Zener in LL - question on Budesonide and BG values

Hello all, our cat Zener has a regular condo in Lantus Land. He is approaching his 3rd year anniversary since FD diagnosis, and was diagnosed with IBD a year ago, and we had been doing ok with a combo of cerenia, ondansetron, and cyproheptadine (when appy stimulant needed). His IBD has progressed to where he had no appy and we were struggling to get enough foods in for insulin shots safely. Our vet started him on Budesonide three weeks ago and his GI system is improved and so is appy. We knew the med would affect his BG levels and we would have to work around that. He was on 1.25u lantus prior to the introduction of the Budesonide, of course, we were always trying to hit a moving target, but he was getting more healthy numbers than not at that dose. Since then, we have gradually increased his insulin to work around the increase in BG values and are now at 2.25u.

My question is if anyone has experience using Budesonide with their FD kitty, about how much have you had to adjust the insulin before seeing better BG numbers? Thanks for any insights. :YMHUG:

Zener's LL condo with Budesonide question & link to SS

 

How long did it take to get him regulated initially?

If the budesonide is a constant dose, rather than intermittent, I'd guess that it may take about that much time if the amount of reduction in glucose values is similar to then. If the amount of reduction needed is greater, its probably going to take longer, unless you can use the more aggressive increases due to nadirs in the 300s.

 

Ah, we are still in search of the elusive regulation, drat that moving target. He is a bouncer of the spectacular variety. We go through cycles where he will have decent numbers for a couple of weeks, then off we go again. So, I suppose we should expect more of the same now too.

He is on 1mL daily and we give at the same time each morning, compounded liquid form. We are using lantus tight regulation so have been increasing 0.25u every six cycles.

Thanks for the helpful info!

 

How many mg are in the 1 ml? The standard dose of budesonide is 1 mg once daily.
I used that dose and a a higher does for both my Mitten and Bailey and it had very little effect on BG.
I also used it on Lightning and it about doubled hid Lantus from about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 units twice daily.
I also am using 1 mg once daily for MurFee and it is increasing his does. However, it is hard to tell if that is causing the increase since he is now eating a lot of dry since he will not eat much dry. MurrFee is a high-dose cat to begin with, was on about 12 units Levemir and 3 units N twice daily not he is on more N, five this morning in addition to 12 Levemir.

 

Well darn, I'm sorry I put the dose wrong. He is on 1mg/mL. Aha, that's the right way to write it!

How did you know a higher dose was indicated? Zener seems to be doing ok on this dose and we were wondering how to know if more was needed or how to increase.

There is nothing more stressful than a kitty with poor appy. We struggle with that with Zener too, and it is more worrisome than his BG numbers, well, most of the time. ;-) Zener was on 1.25u before and is now up to 2.25u. We saw some better numbers last night, so we must be closing to a better dose.

Thanks for the information Larry!

 

They were increased to 1 1/2 mg once daily based on how they were acting, eating and defecating.

 

Thanks Larry. For now Zener is eating and pooping better since being on the 1mg. But we will be watching for changes and work with our vet if that happens.