Newbie with question

Hello, my 8 year old cat, Sylvester was diagnosed last Monday with diabetes after peeing outside of his box for a few weeks, and becoming very lethargic. The vet kept him for a couples days since he had ketones. He had been on a small bit of Instinct Raw, and then we had changed him to some dry Hills ZD for the rest of the day since the other cat had pancreatitis and we switched her to that, which helped her. But, then his symptoms started about a week and a half later and just progressed. So, she had him on 4 units of Lantau. I decided to switch him to all raw, and no dry ZD, even though she didn’t think I needed to do that. I took him back for a check this am to the vet and his number was 380, so she wanted me to increase the insulin tonight to 5 units. My dad has a glucose meter, an Acucheck Aviva. I decided to test tonight before giving insulin and his number was 45! So, I am not giving it. But, wondering if the human meters are way off, or if this is a true reading, and why would it be so much lower than this am? I thought I might bring my meter in to check against hers, she likes the pet one, but confused if I should follow her directions, or the meter. Thank you.

 

Good grief! IMO, I think starting at 4 units was way to high. And, a 1 unit increase is also much to high. Please visit the Lantus Forum ASAP for guidance. There are 2 ways to start Lantus: Start low, go slow, and Tight Regulation. Also, learn how to treat Hypoglycemia.

 

I use a human meter: FreeStyle/Freedom Lite. I never compared the readings with my vet. I did take readings on my 3 non diabetic cats and I obtained the following readings at the PM shot when Harley read 47. The other cats were: 41, 44, 52. Harley was asymptomatic and acting normal. Those readings are below normal for a cat but that is what I use in addition to observing his attitude.

I also check for ketones periodically. Harley had DKA x 2 which is what your cat had when you say "he had ketones". DKA: Diabetic Ketoacidosis. It can be deadly to cats if not treated promptly. That is why I periodically check Harley for ketones.

 

How to treat Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/