Hi Wade
I’m sorry no one got to you yesterday. Usually the only people on the board that late are ones staying up with their kitties working low numbers or helping others to work low numbers. We always tend to triage posts. It will be very helpful for those helping you if you could post your subject line as we require in this insulin support group. You can find that information
HERE. I have fixed it for this post but going forward, you’ll know how to do it. We also link from the previous thread and that info is in the link.
I’m not sure why you lowered her dose last night as she didn’t earn a reduction. Sometimes members might shoot a one time lower dose but, honestly, that is not for your kitty. Because of the
lantus depot, her cycle would be pretty much the same as if you had shot the 2.75u. Even if we have to skip a shot, we advise members to test for a bit to make sure the BG stays safely up because it takes most of the cycle for the depot to deplete a little bit.
You will make the best progress with her if you don’t guess at when to reduce or increase her dose but follow one of the dosing methods we’ve used here very successfully for decades. Because she is still getting her crunchies, you can only use
Start Low Go Slow (SLGS) until you have her consistently on only canned or balanced raw food. Under SLGS, once you increase the dose, you would hold it for 7 days and then reassess
unless she drops below 90 at any time. Then you would decrease by 0.25u. The major reasons we would generally raise by 0.5u is if the kitty is in BGs above 300 or if it is a high dose kitty (above 6u bid). Likewise, we don’t typically lower by 0.5u unless the kitty suddenly decides to quickly come down the dosing ladder by earning one reduction after another. Quite frequently, we address that situation based on the cat and what the cycles look like.
One thing I see that is likely causing your concerns is dose-hopping. In less than a week, you’ve gone from 2.5 t0 3 to 2.75 to 3.25 back to 2.75 and back to 2.5. That is not how to work Lantus. It works much better when you are very consistent in your dosing unless she drops below 90. Depots from a higher dose “can” take up to six cycles to stop affecting the next lower dose so you can see how changing her dose so often is really messing with her depot and making it difficult to determine what dose she really needs. I can’t see what dose you shot this morning as the SS has not been completed for your tests today. It’s hard to tell if the 73 and 58 from 2/28 were caused by the 3.25u but that would be extremely likely.
My suggestion is you stick with 2.75u for 7 days unless she drops below 90. If she drops below 90, reduce to 2.5u and hold that dose another 7 days unless she drops below 90 again. After each 7 days, we reassess and look at nadirs and determine if the dose needs to go up or down.
If you get her off all dry food and want to try the Tight Regulation Protocol (TRP), also linked above), let us know. You’ll want to read through it first as it is a more aggressive approach and may not be the best for you or her considering her issues. But....you know her best and as long as someone can be there to respond to lower numbers (we don’t reduce on TR until the BG drops below 50), then SLGS might be a better fit.
Also, we’ve had many members use the FS Libre and it typically runs lower than the handhelds that most use. That means you might be taking reductions when she potentially has not earned them. But using a handheld means you have to learn how to poke her ear, often several times a day if the BG is lower.
Let me know if you have any other questions and welcome to the group!
