5/8 Zack PMPS 527, +2 359, +4 278, +6 267

Zack ate well at breakfast and dinner, he was observed purring and preening morning, noon and evening. Not as active this evening.
We have one cat refusing to convert to canned food. She is still on dry. He may have poached from her bowl, we started shutting her in another room now.
At his initial diagnosis 5/3/14 he weighed 12.2 lbs. His BG that day was 599. He had no keytones in his urine. He had eaten a poisonous plant and was rushed to uor equine vet. She discovered the diabetes in the blood work.
He is 15 years old. He started Lantus on Mon p.m. 5/5/14 at 1.5 units. No keytones in urine, vet sent us home to retun for shot and curve in a.m.
Vet dosed him at 2 units on Tues a.m. shot. Kept him for curve. We did not know about her increase of insulin until the next day, and chose not to increase at home that p.m. as she suggested. But to wait and let the well fill up. at 1.5 units.

(AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326,)

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527

It will get better. Give it some time.

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=118392

Welcome to Lantus Land Holly! I posted the link to your post on the Health forum for you. Tomorrow, when you do your next condo, you'd want to post the link to this one in it so people can quickly go back and see what's been going on

In reply to Mary Alice's concern about a furshot. Since he did come down over 150 points, I doubt if it was a total furshot.

Holly, a furshot is when you don't get the insulin INTO the cat...you never assume that none of it got in though, so even if you're sure you gave a furshot, you don't try to give more. We've seen so many times when someone thought they did a furshot, and then their kitty went into low numbers later in the cycle, so even if you think you did, you just keep going (but add the info into your spreadsheet in the Remarks area)

With Lantus, there's a VERY distinct smell (you might put a drop on your fingertip and smell for yourself). It smells kind of like a band-aid factory..or some say it smells like Scotch (I don't drink, so wouldn't know...lol) After you shoot, you should gently feel for wetness or if you think you might have given a furshot, sniff your cat! :lol:

The first time I gave China a furshot, there was no way of mistaking it...I smelled it immediately!

Now that you're over here in LL, you'll get the most experienced eyes watching Zack and giving you the benefit of their wisdom. People here are very generous with their time and advice!

Since today was the 7th cycle and you're still "filling the depot", I think you should just hold the 1.5 for now. I know it's awful seeing those high numbers, but it's important that you don't try to rush it. If we don't see some better numbers at nadir by tomorrow night's cycle, I think it would be find for you to increase to 1.75, but then the "cycle clock" starts over.

You should be testing for ketones too. I know I've posted the tips for urine collection on Facebook, but just in case, here they are again. Urine Testing Tips IF you get a trace or less, you can sometimes handle it at home, but if more than a trace, it's an emergency and you'll need to get Zack to the vet.

When you first start, you hold the dose for 5-7 days (10-14 cycles) . Then we can re-evaluate every 3 days (6 cycles) and see if he needs to go up. So IF he doesn't get into better numbers at nadir, I think you'd be OK to increase on Saturday morning's cycle, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it. (And hopefully we'll get other opinions in here too!)

Right now, you're in the beginning of the protocol here:
"General" Guidelines:
Hold the initial starting dose for 5 - 7 days (10 - 14 consecutive cycles) unless the numbers tell you otherwise. Kitties experiencing high flat curves or prone to ketones may want to increase the starting dose after 3 days (6 consecutive cycles).
Each subsequent dose is held for a minimum of 3 days (6 consecutive cycles) unless kitty earns a reduction (See: Reducing the dose...).
Adjustments to dose are based on nadirs with only some consideration given to preshot numbers.

IF his nadir doesn't come down, you'd enter this phase of the protocol:

Increasing the dose:
Hold the dose for 3 - 5 days (6 - 10 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are less than 200 before increasing the dose by 0.25 unit.
if your cat is new to numbers under 200, it is recommended to hold the dose for at least 8-10 cycles before increasing.
when your cat starts to see nadirs under 100, hold the dose for at least 10 cycles before increasing.
After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 200, but less than 300 increase the dose by 0.25 unit.
After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 300 increase the dose by 0.5 unit.

At the top of the board are several posts with "Sticky" ...These are important for you to read and you'll gradually learn more and more about how Zack responds to both food and insulin and these "rules" will help to guide you too.

Again, welcome to the Lantus Land family and we all look forward to helping you learn the steps of the "sugardance"!

Edited to Add...I see on your spreadsheet that the PMPS cycle tonight didn't "color"...it should have colored in black. You may need to manually do this by clicking on the PMPS "cell" (where you entered the 527) and then clicking on the little icon at the top of the spreadsheet that looks like a little paint can starting to tip over. Then you just choose the correct color (in this case, black)

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527, +2 359

359 is going in the right direction! Yay Zack! :razz:

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527, +2 359

Yeah for pink! It's better than black!!

BUT...that's a big drop from PMPS to 359, so you should plan on testing again at +4 and probably again later. This is what I meant when I was talking about my "crystal ball" test at +2

When you see a big drop like that, it could be a very active cycle...and maybe Zack is finally going to start responding to the 1.5 dose!

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527, +2 359, +4 2

Chris, I hope that is the case. Am planning to check again. And Paul is coming home at lunch to check near NADR, and daughter will be home in the afternoon to keep her eyes on him. Am reading a lot. Spoke with our equine vet tonight, and she thinks the slow approach is a good course, too. She reminded me that we are exceptional pet parents. Helped restore my confidence.

 

Re: 5/8 Zack AMPS 478, +5 326,+7 326, PMPS 527, +2 359, +4 2

I'm happy to hear your equine vet is agreeing with our protocol! Even though her expertise is with another species, it's nice to hear from someone we really trust that we're making good decisions for our furkids!

Still coming down! GO ZACK!!

Work that juice!!

As you get into the PM cycle, you might want to go ahead and drop the AM numbers so you can fit the PM ones into the subject line on that first post. Eventually, you do hit the maximum characters it'll allow you to have, so you leave the most recent cycle and delete the others. You can always do a "recap" of the earlier numbers later in your daily condo too

 

Hi Holly!

I'm headed for bed but just wanted to say hi and welcome to Lantus Land! well, Lantus/Lev Land!

You're off to a good start - we'll keep an eye on you and help you get Zack controlled. I'm glad you found us so quickly - it's the way to go. As Chris said, the yellow starred stickies at the top of this forum page are full of great information. There's a ton of info and no one expects you to remember it all right away - it will take a while. These are the ones i'd suggest starting with:

The "New to the Group sticky here.

Make sure you watch the video on how to take care of your insulin so it lasts as long as possible here.

on the Tight Regulation Protocol sticky, look about 5 paragraphs down for the PDF called "Management of Diabetic Cats Using Long-Lasting Insulin" - you'll want to read it and probably download it to give a copy to your vet. This protocol is the only one published in a professional veterinary journal for treating a diabetic cat.

Beyond that, just ask us a zillion questions on whatever you find puzzling and we'll do our best to help you.

Glad to meet you and Zack!