u markings makes me nervous.
 
I replied in your other thread about the syringes--sometimes you have to ask to speak to a manager if the clerk is clueless and says they can't get them for you. I'm surprised that out of the 3 pharmacies you went to, not a one offered to order them for you!

Getting her to shed those final extra pounds could be the boost she needs to stay off insulin. Here's a great web site that tells you how to do a healthy weight loss plan: http://catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity#Implementing_a_Safe_Weight-Loss_Program. If you don't have a baby scale, you can weigh your cat by weighing yourself and your cat on your scale together, and then subtracting your weight.
 
Sounds like I'll have to go into the pharmacy and throw my weight around :-D Or maybe I'll try a few other pharmacies first.

Any opinions on whether there's value in doing a glucose curve if I'm not giving her her shot?
 
Lantus builds up an insulin depot under the skin, and it can take a day or more for the depot to run out, so it's likely she's still getting some action from the insulin now. It never hurts to get a curve, but if you can't do a curve at least get some mid-cycle checks. If she's still throwing those slightly higher than normal numbers tomorrow, +2 and +4 tests are great because they can indicate if her pancreas is producing insulin.
 
Her PMPS is 5.6 mmol/L (101), so I'm not going to give her any insulin. Is that in the "normal" range?

What is up with this? Is it really possible that changing her to canned fancy feast is doing this?
 
Hi LeeLee & bean,
I'm new here too, and my Emma is doing the same thing! A week after starting insulin I found this site and removed all dry food from her diet. Her BS immediately went down by 100, and then creeped down for the next few days. Her last shot was Wed morning and she's been keeping low since! It does happen!!
Jen
 
Thanks for the link, EmmasMom. I can't believe what a difference the food makes. Nice to know that if I listened to my original vet I would be feeding her their higher carb prescription food and her numbers would be much higher. So then they get my money for both food and insulin.

LeeLee's numbers were low again this morning - this is awesome!
 
Same with me - the vet sent me home with DM dry and canned. I free fed both the first week and was so stressed because her numbers were all over the place. My vet also told me testing before shooting isn't necessary. I would have shot her at 90 a few nights ago had I listened to that! Scary!!

Emma is staying low too. She says go LeeLee go!!! :)

Have a good weekend,
Jen
 
The last time I got Relion syringes from WalMart, I was told they now have half-unit markings on them. And they do! :-D
 
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