New here and new to Diabetes - updated Jan 16

Thanks Deb & Wendy.........

I was concerned that his levels were still a bit high and agree to hold the 1 unit and will still do a BG at +9, then after morning shot will do a random BG at +4 to +7 to get a reading, and late at night before bed. I'll hold this schedule until Sunday and post all the readings I get so that if you think his dose needs to be adjusted then you can all let me know. He's a bit sleepier today, still eats lots, and most likely due to the insulin taking affect and him getting used to it.

Have a great night and glad all is okay!

Shawna

 

Ok cool. Did you get a ketones test today?

Also tomorrow might want to start a new topic. This one is getting real long.

 

Shawna and I talked so I wanted to update others here as to what was said.

The vet told Shawna to hold the 1U dose for tonight. Since she will be around tomorrow to monitor, he gave her the choice to either hold the 1U dose or increase it back to the original 1.5U dose. Her vet was very supportive of what Shawna wanted to do and giving her choices.

She wanted a second opinion from those of us here on the message board. I told Shawna to hold this 1U dose for 5 days or so, to give the depot time to build up. There is nothing wrong with the start low, go slow approach. That means we want her to hold this 1u dose until Sunday or Monday and then we will reevaluate.

If Davidson is lethargic, that is most likely due to the high BG numbers and not to worry too much if Davidson is sleeping a bit more right now. We will get that depot or storage area filled in the next few days and then get him better regulated soon. That will help decrease the lethargy.

His appetite continues to be good. He and his buddy Harley are both loving the canned food. They do prefer to free feed, but are ok with the food being picked up for a couple of hours, prior to the pre-shot test. They are both eating less food, leaving some in the dish for later. This is great, because it sounds to me like Davidson may be one of those kitties that goes out to find some food to eat if he feels his BG numbers dropping too low.

I explained the reasoning behind withholding food for 2 hours before the pre-shot. This is so if the BG numbers are really low, we know these low numbers are not inflated by the food. It's easier to make a judgment call on what to do with the dosing if we know the pre-shot tests are not food influenced.

Since Shawna gets up so early in the morning, there is no reason she could not feed a small meal at that time. This is usually 3 hours before his normal shot time. Plenty of time for the pre-shot test to be not influenced by the meal.

She will test before every pre-shot. Her vet said she did not have to test as much in the future, maybe a few weeks or a month down the road, that once a day would be enough. I explained that there can be unexpected lows in the BG numbers so we suggest it is best to test before every shot to keep your kitty safe. Especially since it is very early in the dosing of the insulin, those pre-shot tests are very important to let us know that Davidson is not dropping too low.

I explained that insulin is a hormone, and a cat can react differently from day to day with the same dose. We only have control over limited factors, such as how much insulin we give and how much we feed. A cat that plays more one day, may have lower BG levels. Sleeping more or having a stressful situation like a dog barking or a strange kitty in the neighborhood can also influence the BG levels. We control what we can and deal with the varying levels with patience if we can.

Yes Shawna, please start a new topic tomorrow. You can put in a link in to this old one so we have a link to the history of what has been discussed.

 

Thanks for the GREAT advise............okay, how do you put this as a link? Ahh, more eduaction. :mrgreen: you can shoot me a pm on that and I'll post tomorrow morning the results of tonight's BG and the 'early' morning BG...........

For anyone out there who might think they are asking too many questions - there are NEVER too many regardless of how stupid some of us feel........I'm learning so much from the people here who are complete strangers, but so close in a way too.

Davidson LOVES you for helping him...........oh, so does Harley!!

Shawna

 

1. There is a box at the top of your screen, where the web address is. If you click on that, it highlights all the text.
1b. So, open your prior post and highlight the text in the web or URL address line.
2. I then use the Ctrl + C keyboard commands to copy that data to the clipboard.

3. Then, start your new topic.
4. Above the free form text box, is a line of commands, starting with B (for bold). Click on the one labeled URL.
4b. You should now see this added in your text box.
5. Now, put your cursor in between the 2 brackets, the ][, where the words and the are here: [b]and the[/b].
6. Use the CTRL and V keys at the same time, and it will paste what is on your clipboard between the brackets.
7. You now have a link to your previous post, or to some other url for people to click on and jump to for information.