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Kristin1306

Kristin1306

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Hello all, my kitty was diagnosed a week ago and I just received my prozinc today and was told to give 3 units twice a day, starting tonight. Her sugar is running around 400 in the mornings and dropping to around 160 in the evenings. Just nervous that 3 units may be a bit much to start her out on. Any input appreciated. Thanks!
 
In case you don't see this until right before shot time: yes, 3 units is too much. We recommend starting at one unit, so please please don't give your kitty 3 units tonight - especially if you aren't monitoring her blood glucose at home.
 
Hooray! Would you be willing to put your data into our handy-dandy color-coded spreadsheet? It's already set up, you just need a google account (gmail) and link it to your signature. Then we can see what's going on, find patterns, and help with suggestions without having to ask you to repeat everything all the time.

I think starting at one unit is the best way to go. If her numbers are way too high on that dose, we can help you increase it fairly quickly, but in a way that won't make your kitty feel all crummy.

Here are directions for the spreadsheet and setting up your signature. If you have any trouble with either of those, or just fine it overwhelming please let us know. We have a couple of people around here who can help!

Spreadsheet

Signature
 
I havent given her any insulin yet. Im worried that 3 units is too much to start. Her first dose will be this evening .
 
Great job on the shot tonight! And also getting your spreadsheet set up so quickly! You have so much data already!

So to clarify - on everything up until today, the numbers were without insulin? Would you mind entering NS (no shot) in the numbers that were without insulin?

Also, what food are you giving her? And what is your feeding schedule? And your kitty's name? :)

We have a lot of questions at the beginning, but I promise the interrogation eases up as we get to know you!
 
My kitties name is Lola!! She is almost 11 years old and super spoiled! We got her from a rescue when she 4 and we are so glad we did! I will update my sheet in the morning and enter where no shot was given. We feed her at 5:30am and 5:30pm, at those times she gets pro plan wet food. I did some research into low carb foods like I was told and then had to find something she would eat. She also gets a small amount of merricks limited ingredient dry food, sometimes she is super picky. So she got her shot with 1 unit at 5:30pm eastern time her bg was 337 and 2 hours later it is 114!! So glad I didn't give her the 3 units!! I will check it one more time before bedtime to see where she is! Thanks!!
 
Oh dear. And thank goodness you didn't give the vet recommended dose! Kristin, you might want to stay logged in this evening. That is a 50% drop in two hours, and prozinc doesn't usually kick in until right around 2 hours. You may be headed for an interesting evening. I would suggest that you test again in one hour. It's possible with a drop that far and that fast that she may get a little too low tonight. Did your vet talk to you about hypoglycemia?
 
Please don't be scared. First of all, she may stay in perfectly safe numbers. And second of all, we know plenty of tricks to keep Lola safe no matter what. No need to panic. I'll post more directions in a second, just want to reassure you first.
 
On a pet meter, our "take action" number is 68. She's still safe at 68, but that's the point at which we start "fixing" the low number to bring it back up again.
 
Prozinc hits nadir (the lowest point in the cycle) somewhere between 5-7 hours after the shot is given. That's why I want you to keep an eye on things for a couple of hours still.

You have her on low carb food which is great day to day, but do you happen to have any of higher carb food still in the cupboard? If so, what kind do you have? And do you have any honey/karo syrup/pancake syrup? Again, this is just a precaution just in case.
 
And one more time: please don't be scared. We tend to take a better-safe-than-sorry approach around here and I just want you to be ready. Odds really are that she's going to be just fine.
 
Perfect. So now just take a deep breath and find something to occupy yourself for an hour until the next test. ;) :bighug: I'm working on super boring work stuff all evening, so I'll be around tonight. And I'm sure there will be other folks around later as well.
 
Lol...well, it could be that the 114 was an error. Or I suppose the 425 could be an error....hard to know. As you collect more and more data, you'll be able to tell right away when a reading is most likely an error. Right now there just isn't enough data to be sure.

At 425, we certainly don't have to worry about a hypo! You could either retest now, or wait an hour and test again at that point. How long until you are planning to go to sleep?
 
Okay, sounds like the higher numbers are right then. Which means you can put the syrup away and have a good night's sleep!

Yes, it's not uncommon for the numbers to rise for a couple of hours after a shot, and then to start to go down later in the cycle. It's also pretty common in the early days of figuring out the dose to have an upside down cycle - that means that the numbers go up during the cycle instead of down. As the dose gets worked out, the cycle will start to look more like a smile - higher during the pre-shot times, and lower in the middle.

Go ahead and enter the tests that you got tonight on the spreadsheet, and then hug Lola and get some sleep :bighug: I promise it isn't always this stressful!
 
Thank you so much! My vet has not been very helpful at all! Guess we will see what happens with the morning dose. Can't wait to get this all worked out and have a healthy kitty.
 
Vets do their best, it's just that most of them don't have a lot of experience or training in feline diabetes.

If you get a pre-shot number in the morning below 200, do NOT give any insulin. Over 200 you can give the one unit. Do you work during the day, or are you home?
 
And really great job managing all of this! It's stressful at first, but it will about as exciting as brushing your teeth in no time!
 
This will take you to the links about hypos:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hypo-links-be-prepared-just-in-case.48385/

They will scare you a little bit, so you might want to have a glass of wine with it. ;)

Mostly you just post here and in the Feline Health (Main Forum) and people will gather around and start giving you directions. Do read the links though and put together a little kit (especially info on a nearby 24 hour emergency clinic) so you're ready if you ever need to be.
 
Yeah that's a little scary, I'm not sure where the closet clinic is, we live out in the country so not many places around us.
 
Sounds like you had your first wonky test strip. And welcome! Djamila gave you tons of info! Glad you decided to start wuth 1.0U too.
Feel free to ask us any questions =)
 
Where is the best place to test at? I usually use the outer edge of her ear but my husband insists on her paw pad, whenever we use her paw pad we get a lower reading.
 
Hey Kristin! Most people test on the outer edge of the ear. They don't have many nerve endings there, so it tends to not hurt (they just feel pressure).

The paw pad is fine too, but it's strange that you get different numbers. I am wondering if your husband gets enough blood? Could you guys try it out once where you test both at one time so you can see the difference? I know, that wouldn't be much fun but might help you see what's going on!
 
Do bear in mind that two samples taken at the same time can still give different readings, but the difference should be negligible unless there's something weird with the meter or strips.

Also just here to Nth the support for not starting her at 3u, especially when she hasn't been on insulin before. It would've been so easy to miss a good dose that way. If she needs more, increasing doesn't really take that long. Like you, I'm able to test very often too since I'm home a lot, and that definitely helps to speed the process along where necessary and get a clearer picture.
 
Kristin, great job getting your spreadsheet set up!

About the meter: many of us use inexpensive human glucometers because the test strips are much cheaper (18-25 cents) than the alphatrak strips (closer to $1) since we test a fair amount. Then use the AT2 just for doing curves for the vet, or checking low numbers. The AT2 is a great meter, and you can definitely keep using it, but if the price becomes more than you'd like to spend on the test strips, it's okay to switch to a human meter.
 
I am going to have to switch for sure, which human meter is best or does it matter? I am also thinking my husband doesn't get enough blood from her paw pad (this is his baby and he swears I'm hurting her lol). I also totally understand the logic about slowly getting her to the dose she needs but my vet made it sound like if I didn't get her levels down asap I was going to lose her
 
Kristin1306 said:
I am going to have to switch for sure, which human meter is best or does it matter? I am also thinking my husband doesn't get enough blood from her paw pad (this is his baby and he swears I'm hurting her lol). I also totally understand the logic about slowly getting her to the dose she needs but my vet made it sound like if I didn't get her levels down asap I was going to lose her
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Many people in the US buy a ReliOn meter from Walmart (their store brand). There are a couple of models that take as tiny a drop of blood as the AlphaTrak. As far as ear testing goes, warming the ear in advance helps a lot and they bleed more easily over time from the growth of new capillaries.

Cats can tolerate elevated BG better than dogs and humans. Slow, careful dose increases are safest and guarantee that you won't skip over the good dose. That's why we recommend increases of 0.25 units at a time.

I see the picture of your lovely kitty when I click on your name but it's not showing in your avatar space. Not sure why.
 
Hm, the avatar shows for me in both places. She's very pretty!

The ears definitely do learn to bleed over time. It was a struggle with Freya at first and her ears had to be super warm, but now her ears can even be a bit cool to the touch and plenty comes out with a little squeeze. It's kind of amazing, hahah. It'll get easier!
 
Any of the Relion meters work and the strips are cheap. I believe the Prime has the cheapest strips, but the Micro and Confirm use the smallest blood sample (@Yong can correct that when she gets here since I don't actually use that meter). I use the meter from my local pharmacy. CVS (the pharmacy at Target stores) has a good meter as well. My meter takes a 0.5 blood sample which is on the larger size, but Sam's ears bleed like crazy so it's no big deal here.

I can see the Avatar now too. I think it just took a minute to load into the system here.

Try to get a test somewhere around +5 to +7 today. Kris is right about the increases of 0.25u at a time, and you can increase every three to six cycles (a cycle is 12 hours - so 6 cycles is like 3 days). That gives time for Chloe's body to adjust to a dose before moving on. If the adjustments are too big or too frequent it can cause bouncing (when the numbers go too high super quickly, or become unpredictable). You'll learn more about bounces quickly around here. They are just part of the process, but we do what we can to minimize them.

So I would recommend that you give the one unit tonight as well, and then tomorrow morning (assuming you keep getting the numbers we've seen so far), you can increase to 1.25u. You will likely end up at least at the 3 units your vet recommended, but it's gentler on Lola if you baby step it up there instead of starting there all at once.

If you do end up with a blue or green number at the mid-cycle test today, we might revise that plan though!

Lola has such a pretty face! How could you not spoil her?!?!
 
I'm actually going out now to get a human meter, and thanks! I think she's adorable but I'm also biased lol will someone be able to tell me how to read the human meter versus the at2? And how to adjust my chart?
 
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