Recently Diagnosed

Hi, my 15 yr old female spayed cat Hillary was diagnosed October 14th. I am a registered Vet Tech but have not worked in the field for the past 15yrs. I feel a little overwhelmed and frustrated that I seem to have forgotten a lot of things I used to know. Fortunately I found this forum last night and with all the suggestions I found here I was able to successfully get two good BG readings this am. At 7am Hillary's BG was 182, after feeding half a can of fancy feast and 3 units of Lantus at 8am her BG was 78. I called the vet and will be rechecking her around 11am.

 

Please check her again in 20 minutes. 78 an hour after the shot gives you very little room before she is too low. 50 is heading too low; under 40 is hypo territory. If she is in the 50s, give her some regular food and retest in 20 minutes. If she is still dropping and nearer 40, give some gravy. If she continues to drop, rub some honey on her gums and head to the vet.

I am very concerned that she is headed to a hypo.

 

Update, I checked her BG at 11 it was 47, I feed her FF w/Karo syrup, rechecked at 11:30 BG is 62, was able to get her to eat some more FF w/Karo syrup. She is alert, moving around, purring. I will recheck her in a little bit.

 

Yes, keep rechecking. With Lantus, lower numbers can continue for longer than the usual 5-7 time frame of a usual nadir. And the numbers can go up and then go down and then go up. You really need to continue to test for several hours. Our usual protocol is three rising numbers but we do hope those rising numbers are in the 1oo+range.

Karo can increase the levels temporarily and then they can go down again.

 

Welcome to FDMB.
As you may have already changed to low carb food, that dose is likely too high. Plus, the effects of Lantus build up and stabilize over the first 5-7 days for the initial dose and over 3-5 days for later dose changes. You might want to use the following to establish a starting dose.
The initial dose of Lantus is calculated as follows:
Take the lower of current weight or ideal weight (aka lean weight).
Convert to kilos (pounds/2.2)
Multiply by 0.25.
Round down to nearest 0.25 (we eyeball or use calipers as syringes don't mark 0.25 nor 0.76 increments)

 

BJM, looks like you're right on mark - just talked to my vet and we are going to back her down to 1 unit twice a day and continue to moniter her BG levels. Using your calculations, I came up with 1.25. Here is what the rest of the afternoon looked like - 12:30pm BG-82, 3:30pm BG-121. I really appreciate having this board for help! If her ideal weight is 11 pounds - how much canned Fancy Feast should she be eating? Right now I have been feeding her 1/2 a can in the am and 1/2 can in the pm and then letting her have 1/4 cup dry (Science diet Perfect weight) twice a day. I would like to eventually wean her off the dry food.

 

The unregulated diabetic may need a bit more food than expected because it isn't all being used. To keep your cat from getting too hungry, splitting the food into mini-meals over the first 6 hours after the insulin can help minimize food spikes and keep your cat from getting too hungry. Some folks add extra water to provide volume, plus help offset the higher urination in an unregulated cat.
A timed feeder such as the PetSafe 5 works well, as may freezing part of the meal and putting it out to be eaten as it thaws.

 

Hey there and welcome to the forum. To answer your question, is 11 pounds a good weight for her? If so, the formula is 13.5 times the weight and then add 70. So if 11 lbs is a good weight, 11 times 13.5 = 148.5 + 70 = 218.5 calories a day. So that would be at least 2 cans of Fancy Feast, they are about 92 each. So, about 2 1/3 cans a day. What is your name by the way?