New member....dosing concerns...

This is my first time posting on the board although I've been a member for a year. I live in Las Vegas with my son and my sweet baby Noah. I rescued him at a shelter in Illinois when he was just 3 months old. He was left in a box with his siblings outside the gate of the shelter. He was born sometime in November of 2006, so he is almost 14 1/2 years old. My Noah is no longer in remission. He was diagnosed originally in Dec of 2019. He had a hypo episode in June of 2020 and nearly died. It was from that point on he was in remission. I tested at least once a week throughout his time OTJ and when I noticed increased drinking and peeing I figured it was back. He just went to the vet on 4/13/21 for the official blood work but I had been checking so I already knew. I am more stressed now than the first time he was diagnosed. I suffer from PTSD from being in a robbery at my job when I had a gun pointed at my face. To be honest.... this board overwhelms me which is why I only posted on the Feline Diabetes FB page. I literally have panic attacks trying to figure all of this out.

The vet told me to not shoot under 200 and if it was around 240 or 250 then give .5 units. If he got in the 300's then give 1 unit. I'm not sure how to attach the spreadsheet because the upload button doesn't work. I can put the link in here but that's the only way I know how to do it. She also diagnosed him with Pancreatitis due to his blood work and his liver enzymes being elevated. She put him on Flagyl, Denamarin, and Famotidine. The Flagyl is the antibiotic (precautionary) and it's very bitter. He spits and drools all over the place and runs around aimlessly. I'm going to stop it because he doesn't even have symptoms. I did let her know that 2 of the meds I can't get in him. The bouncing numbers you see on the spreadsheet were because I was giving dry food as a treat which I know wasn't good. Now the numbers are consistently in the 100's. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...GOOS55u_tsDaI_VZ8h5FoWcxdZskjNg#gid=361360320

 

Hi and welcome Noah and Mommy to the forum. We are so glad you have posted.
I will write a more detailed response but just wanted to let you know we have seen your post

 

Hi Linda! So glad to see you posting here from the FB group! Don't worry, we'll all help you learn to use the message board (it's not hard once you get used to it. I'd never seen a message board before I had a diabetic cat either)

That's all we need is the link! Don't have to upload anything! If you look below most of our comments you'll see what we call our "Signature". It includes a lot of basic information about our cats as well as the link to their spreadsheet. If you could do your Signature, it will be helpful so people don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again.

If you click on your sign on name (top right) there's a drop down menu where "Signature" is listed. When you click, a new box will come up for you to enter information like:

Your name/Cat's name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health problems or meds? and then the link to your spreadsheet. Hit "Save" and it'll always be under your posts.

This is not how Lantus works. Lantus needs to be given at a consistent dose...same dose both AM and PM. You also need to get some tests in between the shots because lantus dosing is based on the nadir (the lowest point in the cycle), not the Pre-shots.

We test before feeding/shooting just to make sure they're high enough to have insulin at all but it's important to test at least once mid-cycle on the AM cycle (5-7 hours after the morning shot) and at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle. Most cats go lower at night so it's important to know Noah is going to be safe while you're sleeping.

If Noah were my cat, I'd start giving him .5 and get those extra tests in. If you're not sure about shooting due to a lower PS than you're comfortable with, then you should stall, DON'T feed and test again in 20-30 minutes to see if the number comes up without the influence of food. If it does, that's a pretty good indication that the last shot is starting to wear off. While you're stalling, post here with a clear subject line like "STALLING! NEED HELP!" so you can get somebody's attention. Once someone is on to help you, you can go back and edit the subject line.

We have a tradition here. If someone encourages you to shoot a lower number than you're used to, they agree to stay online to watch for updates...even if that means staying up all night with you. We will not tell you to shoot a number that you're worried about and then leave you!

As you gain more experience and testing data, that "stall point" comes down. It starts at 200 now, but fairly quickly will drop to 150 and then as you gain more confidence, it will come down even more.

Have any questions we can help you with? I know I've given you a lot of information and don't want to overwhelm you too much!

 

I’ve just seen Chris has posted most of the information I was going to give you!
So I won’t repeat it.

Posting for the first time on a forum can be daunting. I joined and didn’t post for 6 months! But everyone here is on the same boat.
We all have, or have had, a diabetic kitty and understand totally what you are going through. And you will find some very experienced people to help you here.
And the support you will get is great.

With the Flagyl and other bitter tablets, if you buy some small empty capsules and put the tablet into that, there will be no drooling. I had the same problem when I was giving Sheba tramadol. The capsule solved the problem.

If you are unsure about anything, post and ask for help. If it is something new, you would change the subject line to alert us.
And ask as many questions as you like.
Again welcome,
Bron

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you for the info and welcome!

 

Wow! Noah's had a great day today!

Make's me wonder about a few things. Did you change his diet to low carb canned? When?

It's also possible that when he went so low on the 12th that it put him into remission. We don't understand why and it doesn't happen to every cat, but we see a lot of cats who have a symptomatic hypos and somehow it seems to kick start the pancreas into working again. Hopefully Noah is one of those lucky cats!

If he can stay in normal numbers for 14 days without insulin, it'll be official!

 

Yes Chris.....Noah had a GREAT day! After the PM reading of 373 on 4/13/21, I stopped cheating by giving him high carb dry food as a treat. He has always been on Fancy Feast long before he became diabetic the first time. I do agree about basically shocking the pancreas into working after a hypo event because that's what happened in June of 2020 and he stayed in remission for 10 months. Well probably more like 9 months because I saw things changing slowly over the last month. I also gave in to him as time passed by during his last remission and let him have a little more dry food and treats which is probably why this happened. My spreadsheet should be an example of what not to do so that people can see how diet affects their numbers. I do feed him Young Again dry which he really doesn't like.... so therefore he doesn't eat a lot of it but at least it's the better choice if you insist on doing it. It was hard to take the the things he loved away and I felt like I was punishing him. But I have accepted that I'm actually doing what is best for him and for my own stress level. He doesn't even expect a treat anymore after testing because I just don't know what he would eat. He is so picky and like many cats he lived off dry food. I always gave him wet but he honestly doesn't like it that much. A small can (3 oz) will last him a full day. Thanks for checking in on him!