It's been a good couple of months since Piers was diagnosed and has been on Caninsulin twice a day.
He started on 1 unit BID and after a few weeks had a fructosamine test at the vet; as a result the vet advised increasing him to 1.5 units AM and sticking with 1.0 unit PM. I started doing that but then - suspecting he was bouncing - have gone a little more cautious and he's currently on 1.75 am and 0.75 pm, so 2 units a day total.
Unfortunately, his readings don't seem to be improving very much, or at all. He does respond to the insulin as can be seen when I've tested him for a curve or at other times around the expected 8-hr action of this insulin. However it doesn't seem to last very long and seems to make him extra-hungry.
He is still drinking/peeing excessively and is eating more than ever - I'm probably feeding him about half a small can or pouch of wet food about 6 or 7 times a day, plus treats. He's very thin but vet's observation is that he is in good condition for a diabetic cat. He seems hungriest between +1 and +4 at both ends of the day.
When tested with ketostix he is always (so far) negative or trace ketones, and occasionally I'll smell it on his breath.
The main things I'm wondering about:
1. The best run of numbers we've had was just before his fructosamine test when he was still on 1 unit BID. Did it upset things to increase his dose at that point?
2. I had to go away for a couple of days recently and he was fed on his normal schedule but had no insulin for about 48 hours (with my vet's knowledge). On returning home I tested his BG expecting it to be mega-high but it was 350 - better than a lot of the time on insulin. His other symptoms had worsened but I was really surprised at this?
3. He often has really high AM readings despite daytime being when he eats most and gets most insulin. On the suspicion that he was bouncing on the overnight dose, I have been giving him a snack in the night around 1-2am, that is +7/+8 - at first that seemed to bring the AM numbers down, but not so sure now.
I'm a bit stuck as to what to do next or whether I just need to keep a consistent dose and be patient/alter feeding, or what? Maybe go back to 1 unit each injection rather than giving more by day? Would there be any reason to consider caninsulin 3x day? Could he be bouncing day and night?
If anyone has any advice or can see something about this that I'm missing, I would be very grateful. My s/s is up to date.
Otherwise I'm 100% sure his next fructosamine test is also going to be disappointing, and I'm not sure where we would go from there - one comment the vet made to me was 'when we had him in we started him on 2 units and that wasn't right for him'. That sort of implies P went too low on that dose.
thanks in advance.
He started on 1 unit BID and after a few weeks had a fructosamine test at the vet; as a result the vet advised increasing him to 1.5 units AM and sticking with 1.0 unit PM. I started doing that but then - suspecting he was bouncing - have gone a little more cautious and he's currently on 1.75 am and 0.75 pm, so 2 units a day total.
Unfortunately, his readings don't seem to be improving very much, or at all. He does respond to the insulin as can be seen when I've tested him for a curve or at other times around the expected 8-hr action of this insulin. However it doesn't seem to last very long and seems to make him extra-hungry.
He is still drinking/peeing excessively and is eating more than ever - I'm probably feeding him about half a small can or pouch of wet food about 6 or 7 times a day, plus treats. He's very thin but vet's observation is that he is in good condition for a diabetic cat. He seems hungriest between +1 and +4 at both ends of the day.
When tested with ketostix he is always (so far) negative or trace ketones, and occasionally I'll smell it on his breath.
The main things I'm wondering about:
1. The best run of numbers we've had was just before his fructosamine test when he was still on 1 unit BID. Did it upset things to increase his dose at that point?
2. I had to go away for a couple of days recently and he was fed on his normal schedule but had no insulin for about 48 hours (with my vet's knowledge). On returning home I tested his BG expecting it to be mega-high but it was 350 - better than a lot of the time on insulin. His other symptoms had worsened but I was really surprised at this?
3. He often has really high AM readings despite daytime being when he eats most and gets most insulin. On the suspicion that he was bouncing on the overnight dose, I have been giving him a snack in the night around 1-2am, that is +7/+8 - at first that seemed to bring the AM numbers down, but not so sure now.
I'm a bit stuck as to what to do next or whether I just need to keep a consistent dose and be patient/alter feeding, or what? Maybe go back to 1 unit each injection rather than giving more by day? Would there be any reason to consider caninsulin 3x day? Could he be bouncing day and night?
If anyone has any advice or can see something about this that I'm missing, I would be very grateful. My s/s is up to date.
Otherwise I'm 100% sure his next fructosamine test is also going to be disappointing, and I'm not sure where we would go from there - one comment the vet made to me was 'when we had him in we started him on 2 units and that wasn't right for him'. That sort of implies P went too low on that dose.
thanks in advance.
