Sammy almost always in 500's

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Naya1

Naya1

Member Since 2022
Me and my family have been struggling to keep Sammies BG levels at a normal rate it's like even if he hasn't eaten in awhile his BG is still high at injection time. we just took him off the dry food he was on as soon as we started home testing and went with wet food "Hills prescription Diet m/d Glucose support with Liver Wet cat food" that was in the cabinets cause it was probably better than the dry food. Today I went out and bought these cans of wet food cause I've heard they are low in carbs. Problem I'm having is when and how much of the can I should give him? Today I gave a whole can a hour after giving him his PM Insulin. Been a little confused on when and how much to feed him. And also if this is the right wet food to give him and to maybe try out any other brands.
( Also will be switching off of Vetsulin and will be talking to the vet soon about switching to Lantus Solostar pens or Prozinc) haven't really figured out which, insulin is expensive and looking for cheap options
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It is good that you have started home testing. Sammy is on a pretty high dose of Vetsulin and the change of diet to a low carb one can make a big difference to his numbers. By home testing you can see how low his blood sugar is dropping and reduce his dose, if necessary.

With fast-acting insulins like Vetsulin you want to feed a good amount with food and wait half an hour to see that there is no scarf and barf and then give the shot. Don't fill him up at shot time. Maybe half a can and then feed a little more at +1 or +1.5 and more at +2/+3. Getting some tests in the first part of the cycle will help you understand his onset and nadir.

Have you seen this primer on Vetsulin? Lots of good info:
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CANINSULIN/VETSULIN

Fancy Feast classic pates are indeed low carb. Hills prescription Diet m/d canned is not low - though it's much lower in carb than dry food.

A Lantus biosimilar called Semglee is much cheaper than Lantus. Some people have also had luck using Good Rx for buying Lantus cheap. Many folks in the US buy their insulin (Lantus & Levemir) from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada.

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...today-at-walgreens-w-the-right-coupon.266123/
Buying insulin from Canada
 
Hi Maya all of the Fancy Feast Classic Pates are fine, just don't feed to many fish flavors, maybe once per week
If you are going to be feeding the FF pates you need to be doing a lot more testing because switching to a low carb diet from what you were feeding can drop the BG much lower
If you do switch to Lantus
I would tell your vet to write a script for glargine its the generic for Lantus which is expensive
Check this out also
https://www.goodrx.com/insulin-glargine?dosage=five-3ml-prefilled-pens-of-100-units-ml&form=carton&label_override=insulin glargine&quantity=1
The 5 pens will last about a year





I see some members will call CVS, Rite Aid, Costco, Walgreen's, to get the price for 5 pens

You will need U-100 syringes with half unit markings for lantus , just insert the syringe into the pen and draw out the insulin.
13.47 for a box of 100 Here is the link to buy them from
If they say you need a script from you vet they will call the vet to fax it over 'ask for refills and give your vets office a heads up . I know that some member didn't need a script at all ,I did I live in N.J. So I guess it depends on where you live

https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/1316/surecomfort-u100-syringes-half-unit-31g-3-10cc-5-16in-100ct



We use the pens just like a vial , just stick the syringe in the gray rubber stopper and draw out your insulin
Just take the cap off the pen and use a U100 syringes and pull the insulin out of the pen!
syringe-in-pen-pic-jpg.45006


Posted by another member
One members posted this
. I paid $175 for a box of 5 pens at Walmart pharmacy, but GoodRX coupon says you can get it for around $90 if you have a Rite Aid pharmacy near you.

The reason we don't use the needles that would go in the pens is because you can only dial the pens by whole units
With the U-100 syringes with half unit markings we can adjust by 0.25 units at a time


Here is the food chart ,there are other flavors of the FF classic Pates
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

When you do switch please make sure you test him often ,switching to a low carb diet can drop the BG by 100 points

Like Bhooma a lot of members also order from Marks/Marine in Canada , I would first check to see if you can get it local
Here is their web site anyway
https://canshipmeds.com/medication/lantus/

Tell them you want the 5 pens and to give you the cheapest price for generic lantus
 
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How many units did the vet start Sammy off with ?
That is a high dose of vetsulin
We don't increase by whole units, we adjust the dose by 0.25 units at a time
Please try and get more tests in during each 12 hour cycle especially at night, ,we need to see how the insulin is working and how low he's dropping
How was Sammy diagnosed ,did the vet run a fructosamine test , it would give you an average blood glucose reading over several weeks or did he just prick his ear to see what his BG was

Do you have a hypo kit set up
Between 11% and 17% is medium carbs.

18% and over is high carb. and some honey

Such as
Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart.

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-
 
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I can tag Melissa
@FrostD to take a look at your SS and see what she thinks about the high dose you are giving but you need to be testing him more often than you have been , you have no PM tests after giving him the insulin
 
@Naya1
We can't see your spreadsheet
You have to
To set spreadsheet sharing permission:
* At the top right of the spreadsheet screen click on Share.

* In the pop-up dialog box click on the Get Link section.

* Change link access from 'Restricted' to 'Anyone with the link' and make sure that the permission on the right hand side is set to 'Viewer'.

* Click Done to save the changes.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
How many units did the vet start Sammy off with ?
That is a high dose of vetsulin
We don't increase by whole units, we adjust the dose by 0.25 units at a time
Please try and get more tests in during each 12 hour cycle especially at night, ,we need to see how the insulin is working and how low he's dropping
How was Sammy diagnosed ,did the vet run a fructosamine test , it would give you an average blood glucose reading over several weeks or did he just prick his ear to see what his BG was

Do you have a hypo kit set up
Between 11% and 17% is medium carbs.

18% and over is high carb. and some honey

Such as
Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart.

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-
Click to expand...
Yeah.
Bandit's Mom said:
It is good that you have started home testing. Sammy is on a pretty high dose of Vetsulin and the change of diet to a low carb one can make a big difference to his numbers. By home testing you can see how low his blood sugar is dropping and reduce his dose, if necessary.

With fast-acting insulins like Vetsulin you want to feed a good amount with food and wait half an hour to see that there is no scarf and barf and then give the shot. Don't fill him up at shot time. Maybe half a can and then feed a little more at +1 or +1.5 and more at +2/+3. Getting some tests in the first part of the cycle will help you understand his onset and nadir.

Have you seen this primer on Vetsulin? Lots of good info:
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CANINSULIN/VETSULIN

Fancy Feast classic pates are indeed low carb. Hills prescription Diet m/d canned is not low - though it's much lower in carb than dry food.

A Lantus biosimilar called Semglee is much cheaper than Lantus. Some people have also had luck using Good Rx for buying Lantus cheap. Many folks in the US buy their insulin (Lantus & Levemir) from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada.

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...today-at-walgreens-w-the-right-coupon.266123/
Buying insulin from Canada
Click to expand...
Yeah home testing hasn't been as frequent as it should be im starting to work on that and make it more of a consistent thing. with the Vetsulin the vet made it 5 units but that was also when he was on that bad dry food so i should change it and i don't really remember how many unit he started off with probably around 2 to 3 units i don't exactly remember because my mom is usually the one to take Sammy to the vet but i do often come with now and i don't think Sammy has had a fructosamine just BG readings over the days at the vet. i don't exactly know were to start with potentially decreasing his insulin dose i guess take a BG test after a couple hours to see how low it drops. ill do that soon cause he just got his insulin not to long ago
(Also sorry for the cut off replies the reply thread keeps posting before i finish typing..) still figuring things out
 
FrostD said:
Unfortunately I can't access the spreadsheet, it says I don't have access.
Click to expand...
i think its fixed now sorry about that. The SS is a little dull when it comes to information on his BG readings im gonna start being more constant now that ive learned how to draw by ear
 
Bandit's Mom said:
It is good that you have started home testing. Sammy is on a pretty high dose of Vetsulin and the change of diet to a low carb one can make a big difference to his numbers. By home testing you can see how low his blood sugar is dropping and reduce his dose, if necessary.

With fast-acting insulins like Vetsulin you want to feed a good amount with food and wait half an hour to see that there is no scarf and barf and then give the shot. Don't fill him up at shot time. Maybe half a can and then feed a little more at +1 or +1.5 and more at +2/+3. Getting some tests in the first part of the cycle will help you understand his onset and nadir.

Have you seen this primer on Vetsulin? Lots of good info:
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO CANINSULIN/VETSULIN

Fancy Feast classic pates are indeed low carb. Hills prescription Diet m/d canned is not low - though it's much lower in carb than dry food.

A Lantus biosimilar called Semglee is much cheaper than Lantus. Some people have also had luck using Good Rx for buying Lantus cheap. Many folks in the US buy their insulin (Lantus & Levemir) from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada.

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...today-at-walgreens-w-the-right-coupon.266123/
Buying insulin from Canada
Click to expand...
Thank you for all this information I really appreciate it especially the Beginners guide. I've definitely noticed a difference in his BG this morning it wasn't in the 500's like it was. The New wet food is definitely helping. And I'll definitely try to see how low his blood sugar drops later on in the days with how high you are saying his insulin dose is.
 
Naya1 said:
We did but accidentally bought U-100 syringes last time and have been using that for a bit to not waste syringes. :confused:
Click to expand...
You definitely should not use the U-100 syringes when using Vetsulin, please go and buy U-40 syringes

@Bandit's Mom

@Bron and Sheba (GA)

@carfurby

@FrostD

Hi ladies the syringes she's using are not the correct ones , this cat is on such a high dose of vetsulin

Intro post
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-to-group-need-advice.266256/#post-2980521
 
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Naya1 said:
We did but accidentally bought U-100 syringes last time and have been using that for a bit to not waste syringes. :confused:
Click to expand...
If you are using a u100 syringe to give Vetsulin, then you're giving a lower dose than you think - unless you are converting to the equivalent number of units on a u100 syringe.

For e.g. 5u on a u100 syringe is only 2u of Vetsulin.

Here is a conversion chart:
https://felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions.htm
 
To clarify - you are using U100 syringes, and drawing to the 5U line?

The current dose seems ok for now. You just switched food 3 days ago? Are you still phasing it out? Or completely low carb?

It can take a few days, up to 2 weeks, to see food effects. So my fear is he may start to drop drastically on you the next few days. Just be vigilant.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
If you are using a u100 syringe to give Vetsulin, then you're giving a lower dose than you think - unless you are converting to the equivalent number of units on a u100 syringe.

For e.g. 5u on a u100 syringe is only 2u of Vetsulin.

Here is a conversion chart:
https://felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions.htm
Click to expand...
Thank you for the chart, this really helps. We've just been going two lines and than in the middle of in between the second and third line to make it 5 Units on the syringe.
 
Naya1 said:
Thank you for the chart, this really helps. We've just been going two lines and than in the middle of in between the second and third line to make it 5 Units on the syringe.
Click to expand...
Keep doing what you're doing! Do NOT increase the dose, if you actually give him 5U (12.5U on your syringes)you might kill him.

When you get a chance, please add "using U100 syringes" to your signature. That will help advice-givers know to give things in both terms of the actual dose and what the equivalent is on your syringes.

You'll also want to change the doses in your dose column to 2U (for what you thought was 5U) and 2.4U (for what you thought was 6U). If it helps you keep it straight, sometimes people add an extra column for "Dose on U100 syringe" (which would be your 5U), and then use the existing dose column for the actual dose.

We will do everything by actual dose here, so you'll probably want to set up an Excel formula (if you're tech savvy) where the actual dose column is a hard number, then the U100 column takes the actual dose and multiplies by 2.5. We can always help with that.
 
Can you please go back to your signature add add Fancy Feast Pate
Tap in your name above then tap on signature and add this so we know what you're feeding
 
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