? Adjusting dose when switching to wet food

Discussion in 'Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH' started by Griffin's Mom, Oct 18, 2016.

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  1. Griffin's Mom

    Griffin's Mom Member

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2016
    Hi Everyone,

    Griffin is being switched to wet food, slowly. This week he gets 2 meals dry food and 2 meals wet food. He loves the wet food!

    This morning he had a GB of 11.1 retested 11.8 so I withheld his insulin. (I was at work all day). at +1 (right before I had to leave for work he was 16. I still felt this was too low for me to comfortably give him his shot.

    Got home early did a BG at +9.5 (4:30pm) he is 27.3. I plan to test him again at +11.5 (6:30pm) and feed and give him shot then (30mins early).

    How do you adjust the dose for lower number so that they don't completely miss his insulin shots?

    Thanks.
     
  2. MrWorfMen's Mom

    MrWorfMen's Mom Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    Moe, a lot of people find a sliding scale helps in situations like this but to do so you need a bit more data. What you have is great but I don't think we have enough to get a good handle on when Griffin is reaching his lowest BG in a cycle and exactly how big those drops are especially now with the food transition underway.

    Last night, he went down 5.5 mmol between PMPS and +2 . Nadir is usually around +4 but can be a bit earlier or later in some kitties but your little guy decided Momma needed a nice surprise and gave you a much lower than usual number this morning. So we don't know for sure if that AMPS was his lowest or if he went even lower sometime last night. On the 16th he dropped 12.3mmol by +6 on 3u, so you definitely made the right decision this morning.

    Can you get a +3 and a +4 tonight? Then start a new thread in the morning as soon as you test Griffin asking for dosing advice. There should be a few people around to give you some recommendations.

    He may not be low tomorrow morning because part of that PMPS number may be a bit of a bounce due to that lower number this morning and bounces can last for as much as 6 cycles in some cats. When kitty is not use to those lower numbers, their defences kick in and release glucagon to raise the BG because they perceive those lower numbers as being dangerous even though they're not.

    Once you get more data, it will become much clearer how Griffin is reacting and to determine a sliding scale you can use going forward.
     
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  3. Griffin's Mom

    Griffin's Mom Member

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    Oct 7, 2016
    Ya, I am sensing that my little guy is going to have all kinds of surprises for his Momma, lol.

    I will do a few tests tonight to see what we are dealing with and post a new thread in the AM as you have suggested.
     
  4. BJM

    BJM Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2010
    If you're switching gradually - 20-25% different food per day or two - and checking around the nadir, you'll be able to see if he's starting to get around 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L). When that happens, you start reducing the dose. His spreadsheet suggests 2 units may drop him about 100mg/dL at present. As you collect more data, you'll get a better idea of how given doses drop him.
     
  5. Elizabeth and Bertie

    Elizabeth and Bertie Well-Known Member

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    Sep 6, 2010
    Hi Mo @Griffin's Mom

    Great job on the hometesting, and on setting up an SS. You're doing amazingly well! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
    It'll be interesting to see what happens as the dry food is removed.

    Very possibly! But I have feeling you are going to do just fine with this... ;)

    Eliz
     
  6. Elizabeth and Bertie

    Elizabeth and Bertie Well-Known Member

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    Sep 6, 2010
    Hi again, Mo.
    A little note about dosing in general: If it happens that you often find yourself having to skip shots because the preshot number is too low then that may also be a reason to reduce the dose.
    In that instance reducing the dose may mean that you're able to give two shots a day and thereby keep insulin in the kitty's system for more of the time.

    Eliz
     
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