Scooby’s Check Up

ScoobyCat

ScoobyCat

Member
I just want to post and see what anyone or everything thinks.

Took Scooby in for his mid day glucose check at the vet after a little over a week on insulin. I have been trying to home monitor and it’s been difficult for me so I brought my monitor to the vet and they used it on him (didn’t charge me either!). His glucose was 70mg/dL so they rechecked it with a leg draw and it was 68mg/dL. He isn’t showing signs of hypoglycemia so the vet told me to skip his next dose and go down to one shot a day. He is currently on 1 unit 2x daily. We are home now, I gave him a bit of food and he’s currently basking in the sunlight by the back door purring.

My glucometer is a human tester, One Touch Ultra 2.
 
Prozinc is supposed to be dosed twice a day. If he needs less insulin, the dose should be reduced but still given twice a day.

If it is a human meter, 70 is not a bad number. How many hours after his insulin shot was that? Making dosing changes based on one glucose check at one point in time is really not a good idea. It is best to have more data to base the decisions on.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Prozinc is supposed to be dosed twice a day. If he needs less insulin, the dose should be reduced but still given twice a day.

If it is a human meter, 70 is not a bad number. How many hours after his insulin shot was that? Making dosing changes based on one glucose check at one point in time is really not a good idea. It is best to have more data to base the decisions on.
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The test was about 6.5 hours after his dose this morning. I don’t want to second guess the vet but I will keep trying to monitor his glucose myself to ensure he’s staying safe. Where can I find the information on human meters numbers? I’m sorry but I keep getting all confused with the complete pile of information from this website. I appreciate your input!
 
ScoobyCat said:
The test was about 6.5 hours after his dose this morning. I don’t want to second guess the vet but I will keep trying to monitor his glucose myself to ensure he’s staying safe. Where can I find the information on human meters numbers? I’m sorry but I keep getting all confused with the complete pile of information from this website. I appreciate your input!
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That could have been at or near his nadir then so that number could be awesome. I hate to see the dose get dropped with no additional data.

I'm sorry, but I got a chuckle out of you saying 'I don't want to second guess the vet'. Unfortunately, most vets do not know very much about properly managing feline diabetes. Again and again on this site I see people come in doing everything their vet says until something happens to make them realize they have to educate themselves and take a more active role. The fact that your vet is telling you to dose ProZinc once a day is a big red flag. The fact that he is telling you to change the dose based on one glucose test at one point in time is another one.

50 is the 'take action' number on a human meter, meaning when they are beginning to get into hypo zone.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
That could have been at or near his nadir then so that number could be awesome. I hate to see the dose get dropped with no additional data.

I'm sorry, but I got a chuckle out of you saying 'I don't want to second guess the vet'. Unfortunately, most vets do not know very much about properly managing feline diabetes. Again and again on this site I see people come in doing everything their vet says until something happens to make them realize they have to educate themselves and take a more active role. The fact that your vet is telling you to dose ProZinc once a day is a big red flag. The fact that he is telling you to change the dose based on one glucose test at one point in time is another one.

50 is the 'take action' number on a human meter, meaning when they are beginning to get into hypo zone.
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I’ll call and ask why I’m not doing two half doses. I’m trying to educate myself as quick as I can as Scooby has only be diagnosed as of a few weeks, and I’m glad to hear his numbers are ok.

In my vet’s defense, she did graduate from a very good veterinarian school, Colorado State, at the top or near the top of her class, and has had multiple cats with diabetes. I also think that this website is just as reliable as a vet as there are so many people with the experience to back up their suggestions. Please understand I’m not trying to be disrespectful to you because I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions. I do not want any red flags...better safe than sorry.

SCOOBY SAYS HELLO!
 

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ScoobyCat said:
Please understand I’m not trying to be disrespectful to you because I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions.
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I did not take offense. I understand thinking you should be able to follow your vets advice. We SHOULD be able to. I have just been at this awhile now and am jaded because I see how many vets that are otherwise good vets do not seem to know how to manage diabetes.

Normally, vets at least want to either do a full curve or a fructosamine test before they adjust dosing. So, it is unusual to see a vet change dosing based on one glucose test.
 
Just wanted to jump in and say that I agree that it's best to lower the dose but give it twice a day. The reason is ProZinc really isn't a 24 hour insulin. It just doesn't last that long....usually it lasts from about 12-14 hours. So after that time frame, the cat will have NO insulin in his system and he'll just keep going up and up...and then by the time of the next shot he'll be way higher than he normally would be, so the shot won't bring him as low, and then he gets higher and higher...and the cycle continues. I'm not telling you that to scare you or anything, so please don't think that! I just think you could bring that up to the vet and ask why they wouldn't recommend twice a day with that info? I'm sure they have a reason, but I admit I can't think of what it might be!

I totally get not wanting to second guess your vet. I was super uncomfortable doing that too! It took time for me to follow what we do here, but the best part was that once I did and showed the vet my SS, she said I was doing great and exactly what she would do and pretty much let me do my own thing from then on! I was super lucky in my vet, though. The one thing I remember about vets is that they have to treat not only so many diseases, but so many different TYPES of animals...they just can't be specialists in it all! With all the different species, they do way more than even general practice human doctors...it would be impossible for them to be able to keep up with everything. But I know how freaky it can be to listen to a bunch of crazy cat ladies online too! ;)

Scooby is just adorable! I love that little face! Please continue to post on here and let us know what your vet says. I'm very curious as to the reasoning behind the one dose a day.
 
So are there U-40 .5cc syringes for use with Prozinc? Scooby was getting 1 unit twice a day, I’d rather not eyeball .5cc’s.
 
We are going out of town next week too, and as much as I love and trust our cat sitter, I’d feel much more comfortable with syringes with 1/2 unit markings. Just peace of mind.
 
ScoobyCat said:
Oh wow, yes, I do mean 1/2 unit. He’s been on 1 unit twice daily and now down to half the dose. Sheesh, it’s been a long day....thanks! In the mean time can I just eyeball it?
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Yes you can. It can be challenging to eyeball it, so it may help to fill a test syringe with colored water to give you something to compare to every time. You just want to try to hit a consistent dose even if it’s not exactly at 0.5u.
 
SpotsMom said:
Yes you can. It can be challenging to eyeball it, so it may help to fill a test syringe with colored water to give you something to compare to every time. You just want to try to hit a consistent dose even if it’s not exactly at 0.5u.
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I’ll go ahead and order some of those syringes and eyeball it in the meantime.
 
ScoobyCat said:
We are going out of town next week too, and as much as I love and trust our cat sitter, I’d feel much more comfortable with syringes with 1/2 unit markings. Just peace of mind.
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I’ve had really good luck with ADW delivering quickly. Usually within 2-3 days. You may also be able to find them at Walmart.
 
ScoobyCat said:
I’ll go ahead and order some of those syringes and eyeball it in the meantime.
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And remember, the important thing is consistency not getting EXACTLY 1/2 unit. The colored water trick is good because that means you'll get the same dose each time even if it isn't perfectly 1/2.
 
ScoobyCat said:
I’ll go ahead and order some of those syringes and eyeball it in the meantime.
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Another trick we use to be consistent with non-marked doses is to draw using a part of the plunger other than the top of it. So just as an example: if 1u is drawn with the *top* of the skinny black plunger on the one unit *line*, .5u looks to be when the *bottom* of that skinny black plunger is at the top of the *number* “1.” <— like, the literal number “1” vs. the line that represents one unit.
 
Jenna Josie said:
Another trick we use to be consistent with non-marked doses is to draw using a part of the plunger other than the top of it. So just as an example: if 1u is drawn with the *top* of the skinny black plunger on the one unit *line*, .5u looks to be when the *bottom* of that skinny black plunger is at the top of the *number* “1.” <— like, the literal number “1” vs. the line that represents one unit.
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That’s probably the best option as 1/2 unit is very small. For me, I’m a lab scientist so I do this stuff all day, but my wife feels more confident with that security.
 
SpotsMom said:
Yes you can. It can be challenging to eyeball it, so it may help to fill a test syringe with colored water to give you something to compare to every time. You just want to try to hit a consistent dose even if it’s not exactly at 0.5u.
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This is a brilliant idea!! I don't need it cuz I have the halfmarks, but lovely to know for others. :joyful:
 
HuskerGyrl said:
This is a brilliant idea!! I don't need it cuz I have the halfmarks, but lovely to know for others. :joyful:
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Yeah it worked well but I ended up buying some syringes with .5 markings. Tomorrow is Scooby’s mid day glucose check again after his dosage decrease.

Huskers eh? Hehe...Go Buffs!
 
Scooby was 73 mid day glucose check at vet today. We’ve been doing the .5 unit twice a day since 8/31, a change from 1 unit twice a day since being diagnosed 8/16. We are now going to take the dosage down half again and try to get him to no insulin. He is completely off the kibble and only eats Merrick wet food now. He’s lost a pound since we started wet food and insulin! 15.2lbs.

His glucose was 450 on day of diagnosis!
 
After just over a week off of insulin Scooby is at 79 for his glucose mid day check at the vet. His weight is down to 14.8lb from 15.2lb on September 13th.
 
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