Tubby on Lev

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Mal and Tubby (GA)

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I bit the bullet and bought 5 carts of lev.
He is on small 4u bid caninsulin. Fructoseamine [485] is lower than when dx but not low enough.
4u makes some promising nadirs. see spreadsheet.
Will shoot .5u lev at 5am 5pm. I can be fairly close as I work at home.

I hope this group will help me out for shot advice.

Using Australian vet school procedure with the b/g done at the vets, since I cant get blood myself.
Jill & Alex gave me this: http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/diabetesinfo/link3.pdf.
Hope we have a good run at Tubby's diabetes. ~O)
ps Tubby is 13 pounds and underweight since dx
 
Talked to the vet. Taking Tubby in for a b/g test at noon every day. That is +7.
The vet said there will be no charge for the daily tests.
Four hours to go. .5u or 1u to start nailbite_smile
 
Welcome to the Lev forum! We'll be glad to support you anyway we can.

I started my PK on .5u when we started Lantus, I think it is a safe choice. I am also very pleased to see you can stick close to the 12/12 schedule-many cats get really great curves this way.

Is there anyone near you that might help you with hometesting? It is far and away more accurate and up to the minute than relying on your vet to draw...if you are open to discussion on this, maybe we can be of some help?

It is important to know the BG levels several times during the course of the cycle...That is GREAT that you can get a +7 each day, but is it possible to vary the timing until you are able to test on your own? It is important to know throughout the cycle where the BG level is.


The following is just some info to mull over when you are ready...

Please realize that the stress of vet visits and being handled and such can drive up BG levels, making a vet think that a cat may need more insulin.

However, when you get home where the cat is 99% of it's day, the BG's tend to drop pretty good in the comfort of home.

If Tubby is gettin insulin for higher BG levels, but exisiting in lower BG levels at hime than were tested at Vet office, it may be too much insulin. Thus the importance of testing at home.

BG levels will flucuate during the day as well, with food, environment or if there are illnesses and such. Many of our cats on levemir or Lantus also seem to recover some pancreatic action.

Insulin doses will vary with these factors. Having BG taken once a day at the vet, while better than nothing, may not give you the accurate information you need tog manage Tubby's diabetes efficiently.

Let us know how we can help further! :thumbup ..and good luck at vet this afternoon! Keep us posted!
 
Hi Mal and Tubby!!!

WELCOME!!!!

This is my second post to you guys, no clue where the first one went,,,hmm?

A lot of great people here with tons of Lev knowledge and experience. They have been so helpful and friendly to Molly and I who are the newest here.

In my opinion, i would start Tubby off on the .5u. You can always systematically increase the dose but you want to make sure you don't 'miss' the correct dose amount.

I see you're off to the vet for daily bg readings - glad to hear they're not charging you. Have you considered testing Tubby at home? It really is very easy and i'm afraid that Tubby will be nervous or anxious at the vet's office thus throwing off the numbers. Not to mention how difficult it is for you to have to take him every day. I wasn't testing at home either initially and quite honestly, the thought scared the hell out of me but after learning how, Molly now actually begs to be tested (of course it's about the treat that she receives afterwards). Hometesting her gives me peace of mind that i know exactly how she is before i give an injection.

Am i overwhelming you? Certainly not my intention - i'm just so glad you're here!!!! -Michele (and Molly too of course).
 
Hey Mal - I'm so sorry to have recommended hometesting and making it seem so easy when, after reading your sreadsheet, you've been trying. Congrats on trying - please be proud of yourself for getting blood, i sure am.

I had a hard time also when i started. When i posted my frustration on health someone told me that the ear needs to 'learn to bleed' - i thought they were out of their gourds!! It took time, patience, a lot of cursing, a lot of treats but finally we got it together. For us, a warmed rice sock helped a lot. I found that if Molly's ear was warm enough, blood would pool up better. Even after getting a great 'pool' of blood she'd either shake her head causing it to fly onto my face or fly god knows where! Yeah, it took some time for sure but like i said in my last post, now she begs to be tested. I always test in the same spot (on the dining room table - okay, gross i know but i swear, when company comes, i change the tablecloth - really) and so many times a day i find her sitting there meowing to get my attention. Remember, cats have few nerve endings in their ears so it's not really painful and most see it as a positive thing - testing equals a treat and some lovin's.

Keep us updated on how it went at the vet's office. Proud of ya!

p.s. what kind of glucose meter are you using?
 
The vet isnt charging because one of his assistants is going to help me "home test" with my meter at the vets place.
Probably [hopefully] do a week or more there. Try at home also.
Freestyle Lite
Will start at .5u. Tubby sleeps with me [along with the others]. If he gets into trouble I will know it. He wakes me at 2AM for his night snack. Unfortunately the others have caught on to this and expect to be fed too.
Thank you for the response. :-D
 
Mal and Tubby said:
The vet isnt charging because one of his assistants is going to help me "home test" with my meter at the vets place.
Probably [hopefully] do a week or more there. Try at home also.
Freestyle Lite
Will start at .5u. Tubby sleeps with me [along with the others]. If he gets into trouble I will know it. He wakes me at 2AM for his night snack. Unfortunately the others have caught on to this and expect to be fed too.
Thank you for the response. :-D
Click to expand...

Welcome Mal and Tubby! I hope you like Levemir as much as we do!

What a good Mom you are getting up at 2AM for his night snack! My Tigger would think he had died and gone to heaven if I did that! LOL Your other kitties are smart. ;)

Good luck with learning to hometest. It will make managing this disease so much easier. It is nice your vet is going to help you with this. Remember that his ear needs to be warm to get a decent drop. Sometimes those vet offices are so cold!

Keep us posted.
 
Hi! So glad to see you took the plunge!! Does the vet service have any experience with Levemir or Lantus insulin? Maybe you & Tubby can help them learn.

As for how you test his BGs - we each do what we must. If you worked out an arrangement with your clinic, then that is what works for you & Tubby. I am concerned about how they draw the blood - it must be capillary blood - either form the ear or the paw pad. Do they understand that? We have seen some clinics want to use blood drawn from a vein in the leg, and the meters aren't meant to measure the glucose in veinous blood, only capillary blood.

Hope I explained that properly. I wanted to make sure you knew that. Testing the ear is much less painful too!

It's best to be conservative on the starting dose of Levemir, so .5U is good, but I understand you've been using 4U BID of Caninsulin? Because of the lower Levemir dose Tubby should have his urine checked for ketones as often as you can manage - once a day at minimum. Has anyone discussed or explained ketones with you? Usually it takes other issues for ketones to develop, such as infection as well as not enough insulin. It may not be a problem for him ever, but we don't want ketones.

I wish there was someone who could help you home test. My heart ached when I read that you tried 10 times to get blood last night. And then he went bananas today. If there are treats he likes, that may interest him more than what you're doing to his ear. How does he handle the shots? OK I guess?

I'm really proud of you for continuing to try with getting the BGs AND asking the vet clinic to help you!! A lot of people would have given up already. I bet he'll come around. Some cats take longer than others to get used to new routines. That's the attitude to approach it with - this is a new routine for him but he will adjust. Cats like routine. Try to get a pattern down of how you test - have the meter and strips and lancet ready to go, choose a quite place, give him a few treats and try to test. If you're successful, give him more treats.

Cats can be trained, it takes patience and perseverance. Sounds like you have both! Welcome to Levemir!!
 
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