Confused

Hi, my 12 year old cat Charlie was diagnosed with diabetes in July of 2016. Since then he has been put on Lantus insulin twice a day and did have a bout with pancreatitis. His levels are still running high and the vets aren't really offering any alternatives - is there something I should be asking for instead. He has had 3 different all day glucose curves in this almost 3 month time frame and his levels are still in the 400's.

 

Welcome to the forum

One of the most useful things you can do is start home-testing. Glucose levels can go up and down during the day, Often if a kitty goes too low, the body's natural defences will cause stored glucose (glucogen) to be released which will cause a "bounce" where the levels to run into high numbers. If not home testing you aren't aware of the lower numbers and if a curve is done at the vets when a kitty is "bouncing" (bounces can cause higher numbers for up to 3 days) then it can look like the insulin is not working or that more is needed.

A glucose curve done at the vets can also show higher than doing one at home. The same way many people will show higher blood pressure than usual at a doctors office, because of "white coat syndrome". many kitties will show higher glucose because of stress that the trip to the vets and the stay at the vets cause. The one and only glucose curve I had done (before I started home testing) showed my kitty's numbers to be very high. When I started home testing a few days later, the numbers at home were much lower.

There are lots of other tips and information that you can read about on the yellow "stickies" at the top of this page:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/

To get more information and answers to specific questions you can post on the Health Forum here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

There is a lot more "traffic" on that forum and you should be able to get good answers to any questions you might have.

 

Can you give us more information? This will help us guide you.

1) What is his current dose?
2) What was his original dose and how quickly was it increased? How much was each increase?
3) What food are you feeding him?

 

His current dose of Lantus is 2.5 units in the morning and 2 units in the evening. The original dose was 1.5 units twice a day for about 3 1/2 weeks and then he was increased to 3 units twice a day after a glucose all day curve. He didn't do well on this after about 2 weeks and ended up w/ pancreatitis which we caught early but he was really sick and spent the weekend in the pet hospital. He is on DM wet food.

 

Hi and welcome. The best way for you, your vet and us to see what's going on is for you to home test and record the readings on one of our spreadsheets. It's easy to do, and we'll help you along the way. Here's some info to get you started
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Read through these links and ask any questions you have.

 

Hi Sjj, and welcome to you and Charlie.

I'm really sorry to hear that Charlie had a pancreatitis flare. (((Charlie)))

Did your vet say anything about whether the insulin treatment may have been a factor in triggering the flare? I have a particular interest in pancreatitis and I try to learn as much as I can about it so I would welcome any insights your vet may have shared with you.


Mogs
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The vet who doubled the insulin was on vacation when it happened but a different vet mentioned that it might have contributed to it but left it at that

 

Thanks, Sjj; this is very helpful.


Mogs
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It sounds like you may have missed the optimal dose. We recommend that if a dose increase is needed, it should only be increased by 1/2 unit at a time. You should wait at least a week before increasing it again to give your cat's body time to adjust to the new dose.

Hometesting is the best way to determine how well a dose it working. By testing before every shot and doing your own curves, then you will be able to determine if a dose increase is needed. You may want to consider dropping back to the original dose or even 1 unit twice a day and start over. This way you can find the best dose that works best for Charlie.