Vacation dosage for Thelonius

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Thelonius

Thelonius

Member Since 2019
I am taking a month long out-of-the-country trip in about a week and my cat Thelonius has recently been diagnosed. I've been keeping pretty decent records the past week or so, and I have trusted people that are willing to come by and give him his injections (some are willing to take glucose readings as well).

My question is what might be a good vacation dosage to give him? The vet originally prescribed 2 units, but dropped me to 1 after two weeks and an in-office glucose curve. She then said I could bring him up to 1.5 after I started home testing, but I talked her down to 1.25. His readings have been getting better, but the 92 I got +4 PMPS tonight has me worried that I might want to lower the dosage, especially if they won't be around during the whole cycle.

Any advice much appreciated!
 
I would get another test in after getting the 92 to see low low Thalonius goes.
Experienced people will help you decide the holiday dose, but much closer to the time you leave.
Keep testing and recording the data on the SS.
Could you set up your signature please as that will give important information to others and it will appear at the bottom of all your posts.
I will get the link for you.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/
 
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get another reading last night as I fell asleep. He was pretty high this morning, I am assuming from a bounce?
 
A month is a long time for a recently diagnosed cat and a lot of things can change in that time. Without knowing more about Thelonius or who is looking after him this is all I have for now:
- "some are willing to take glucose readings as well" It's never a good idea to give insulin without testing first, each and every time.
- "what might be a good vacation dosage to give him?" This can change from day to day depending on the cat, the insulin, his diet and his stress level. In other words just about anything including which way the wind is blowing.
- "Any advice much appreciated!" This is so much easier said than done. I've been a stay at home papa since our first diabetic cat and my hair turned white when we had to board our second sugar cat for a week. Taking care of a diabetic cat can change everything, most people here cannot remember what a vacation is.
The very last thing I want to do is to sound like I know something you don't and then you never come back. It's just a lot more complicated than a suggested dose. Keep gathering info and keep your spreadsheet up to date.
- Another idea is to allow someone you trust access to this site, you can always change your security settings later. It's been done before.

One last thing. I had it easy with two low maintenance cats and in all those years never once had a real emergency. Our last sugar cat passed last year and I'm out of the loop as far as medical advice goes. There is so much to know, I just want you to be prepared. :)
 
I understand and am managing Thelonius as best as I currently can. If he had been diagnosed before I made any of these plans, they would likely be very different, up to this point he was an easy cat to care for.

I'm having my roommate do about two weeks of the injections, another friend doing several days (who has experience working with shelter cats), and a vet tech that I am hiring for the remainder of the trip. I don't want to make it overly complicated for them, but I also want to avoid any dangerous situations. I looked into other options, but the only boarding location that would do insulin injections had never done glucose readings, and wasn't sure they could. My vet office said it would be difficult for them to board him as they don't typically have someone there for the start of each cycle.
 
Thanks for setting up your signature!
Can we know your name please?

Yes he may have dropped lower last night and bounced.

When during the month is the person who is going to test the BG levels going to be coming in? Could they pop in at other times to check the BG?
Needs for insulin can change over the period of a month so it would be better if there was some way to have the BG checked at regular intervals.

I am going to tag @Wendy&Neko about the holiday dose. It is too early yet but she will guide you as to when to reduce the dose and by how much.
 
My name is Steve.

Both my roommate and the vet tech have agreed to take blood readings, I haven't asked my other friend yet for sure but I think she will also be willing. So potentially, there will be readings for the whole time (as long as Thelonius isn't too difficult).
 
Hi Steve!
Do you have an automatic feeder that you could get your friends to fill up each day when they are not there?
Ideally if you had one for the am cycle and one for the pm cycle they would not have to reset them each time.
You would get them to feed him before the shots them if you had the feeders set for say +3 and +5 and +7 each cycle with some low carb food, that would help keep him safe.

Do you also have some high carb food and some honey at home in case of very low numbers? Make sure your friends know what to do if they get low numbers or notice him acting wobbly or unsteady or suddenly starving.
Here is the link to a hypo and what to do. Print it off for your friends.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
 
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I don't have an automatic feeder, is there one recommended that will handle wet food?

I have honey on hand.
 
I've tried the freezing trick, he typically starts eating it as soon as it starts to thaw. I'll look into that auto-feeder. Thanks for the advice!
 
There is also a little spot below the Petsafe 5 tray where you can put a mini gel pack, to help keep food cool.

I'm afraid that I don't know enough to suggest what to do as a vacation dose at this point. Do you know if Thelonius will eat as much while you are gone? As you have heard above, a lot can change with a newly diagnosed cat. Typically we suggest people ask about petsitter dosing a couple days before they leave. Things can change between now and then.

You will also need to write extensive instructions on what to do based on what blood sugars they see. Whether they should reduce, or maybe skip or give a reduced dose if they see a particular preshot value. We have had people go on holidays before and leave their cat with others to care for them.
 
From my 8 years of experience with Thelonius, he will eat anything put in front of him. This hasn't changed since diagnosis (in the week before I took him in, he was knocking over the trash can/getting on the counter). I figured I might need to wait to decide his dosage, just wanted to get an idea on what the month might look like.
 
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