Some promising news-updated

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Chris S

Chris S

Member Since 2020
Still waiting for our meter to start home testing BUT

we changed house (before Winston started lantus) to the following food:
Ff classics
Purely naturals ff
Dr else’s chicken dry (the 9 cats here share 2 cups dry a day for now).

went to vet today for follow up with Winston and Harley:

Winston gained weight ! He’s up to 13.5 (vet hopes for his size we get to 15).
He’s doing well w 1unit lantus BID. His in office reading at +4.5 was 231.
We have one week left with the prednisone removal (1/4 tab every other day now until it’s done after a year on it). Meter due by weds. Which once we are off pred I want to be sure we closely monitor for changes. Winston still peeing everywhere but that has been his issue for some time long before he had any diabetes.

Harley gained weight! She gained almost a pound! She has been coming out to eat happily enjoying her new foods (we changed her in the week as well but mixed with others. Yesterday was first full ff classics and purely naturals day for her. She loves it way more than that dm savory. Yay!

Her in office BG at +4.5 still reads at 417 so dr wants me to increase to 2.5 BID. I am not sure to move there yet but the meter will help me better understand the daily here. Ugh. Do we move up or wait a few days? Wo monitoring I know you all can’t offer suggestions really. It’s a matter of what would you all do really. Does a few more days waiting at 2u BID until the meter arrives matter or are we really making big changes if we try to go up? I get 400s aren’t ideal at all. She still drinking a decent amt of water but can’t say she’s peeing the same multiple times a day or not.


Last thing: we don’t do well w cat breakfast and dinner exactly at 12/12 so we are trying to do shot and breakfast at usual 9 cat breakfast time (7-9 am depending on work schedules etc) and will follow up dinner whatever time (5-7p) and then if pm shot isn’t 12 hrs at pm dinner due to work schedule, will give PM shot at 12 hr plus a snack per vet recommendation. Is that a good idea? How do you manage w staggered work schedules etc esp w 9 cats?
 
There's no reason you need to wait for the AlphaTrak...Most of us use human meters like the Relion Prime from WalMart....it's $9 and the strips are $17.88/100.....The AT strips are going to cost you about $1 EACH and when you test at least 4 times a day, that adds up quickly. All the dosing methods on the FDMB were developed with human meters so we're very comfortable with them

I'd just stick with the 1U current doses for now....a few more days won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things but shooting without testing could be tragic

And fantastic news on the weight gain!!!
 
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Tks -harley would be a 2 to 2.5 (a .5 increase) but I could easily wait a few more days until my at arrives. (Found for $ 45 while Walmart gets more meters in-they said hopefully sometime next week but w the $45 starter to be here by tues to get started w at I didn’t wait to wait)

Winston is holding at 1
 
Don't blame you for not wanting to wait on the meter. You can always get a human meter when possible, and keep the other for curve days (as some vets prefer the pet meter readings for curves.)

First, a very big huzzah for Harley gaining weight! That's awesome! And kudos to Winston as well, but I know you were worried about poor tiny Harley.

I'm not sure I understand the last thing in your post. Is it just feeding time, or shots that are not always at 12 hour intervals? As far as feeding goes, they are both underweight and their sugar isn't regulated, you can feed them multiple times a day, and that helps regulate their blood sugar as well. It is best to withhold food for 2 hours before pre-shot BGL test, as this gives you a more honest reading and makes sure they will eat.

If the injection time is not every 12 hours, that can cause trouble when using Lantus because of the depot. If that's the case, you might want to switch to ProZinc, if it's available where you are, and it has a little wiggle room when it comes to dosing. Long lasting, but no depot.

And I agree with Chris and China, I'd wait on the dose increase until the meter arrives. A few more days of higher numbers is safer than risking a possible hypo event.
 
Juls and Billy said:
And I agree with Chris and China, I'd wait on the dose increase until the meter arrives. A few more days of higher numbers is safer than risking a possible hypo event.
Click to expand...
As long as you are testing for ketones daily.

Not enough insulin + not enough food + infection/inflammation (thing bad teeth or uti) = ketone formation
Ketone formation can quickly lead to DKA - diabetic ketoacidosis.
One day your cat is fine, the next needing a week long stay in the vet 24 hour emergency care unit.

We've had 3 cats with DKA in the last 2 weeks. Please test for ketones every single day. Even cats on low doses, those off insulin or getting low BG numbers can develop ketones.
 
Like others have noted, I'd encourage you to get a human meter. You'll save a huge amount of cash, especially with 2 diabetic cats. Send the AlphaTrack back!

We increase Lantus doses by 0.25u unless nadirs are consistently quite high. Getting a reading at the vet's office may not be accurate. Cats can experience considerable stress when visiting the vet. As a result, their BG numbers can be artificially elevated and the vet will make a dose recommendation based on the in-office test data. The problem is the numbers could be much lower at home.
 
Got my pet meter; still waiting for the Walmart to get a meter in their shipment. They said hopefully by fri but TBD. Is it possible they are delayed w production ?

while waiting (the alpha was $45) I took readings at the pm shot
Winston: 220
he has been getting 1u bid lantus and seems to handle well. Would like to do bg curve weds when I’m home.

Harley 442
harley has been getting 2u BID lantus. I didn’t move her that .25 or .5 yet as i was waiting for the meter and would also like to run a bg curve weds when I’m home. Should I run curve weds and then increase or it doesn’t matter? Thoughts ?
 
If it was me, I'd go ahead and increase Harley's dose .25 at least. Yes, the curve will be good, but her numbers have been so high, I wouldn't wait. Winston isn't running as high at the mid cycle tests. You could wait for a curve to change dose. Even before you get a full curve, a couple mid cycle tests are very useful. As your schedule permits, of course. And at least a test mid-cycle in the PM is an awesome thing to have, even if it's just one before bed.

And by mid-cycle, I just mean not pre-shot. Many folks stagger the readings, say a +3 and +6 one day, and a +5 and +7 the next. It's builds us a picture, even without a full curve. You can look at the top of Billy's spreadsheet and see how we did some mid-cycle tests every day. Of course, I work from home. Folks that work get what tests they can.
 
Which meter did you order from Walmart? They have been known to let your order items that are not in stock or have been discontinued. Then, they keep delaying and rescheduling the delivery date.

So, which meter did you order from them?

For instance, the Relion Confirm or Relion Micro have both been discontinued.
 
I ordered the relion prime -it says it shipped. Maybe I’ll get before Friday :)

I hope the ketone strips and meter come too as I am going to have on hand and try to get a test of these -weekly? (Or only when it seems something is going on?). Right now last ketone check via strip for both was about 5 days ago. Nothing has changed for them to suggest I need to check again but was wondering what the typical testing is for them.

tonight for Harley pre pm shot-545! Dammit.
Winston still good at 215. at least one seems to be managing ok.


Glad I’m home tomrrow to do a little monitoring.
Ugh. So frustrating when I think I’m making progress for harley who really needs to get those numbers down. It’s a few weeks now and we aren’t moving yet but I’m only just starting home testing so I hope to see what’s up more and make better choices. Ugh.
 
+2 we are at 383. I can’t wait to see tomorrow. She let me know her sugar must have been down a bit because she came “yelling” at me (meowing incessantly) for a snack. So I gave here a little wet food (a nice spoonful maybe .5 oz of ff classic chicken ) as a snack and checked her and we see progress that the insulin is working a bit. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll see a much better picture with some additional blood checks thru the day.
 
Hi Chris. I'm not sure how often one should test for ketones. Absolutely test any time you have to skip a dose or do a lower dose than normal. And check if a cat isn't eating like they should. Or if they get an infection. I know some folks do once every few days, or once a week, just to check, even if there's no symptoms.
 
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