Vacation dose for critter sitter

Howiesmom

Howiesmom

Active Member
I’m going on vacation June 26-July 1 and am leaving Howie at home instead of taking him to the vet kennel as they never feed or give insulin at the times he needs (and he comes home with a mess of BGs for at least 48 hrs). So my critter sitter will come in 2 times/day. He’s been at 37 units since June 6 so I would appreciate some advice if I need to adjust his dosing before I leave for the sitter. I’m also nervous how lonely he’ll get as an “only child”. He’s never been left alone at my house for so long. My critter sitter is willing to spend the night, but that also seems excessive for a kittie!

Thanks for the advice!
 
There is more experienced people on the Lantus/Lev/Biosimilar forum for petsitter dosing. Might want to post there. If you reduce a couple days before you leave, you might get an idea how low he's going on the vacation dose. I wouldn't want a dose where I have to do BCS or see nadirs in the 60's or 70's. So yes, I think you should lower the dose.

I get my petsitter to do lap time in the evenings.
 
Howiesmom said:
I’m going on vacation June 26-July 1 and am leaving Howie at home instead of taking him to the vet kennel as they never feed or give insulin at the times he needs (and he comes home with a mess of BGs for at least 48 hrs). So my critter sitter will come in 2 times/day. He’s been at 37 units since June 6 so I would appreciate some advice if I need to adjust his dosing before I leave for the sitter. I’m also nervous how lonely he’ll get as an “only child”. He’s never been left alone at my house for so long. My critter sitter is willing to spend the night, but that also seems excessive for a kittie!

Thanks for the advice!
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Howie’s spreadsheet looks really good on the 37 units lately! Well done! If I were going away, I would want to reduce that dose down to keep him in higher blues and… dare I say it… even yellows for the few days I would be gone. I would start right away lowering his dose (since today is the 21st and you leave on the 26th) to see how it will work. Howie looks very regular in his BG. He doesn’t seem to be a huge diver like some cats. That’s a comfort to see since you will be away.
 
I’ll leave the dose conversation to this more experienced but I have to say for going away there’s nothing, for so many reasons, like having the sitter stay at my house. My sitter will text photos at shot time and at random times and it really helps to know someone is on the job, as it were.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
There is more experienced people on the Lantus/Lev/Biosimilar forum for petsitter dosing. Might want to post there. If you reduce a couple days before you leave, you might get an idea how low he's going on the vacation dose. I wouldn't want a dose where I have to do BCS or see nadirs in the 60's or 70's. So yes, I think you should lower the dose.

I get my petsitter to do lap time in the evenings.
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Will do! Thanks, Wendy! Those 60s and 70s were a bit shocking recently!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Howie’s spreadsheet looks really good on the 37 units lately! Well done! If I were going away, I would want to reduce that dose down to keep him in higher blues and… dare I say it… even yellows for the few days I would be gone. I would start right away lowering his dose (since today is the 21st and you leave on the 26th) to see how it will work. Howie looks very regular in his BG. He doesn’t seem to be a huge diver like some cats. That’s a comfort to see since you will be away.
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Yes, I’ve been very lucky that he doesn’t swing for the fences on Levemir. I’ll be interested to see what dose is recommended! Thanks, Suzanne!
 
Jodey&Eddie said:
I’ll leave the dose conversation to this more experienced but I have to say for going away there’s nothing, for so many reasons, like having the sitter stay at my house. My sitter will text photos at shot time and at random times and it really helps to know someone is on the job, as it were.
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My CS is good about sending photos each time she feeds him. It makes me realize how much I miss him in those short trips! I’ll see what she’s willing to do next week. I’m just so blessed I found her and she’s willing to care for him and all his needs for almost a week!
 
@Wendy&Neko @Suzanne & Darcy
I didn’t get any responses on the L/L forum on a vacation dose. I dropped him to 34 units this AM. His +10 just now was 98. Just wonder if you have some other thoughts beyond a 10% reduction? Obviously I don’t know how he’ll do overall, but I will only be with him 5 cycles until I leave for vacation. I appreciate any thoughts!
 
I did not see a post from you on the Lantus/Levemir forum. Maybe I just missed it? I know that I would reduce quite a bit more than 10 percent - but I am not the expert on vacation doses. He has a large depot now, so we can’t tell yet what the reduction to 34 will do yet. I’m so sorry you didn’t get a response. @Wendy&Neko is there someone Tracy should tag on her other thread?
 
It's going to take a couple days at this dose (at least) to drain the depot for you to see what sort of nadirs this dose will get. I'd monitor him a couple more days, then if you see anything below 80, might have to reduce again.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
It's going to take a couple days at this dose (at least) to drain the depot for you to see what sort of nadirs this dose will get. I'd monitor him a couple more days, then if you see anything below 80, might have to reduce again.
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Thanks, Wendy! Any thoughts on doing a 20% reduction starting tomorrow and go down to 31 units? It’s taken so long to get him in such a good place like he is right now and we obviously don’t know what he’ll do on a forced reduction (for safety purposes) and how long it will take to get him back to how he is now. I’m so thankful for your guidance!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I did not see a post from you on the Lantus/Levemir forum. Maybe I just missed it? I know that I would reduce quite a bit more than 10 percent - but I am not the expert on vacation doses. He has a large depot now, so we can’t tell yet what the reduction to 34 will do yet. I’m so sorry you didn’t get a response. @Wendy&Neko is there someone Tracy should tag on her other thread?
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No worries at all! I’ll get it figured out. The good thing with my sitter is that she keeps me in the loop and asks questions if she’s uncomfortable with something. Fingers crossed he’ll not throw some fun numbers!
 
Howiesmom said:
Any thoughts on doing a 20% reduction starting tomorrow and go down to 31 units?
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Pick either 34 or 31 and stick to it from now until the cycle before you leave. One cycle at 34 is not enough to say how he'll do on it while you are gone. The depot needs to be drained to see how 34 would do. Maybe after 4 cycles you'll have a better idea.
 
Hi Tracy and welcome home! I hope you had a wonderful trip and are feeling refreshed! :-) I also hope you will soon have Howie back into the beautiful numbers that he was seeing before you left. Hope all went well with the sitter.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Hi Tracy and welcome home! I hope you had a wonderful trip and are feeling refreshed! :) I also hope you will soon have Howie back into the beautiful numbers that he was seeing before you left. Hope all went well with the sitter.
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You are so sweet! Yes, back and refreshed from the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville, NC! Howie is a bit of a mess and not sure what to do with him. I dropped him to 31 units when I left thinking he would stay higher. Well, he threw some 70s in there so we ended up doing 3 BCS to keep him safe since my critter sitter only came 2 times/day. Just got my SS updated. I thought these low #s only would happen when he was at the vet kennel and not feeding/insulin him at the right times! My critter sitter is wonderful and spent extra time with him each night. She said behaviorally he was normal.
His AMPS today was 180 and +10 was 188. I think I’ll keep him at this dose through tomorrow or Monday to see if he can settle back down and then figure out if I raise him again. I’d love to hear your thoughts too! @Wendy&Neko, any ideas too?
 
Oh that Howie! I’m glad you had a wonderful time. You were in some of my favorite country. It’s just beautiful! You pet sitter sounds wonderful.
 
I'm glad you got away and got your batteries recharged. How about doing 6 cycles at this 31 unit dose, so we can get a better picture of what's happening mid cycle, and where to go from there. Those BCS will have drained the depot some, so hard to tell what to do at this point.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I'm glad you got away and got your batteries recharged. How about doing 6 cycles at this 31 unit dose, so we can get a better picture of what's happening mid cycle, and where to go from there. Those BCS will have drained the depot some, so hard to tell what to do at this point.
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Sounds good. He just had 202 for PMPS. First yellow in many months
 
But he also had back to back PMPS BCS doses. And one the day before. He won't return to good numbers until the depot is back.
 
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