Thinking about stopping insulin

[Marccp24]

Hi all, I have not been able to consistently give Trixie a shot on time, or have her eat at a specific time. I have given her 2 doses of Lantus so far and she has been lethargic both times afterward, the second time was 90 mins late, I called the vet and she said to go ahead and give it... I thought, hmmm, easy for you to say. ( I give her 1 unit). I am almost certain she might not have eaten a good amount of her food. I am getting the Alphatrak 2 shortly, it is on order from my vet.
Just to add, I have a job that has 12-hour days most times and the start and finish times vary by at least 2 or more hours several times a week or very near that, thus making it impossible for me to consistently give the shots in the 12-hour time frame. I also have my shifts switched every 6 weeks. I have been thinking about home testing first to see if the all-wet low-carb diet has improved her glucose levels and go from there. I feed her twice a day now, and the only treats she will get will be the freeze-dried type, and not too many at all. I feel guilty that I used to buy bags of Temptations etc and throw them all over for her to find when I was at work. I also had dry food out at all times, sometimes 3 different types... I was thinking I was being a good dad. GUILT is my new friend...
I guess the thing that bothers me is giving her insulin without knowing how high or low her sugar is, I feel I am taking a huge chance of her going hypoglycemic. I think by watching her diet and calories and giving it a little time along with monitoring I will be able to make a better decision going forward rather than blindly giving her something that could inadvertently make her worse off. I am alone in this, with no one to help that would be available every day.
I know I will hopefully receive some input, but... as everyone here knows, it is not all the same for all people. Wish me and Trixie luck... I am going to stay on this page and keep reading and learning and hoping for the best for all. Marc.

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

You could do the SLGS method and do curves on the weekends when you have time. There are some really knowledgeable folks on here who can advise you on how to go about safely dosing. Maybe there are other types of insulin that would be better to give if they’re not spaced out twelve hours? I’m not sure. If you want to get advice it would be good to change your title prefix to the question mark and ask what you are wanting to know in the title. Good luck, hopefully you can find what’s best for you and your kitty.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I'm glad to hear you are thinking of testing your cat's blood sugar. You don't need to use the Alphatrak. Most of us use a human meter for two reasons. One, the test strips are a lot cheaper and easier to come by. Two, our dosing methods here were written using human meters, so it makes them easier to use. Rather than waiting for the AT, you could just go to a human pharmacy and get a meter that needs just a small drop of blood. In the US, a lot of people use the Relion meters due to the reasonable test strip cost. You can always use the AT as a backup meter.

Note: I moved your post back to Feline Health. The Lantus forum is a very busy one for people who are a little further along the feline diabetes journey. That means having started testing and having a spreadsheet set up. Until then, you can read the articles there (a great resource) and people here can help you with getting started testing. This post is worth looking at:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Marc and Trixie and welcome to the forum.
It is not necessary or a good idea to just feed Trixie twice a day. We recommend you feed a good meal before giving the dose of insulin and then giving a couple of snacks during all the cycles mainly during the first half of the cycles. Those of us who work use an automatic timed feeder to give the snacks while we are at work. You could also leave some of the freeze dried snacks around for her to find as you did with the treats before.
As far as testing goes, you could get some tests in during the evenings and your days off. As suggested above, if you do the SLGS method (start low, go slow.) of dosing, you could do curves on your days off. I’m really glad you are going to hometest. It’s the safest thing you can do for Trixie and you will know how low the dose is taking her.
Do you have a hypo kit? I would recommend you get one set up asap. Directions for it are in the link Wendy gave you.
As you work 12 hour days, you can only do the best you can as far as keeping to a 12 hour schedule.
Please keep asking questions, we are very happy to help you get set up and sorted out with everything.
Bron

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hi and welcome to the group. I am a cat dad as well and also used to shower my boy with temptations and leave dry food out for him to graze at will while I was at work.

Then, the diabetes. Now we feed only canned or raw food and all the kibble and high-carb treats like temptations are a distant memory. For someone in your position and mine, like Bron said a timed feeder like the Petsafe line is a great invention. Check out the Petsafe 2 or 5. You can put wet food in there, and with the 5 even an ice pack if you want to keep the food preserved better. It really is much better for a cat to eat several meals during the day!

https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-eatwe...hIlAQ_vNQ3EUCDfeLpkYwFqpVeTbqjjQaAtZOEALw_wcB

 

[James Passinos]

I also see tired/low "lethargic" after Lantus. We had an acute Pancrease Attack which led to Hepatic Liver and high BG.
Are BG is between 90-130 now, 7 weeks after a 6 day ICU stay.

Vet has lowered from 2U to 1U (I did in .5 steps over 7 days)

Yesterday the Vet said go to 1 shot a day. But I not sure this is good idea to off balance the dose.
might go 2x .5U

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Lantus doesn't give a 24 hour duration in cats. Their metabolism is way too fast. They need twice a day insulin dosing. You're instincts are good -- lowering the dose to 0.5u and shooting twice a day makes sense.

I agree with Wendy -- can you pick up a meter at Walmart or your local pharmacy? Without knowing what's going on with your cat's blood glucose, you could easily be dosing too much insulin.