Just Diagnosed

These are Muarice's readings so far...
On the day of diagnosis his BG was 40 and he was given 1.5 units of Lantus. He stayed at the vets overnight and the next morning at 8am he was 8.6 They gave him insulin. 11am...1.8 They gave him glucose in his drip. 12pm...13.7 2pm...3.0 5pm...6.6 I took him home. 7.30pm and food (raw chicken mince) 5.4 9.30pm...5.1 I did not inject him. (My vets do not believe in this protocol.)
This morning at 7am and food he was 10.4 and at 9am he was 9.3.
I decided not to inject him under 10 as he had such a bumpy day yesterday. Do you think this was a good move? Can you suggest a scale if he should need to be injected?
Thanks so much for your help.

 

Welcome Jan and Maurice! For specific dosing advice we have a wonderful Lantus forum. There are yellow stickies at the top of the page, full of info. Check those out. I’ll also tag @Bron and Sheba as she’s also from Australia and can give you some great advice. Here’s the link to the Lantus forum
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/

 

Hi Jan and Maurice and welcome to Fdmb. Maurice is a beautiful boy!
I live in Sydney and will help any way i can. Where abouts in NSW are you?
I'm so glad you have found this site. It has very experienced people here who live with feline diabetes 24/7 and are very willing to help you.
Your instincts are right. And it is great you are home testing. I'm sure you have saved Maurices life by home testing. I am very surprised the vet did not lower the dose after the hypo event..
Maurice is on too much insulin and you were correct not to give him a dose when he had such low numbers.
I would lower the dose to 1/2 unit twice a day.
Test before EVERY SHOT to ensure it is safe to give the insulin and test DURING the cycle to see how low he is dropping.
For the time being do not give the insulin if the number is below 11.1. If you get a number below 11.1(200) stall, do not feed and post on Lantus forum for help. Test again 20 minutes later to see if the number is rising. We use the US system of numbers here which is our number multiplied by 18......just in case you are wondering what the higher numbers mean.

So what I would do is
1. Reduce the dose to 1/2 unit twice a day And only give the insulin if the BSL is higher than 11.1. Lantus does not like to have the doses chopping and changing (unless kitty drops too low in which case you reduce the dose). Lantus does not use sliding scales.

2. stick to the same dose for at least 5 days...unless Maurice drops low again in which case you would reduce further.

3. Make sure you have some high carb canned food and honey at home in case Maurice drops low again. If he starts dropping low give him some food and if he drops below 3 give some honey and/or high carb food and test 20 minutes later to see that he is coming up higher.

4. Set up a spreadsheet and start putting in all the numbers you have. Here is the link. If you have any trouble setting it up post and ask for help
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

5 test before every shot and during the cycle

6. Read all the yellow stickies at the top of the Lantus forum that @Sharon14 gave you the link for.

7 start posting on the Lantus page

Does all that make sense?
Ask lots of questions. It is a steep learning curve in the beginning but you are halfway there as you are testing already and have found this site!!
Here is a link to FAQ. There is a yellow sticky at the top of the page about how to deal with a hypo. Print it off and put it on your frig. If Maurice drops low you will want to be prepared. (But by testing you are in control, so well done learning to test).
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/health-links-faqs-about-feline-diabetes.14/
Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

How was he diagnosed? Was it with a fructosamine blood test or just a simple blood test to see what his blood sugar was?
Did he have any symptoms of FD like peeing and drinking a lot, lost weight, very hungry?
Was he on dry food before diagnosis and did you then swap over for a low carb food, or was he on a low carb diet before diagnosis?

 

Thank you Sharon and Bron for your support. I have had 2 diabetic cats before Maurice (they came back to me...I am the breeder) but Maurice is the first who is 'mine'. They are both deceased now, Calypso from cancer (I got her down from 4 units twice a day to 0.5 units) and Hemlock from renal failure (who, after 7 years on insulin, needed no insulin for 2 weeks and then on a low carb diet, only needed 0.5 units until he got really sick.) So I am hopeful for Maurice and very, very glad that I did not just inject last night without testing. I am not very impressed with the vets for injecting yesterday morning at 8.6...what would have happened if I had not brought him home last night? Would they have automatically injected 1.5 units at 5.4? Scary!!!

I will set up a spreadsheet today, although I am not very good with computers. I just tested Maurice again and he is falling (7.8) so I am very happy with that number. Thanks for helping me with the dose and to not inject under 11.

I live near Newcastle.

Maurice was only diagnosed because he had rapid and laboured breathing and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Before the diagnosis the vets did a blood test to try and find out if the fluid on the lungs was from an infection or from cardiac problems. His BG was 40. He stayed overnight at the vets and the next day they tested him every 2 hours.

Before diagnosis, he was drinking more (he goes outside to pee so I cannot tell if he is going more) but his weight is the same and he was not overly hungry.

His usual diet was 1 dessertspoon dry in the mornings and raw chicken mince, raw beef mince and dessertspoon tinned food in the evenings. I have cut out the dry, the raw beef, and will add a low carb tinned food. I don't think his diet was really high carb.

Thanks again for your help.

 

I would be cautious. He may not need insulin, just a change of diet. Only time will tell. Keep testing though. Will write more later. Am just collecting kids from school.

 

Jan, I will continue this over on your main health thread and copy this thread over there for continuity.