Going away for two nights...

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SaraBear

SaraBear

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Hi All,

My Kitty Rod seems to be doing better though his numbers are still a bit high. But also he has had mornings where his BG was too low to shoot. I have actually decreased his dose and he seems to be doing better with 2 units. He has been more playful and energetic the past two weeks.

If you look at his chart there are two days that I didn't get a reading or shoot in August--I had a couple of family emergencies that had me leaving the home really early, I barely had time to feed the cats before leaving, and I felt like it was too early in his cycle for his shot anyway. I also had to change to a new meter as I could not find test strips for our old one.

My question for this thread is--Sept 6 and 7 we will be going out of town. I have someone who regularly pet sits for us but I don't want to put the stress on her of getting a reading and giving an injection. I also don't expect her to be able to check more frequently than 2x/day to make sure he hasn't become hypo :( Our sitter would only be feeding the evening of the 6th, morning and evening on the 7th, and the morning of the 8th. Would it be ok for him to miss his insulin for that period of time? I feel like it's better for him to run a little high for a few days than to run low without anyone home.
 
This is a tough one. Would his last injection be the evening of Sept 5th and his next on the morning of the 8th? Do you measure his urine ketones with strips from the human pharmacy? If so, has he ever had anything other than a negative reading? Is there any evidence of dental issues? I ask because there's always a risk of ketone development in a diabetic kitty not getting insulin but the risk is higher if there's any site of infection or inflammation.

Boarding at your vet clinic is an option but it would be stressful for him and expensive for you. No easy answer for this one. It'll have to be your call. If he's easygoing about his insulin shots you could consider teaching your sitter to do only those and give him a small dose (maybe 1 u) to tide him over through your days away and not worry about testing. That's what I'd try in your case.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
This is a tough one. Would his last injection be the evening of Sept 5th and his next on the morning of the 8th? Do you measure his urine ketones with strips from the human pharmacy? If so, has he ever had anything other than a negative reading? Is there any evidence of dental issues? I ask because there's always a risk of ketone development in a diabetic kitty not getting insulin but the risk is higher if there's any site of infection or inflammation.

Boarding at your vet clinic is an option but it would be stressful for him and expensive for you. No easy answer for this one. It'll have to be your call. If he's easygoing about his insulin shots you could consider teaching your sitter to do only those and give him a small dose (maybe 1 u) to tide him over through your days away and not worry about testing. That's what I'd try in your case.
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If we were to not have the sitter give insulin, he'd get an injection from us in the AM on Aug 6, then we'd be back to give him insulin in the PM on Aug 8. He is very easygoing about the insulin actually. I can discuss with the sitter but I am still very worried about him becoming hypo without us there.

I have struggled to get urine ketone readings. I do have the strips and i have tried. I have three other cats. Any advice on this would be appreciated. He has never shown any of the other signs of ketoacidosis.

The last time we took Rod to the vet they told us he had some plaque but no major dental issues.
 
Here are some urine testing tips:
  • put the end of the test strip right in his urine stream as he's peeing
  • slip a shallow, long handled spoon under his backside to catch a little pee - you don't need much
  • put a double layer of plastic wrap over his favourite part of the litter box and poke some depressions in it too catch pee.
Most test strips have to be dipped and allowed to develop for 15 seconds before viewing the colour change in very good light.

I have three who have to share a large litter box because of lack of space in my condo. I know when Teasel is most likely to go pee so I wait for those times and use the long handled spoon method. He's not shy in the litter box and it works very well for me.

If Rod is easy going about shots I'd definitely consider teaching the sitter how to give them. I suggested 1 unit because I think it would be a safer dose. Unfortunately without some middle cycle or evening data that's a guess. In the days between now and your trip you could try 1 u for several cycles and get more data to see how it works.
 
I'm the primary shot-giver and BG-tester in our house and had to go away for 3 days/2 nights, leaving my husband at home. Based on the past month of SS data, if he couldn't get the PS reading, he shot a half dose (0.25u in our case) just so Cameron would have something on board. That might be an option, if your cat's data supports it!.
 
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