@DTMFA , Bandit was just AWFUL the first two weeks of testing. I ended up in tears half the time, it would take me a half hour to get the test, he would growl at me and shake his head all over the place if I did manage to get a drop of blood. But, things absolutely will get better with more time and routine. Even if he's awful to you, make sure he gets a treat and you're doing the test in the same place each time. I eventually started wrapping Bandit up like a kitty burrito and placing him in a basket for each test. Once I lost the attitude, "Oh no, poor Bandit, it must be so awful for you to go through this test!" and gained the attitude, "You're getting this test, cat, whether you like it or not because it's the only way to save your life!!!" then his attitude changed quite a bit as well. I still had to wrap him up for a while, but the major resistance stopped.
Those numbers are great! Lantus needs time to build up a "shed" under the skin before it starts to work lowering blood sugar, so it's not likely that that lower PM test you got was because of the insulin--it's likely James was able to reach that number all on his own. It's very possible James will not need insulin or only need a very small dose for a short amount of time, which is fantastic! Sometimes you see cats go into remission very quickly once you change the diet to low carb canned. This is exactly the reason why home testing is so important--even though he's giving you numbers in a normal range at home, they would likely be much higher at the vet because stress can cause cat's blood sugar to increase by a lot--I've seen Bandit's BG go up over 300 points before just from vet stress.
That said, he may need some small doses of insulin for a short period of time, to give his pancreas a little boost. We call this "microdosing", and it helps cats that can nearly maintain normal blood glucose range on their own into remission. Microdosing can be a little tricky since the smallest syringes you can buy only go down as far as .5u, but it is possible to measure doses of .25u, or .1u. Scroll down towards the bottom of
this Lantus Sticky to where it says "
Pictorial guide using a U-100 syringe marked with half units", and there's some pictures that help you figure out where the plunger needs to be for those fine doses.
Please don't hesitate to ask for help! It's great that James is doing so well already! Keep up with the testing, it will get easier. The more tests you get, the better informed your dosing decisions can be.
