Some reassurance and suggestions

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Lori and Atticus

Lori and Atticus

Member Since 2012
Hi everyone!

I introduced Atticus just a few days ago. She was put on .5 units of Lantus 2 times a day and I am home testing. When I posted before I had just gotten some basics down and just needed it to soak in before I try to go any further. Diabetes is complicated and I want the best for her so here I am. :-| I think I just need some reassurance, encouragement, and definitely more information if you have it. Here are my comments and questions. I know I haven't done the spreadsheet yet. I plan to start it soon. I have my own spreadsheet I am documenting everything though because life is CRAZY busy here! I work full time, go to school, homeschool my son, keep up with two dogs and two cats, and my husband travels all the time. I'm sure you can imagine how chaotic it gets here. ;-)

Before I go into any details of what's going on, I wanted to give you a little bit about Atticus's personality so you get the full picture. Although she loves me, she is not a snuggly cat. She will sleep next to me every night and she lays next to me during the day, but she's not crazy about being held. She is getting better about all the "physical attention" from me with insulin and BG tests, but she will spend half the day under the bed to avoid as much "contact" as possible. There is NO getting her out from under the bed either. It turns into a nasty fight if I attempt. It stresses her and me so much that if she's under there, I just wait her out. :mrgreen:

Ok, so...

1.) Atticus is eating better. I was having to force feed her with a syringe, but now she is eating 3-6 oz of Fancy Feast classic on her own daily. I know she needs to eat more and I coax her to, but at least she is eating on her own. My question is this: She is underweight. Her healthy weight is 10 - 10.5 lbs and she is currently 9.2 lbs. I know diabetes ultimately causes them to starve. At what point (what BG levels) is her body able to function so that she is not technically starving. I need for her to gain weight, not lose it. I fear force feeding her unless she regresses at this point because she is a bit skittish and it stresses her out pretty bad even if I'm gentle.

2.) There have been 4 times since Friday morning (her first dose of insulin) that her BG level was too low for me to shoot so I skipped it until her BG level was at least 200. The last three doses she has needed though, so it looks like she is evening out a little and actually ready for a dose around 12-14 hours (sometimes 16-18 hours) after the last dose. Is this normal that sometimes she may not need insulin or do you think it has to do with the fact that she's eating more and it's making her BG higher? Is it bad that her schedule is so off? I don't want to shoot unless she needs it. I know that sounds like a really dumb questions. I think I just need reassurance because I feel like I'm messing up somehow.

3.) The vet tells me to shoot if she hits 180, but I don't feel comfortable with shooting until at least 200 because a couple of times she was around 209 or 211 and I would shoot and she was in the 60's the next morning. :o That was before she was eating better though, so once again it has improved also. Should I just suck it up and shoot if she hits 200. Just make sure she eats and she should be fine? She is only on .5 unit/ 2 times a day. It's a very low dose and I really can't go much lower.

I know that my information is not in the format you guys are used to. I haven't quite got that down, but I thought I would post up what her BG levels and insulin shots have looked like for the last few days to see if you guys think it looks ok so far or if you see something that I need to look into, watch out for, or change. :smile: Oh. and the reason she didn't get insulin at 8:40 this morning when her BG was 212 was because she hid from me under the bed for two hours. :YMSIGH: Sorry for all the dumb questions. I just know that you guys are a lot more experienced in this and I am terrified of missing something that will hurt Atticus. :sad:


Action Date Time Amount
BG 9/27/12 6:00 PM 344

BG 9/28/12 11:30 AM 211
Insulin 9/28/12 11:30 AM .5 U
BG 9/28/12 6:45 PM 186
BG 9/28/12 11:15 PM 209
Insulin 9/28/12 11:15 PM .5 U

BG 9/29/12 10:45 AM 64
BG 9/29/12 4:35 PM 87
BG 9/29/12 11:25 PM 161

BG 9/30/12 8:05 AM 283
Insulin 9/30/12 8:45 AM .25 U (vet suggestion to try lower doses)
BG 9/30/12 11:40 AM 230
BG 9/30/12 4:30 PM 191
BG 9/30/12 10:00 PM 259
Insulin 9/30/12 10:00 PM .5 U

BG 10/1/12 9:30 AM 147
BG 10/1/12 5:45 PM 259
Insulin 10/1/12 5:45 PM .5 U
BG 10/1/12 10:15 PM 98

BG 10/2/12 8:40 AM 212
BG 10/2/12 10:30 AM 218
Insulin 10/2/12 10:30 AM .5 U
BG 10/2/12 3:20 PM 123



Thank you so much for your help!

Atticus's mom (Lori)
 
Hi Lori,

I don't have experience with your insulin so can't answer dose questions but maybe I can help with some other stuff.

Re the food. 6 ounces is a reasonable amount of food. You can try some things to get her to eat more. Try dressing it with Parmesan cheese, Chewy's and Stella's dry raw, FortiFlora or any snack she likes. My cat couldn't get the hang of the pate food; it helped a lot when I added some warm water and mixed it up to make it soupy. You can also warm it up in the microwave until it is nice and stinky.

If you want help with the spreadsheet, send me a pm and I can set it up for you. Just use the PM button at the bottom of my post.
 
Hello Lori!

badhabitz98 said:
1.) Atticus is eating better. I was having to force feed her with a syringe, but now she is eating 3-6 oz of Fancy Feast classic on her own daily. I know she needs to eat more and I coax her to, but at least she is eating on her own. My question is this: She is underweight. Her healthy weight is 10 - 10.5 lbs and she is currently 9.2 lbs. I know diabetes ultimately causes them to starve. At what point (what BG levels) is her body able to function so that she is not technically starving. I need for her to gain weight, not lose it. I fear force feeding her unless she regresses at this point because she is a bit skittish and it stresses her out pretty bad even if I'm gentle.
Click to expand...
The eating is good. As the insulin gets into her system will allow her to get more nutrients out of the food. See if you can entice with extras- parmasen cheese or flori flori. Eventually she should gain weight. Give it some time.

2.) There have been 4 times since Friday morning (her first dose of insulin) that her BG level was too low for me to shoot so I skipped it until her BG level was at least 200. The last three doses she has needed though, so it looks like she is evening out a little and actually ready for a dose around 12-14 hours (sometimes 16-18 hours) after the last dose. Is this normal that sometimes she may not need insulin or do you think it has to do with the fact that she's eating more and it's making her BG higher? Is it bad that her schedule is so off? I don't want to shoot unless she needs it. I know that sounds like a really dumb questions. I think I just need reassurance because I feel like I'm messing up somehow.

3.) The vet tells me to shoot if she hits 180, but I don't feel comfortable with shooting until at least 200 because a couple of times she was around 209 or 211 and I would shoot and she was in the 60's the next morning. :o That was before she was eating better though, so once again it has improved also. Should I just suck it up and shoot if she hits 200. Just make sure she eats and she should be fine? She is only on .5 unit/ 2 times a day. It's a very low dose and I really can't go much lower.
Click to expand...

you need to be able to shoot on a 12/12 schedule with lantus for the best results. Maybe your starting dose is too high (even at .5u)? Since you say she is evening out maybe it is the food effecting her. Give it a bit more time to see how she levels out. Once you get the spreadsheet up it will help to see any patterns.

All newbies should have a line in the sand of when NOT to shoot- we say 200 because it is a safe number when you don't have the data to know how low she went on a dose. This is not stupid or dumb- it is a life saver. You are a newbie and don't want to deal with a hypo case your first quarter (or ever I would guess :lol: ). This isn't messing up it is called being prudent and wise. Until you have the data don't tempt fate- especially if you aren't going to be there during the day.

You are doing great- slow and steady wins the race and gets your cat used to being held and touched. The bond will grow tighter between the two of you in the future.
 
Thank you for your replies! You guys have been awesome with all the help you have offered to Atticus and me. We are determined to kick diabetes in the butt and this morning was a great start when Atticus purred while I tested her blood and gave her the insulin injection. Such a relief!!! :mrgreen: I cleared some time this afternoon and completed Atticus's spreadsheet. Hopefully this will be fairly easy to maintain along with the personal spreadsheet I'm keeping with all of her meds and feeding amounts. I am a list person. :lol: Otherwise I will forget. I am currently free feeding Atticus, however I plan to switch to a feeding schedule as soon as I feel confident that she has adjusted to all the tests and gains some weight. She is so thin right now that any time she wants to eat, I want her to. She is starting to eat a lot better too, thank goodness! I just want her to fatten up just a bit before I go switching anything with food. She is currently on Mirtazapine to help with her appetite so it never fails that every 1-2 hours, she jumps up like something bit her and runs to the food dish to pig out for a couple of minutes. Can you imagine her face if the food dish was not there when she tears across the room looking for it. :o The horror! ;-) It's nice to see the little booger eat instead of lay around looking miserable all the time though. I hated that when she didn't feel good.

Back to the spreadsheet... I wasn't able to take many BG's during the first several days due to her not being very accepting of it. Over the next few days I will be taking them every 2-3 hours (as often as I can). I'll post again in a couple of days to get someone to check it out and see what they think. It doesn't seem like she is as insulin sensitive as she was the first few days. She may need a slight increase soon (after I am able to get more data, of course). You guys are lifesavers though! Thank you so much for your help getting my baby better!
 
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