When to feed vs. test

Happy New Year to all Sugar Cats and Sugar Cat managers!

We test Woody before each shot of Lantus and are getting a broad range of results. We free feed him on wet food ONLY that is no more than 5% carbs (Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, Wellness Grain Free Turkey). We test/shoot him every 12 hours: 8 AM and 8 PM. Is it ok to free feed him? Is that the reason our numbers vary so much? We even bought a new vial of Lantus thinking the vial was getting old (4 months, refrigerated), but no change. Here are readings from a recent few days. We have him 3 units last night and this AM he was 97! Did not shoot him. Does free-feeding explain the variance in these numbers? Should we test/shoot before food?
confused_cat
Time of Day/BG/Lantus units
AM/291/2.25
PM/151/1.5
AM/297/2.25
PM/273/2.25
AM/339/2.5
PM/218/2
AM/359/2.5
PM/321/2.5
AM/229/2
PM/304/2.5
AM/304/3
PM/140/1.5
AM/302/2.5
PM/375/3
AM/272/2.5
PM/304/3
AM/294/3

 

Lantus is a depot insulin and take a few days for the depot to fill and the Lantus to reach full effectiveness. Thus, you should not be changing the dose like you are doing.
Does Woody eat the same amount of food every day? If not that can affect the BG Also when he eats it can affect the BG even if he eats the amount each day.
Further, you should not base the dose on preshots. Yo have to find the lowest BG which is typically 5-7 hour after the shots. I see not BG readings between shots.

 

We have a very successful protocol for Lantus. It may help you figure this thing out:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1581

 

Try sticking with the 1.5 unit dose, no matter how high the pre-tests are, and testing around +5 to +7. You want the glucose to stay above 50 mg/dL on a human glucometer.

One reason you may see some high numbers is bouncing. This happens when the glucose drops to an unaccustomed glucose level or drops fast. The body compensates by releasing stored glucose (glycogen) and up the level goes.

 

Thank you all for the advice! I am used to the old insulins from our previous diabetic cat Tucker. We will curve Woody and make sure to catch the 5-7 hour numbers. I will re-read all of your advice to make sure we are doing the right thing.
Ellen & Woody

 

In order to get a good view of what's going on I usually recommend 3-4 tests a day instead of an infrequent curve..

- always before the shot - this is mandatory as you don't want to shoot when too low. As a newbie this too low number is 200 but is reduced over time once you have the data to know if its safe.
- mid cycle - 5-7 hours after morning shot depending on your schedule. This is to see how low he is going. The low point "nadir" is what you base dose changes on since you don't want him dropping too low (under 50).
- before bed (2-3hours after Pm shot) to get an idea of what his overnight plans are. If this number is less than the pre shot test number you may want to set the alarm for a test a few hours later as this implies an active cycle.