Thinking of having Bubba tested 6 units and still high numbers

BubbasMama

BubbasMama

Member
Bubba is up to 6 units of Lantis a day. Think about having him tested. What is the cost of the blood tests? I've already blown out my $3,000 pet insurance limit on his diabetes. He is 16 going on 17, so I would never put him through surgery or radiation at this point. Having his teeth done a few years back was super traumatic for him and the pain meds made his so sick. His back legs are getting weaker and he has this wheezy rumbling thing going on with his breathing, especially when he is resting, so I want to get his BG down asap. Is that even possible with an acro cat? I appreciate all the information here. Its been wonderful. Obviously I'm still learning. Sending his spreadsheet to this vet tomorrow. Doing another curve today. Any thoughts?
 
BubbasMama said:
so I want to get his BG down asap. Is that even possible with an acro cat?
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Absolutely possible. Each acrocat needs varying degrees of insulin, some higher than others. A few examples of nicely regulated acros, click on the link to see their spreadsheets: Amethyst, Freckles, Crystal. Neko got there eventually too. One of the things you will notice in all of those spreadsheets is that those caregivers tested a lot more than you do.

The key to getting blood sugar down is to get to a dose that can lower the blood sugar. You do that by knowing how low the current dose is taking the cat and safely increasing. That means testing the preshots (which you are good at), but also getting more tests in the middle of the cycle, including at night. We determine how to change the dose based on how low it takes the cat, not the preshots. Based on those low points, the insulin dose is increased. We have a couple dosing methods used here by people using Lantus. If you haven't already, I would read the yellow starred Sticky Notes as the top of the Lantus/Basaglar/Levemir forum, including the Dosing Methods sticky note. Following one of the dosing methods here also allows you to increase much faster. The nature of insulin resistance, be it IAA and/or acromegaly, is that you can't stay at the same dose as long as you have been. We also increase by smaller amounts than you have been doing, in order not to bypass a good dose.

The latest catalog from Michigan State University shows the IGF-1 test as $65 and IAA at $20. On top of that your vet will charge for the blood draw, and there is the cost of shipping, which will vary depending on where you live. Some of the people here have been using the drug cabergoline with their acros. For some cats it reduces the effects of the growth hormone and resulting size of dose needed, if the cat has acromegaly. But first you have to test to see if that is what Bubba has.

You are commenting about weaker back legs. Is it possible he has neuropathy? People used Zobaline to help with that. Getting his blood sugar down is also a key to helping neuropathy.
 
Thank you for the response. The Vet told me just preshot test, but honestly- you all seem to know what you are doing, so I will test more often, even though Bubba hates it. Its for his own good. His back leg weakness worries me. I need to get his BG levels down asap. I gave him 6.5 units tonight and we wil see how that goes
I will keep reading and testing! Thank you for your help!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
A few examples of nicely regulated acros, click on the link to see their spreadsheets: Amethyst, Freckles, Crystal.
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And this is thanks to the wonderful people on this board who so generously give of their time. It's nice to know there are still lots of people who help others.

Not to knock vets, but if I just followed by vets instructions, Freckles would still be at 2 u and still high. In fact, the last prescription that the vet filled out for me about 1.5 months ago, was for 2 u twice a day... (we were up to 10u already by then). :rolleyes: The experienced people on this board have lived and breathed FD 24/7. I would hazzard to guess that there aren't too many feline health conditions that haven't been discussed on this forum.
 
It seems when I raise his insulin, his levels go nuts and he is miserable screaming for food and restless. His neorpathy is getting worse, where he lays down next to his bowl to drink and only walks about 6-10 feet before he stops lays down. He doest rarely sits up. I'm trying to get him an appointment at the vet this week.
 
It's possible the numbers you see at preshot are getting worse, because somewhere else in the cycle he's seeing numbers he's not used to, and bouncing. That's why getting tests somewhere in the middle of the cycle, and/or at least weekly curves are important. I'd also like to point out that the majority of cats go lower at night, so it's really important to try to get a test at night, just before you go to bed. Then if you see he's dropping fast, you can either monitor more if he's going down really fast, or leave out some food so he can keep himself safe.

The second possibility is that his dose is too high. You increased by larger amounts that we would typically do, without knowing how low the dose was taking Bubba. Again, those mid cycle tests AM and PM will tell us which scenario is at play.
 
OK thank you for the help. I'm desperate to get his levels lower because of his nephropathy I've been trying to get him where he needs to be since January and nothing has come close.
I will try and get more evening tests in- I work during the day so thats tough, but on the weekends for sure. Just got a new batch of teststrips delivered today.
with Bubba- I can usually tell how he is doing by the amount of water her drinks. if he is the 300's he doesnt drink as muc hand will sleep a few hours straight. 500's he is laying down next to his water bowl and restless.
So should I start reducing his insulin, and work backwards and test more? Tonight I will give him 6.5 and see where it goes.
 
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No, stay the course on the dose. Just gather some more data. Do you ever get the equivalent of weekend off? Are you gone out of the house the full 12 hours or could you get a +2 or a +10 test? Those would be good indicators of what is happening in the middle of the cycle. Even a +3 or +4 at night is helpful.
 
Very possible he's acro. My vet didn't want to believe me and said it was super rare. I said it's not that rare I know several people with acro cats! Still she was convinced I was overdosing and cc was bouncing. When I switched insulins she was like do it my way for a while. So I did and CC was so high she started getting ketones. I insisted on raising the dose. Then my vet went to a seminar about FD and said she learned is not as rare as one thought and let's go ahead and test her for it. Sure enough she was acro. She backed off and didn't criticize my dosing after that.
 
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