When to decrease insulin?

[Kendall & Jasper]

Hello all! My 1 year old Jasper was diagnosed diabetic last week. He is on 2u of vetsulin twice a day as of right now. My cats are currently eating 9lives indoor formula. I am planning on switching all 3 cats to a low carb, wet food diet (fancy feast paté seems to be the most popular). I am wondering at what point do I lower his insulin dose? I am not familiar with BG testing so I’m not sure what his BG levels are. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
2 units of Vetsulin twice a day is a large dose to start in. I would reduce the dose to 1 unit twice a day if the food is dry food or 1/2 unit twice a day if it is wet food.
Once you know what the BG levels are you can increase or decrease the dose.
Are you feeding 1/2 hour before giving the dose and are you giving snacks during the cycles?
I will post you a few links so you can get started.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO VETSULIN

HELP US HELP YOU

TESTING HINTS AND LINKS

FOOD CHART look for foods that are 10% or under carbs. Most use 4-7% carbs

a hold glucose meter is the ReliOn premier meter from Walmart. You will also need some lancets size 26 or 28 ( a box of 100)
And test strips that go with the meter. Also get some cotton rounds to hold behind the ear to test.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

If you live in the US you can get The
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197
You can order them on line also
Our numbers are based on human meters
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming

Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

Here's a video that one of our members did testing her cat
She used a pet meter ,don't get one test strips are too expensive, with a human meter no coding is needed. I'm just showing you how she tests her kitty
How to test your cat's blood sugar

 

[Kendall & Jasper]

Thank you so much for the information! Is there a resource that will tell me at what levels to give insulin and at what levels to not give it? I work out of town a lot so both my father and I are trying to learn together. I am sending him all of this helpful info

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

In the yellow sticky notes of the Vetsulin forum you’ll find this info. You want to read the beginners guide sticky note here:

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/caninsulin-vetsulin-and-n-nph.19/

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

I recommend you read through all the yellow sticky notes there since there’s a lot of important info, but copying and pasting the section below:

Q: Is my cat’s BG high enough for insulin?
For those NEW to treating feline diabetes, and/or those who don’t have much data about how their cat responds to insulin, we generally recommend that you post to either this forum or the Health board and ask for help if the pre-shot BG is below 200 mg/dL [11 mmol/L] on a human meter. Experienced members can walk you through the options of what to do if you have a lower than expected pre-shot number.

Q: It’s time for my cat’s shot, but the BG is a little too low. What now?

• If your cat’s BG is a bit below 200 mg/dL [11 mmol/L] on a human meter, consider ‘stalling’.
  • Stalling is waiting - without feeding your cat - for 20+ minutes, then retesting to see if the BG has risen to a suitable level.
  • You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling, and is high enough to give insulin.
  • If you have time, you can repeat the stalling process to see if the cat’s BG reaches a number you can shoot.
• If you cannot stall do to time constraints, if numbers are continuing to drop or if you do not have a supply of strips and high carb food on hand, it will be safer if you skip the shot.
• Note: As you gain experience with home testing and have gathered data to show how your cat responds to insulin, you will become more confident and better able to shoot progressively lower numbers.
• Ask for help on the forum before giving insulin if you are unsure, as you can never ‘un-shoot’ insulin.
• If your cat has history of ketones or DKA, or other health issues, or you are concerned, DO post on the Main Health forum for further advice.

Q: How low should my cat’s BG drop on Caninsulin/Vetsulin?
Usually it's best that newcomers aim for a nadir no lower than 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) as measured on a human glucose meter. This insulin can drop the BG quite sharply. Trying not to let the BG drop below this level as it gives an initial safety buffer while you are learning the ropes.