New Member Looking For Guidance

Tucker's AMPS : 18.2 Gave him 2 units from a Lantus pen. +6 was 20.3 and PMPS: 17.2 Gave him 2 units from Lantus pen

Urine dip stick was negative for ketones.

He seems happy but very very hungry!!

 

Welcome to Lev and Lantus Land!
He will be very hungry but you will see that hunger come down as his BG comes down.
Wondering a couple of things.....what does Tucker eat? And are you able to test more frequently than every 6 hours?

 

Glad to see you made it over here!
Here is your post from the main forum
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/overwhelmed.196479/

 

Tucker has been eating a 115 gram packet of Barf turkey patties with a couple of tablespoons of CORE turkey wet food mixed in. I supplemented his 2 meals today with some cooked chicken, because he was literally eating a cardboard box. I had some trouble getting blood from him today, he got very upset. I'm available to do it but I must be doing something wrong, the warm blanket, snack etc didn't appease him.

 

Thanks, Bron!

 

I feed Harry 150grams of raw food twice a day and he weighs 5 Kg and is quite slim, so maybe you could increase Tuckers daily basic amount a bit more.

 

I was wondering if his numbers were a bit higher today because I gave him the cup of cooked chicken? I'm happy to give him more Barf, maybe give him 1.5 packets twice a day?

 

Also, would it be possible for you to send me a photo of the syringe and needle packet that you use for Lantus and also where you buy them? I sent my husband to the chemist and they would not sell him syringes or needles because we had the Lantus pen, so therefore we do not need syringes.

 

I could be wrong but I think with the lantus pen you have to give whole units or half units? Tell the chemist that you are giving insulin to your cat and need to be able to measure .25u

 

The cooked chicken shouldn't raise his numbers very much as there are no carbs in it.
I don't have any of the syringes now sorry. I gave them all away after Sheba died.
You should be able to go into any chemist who sells Lantus insulin and buy the syringes. Quote the ones that Chris mentioned and ask for them. Good idea of Judy's to say it is for a cat.
I will try and contact another member here in Oz who still gives the insulin and see if she can send a photo and box info, but if you go with the information about the syringes they should be able to help you.

 

Ok, well I will give it a go tomorrow at a different chemist. I had to get B12 shots last year and this same chemist would not supply the syringes for that either, so it may just be them. Tucker finally settled down after he had some more chicken after dinner. He has been very happy tonight .

 

Ok, so I am using the Freestyle Lite monitor and although it is only a couple of months old and I didn't really start using it until this past weekend, the battery kept dying. I replaced the battery today and it seemed to be working fine. I did the +6 BGT on Tucker and got a 7.1 reading. Because it was so unusually low, I took out another test strip and checked again. This time it came out 18.2! So I did another strip and it came up 16.4. Then I did a final test and it came up 16.6. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Any suggestions??

 

Variations in readings do occur. As you have found, several readings in a row should be similar. The variations are due to 3 items.
1) test strip variation - after all they are made by the millions
2) kitteh variation - even in a 5 minute period you can get slightly different results. I always massage the area before test - to push in new blood.
3) meter variation

All meters will measure + or - 20%. Therefore a reading of 100 could be:
80
100
120

This happens with all meters. There is no perfect "at home" test method. These are spot tests. Anyhow, that shows the importance of taking multiple readings when you get wild results. I always keep a spare battery on hand. Many people keep a spare meter on hand as well.

Tucker is looking good. Time to move him to 2.5 for the next dose.

 

Ok, I was pretty concerned with the 7 reading then such a big hop but I'll just keep going. He is all settled into a warm bed and purring away now, so that has to be a good sign. I'll give him the extra insulin with his next shot in the morning. Thank you and goodnight!

 

Hello and welcome to L/L. I think it's the BD Ultrafine or Microfine 3/10 CC syringes. They have 30 unit marks on them.

As for the blood test, sometimes if you get a bit too small a blood drop, it will read, but be low. Good instincts trying the test again. 7 to 18 is too big a variance to be explained by meter or strip variances. BTW, a large number of the people here are American (I am from Canada), hence haven't made the move to proper metric yet. So we use their measurement system when talking about blood sugars. If you start one of the spreadsheets we use here, it will do the conversion for you. Otherwise, just multiply by 18.

 

Hi Patty
Were you able to give Tucker the increase in insulin this morning without the syringes? Wondering if your insulin pen has 1/2 unit markings.....
I realised after I posted about how much food I fed Harry that I give him the 150 grams only once over the whole day, not twice. But my daughters cat who is same age but weighs 1 kg less than Harry eats about 200 grams of raw a day..so ECID. Neither of them is diabetic so I think you can safely give Tucker more food so he isn't so hungry while his BSL are higher and he isn't able to utilise all the nutrients. Just weigh him every so often to see he isn't putting on too much weight.
When Sheba's BSL were higher she was always hungry, especially in the earlier stages.

 

Hi Bron, We are having trouble getting the syringes that are needed and Tucker is being very flat and unhappy today. I've called our vet and she wants me to bring him in at 2 today. She'll do a urine test on him as well and will give me the syringes that allow for smaller dose changes (and hopefully a lesson on how to do it). I'll be back to you later today when I have some information.

 

Hi There. So, after an hour and half with our fav vet, Tucker is back home. She did a full blood and urine panel. The urine was perfect, the blood work that was done in the office was perfect but there are a few tests that have to be sent out. She gave me a box of 100 BD needles and spent some time showing me how to use them with the Lantus pen if we are going to give a dose that isn't a whole number. His BG at the vet was higher on her machine than mine by 2 points. I have a new monitor being shipped out to me from Freestyle at the time of this posting, just in case. We talked TR, food, and a strategy. Tucker was very flat all day but at the moment he is begging for food and washing all of the vet cooties off of himself with gusto. I'll be doing his PMPS test in about half an hour. The 'go' is meant to be giving him 2.5 again tonight.

 

Glad you had a good visit with your vet and that's good she gave you a box of the correct needles. That is a relief for you.
Not quite sure how you are going to get the insulin out of the pen into the syringe. I have never tried....or used one. We just get the insulin out of the vial and keep it in the frig.
The BSL is often higher at the vets from stress as well as monitor variance.
How did your vet feel about the way we manage FD here on the forum? Did you feel she was ok with you getting support from us?

 

When you take the needle off of the pen there is a small stopper for the vial, she showed me how to draw from the pen vial. We did have a good talk about the forum actually. She thinks the support is great and her only initial concern was if TR meant large variations in doses daily etc, when it didn't she was on board. She thought the caution and "under 11, stall and retest" was excellent advice and she agreed with everything we are doing for Tucker. She also thought the spreadsheet was great as long as Tucker tolerates all the blood testing. She's an amazing person and when our previous cat developed heart issues she did house calls to make it easier on him, that's the kind of person she is. ❤️

 

Wow! You have an amazing vet! She sounds a keeper for sure. I am so pleased for you and Tucker.
A lot of vets feel threatened when they hear about FDMB, so she is obviously confident in her own ability and willing to learn more about FD with you. My vet was always interested in what I could tell him about FD too.

 

I love it. Poor Tucker had to go to the vet! One of our kittehs (Little Dude) is like that too.

Yes, you have a fantastic vet. That is really good she is agreeing with the treatment progress. Some vets seem to take offense that their humans are taking some advice and help from others.

The spreadsheet is looking good. It can be frustrating in the early parts of the pattern....in Tucker's case the BG is high. We are about safety here. Before long, Tucker will be regulated. Lots less pee, but he may still beg for food. That habit is hard to break. Our kitteh Little Dude is not diabetic but he acts like he is starving all the time (and he is not).

 

I have been reading all the threads/post on Tucker. It's amazing how things have changed since your first post. You are really getting a handle on the sugar dance and doing absolutely the best you can for Tucker. Hats off to you, Patty. You calmed down and started learning fast. Thank goodness for this board and these wonderful people.

 

Welcome. On this forum it’s suggested you try a new condos each new day that younpist and link the old condo to the new one. Don’t bother today but if possible do it tomorrow.

 

Thanks Bron. Yes, she is a keeper. I can also contact her directly via text message or her email, I'll be sending her his spreadsheet weekly so she has her eye on his condition and trends.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'm not feeling very confident to be honest. but it helps having spent a long time with our vet and knowing there are people who know so much on hand to give support and input!

 

Thanks Jeff. I am looking forward to less pee....so he can come inside more often. Tucker weighed 5.56 kg at the vet yesterday so even though he is convinced he is starving he is not!