General advice

ANTONELLA

ANTONELLA

Member Since 2022
Hello, my 17 yr old has been on lantus since Oct.23. She started off with 1U and is up to 3U. On October 29 I accidentally left out the lantus on the counter (instead of fridge)for almost 6.5 hours. On Friday her vet suggested the lantus may have lost efficacy because her numbers have gone up and it’s been hard to regulate her. She suggested I get a new cartridge. I haven’t yet due to funds but actually today was her first time having the lowest Bg reading. Her Amps was 12.8 and her +5 was 5.8 this is the lowest she’s ever been (before this she was in the 8 regions). My question is can I leave her now for a few hours (maybe 5 or more) or is there a risk of hypo? I have many errand to run. I have her a bit more food. Also- as of yesterday I switched her diet to ziwi mackarel (wet) & As of 2 days ago I was giving her feline natural (lamb and chicken) wet food (I added the ziwi to the feline natural). I switched her diet to ziwi as it has lower fat and she is very overweight and the vet said I must cut out her fat and calories content. TIA
 
I don't think her insulin has lost efficacy. The Lantus pens were made to be easier to transport for humans. Most diabetic humans don't refrigerate the pens. We suggest keeping them refrigerated for cats because it generally take a lot longer to use up all of the insulin since a cat gets a much smaller dose than a human.

What I'm seeing as "hard to regulate" is that Tigera is dropping into lower numbers and then bouncing. A bounce occurs when a cat drops into lower numbers than she's used to and her liver and pancreas overreact by dumping a stored form of glucose and counterregulatory hormones into the blood stream. This causes numbers to spike upward. It can take as long as approximately 3 days for a bounce to clear.

Before you leave the house, I would get another test to make sure which direction her numbers are heading. You want to make sure her numbers aren't continuing to drop. You could always bump up her numbers with a bit of high carb if necessary.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I don't think her insulin has lost efficacy. The Lantus pens were made to be easier to transport for humans. Most diabetic humans don't refrigerate the pens. We suggest keeping them refrigerated for cats because it generally take a lot longer to use up all of the insulin since a cat gets a much smaller dose than a human.

What I'm seeing as "hard to regulate" is that Tigera is dropping into lower numbers and then bouncing. A bounce occurs when a cat drops into lower numbers than she's used to and her liver and pancreas overreact by dumping a stored form of glucose and counterregulatory hormones into the blood stream. This causes numbers to spike upward. It can take as long as approximately 3 days for a bounce to clear.

Before you leave the house, I would get another test to make sure which direction her numbers are heading. You want to make sure her numbers aren't continuing to drop. You could always bump up her numbers with a bit of high carb if necessary.
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Thank you very much for all the information. How can I avoid a spike/bounce? What could cause that? I will do another bg test shortly … thanks
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I don't think her insulin has lost efficacy. The Lantus pens were made to be easier to transport for humans. Most diabetic humans don't refrigerate the pens. We suggest keeping them refrigerated for cats because it generally take a lot longer to use up all of the insulin since a cat gets a much smaller dose than a human.

What I'm seeing as "hard to regulate" is that Tigera is dropping into lower numbers and then bouncing. A bounce occurs when a cat drops into lower numbers than she's used to and her liver and pancreas overreact by dumping a stored form of glucose and counterregulatory hormones into the blood stream. This causes numbers to spike upward. It can take as long as approximately 3 days for a bounce to clear.

Before you leave the house, I would get another test to make sure which direction her numbers are heading. You want to make sure her numbers aren't continuing to drop. You could always bump up her numbers with a bit of high carb if necessary.
Click to expand...

hi again,
I also posted on fb page, someone suggested the 3U might be high , her vet also thinks it is high and told me to reduce to 2U… but I was advised I shouldn’t do that drastic dip by admins … what should I do? Reduce to 2.5?
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I don't think her insulin has lost efficacy. The Lantus pens were made to be easier to transport for humans. Most diabetic humans don't refrigerate the pens. We suggest keeping them refrigerated for cats because it generally take a lot longer to use up all of the insulin since a cat gets a much smaller dose than a human.

What I'm seeing as "hard to regulate" is that Tigera is dropping into lower numbers and then bouncing. A bounce occurs when a cat drops into lower numbers than she's used to and her liver and pancreas overreact by dumping a stored form of glucose and counterregulatory hormones into the blood stream. This causes numbers to spike upward. It can take as long as approximately 3 days for a bounce to clear.

Before you leave the house, I would get another test to make sure which direction her numbers are heading. You want to make sure her numbers aren't continuing to drop. You could always bump up her numbers with a bit of high carb if necessary.
Click to expand...


Hello again,
I just checked her BG again it dropped to 5 (this is her +7)
 
Hi Antonella! Glad to see you posting over here again!

We have 2 dosing methods for Lantus. Tight Regulation and Start Low, Go Slow. Since I know you're very nervous about hurting Tigera, I suggest you start with the SLGS method. You can read about them HERE

Now per the SLGS instructions, Tigera would need to drop below 5 to earn a reduction, but if it makes you feel better, you could go ahead and reduce her to 2.75 and hold that dose for 7 days (unless she dropped below 5 again). At the end of 7 days, you'd want to do a full curve (as well as getting random tests like you have been) and then re-evaluate her dose.

Personally, I think you could do TR because you test more than enough, but again, I know how you worry about her and how anxious it makes you so maybe start with SLGS and as you gain more confidence you could consider switching to TR.

Remember, a normal blood glucose for cats using a human meter is 2.8 - 6.7 and the more time she spends in those numbers, the more healing time her pancreas will get.

Please post here daily (or at least every other day) so we can keep our eyes on you and help you with as much support as possible.
 
I'm not sure where you are in the cycle. With getting the 90 at +7, it would have been helpful to give Tigera a teaspoon or so of low carb food and test again in 30 min. It's hard to know where Tigera's numbers were heading -- mostly likely her AM shot was wearing off since it's past where nadir typically falls but our cats to not like to be predictable!

Also a small bit of advice. Most of the members here are in the US. It's helpful if when you're posting numbers in your thread, if you use the numbers from the US tab of the spreadsheet. Not everyone opens a spreadsheet before offering suggestions so having the numbers the majority of people can understands makes it easier if you're asking for help. (Many of us do open spreadsheets all the time, though.)
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I'm not sure where you are in the cycle. With getting the 90 at +7, it would have been helpful to give Tigera a teaspoon or so of low carb food and test again in 30 min. It's hard to know where Tigera's numbers were heading -- mostly likely her AM shot was wearing off since it's past where nadir typically falls but our cats to not like to be predictable!

Also a small bit of advice. Most of the members here are in the US. It's helpful if when you're posting numbers in your thread, if you use the numbers from the US tab of the spreadsheet. Not everyone opens a spreadsheet before offering suggestions so having the numbers the majority of people can understands makes it easier if you're asking for help. (Many of us do open spreadsheets all the time, though.)
Click to expand...


Thank you I’m sorry I don’t know how to change the spreadsheet to usa tabs this site is a little confusing for me and I spent 1/2 hour trying to post I always forget how to create a post
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I'm not sure where you are in the cycle. With getting the 90 at +7, it would have been helpful to give Tigera a teaspoon or so of low carb food and test again in 30 min. It's hard to know where Tigera's numbers were heading -- mostly likely her AM shot was wearing off since it's past where nadir typically falls but our cats to not like to be predictable!

Also a small bit of advice. Most of the members here are in the US. It's helpful if when you're posting numbers in your thread, if you use the numbers from the US tab of the spreadsheet. Not everyone opens a spreadsheet before offering suggestions so having the numbers the majority of people can understands makes it easier if you're asking for help. (Many of us do open spreadsheets all the time, though.)
Click to expand...


Hi pls see if this attached works in US figures

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y0aVhbmm1M1cLwV_iUa7pLG3DgQETJ2TcBsAsXRuWi0/edit
 
Along the bottom of Tigera's spreadsheet are tabs. One is labeled "World mmol/L", the next tab is "US mg/dL" and the last is "LABS". You just need to click on the US tab and the numbers you're entering on the World tab are automatically converted into the US method for measuring.
 
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