New to the site, Hi from Merlotte!

Hello to all here in the community! Our newly diagnosed cat is Merlotte (not the wine, but from True Blood). Found out he was diabetic about 2 weeks ago. He went in for a dental extraction roughly a month ago and was not gaining any weight (losing it in fact). Since it seemed odd, we took him back to the vet and was told after a few tests (blood / urine) that he was diabetic (BG was 421 at vet). AH! >.<

He shares his condition with his human dad, himself a diabetic since age of 17, (Now, 43). Merlotte is on Lantus starting off at 1 unit / every 12 hours. But now after 2 weeks of checking his sugars at home and giving the dosage, he is up to 2 units / every 12 hours each day. The main reason is for his uncertainly high numbers more so than normal or lows. We are just a worried fur family hoping to do the best for our little man.

He is on a wet food only diet now (use to be hard food and wet) and without any hiccups he eats his amount like a champ. These last few days have been a wreck, having one reading at a 509 and hours later an 89, only to have it go up again to a staggering 594, each reading was before his dose. With no change in his food we are at our wits end as to why his sugar is doing such a wobble in such dangerous numbers. We are looking for any advice and will be going about your forums in search of anything that will help him (and us with our shattered nerves!!).

 

Hi and welcome to you and Merlotte.
It is really good you are home testing the blood sugars(BSLs).. we have a spreadsheet here for you to document all the numbers. It helps us a lot to see how Merlotte is reacting to the insulin on different days. Here is the link. If you have trouble setting it up someone will help you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Are you feeding 10% or less low carb food. It is good you changed to wet food.
With Merlotte having a diabetic Dad it will certainly help you both understand the process more easily.

In regards to the dose.....we recommend increasing in dose by 1/4 (0.25) unit increments. This is not only safer for the cat but you are less likely to bypass the best dose for the cat. Increasing from 1 unit to 2 units is doubling the dose.
Are you using 1/2 unit marked syringes? It makes it easier to do the smaller doses.

The reason Merlotte is going from a very high BSL to a low BSL is because he is bouncing. That is where his body is reacting to either a fast drop in numbers, a big drop in numbers or a drop into numbers his body thinks is too low because he has been in high numbers for a while. His body dumps regulatory hormones and glucose into his system to "save himself" and his BSL shoots up. Then he comes off the bounce and his numbers drop down lower again. Bounces can last from 1 to 6 cycles and are common especially in cats recently diagnosed.
We change to the dose NOT on the preshot but the NADIR which is the lowest point that the insulin takes the cat during a cycle.
We recommend you always test before every dose of insulin and try and get some tests around +4 to +7 to see how low he drops during that cycle.

I would recommend you post over on the Lantus Forum where everyone uses either Lantus or Levemir....a similar insulin.
Set up a spreadsheet and document all the BSLs you have taken since he was diagnosed along with the dose.
It could be that he is having too much insulin, but the only way to tell is for us to see what is happening with his BSLs.
Here is the link to the Lantus forum. Post over there today for assistance with the dose and also set up your SS.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/
Again welcome and looking forward to seeing you over on the Lantus page.

 

Welcome!

 

We setup a spreadsheet like you suggested so now anyone can see how bad (or good) we are doing! ...
Also, using needles in 1 unit increments , not 1/2's. The vet himself (after we emailed him our results from the first 2 weeks) changed the dose from 1 twice a day to 2 twice a day.

 

Welcome, you are going to find help and support here for Merlotte. If you have a Walmart near you, you can find the 1/2 unit syringes there.

 

Well done getting the SS set up so quickly.
By the look of your SS Merlotte was doing better on a lesser amount and needed to go up in smaller amounts. Most vets do not know a lot about feline diabetes as they don't get much training in it at Uni., and it is usually canine diabetes which is treated differently to feline diabetes.
This is the welcome page ....we don't usually give dosing advise here......if you post over on the Lantus page now there are lots of people there at the moment.
There are many very experienced people there who will be able to help and support you.
See you over on the Lantus forum.

 

Hello Merlotte and parents, from a fellow North Carolinian (RDU)

As @Bron and Sheba mentioned, the Lantus forum is the best place to start to deep dive into what you are seeing. After going to http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/ you can just create a new thread by cutting and pasting this one over there.

Best,
Sandi.