Lantus once a day, help

[Kitto]

Back in December 2017, my cat was diagnosed with diabetes. At first, she was on Lantus twice daily. The last two follow up visits, the Vet said my cat is hypoglycemic, so she said I can either stop giving my cat insulin or continue to give her insulin twice daily. I did not think she gave me good advice or options so have made an appointment with another Vet this Monday 04/29.

Besides this, my cat is very aggressive and she doesn’t like to be touch so giving her shot by myself in the morning is very stressful for me and the cat. Therefore, I have been inconsistent with the morning shots. Home testing is impossible since she would bite and scratch. So this week, I decided to reduce the shot to one a day with my husband help in the evening. My cat seems okay for the last 4 days. Has anyone experienced the same. If so, please help me to find a solution to help my cat get well.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Lantus really works best given twice a day. What dose are you giving?If you can’t give shots on your own it may be best to try a different insulin. Have you tried giving her the shot while she is eating? That being said shooting blind is dangerous. You can’t tell if a cat is too low just by looking at her and giving insulin if low can lead to at best a long ER stay which might have a sad outcome. When I started giving Max insulin I didn’t test. I was going to my vet a couple times a week. When his BG was 65 my vet taught me how to test. Isn’t there anyone that can help you? If not you are in a tough situation.

When my other cat needed fluids, I enlisted the help of a neighbor. Eventually my cat got used to it and I was able to do it by myself.

 

[Kitto]

Thank you for your quick response. Kitto is currently on one unit twice a day. I tried to give shot while she was eating but it did not work too well. The first time it worked smoothly and then the second time, she knows and starts to move around. She is a picky eater so she would walk away without eating the food. I honestly don’t want to associate food and shot because I worry that she might not eat and that I can’t give her shot. I always put a collar on her before the shot, but she is strong and flexible enough to swing back around and scratches me couple times, ended up dropping the needle on the floor and I have to start over at least two more times waisting at least two shots of insulin. There is no one to help me in the morning. I will ask the Vet for other alternatives when I see him. As of right now, I am sad that I can’t control my cat to help her.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I’m sorry you are having a hard time with her and hope that she will get used to it. I understand how worried you are. Please don’t be so hard on yourself. You are doing the best you can.

 

[Kitto]

Good evening tiffmaxee, I just want to let you know Kitto is doing awesome after the trip to the vet couple weeks ago. He prescribed Gebapentin at a very low dose (.05ml) twice a day to help Kitto relax before the shot. The only drawback is that I won’t be able to perform the home test for Kitto because he believes with the Gebapentin, the test would not be accurate. He said as long as Kitto is eating, playing and not shows any sides of diabetes, we should let Kitto be. We should work with her personality instead of against it. If she is stress, the blood test would not be accurate anyway. So be practical about it. As off now, Kitto is more happy and I feel less stress...win win. Thank you so much for your support....

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I won’t be able to perform the home test for Kitto because he believes with the Gebapentin, the test would not be accurate

Not true. We have quite a few people here with kitties on gabapentin who still test their cat and get valid numbers. Stress doesn't impact them that much, especially if they are at home. At the vet however, you can get seriously inflated numbers so blood sugar testing at the vet may not be a good idea.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I agree completely with Wendy. Max is one that always tested higher at the vet’s office as he was stressed there. Cats hide discomfort so just because they act happy doesn’t mean they are well. I think not testing at home is a huge mistake and risk of going hypo is great. I also have not known gabapentin to raise BG.