What is your kitty's dosage?

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Tobycat

Tobycat

Member Since 2022
I'm new to giving insulin and have yet to create a spreadsheet but will soon...
Toby's glucose is high - ranging from 270- 504. He also has a heart condition. I started him at 1 unit a month ago and quickly increased to 2 units, to 2.5, 3 and now 3.5. His numbers remain the same. I am also using the Libre sensor so I can check his glucose frequently. My vet thought it was ok to increase the dosage without waiting 10 days in between each increase because I can check often with the libre monitor. Toby has been losing a lot of weight and very lethargic and am concerned about the stress on his heart. He is 9.5 pounds. I dont think time is on his side with the other health issues he has.

My question:what dose is your kitty is taking, how did you get there and over what length of time?
Apparently 3.5 is still considered a low dose.
Does a cat's weight determine dosage in any way? Is there a point you'd decide not to give more insulin based on weight? Is there a typical range between the lowest point and the highest point on a curve?
I dont have a spreadsheet but I have the daily graph from his libre monitor if you think it is helpful to see.
 
We recommend increasing by 1/2 unit not 1full unit. Without seeing data as far as his numbers, it’s really hard to say or suggest a dose, but my hunch is that you’ve been increasing too much too fast. Felines diabetes is a marathon not a sprint as we like to say here. By increasing 1 unit at a time you risk bypassing the ideal dose. He’s on Lantus which is a good insulin but it does need consistency and it needs a bit of time to build up the depot. Whenever I hear lethargic I tend to think too much insulin but you you’re monitoring on the Libre so I assume he hasn’t ever dropped below 90. Most of us can only truly guide you on dosage if we can see the data in a spreadsheet. Can you fill one out? Do you need help with it?

A few questions for you:

I’ll let others speak about weight and dosage, but 9.5 pounds is not a lot. He’s on a low carb diet which is good but what’s his daily calorie intake? How often are you feeding him? And what’s his ideal weight? Unregulated diabetics cats need to eat more calories because their bodies can’t process the nutrients in food as well as healthy cats. They also lose calories just by peeing since there’s sugar in their urine.

what other meds is he in for the heart condition and condition does he have?
 
Tobycat said:
I'm new to giving insulin and have yet to create a spreadsheet but will soon...
Toby's glucose is high - ranging from 270- 504. He also has a heart condition. I started him at 1 unit a month ago and quickly increased to 2 units, to 2.5, 3 and now 3.5. His numbers remain the same. I am also using the Libre sensor so I can check his glucose frequently. My vet thought it was ok to increase the dosage without waiting 10 days in between each increase because I can check often with the libre monitor. Toby has been losing a lot of weight and very lethargic and am concerned about the stress on his heart. He is 9.5 pounds. I dont think time is on his side with the other health issues he has.

My question:what dose is your kitty is taking, how did you get there and over what length of time?
Apparently 3.5 is still considered a low dose.
Does a cat's weight determine dosage in any way? Is there a point you'd decide not to give more insulin based on weight? Is there a typical range between the lowest point and the highest point on a curve?
I dont have a spreadsheet but I have the daily graph from his libre monitor if you think it is helpful to see.
Click to expand...
 
Toby has mild to moderate hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart murmur and stage one kidney disease. He has had a few bouts of low potassium that required hospitalization. He has recently gone blind and is on blood pressure medication. He has shown signs of lethargy prior to getting diabetes related to his other issues. A recent ultrasound showed acute pancreatitis which most likely triggered the diabetes. He was sensitive to heart medication so he went off of it and began blood pressure medication instead. I'm giving him a herbal remedy for his heart. His lowest BG reading is 270 which is why my vet thought it safe to increase a bit more quickly while using the libre. He dropped from 12 pounds to 11 last year and since being diagnosed with diabetes has dropped down to 9.7. As much as I'd like to move slowly, I feel some urgency to help him based on his other conditions and want to try and get some weight back on him. His appetite is good. He's a grazer so not sure about his calorie intake. I occasionally get him kitten food to help put weight on but not sure about the phosphorus content in it which would be hard on his kidneys. And high BG is hard on his heart.
Yes I'd like help with the spreadsheet. Others have offered so I better get on it.
 
Minnie had cardiomyopathy too and IBD and asthma as well as diabetes so I totally get how challenging it is managing the health of a cat with multiple issues and all the many meds that come with it. She was on a blood thinner and Pimobendan x2 a day. If he’s not on Pimobendan, I’d ask your vet about it since it works in the heart muscles and helps a lot. what heart med was he on?

You need to monitor the calorie intake if you’re trying to get him to gain weight. It should be roughly x20 times ideal weight so if that’s 11 pounds, he should be eating at least 220 calories a day, more to gain.

I believe @Chris & China (GA) can help with the ss if I’m not mistaken. If I am he’ll correct me :cat:
 
Toby was on Vetmetin for his HCM for just a few days and he became extremely grogging - worse on it than without it. They decided to treat his high blood pressure instead which they think caused his blindness. I’m wondering if his diabetes is in some way related to everything else going on. He became blind before his diabetes was diagnosed. I was curious to know what other doses are being given, only to get a sense of “typical” if there is a such a thing, or a typical range. Maybe 3 units is considered a low dose and we will eventually have success by going higher - in 1/2 unit increments.
I will ask my vet about your recommended heart medication
 
Unfortunately, every cat is different so there’s no real “typical” dose that works for most. ECID. Every case is different because of all these other issues surrounding the diabetes. IBD is what brought Minnie’s diabetes on and pancreatitis can do that too because both compromise the pancreas making it more difficult for the organ to regulate the blood sugar levels. I can tell you Minnie was on 2.5-3 units before she had to start taking budesonide for the IBD. It’s a localized steroid that is not suppose to raise the bg and in most cats it doesn’t, but again every cat is different and it did spike up her levels so in the end she was up to 5-5.5. When a cat’s body is fighting other health issues, it can raise their bg levels
 
That’s a good point about other conditions affecting BG
I notice his breathing is more laboured lately and even the stress of dealing with a heart condition could bring up the glucose levels. I will look into that further.
 
No he has't. Not yet anyway. I have been giving him some herbal remedies for his heart from Pet Well Being.
 
You should monitor the breathing. You can count the breaths by the up and down from their mid section. If it’s higher than 30 per minute, I’d ask the vet about furosemide. It’s a diuretic that helps with the heart rate. It saved Minnie’s life more than once
 
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