? Trying to understand no-shoot threshold is for lantus

Charlie'sMom22

Charlie'sMom22

Active Member
Hello!

As the title says, I'd like to figure out a threshold to either not shoot or cut the dose in half for my newly diagnosed Charlie. He was just diagnosed on Friday, and I had to skip the first two PM shots because I didn't have a glucose monitor (you can see that post here). Last night I gave a partial fur shot. This morning AMPS was below 200 and I wasn't sure what to do--I read somewhere that the no-shoot number for Lantus is 200 for beginners?

His numbers have been below 200 all day so I'm trying to get an answer on this before shot time at 10PM so I don't freak out about what to do. I live very far from any emergency vet so I'd like to be extra conservative.

A bit of quick context--
- He barely had any symptoms at diagnosis, it was found during bloodwork that I requested for constipation
- Vet said if he skips a meal to drop the dose from 2u to 1u
- I don't know what the numbers were at diagnosis and I don't have a lot of data yet

Thanks
 
Welcome to LLB. We tell those with cats newly diagnosed to not shoot if under 200. If under stall without food and test again in 20-30 to see if tge BG rises. Once you choose a dosing method and gave data that advice might change. Lantus onsets around 2 hours after injection so all the food does not need to be eaten before giving insulin. You just want to make sure he will eat some food. Many shoot while their cats are eating.
 
Last edited:
tiffmaxee said:
Welcome to LLB. We tell those with cats newly diagnosed to not shoot if under 200. If under stall without food and rest again in 20-30 to see if tge BG rises. Once you choose a dosing method and gave data that advice might change. Lantus onsets around 2 hours after injection so all the food does not need to be eaten before giving insulin. You just want to make sure he will eat some food. Many shoot while their cats are eating.
Click to expand...

Great, thank you! If you end up stalling does that mean the next shot gets pushed as well? I assume that depends on how long you have to stall, right? What’s the cutoff? Sorry for all the questions, my vet didn’t give me a lot of guidance—I got the diagnosis just before they closed for the weekend :facepalm:
 
Ask as many questions as you have. Someone will be sure to answer them. You can stall up to 30 minutes without needing to change the time of the next shot. Sometimes stalling causes the bg to drop but often it rises to a shootable bg. Vets don’t usually give a lot of guidance unfortunately. That’s why this forum exists. If it gets beyond 30 minutes it depends on your schedule whether you shoot a token dose, skip, or stall longer. To get back on schedule you can shoot 15 minutes early each cycle or 30 minutes all at once every 24 hours.
 
Was the diabetes diagnosed through a fructosamine blood test or the blood glucose test that's included with regular routine blood work? The regular blood work will only show what the blood glucose level is at the time of blood draw. Most cats are super stressed out at the vet office and stress causes blood glucose levels to skyrocket. A fructosamine test is similar to a Human diabetic AC1 test and gives the average blood glucose reading over the past few weeks. You can ask the vet for a copy of your cat's medical records.

If you don't feel your vet know much about treating diabetes, you can seek out a new vet or just ask the vet to consult with another vet. I saw your location in your Health post. I can recommend a very good vet in your general area. You can have your current vet consult with this vet or make an initial appointment to see this vet yourself (guessing at least an hour's drive depending on traffic). Just send me a PM.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Ask as many questions as you have. Someone will be sure to answer them. You can stall up to 30 minutes without needing to change the time of the next shot. Sometimes stalling causes the bg to drop but often it rises to a shootable bg. Vets don’t usually give a lot of guidance unfortunately. That’s why this forum exists. If it gets beyond 30 minutes it depends on your schedule whether you shoot a token dose, skip, or stall longer. To get back on schedule you can shoot 15 minutes early each cycle or 30 minutes all at once every 24 hours.
Click to expand...
Thank you!!
 
squeem3 said:
Was the diabetes diagnosed through a fructosamine blood test or the blood glucose test that's included with regular routine blood work? The regular blood work will only show what the blood glucose level is at the time of blood draw. Most cats are super stressed out at the vet office and stress causes blood glucose levels to skyrocket. A fructosamine test is similar to a Human diabetic AC1 test and gives the average blood glucose reading over the past few weeks. You can ask the vet for a copy of your cat's medical records.

If you don't feel your vet know much about treating diabetes, you can seek out a new vet or just ask the vet to consult with another vet. I saw your location in your Health post. I can recommend a very good vet in your general area. You can have your current vet consult with this vet or make an initial appointment to see this vet yourself (guessing at least an hour's drive depending on traffic). Just send me a PM.
Click to expand...

Initially they did regular bloodwork because I asked for a full workup as he’s had ongoing problems with constipation since I switched his food a couple months ago. The bloodwork showed high glucose but they said it could be stress and to try to get a urine test. I couldn’t get a clean sample at home but I stuck a dipstick in his wet litter and it showed glucose—the vet had me then bring him in for cystocentesis urinalysis and fructosamine test which both confirmed diabetes.

I’m probably going to have to call them tomorrow as I’ve noticed he seems to be drinking a bit more now despite having mostly blue numbers since I started him on Saturday. Is it normal for a newly diagnosed cat to still be drinking a lot as they get regulated? I did also tweak his feeding schedule a bit and stop adding pumpkin to his food (he doesn’t like it anymore), which may have reduced the moisture content a bit. Ketostix arriving tomorrow.
 
Yes, until blood glucose levels are in a more normal range your cat will continue to drink a lot and pee a lot. The urine will likely smell like sugary and be sticky clumps in the box.

You can add extra water to the canned food. Some cats will drink soup but others won't tolerate more than a small spoonful.
 
squeem3 said:
Yes, until blood glucose levels are in a more normal range your cat will continue to drink a lot and pee a lot. The urine will likely smell like sugary and be sticky clumps in the box.

You can add extra water to the canned food. Some cats will drink soup but others won't tolerate more than a small spoonful.
Click to expand...

Ah okay whew. I feel relieved. I thought that might be the case. I was making a soup but now he’s being picky about that too so I started adding a little less water. I need to get him off of this food, I can tell he doesn’t like it anymore and tbh I feel like it triggered his diabetes. The vet says I should wait until he’s regulated to make a diet change and im trying to be as patient as possible but I hate the food almost as much as he does at this point! Haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top