Starting lantus tomorrow!

[Haley&Diane]

We start insulin tomorrow morning!

Updated spreadsheet this morning to start recording levels. Bought some Neosporin for ear pricks, new lancets, test strips, and have my syringes ready. Also have honey and higher carb food ready if needed.

I plan to do 6:30 and and 6:30 pm. She starts at 1 unit and her levels are usually around 270-300 without insulin. A little nervous because I won't be home all day to monitor. It seems like lantus mostly drops to the lowest point at the 6 hour mark? I'm planning to check levels every 3 hours.

I haven't given an insulin shot in about six years from when I worked at a vet clinic. Hoping for a good start tomorrow. Any words of encouragement are appreciated!

Also thanks to everyone who has given advice or feedback on my other posts. I'm sure I'll be posting more and more as we get into this new routine!

 

[AmandaE]

We start insulin tomorrow morning!

Updated spreadsheet this morning to start recording levels. Bought some Neosporin for ear pricks, new lancets, test strips, and have my syringes ready. Also have honey and higher carb food ready if needed.

I plan to do 6:30 and and 6:30 pm. She starts at 1 unit and her levels are usually around 270-300 without insulin. A little nervous because I won't be home all day to monitor. It seems like lantus mostly drops to the lowest point at the 6 hour mark? I'm planning to check levels every 3 hours.

I haven't given an insulin shot in about six years from when I worked at a vet clinic. Hoping for a good start tomorrow. Any words of encouragement are appreciated!

Also thanks to everyone who has given advice or feedback on my other posts. I'm sure I'll be posting more and more as we get into this new routine!

AWESOME!! you're READY!!! its kind of fun to gear up for a major life event... like having a diabetic cat!!

I LOVE my 6/6 schedule it makes it so that I don't have to worry about work and I can still go out in the evenings! best of every world! to me... it is the IDEAL shift

What time do you go to work? if you can get a +2 it is a really good indicator of how the rest of the cycle will go, if it is around the same or higher... no worries... if it is much lower its a little more concerning and you can leave out some MC food or something along those lines to keep Diane safe!

I have faith in your insulin administration abilities... like riding a bike right!?

 

[Haley&Diane]

AWESOME!! you're READY!!! its kind of fun to gear up for a major life event... like having a diabetic cat!!

I LOVE my 6/6 schedule it makes it so that I don't have to worry about work and I can still go out in the evenings! best of every world! to me... it is the IDEAL shift

What time do you go to work? if you can get a +2 it is a really good indicator of how the rest of the cycle will go, if it is around the same or higher... no worries... if it is much lower its a little more concerning and you can leave out some MC food or something along those lines to keep Diane safe!

I have faith in your insulin administration abilities... like riding a bike right!?

Thank you!! It is slightly exciting to gear up for a new major event, but also terrifying! I may try 6 am and 6 pm. The downside is that we try to get a little more sleep on the weekends, so getting up at 6 would be difficult to do every single day. I guess I could just keep her food in our room though and feed her there, so I don't wake up the others and can crawl back in bed. lol.

I go to work at 7:45, so I guess doing it at 6 would be best so I can get that reading at +2. How long after eating do you suggest shooting? Right away?

 

[AmandaE]

I wasn’t criticizing 630/630! I was just saying I love that time range! I think 630/630 would be just as perfect I hate getting up early but on the weekends I just go back to bed

This is my morning: alarm 5:50am. Go downstairs, take Mowgs BG, if it is a safe BG I draw his dose of insulin. Then I put his food in his dish and set it down for him to eat... and BLAMO give him his shot! He’s so busy eating he doesn’t even notice!!

 

[Jerry dutchboy]

Oh the very best of luck with the first shot and welcome to lantus world. Look forward to seeing the progress you will make.

 

[Haley&Diane]

I did it! I'm 99% sure it wasn't a fur shot either since her fur wasn't wet and I could barely smell the lantus...

I may shave a small square just to make shots easier in the future though for my husband and anyone who watches her. Lol. Her level was 267 before breakfast and I gave 1 unit while she ate. The shot was easy, the ear pricks she hates even with treats.

I will be checking her again in a couple hours

 

[Jerry dutchboy]

Well done! The ear pricks will get easier with time. Her ears will learn to bleed as small capillaries will grow as a result of the pokes. Make sure her ears are warm and give lots of praise and rubs before and after and she may tolerate them better.

 

[Haley&Diane]

Well done! The ear pricks will get easier with time. Her ears will learn to bleed as small capillaries will grow as a result of the pokes. Make sure her ears are warm and give lots of praise and rubs before and after and she may tolerate them better.

I hope you're right! We just did our first check post shot and she actually growled a little.

She doesn't like being handled a lot, and she wouldn't even go for the treat I used to coax her. I'm using 28 gauge right now down from 31 just until her ear starts getting used to it. With the 31 I'd have to attempt multiple times. I also have a hard time doing her right ear and can only get her left ear.

Her levels were 270s this morning and are down to 240 after 2 hours. Kind of anti climatic....was hoping for low 200s. But I guess it's a marathon not a race.

 

[Jerry dutchboy]

Are you warming her ear before poking it? I'm very lucky with Jerry, he is very cooperative but it was a struggle in the beginning. I think it was my insecurity in the beginning that caused the problem, I mean who likes to poke holes in your fur baby right? but once I got more confident it went better. To try to stay calm someone on the board suggested singing so the cat doesn't pick up on your nervous energy. Worth a try?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

A couple of thoughts...

Lantus is different from other types of insulin that you may be more familiar with from your vet tech days. With shorter acting insulin, onset is quick. With Lantus, onset isn't until around +2 for most cats. If you do see a sizable drop by +2, there's a good chance that it's going to be an active cycle. Because onset is later, you can test, feed, and shoot within a few minutes. You do not have to have food on board prior to shooting.

It takes roughly a week for the insulin depot to form. Until that depot has stabilized (5 - 7 days initially, 3 days thereafter -- again, for most cats), you may not see a huge difference in numbers.

Have you had a chance to read over the sticky notes at the top of the board? In particular, you will want to review the sticky on dosing methods. We use 2 approaches here -- the Tight Regulation Protocol and Start Low Go Slow. You will want to consider starting with one or the other method so you have some guidelines to follow. You can switch between methods. It helps us to know which method you're using (add the info to your signature) so we can offer you guidance consistent with what you're doing.

Please ask questions! The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge.

 

[Ti-Mousse (GA) Pepe (GA)]

Nice to see you're all set!! For ear prick, I use 28 also and ears have to be warmed before, this is the secret to bleeding; i put a damp baby washcloth in a MW ziploc for a few seconds and massage the ear with it! Diane will feel if you're nervous, try singing as Deirdre suggested above, or at least DEEP breathing will help, think of yoga! You'll see poking will get easier and your little girl will cooperate, but it takes some time! Ti-Mousse doesn't go for treats also, but as he loves to eat, I give him a tiny tiny bit of LC food right after (the size of a treat)!

For your schedule, don't worry you can adjust it if it's not the perfect timing for you!

Keep posting so we can follow Diane!

But I guess it's a marathon not a race

This is something we always have to remind ourselves...! We all have our patience pants somewhere in our closet!

 

[Perry & Jenn]

Aw, Diane doesn't want her ears messed with! Those ear sticks are really tough at first, but they get easier. Perry doesn't like to be handled either, and I've found I have the best success with him when I just sit next to him instead of holding him. Good scritches between grabbing his ear for the poke are required, of course. He's learned to sit in the kitchen and wait (for his food!) while I do it, which I never would've believed when we started this. Hopefully Diane gets the swing of it. Good luck, Haley!

 

[Haley&Diane]

Thank you everyone! Today was relatively easy...and the ear prick got easy by the PM shot time (she was so eager for food, I don't think she even noticed). I just need to remember to give it a minute to bleed before trying again.

She stayed in all yellows today! Hopefully after a week or so she'll start to dip into blues every so often? I'm eager to see those lower numbers! In the meantime, I'm going to read up again on the lantus stickies.

 

[Crista & Ming]

Great job on your first day! Yaay!!!!!!!!

(she was so eager for food, I don't think she even noticed)

What is Diane's feeding schedule? Most of us here feed small snacks throughout the day. I feed the curve because Ming is a diver and you never know what he's gonna do!

 

[Haley&Diane]

Great job on your first day! Yaay!!!!!!!!



What is Diane's feeding schedule? Most of us here feed small snacks throughout the day. I feed the curve because Ming is a diver and you never know what he's gonna do!

She eats breakfast and dinner. She used to be very overweight, but we got her down to a healthy 9.5ish lbs. I tried to do snacks during the day and her weight starting to go back up so I went back to what she's at now. We also have two other cats, so feeding her during the day is tough because they'd love a chance to sneak in and grab her food. We do have an automatic feeder though if we ever need to have snacks come out for her while at work due to her levels diving a bit.