Starting Dosage, & Drinking Question

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Julie and Eleanor (GA)

Julie and Eleanor (GA)

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Talked to the vet today. When I am able to buy the Lantus, the vet told me to start at 1 unit AM and PM. He said I'll need to take Eleanor in for a check at the vets in 10-14 days. Which I won't have the money for, so I'm concerned about that. He also wants to check my meter to be sure it is accurate. Does this dosage sound right? I was thinking maybe 0.5 unit AM and PM?
Eleanor is not drinking or piddling as much as she was when I took her in for the bloodwork on Monday. I've been reading here about cats drinking a whole bowl of water etc, El has not been drinking anywhere near that and is now down to less. Does this mean anything?
 
What meter are you using or have for using? if you get a relion meter, it's got the cheapest test strips.
No, you don't need to take your cat back in 2weeks to be checked. If you are home testing, tell the vet you report your numbers and that's plenty

first see what kinds of numbers you get from testing, but I think that starting dose will be good, 1unit am and pm, but if you want to go with .5units that's fine.

Be sure you have the syringes with 1/2 unit markings.
 
The 5/16 needles are fine. You're going to pull the skin into a "tent" where you inject...you're only shooting through the skin into the space underneath, not into fat or muscle. In cats, insulin is given subcutaneously, not intramuscularly. Hopefully your vet will show you how to do the shot, and I'm sure someone around here has a good video to help you
 
I adopted both my diabetics as diabetics from this very board through DCIN. Neither of mine have seen my vet concerning their diabetes, I just set up spreadsheets for both of them on google docs and shared the links with my vets, so they can log in and check their numbers anytime they want. Maxwell has only seen my vet once and then not as a patient but to give a demo on how our home testing works so that they could teach other clients. :-D

Musette will see my vet for the first time this next week, again not because she is diabetic, but because she needs to have her teeth cleaned and since she is a DCIN sponsored kitty they need a written estimate for her upcoming dental so they can pay for it for me. They also provide me with her Lantus as well as her testing supplies.

If you haven't contacted them yet I would highly recommend it, even if they can just help you get your first batch of Lantus to get Eleanor started on her road to recovery.

Caring for a diabetic isn't hard and it shouldn't break the bank either. :-D I've had Maxwell now for nearly a year and a half and now that he is in remission he is like caring for any of my other kitties. The only change in our lifestyle that having a couple diabetics in the house has made is I now feed everyone canned food and will soon be switching to raw once Musette and Maxwell get their teeth all cleaned and any bad ones out. We don't see the vet anymore often, we don't stay cooped up in the house, we go out to see friends, we go out for the evenings etc. When we do have to travel we just pack up Musette since she is still insulin dependent and hire a friend to pet sit for us, which except for traveling with Musette is pretty much what we did before we had the diabetics. :-D

I use the short needles for Musette and not only is she now getting rather round, she is also a Himalayan which means she is a walking fluffy ball. I don't think they make a cat with longer or fluffier fur than a Himmie has, and the short needles are just so much easier to control in all that fluffy fur.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
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