What's normal at beginning of diagnosis?

Suzanne Burton

Suzanne Burton

Member Since 2019
I was excited that the PS numbers were coming down. AMPS was 314 but 6+=426 and 8+=465. I sure I'm over-reactive but just need some re-assurance. How long should he be on Lantus prior to first curve? Does the depot need to build before doing the first curve? Does timing on a curve depend on whether you SLGS or TR? DX 8/9/19
 
Hi Suzanne! Glad to see you here on the forum. Have you had a chance to read the stickies at the top? This one in particular talks about what you might expect to see when using insulin:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/[url]http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/[/URL]

Getting plenty of data (lots of BG tests at various times throughout the day) will help you and us get a picture of how he responds to the insulin. Also since you've just started remember that Lantus is a depot drug - it takes time to build up and therefore takes a while before you start to see the effectiveness. Also, what kind of food LT's eating - might want to add that to your SS. If you're using the Alpha Trak (a pet meter) you can expect to see higher numbers than those of us who use a human meter.

Keep reading...and keep asking questions :)
 
Sue and Luci said:
Hi Suzanne! Glad to see you here on the forum. Have you had a chance to read the stickies at the top? This one in particular talks about what you might expect to see when using insulin:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/

Getting plenty of data (lots of BG tests at various times throughout the day) will help you and us get a picture of how he responds to the insulin. Also since you've just started remember that Lantus is a depot drug - it takes time to build up and therefore takes a while before you start to see the effectiveness. Also, what kind of food LT's eating - might want to add that to your SS. If you're using the Alpha Trak (a pet meter) you can expect to see higher numbers than those of us who use a human meter.

Keep reading...and keep asking questions :)
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I switched him over to a lower carb food on Friday night. Friday night and Saturday a.m., he had FF salmon pate, but I can't maintain the price of it (sad, but true) since I also have a diabetic dog that stays on a rx. kibble. Last night I gave him Special Kitty salmon pate (I did a calculation, even though I just had rough numbers to go by; also it's made by 9 lives so I was betting on it being close to the 9 lives salmon). However, because of the lower caloric value of the food, it was too much for him to eat. So this a.m. he had Friskies Ocean Whitefish and Tuna and will have the same tonight. He loves it, so I'll be sticking with it until he gets tired of it.​
 
Suzanne Burton said:
I switched him over to a lower carb food on Friday night. Friday night and Saturday a.m., he had FF salmon pate, but I can't maintain the price of it (sad, but true) since I also have a diabetic dog that stays on a rx. kibble. Last night I gave him Special Kitty salmon pate (I did a calculation, even though I just had rough numbers to go by; also it's made by 9 lives so I was betting on it being close to the 9 lives salmon). However, because of the lower caloric value of the food, it was too much for him to eat. So this a.m. he had Friskies Ocean Whitefish and Tuna and will have the same tonight. He loves it, so I'll be sticking with it until he gets tired of it.​
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You might want to consider using a human meter and strips for routine testing for LT - pet strips are too expensive for most of us on here - and we're very familiar with the human meter results - just thinking about how perhaps to save on something so as to be able to purchase a little more wet cat food. I have to admit this whole thing can get a bit expensive - I find myself cutting expenses on other things - lots of shopping at Aldi for us - which I never did before - in order to buy more Fancy Feast for Luci - whodaever thunk it? And we typically use the least expensive human meter/strips that we could find at Walmart - then I switched over to the OneDrop subscription service - all the strips you want for a monthly fee - we go thru a lot of strips here.

:)
 
Welcome. The protocols used here were formulated using a human meter. Some vets want folks to use a pet meter but it’s not at all necessary and the test strips are way too expensive. Better to out that money into cat food. Look over Lisa Pierson’s food list for ideas although it’s a bit old and some numbers might not be true now. Read all the stickies and ask as many questions as you have.
 
You can run a curve whenever you want. It will tell you a lot more after about 5 - 7 days -- you need to give the depot a chance to get established. If you look over the sticky note on the depot, it will provide a great deal of information. Basically, it takes almost a week for the depot to form so a curve may not be as informative as once the depot is in place.

There is no difference in the depot regardless of whether you're following TR or SLGS. TR is simply more aggressive -- doses are evaluated after 3 days (the least amount of time for the depot to stabilize) vs a week with SLGS.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
You can run a curve whenever you want. It will tell you a lot more after about 5 - 7 days -- you need to give the depot a chance to get established. If you look over the sticky note on the depot, it will provide a great deal of information. Basically, it takes almost a week for the depot to form so a curve may not be as informative as once the depot is in place.

There is no difference in the depot regardless of whether you're following TR or SLGS. TR is simply more aggressive -- doses are evaluated after 3 days (the least amount of time for the depot to stabilize) vs a week with SLGS.
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Well phooey. I'm pretty sure I gave a fur shot tonight - I haven't done that in ages with my dog. It's more trying for me with all the hair, so I think I'm going to shave a couple of spot on each flank. Plus, the dose is so small it's hard to tell if the wet is from a droplet on the outside of the syringe or from the shot itself. Anyways, I suppose I'll start my day count over again and do a curve on Thursday -which will be a full 3 days since the furshot. I really thing I'm wanting to try TR and if it gets too stressful then go to SLGS. He was down in the mid 300s at fasting but went up into the 400s at 6 and 8+ and at PMPS.
 
So what human meters are the best? The reason I ask, is when one of the CDSI admins did a comparison of human meters with a pet meter, he found huge differences not just between the pet meter and human meters, but between the human meters themselves. It's not that I won't switch, but my medical laboratory technologist background probably makes me overthink everything.
 
Suzanne Burton said:
So what human meters are the best? The reason I ask, is when one of the CDSI admins did a comparison of human meters with a pet meter, he found huge differences not just between the pet meter and human meters, but between the human meters themselves. It's not that I won't switch, but my medical laboratory technologist background probably makes me overthink everything.
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I did a comparison of 3-4 human/pet meters in October, 2018 (I see my notes start around 10/28/18) if you'd care to study Luci's SS. I just wanted to get a feel for which meter did what - as I was looking to change meters, since the one I'd started with was to be discontinued. I ended up not going with any of them and we use the OneDrop - it's a subscription service, I pay monthly for unlimited strips. I found it a pain to constantly be checking my strip supplies and constantly running to the store to buy more. I never wanted to be caught short - so I like to be well stocked with supplies - especially test strips - we test frequently - and the last thing I needed was a late night trip to the store during a storm to buy test strips! I found that I liked the size of the blood drop with some meters and not others ... the numbers sorted themselves out and are reasonable enough that I know when we're in good numbers (greens and low blues) versus those higher not so good numbers, yellows and above...which Luci seems to prefer lately.

Interesting to do some research and comparisons if you can afford several meters and the matching strips.
 
Suzanne Burton said:
It looks like the OneDrop and Advocate PetTest meter usually ran within 20% of each other. So my question as a retired lab tech is, with it being so close, should one use the SS for pet meters instead of human meters. The OD does have much higher values than the other human meters. @Sue and Luci
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I do not use the SS for Pet Meters - since the OneDrop is really a human meter intended for use only on humans. I suppose you can weigh the options - but I felt it would be confusing to others here to do that. Unless there are studies where the OneDrop is compared to the Alpha-Trak which is what I see most people using when they choose to use the 'for animal use' meter - I never purchased an Alpha-Trak - so don't know how it compares to the Advocate Pet meter - the strips for me are too costly to use a meter for animals only as I'm an extreme tester - I'd have a huge bill every month if I were trying to use an Alpha Trak for Luci...plus as far as I'm concerned it's more about trends and low numbers (ever vigilant for hypo) than anything else - it's easier after a while to track often and see where Luci is trending than capturing every high number - which is more likely on the Alpha Trak...just my opinion.

I hope this is helpful.
 
Suzanne Burton said:
It looks like the OneDrop and Advocate PetTest meter usually ran within 20% of each other. So my question as a retired lab tech is, with it being so close, should one use the SS for pet meters instead of human meters. The OD does have much higher values than the other human meters. @Sue and Luci
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Addressing One Drop- (onedrop.com) they require a subscription/membership which you pay three months at a time. If you can afford to do this, it is hands-down the cheapest meter- strips wise. If you choose, go with the unlimited subscription ;)
 
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