Hello everyone!

I'm Sharon and my kitty is Ramsey. We live in Vancouver, BC in Canada. Ramsey is 14 and was diagnosed with diabetes last week; otherwise healthy & happy. I have spent the week reading everything I can get my hands on and on Friday my vet started Ramsey on Lantus, 2 units twice per day. I think I am getting better at testing...have managed to get blood every time I've tried over the last couple of days and am doing my first full curve today. Ramsey isn't thrilled but is co-operating. His numbers are all over the place. First day we did a reading at his first short and it was 21.1. At hour 7.5 he was at 12.7. Next day I didn't do a reading until early evening about 2 hrs. before he was due for his second shot and he was at 3.9 and showing some discomfort. Because the number was so low, I didn't give his evening shot but gave him lots of food which he gobbled up. Today I am doing a proper curve (although my vet said to test only every 4 hours; is that normal for Lantus?) and I'm getting huge spikes: Pre-shot was 20.6, +4 = 20.9, +8 = 5.8 (gave him lots of food), +12=21.3. I'm withholding food until he gets closer to the peak which I think will be around +4 from the second shot. I thought the curve would be flatter....perhaps it takes a few days for this to start happening?

Thanks to you all for being there; it is very comforting to know I'm not alone as Ramsey and I face this new challenge.

 

Hi Sharon,

Welcome! Fantastic you are hometesting. We have a separate Insulin Support group for Lantus. I would sure go over there to check out the stickies on the top of the page. They give you great info about how Lantus works. viewforum.php?f=9

Also, you might include Lantus in your subject line. They will draw eyes of people who use your insulin.

It will help you a bunch if you change your blood glucose numbers to the American system. (Sorry I know we are out of step with the world, but the majority of people on this board are from the US. Not that we don't have Canadians; we do have a bunch.) You multiply your number by 17 to get our number.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, Sue...I'll check out the link and post in US numbers from now on. (I've found a conversion chart.)

 

Hi
Glad you are reading I am under the assumption that you are not feeding dry food and feeding canned foods under 10% carbs

For me I would not withhold food if that is not what you normally do. The true values lie in true actions so if you free feed or if it normal that he eats at different times let him do so

I do not believe in curves done in 1 day. Murphy's law has a way of budding in. I believe it is more accurate to do spotchecks over different days at different times to see what is going on

With the swings, I would start over again at 1 unit 2x a day 12 hours apart

If you cannot or are too scared to shoot cause of a low number then I would wait 45 minutes or so and test again. It should always be the goal to get the shot in if possible

3.9 is not a hypo number and believe it or not some people shoot numbers like those when they have enough information to know it is safe to do so. 2ndly The number at +10 (10 hours after the shot) has nothing to do with what the number would be at +12 (12 hours after the shot) The +10 can be a 3.9 and the +12 can be an 11 for example However another reason to lower this dose is he could have been lower earlier in the cycle and there very possibly could have been a hypo number
Once the body gets use to the insulin and with lower numbers the curve should flatten out Hope this helps and great job

 

Many thanks for your assistance, Ken. Being so new to this, I need all the help I can get. Yes, I am feeding low-carb wet food - I made the switch a couple of weeks ago and was surprised at how easy it was.

 

Hi Sharon... I'm in Vancouver and have sent to you a PM (private message) with my contact information. Treatment advice should come from your vet with support from this open forum but if you want to talk about where to buy certain foods, or vets, or just vent about this learning curve, I'm your gal. Contact me if you want/need.

 

Welcome! you are going to love this place.

My boy and I are newbies too, so we don't give advice, but you will be amazed at the amount of knowledge and support you will find here. There is no doubt in my mind that the progress Binks has made is almost entirely due to the help we have received here.

good luck, and take a deep relaxing breath, because you found the right place to get guidance and support.

Celi & Binks