WWYD - Going on vacation for a week

We're going away for a week starting July 3 (Sat). Our usual awesome cat sitter and good friend will be on vacation at the same time, but able to start watching the kitties (she'll pick them up and take them to her house) by the PM shot of July 7 (Wed). So, we've been trying to find someone for Sat PM to Wed AM. We've found a couple sitters who are both comfortable with the test/shot routine, one of whom is a vet tech. The problem is that they don't know each other and would be trading off...one AM , one PM. And with Johnny already on the microdose he's on, there isn't much room for lowering dose while we are away. They can do a test and shoot, but we won't know what's going on in between and it seems like such a narrow opportunity for error/sudden reaction from Johnny. It makes me nervous, especially since Johnny can drop pretty low at night.

I'm wondering your thoughts on having someone come to do a test/shot only in the AM. Lower to .25u and let him get some insulin when he's the highest and let that be the norm for the week. I know he's doing awesome and don't want to set him back, but the Sat-Wed watchers wouldn't have anything to go on but a pre-shot number and I'm SO nervous about him going low at night. We'll be getting an auto feeder, but with three cats, I just don't feel like I'll be able to relax. It's also $25 per visit. We'll gladly pay it, though it will be a strech for us, but I almost think the PM shot could do more harm/bounce than good. I know Lantus likes consistency, but wondering about others' thoughts.

If I should move this topic elsewhere, please let me know. I just know that here people would know Johnny's history better and understand Lantus.

Thanks!

 

Hi I don't know what to tell you about the dose but I know there was another person that used to post here that used mutltiple sitters for her vacation.
I think if you put "advice" in your subject line you may get a little more help. Sorry I don't have much more info for you.
When we go away Putty stays with my mother and I have a vet tech go to her house and test and shoot am and pm. I lower the dose but there is not testing in between.

 

Another option is to lower the dose to 0.1u which should be a very safe amount. The question is can your friend and the petsitters measure it? I'm not sure if one shot a day will be a good idea. It will play havoc with the shed. Johnny will pretty much be without insulin for half of the day, especially once his shed is depleted.

 

I used 2 pet sitters (vet techs) when I was on vacation in April. They knew each other but I did still have some issues with them and timing. I think a lot of vet techs (and vets) don't realize that Lantus really is a 12 hour thing and they should be as close to that as possible - make sure your sitters know that. I left the sitters a list of what to shoot based on preshot value, just to be safe (based from advice here)... I think Kasha was on .5 units at the time and for the pet sitters, the advice was for them to shoot a skinny .5 if the preshot was over 150, .25 units if less than 150 and to skip the shot if it was under 100... and they did skip a few shots while I was gone. It wasn't ideal, but it was fairly safe and they were vet techs so I'd like to think they could handle more complicated instructions. Also paid $25 per visit with them too... That really adds up when you're gone for a week and they make 2 visits a day. So much for my budget traveling!