Beth & Blackie
Member Since 2014
Hi all ... first time poster here. I brought Blackie home last Saturday after a 3 1/2 day hospitalization for pancreatitis, ketoacidosis, and kidney issues. Not the way you want to find out your cat has diabetes!
He is on 1 unit of Lantus 2x a day. From what I read, this is normally supposed to be given at 12-hour intervals, but he is doing most of his eating during my waking hours AND intermittently (he's always been a grazer ... he's always had dry food available between feedings). So I've been giving him the first dose with his first AM meal (typically around 7A) and giving him the second with his PM meal (typically around 5), as he has been eating approx every 3 hours from 7A - 10P. I am feeding him a HPLC diet ... for now, he's getting a mix of FF Classic and Epigen 90.
The last two days he has actually eaten a little at 3AM, but in weighing his food (I keep it away from his always-hungry sibling) I can see he is not yet eating the food I leave out for him. So if I dosed him at 7A that dose would apply to 5 small feedings and the 7P would apply to 2.
In your experience, would you recommend I stick to dosing at 12 hour intervals (and perhaps go with a lower dose at 7P)? Or better to dose based on his feedings? I could ask my local vet, but she referred me to the hospital so actually hasn't seen him since his hospitalization and I frankly don't know yet whether she'll be taking care of Blackie going forward. Unfortunately, the hospital is an hour away, so I don't think they are a good option for longer term care either. I'm very encouraged by his improvement over the last few days, so I thought I'd check here.
BTW, I expect to eventually start home testing, but my very frazzled nerves need a break after the stress of hospitalization last week as well as the stress of having to pill him with unnecessary antibiotics.
Thanks, in advance, for any info!
He is on 1 unit of Lantus 2x a day. From what I read, this is normally supposed to be given at 12-hour intervals, but he is doing most of his eating during my waking hours AND intermittently (he's always been a grazer ... he's always had dry food available between feedings). So I've been giving him the first dose with his first AM meal (typically around 7A) and giving him the second with his PM meal (typically around 5), as he has been eating approx every 3 hours from 7A - 10P. I am feeding him a HPLC diet ... for now, he's getting a mix of FF Classic and Epigen 90.
The last two days he has actually eaten a little at 3AM, but in weighing his food (I keep it away from his always-hungry sibling) I can see he is not yet eating the food I leave out for him. So if I dosed him at 7A that dose would apply to 5 small feedings and the 7P would apply to 2.
In your experience, would you recommend I stick to dosing at 12 hour intervals (and perhaps go with a lower dose at 7P)? Or better to dose based on his feedings? I could ask my local vet, but she referred me to the hospital so actually hasn't seen him since his hospitalization and I frankly don't know yet whether she'll be taking care of Blackie going forward. Unfortunately, the hospital is an hour away, so I don't think they are a good option for longer term care either. I'm very encouraged by his improvement over the last few days, so I thought I'd check here.
BTW, I expect to eventually start home testing, but my very frazzled nerves need a break after the stress of hospitalization last week as well as the stress of having to pill him with unnecessary antibiotics.
Thanks, in advance, for any info!
