Hello everyone!! I am new to this site.

I am so glad that I found this site!! Having so many others experiencing the same thing as hubby and I is very comforting.

Ok, my story....My 13 year-old beautiful boy, Smokey, was diagnosed with diabetes on May 8th. I had noticed in late February/early March that he was urinating a lot and drinking more water than usual, so at his yearly check-up on March 9th, I had him tested. His level was slightly elevated (I believe she told me 145) and I was told to keep an eye on him. I started to notice in late April that he was losing weight, hence the vet visit on May 8th. His level was over 400!! So, the vet put him on 2 units of Lantus twice a day, we picked up a Glucometer, test strips, lancets and syringes. The day after we started him on the Lantus, I noticed he was having trouble breathing. So, I rushed him to vet before they opened (God love them!!) and it was discovered that he was severely dehydrated, constipated and had a huge gas bubble backed up in his colon. He spent two days at the vet and when I got him home, he couldn't walk on his hind legs. Back to the vet we went. I had two of the four vets at this practice, a tech and a student all trying to figure out what was wrong. Luckily, he was back to normal by Sunday of that same week. To this day, we still don't know what was wrong, but the important thing is he is walking on all fours just fine!! We tried to test him with the glucometer about a week later, but couldn't get enough blood for a reading, so he had to go back to the vet last week so that they could test him. He was down to 335, so the vet upped his Lantus to 3 units. We are going to try and test him again this weekend ourselves. My question to you all is, where do you use the lancet on your cats? We were told the ears, but is there a particular spot on the ear that is better? We were piercing near the tip of his ears, but I wonder if I should go down further? Thank you in advance for any suggestions can provide.

 

I hope this helps. See this as well.

 

Welcome. When you get a chance read the sticky on the two protocols used here. Neither would have you increasing by a full unit because Lantus is a depot drug that builds up in the system over time. By increasing that quickly you could easily miss a good dose. It would be great if you would start a spreadsheet and plug in the test results you have so far. You will find the directions on the main forum. Sorry but I don't know how to copy and paste with my iPad.

It's great that you are home testing. Are you using a human or pet meter? That is important to know as the human ones read lower than the pet ones so guidelines are a little different as to when to stall on insulin if you get too low a number.

 

Elise, took the day off today, so I've got your back!! Creating the spreadsheet.

 

Thanks for the visual of the sweet spot on kitty's ear!! I will try this on Sunday.

 

We are using a human meter, as that is what the vet told us to get. I didn't realize that the human meters read lower than the pet ones. I will ask the vet about that. As for the dosage, again, we're doing what the vet told us. Maybe I've confused the amount on here? Each line on the syringe is a unit, correct?

 

Human meters are good, most of us use human meters and all the numbers you see in the stickies (posts stuck to the top) on the lantus forum are references to human meter numbers. Human test strips are also a lot cheaper. It's just important for us to know what type you're using when we think about what Smokey's numbers mean.

How much does Smokey weigh? Two units is a fairly large starting dose for lantus and as April mentioned increasing in whole units is too much. Most vets aren't really up to date with using lantus in kitties. It's not surprising since they have to know so much about so many animals but once you're home testing you'll be able to get your dosing advice here and not worry about the vet for that - also no more paying for vet curves, and the best part - you can monitor Smokey and be sure that he's safe

Don't forget to give a low carb treat after each test or attempted test - the testing really doesn't hurt them so they're much more interested in the treat than concerned about the test and in no time you'll have Smokey begging to be tested

 

See my signature link Glucometer Notes for some details and feline-specific reference ranges.

 

We are using a One Touch Ultra 2 meter. We tried again on Sunday and still couldn't get any blood. As a matter of fact, the lancet pierced his ear and went through to my finger, which made me bleed, so I know it's not the lancet. We had it set on 7, which is the highest setting. Maybe we need to back it off? I had the picture that shows the sweet spot right there with me and I know I got the right spot. The vet thinks that maybe he's just one of those cats that doesn't bleed a lot. Of course, now Smokey has to go back down on Friday for another curve and one of the techs is going to go over home testing with us again. I told the vet that at the rate we're going, I'm going to have to set up a payment plan, as it's $180 every time he goes for a curve, which is every two weeks. I will keep trying to home test him. I don't give up easily!! I'm hoping for a better number from the vet this time. I am rewarding him with a couple of treats when we give him his shots twice a day. And you're right - he looks forward to the treat, so giving him the shot is easy. As a matter of fact, my husband did it without me holding him this morning. I wish the home testing went as well.

Smokey, at one time, weighed 17 lbs. My profile picture is him at that weight. Since he's been diagnosed with diabetes, he was down to 11.1 lbs., but it appears that he's gaining some back. His diet consists of canned & dry Royal Canin food. He gets four of the small cans and 1/2 cup of the dry, plus a few treats with his shots a day. He definitely has his appetite back, thank goodness.

 

What gauge are your lancets? Using 25-28 gauge (labeled for alternate site testing) helps, as they are thicker and make a relatively larger hole.
Warm the ear before testing with an ear massage, a warm washcloth in a plastic bag, or a pill bottle filled with warm water. Note: the temperature should be comfortable on you inner forearm.
You might try 2 pricks next to each other.
You might try free-handing and aiming directly for the vein. If you hit that, be prepared to blot for a minute or two after getting the test, as it may bleed profusely.

 

I'm not sure what the gauge the lancets are. They're what came with the glucometer. Smokey just went to the vet this morning for another curve and a vet tech showed my husband how to get blood right from the vein on his ear. They gave us some needles to use and said to go into the vein at an angle. She also had flipped his ear out and that seem to help a lot. Thanks for all of the advice about warming the ear, etc. We will give this another shot in a couple of weeks.