Laura and Quincy
Member Since 2009
Hello all,
After about a year OTJ, during which time Quincy continued his fight against GI lymphoma (3 years now - knock wood!), dealt with a second type of cancer (a peripheral nerve sheath tumor), beat down TWO bladder infections stemming from an antibiotic-resistant strain of E.coli, endured the annoyance of a new kitty addition to the household, AND spent many Sundays in a crate during open houses (put my home on the market), Quincy's pancreas seems to have finally said, ENOUGH!! I need some help! I thought perhaps Quincy had a 3rd bladder infection, given the increased volume of urine and increasing BGs, but a recent visit to the vet found no evidence of that and his bloodwork came back fine too except for a very high BG (>300).
So... after some additional home monitoring, and seeing his numbers hit in the 300s too many times, I reluctantly decided it was time to break out Quincy's diabetes supplies. I started him back on insulin the evening of April 21, and he was on 1.0 units 2x a day until I started thinking maybe that was too high a dose. Specifically, I noticed he'd hit green and then bounce back up into pink, making me think perhaps he hit some pretty low numbers and freaked his liver out so that it pumped a bunch of glucagon into his system. So, I dropped him down to 0.75, and he really is making great strides in terms of his numbers coming up blue and green - a marked improvement even over a week ago.
Quincy just gave me a a 47 at +3 tonight, and I'm wondering if perhaps I should reduce him to 0.50. I was wondering more generally what guidelines are at there for kitties who recently fell out of remission. Should I have started at 0.5 instead of 1.0, for instance? Do standard increasing and reduction guidelines apply? It just seems like Quincy's pancreas could heal quickly, and I don't want to send him into a hypo situation, esp. since I won't often be home to monitor closely.
I should also add that when Quincy was initially treated for diabetes, he earned every single dose reduction dramatically - i.e., he dipped below 40. It was never the case that he gave me BGs of 100 or better over 7 days to earn a reduction. So I'm kind of expecting the same kind of dramatic plunges, esp. at night, and I seem to be right about that given his ~100 point drop tonight in 4 hours on just 0.75 units.
Thanks in advance for your input.
After about a year OTJ, during which time Quincy continued his fight against GI lymphoma (3 years now - knock wood!), dealt with a second type of cancer (a peripheral nerve sheath tumor), beat down TWO bladder infections stemming from an antibiotic-resistant strain of E.coli, endured the annoyance of a new kitty addition to the household, AND spent many Sundays in a crate during open houses (put my home on the market), Quincy's pancreas seems to have finally said, ENOUGH!! I need some help! I thought perhaps Quincy had a 3rd bladder infection, given the increased volume of urine and increasing BGs, but a recent visit to the vet found no evidence of that and his bloodwork came back fine too except for a very high BG (>300).
So... after some additional home monitoring, and seeing his numbers hit in the 300s too many times, I reluctantly decided it was time to break out Quincy's diabetes supplies. I started him back on insulin the evening of April 21, and he was on 1.0 units 2x a day until I started thinking maybe that was too high a dose. Specifically, I noticed he'd hit green and then bounce back up into pink, making me think perhaps he hit some pretty low numbers and freaked his liver out so that it pumped a bunch of glucagon into his system. So, I dropped him down to 0.75, and he really is making great strides in terms of his numbers coming up blue and green - a marked improvement even over a week ago.
Quincy just gave me a a 47 at +3 tonight, and I'm wondering if perhaps I should reduce him to 0.50. I was wondering more generally what guidelines are at there for kitties who recently fell out of remission. Should I have started at 0.5 instead of 1.0, for instance? Do standard increasing and reduction guidelines apply? It just seems like Quincy's pancreas could heal quickly, and I don't want to send him into a hypo situation, esp. since I won't often be home to monitor closely.
I should also add that when Quincy was initially treated for diabetes, he earned every single dose reduction dramatically - i.e., he dipped below 40. It was never the case that he gave me BGs of 100 or better over 7 days to earn a reduction. So I'm kind of expecting the same kind of dramatic plunges, esp. at night, and I seem to be right about that given his ~100 point drop tonight in 4 hours on just 0.75 units.
Thanks in advance for your input.
