Insulin dosage

[Courtney Gill]

Hi everyone I’m new to this group. I need some advice. I’m very frustrated because my vet is telling me different things about my cats condition than last time. He went into remission for a year then came out of it for some reason. He was on vetsulin last time now we’re doing prozinc. When he was on the vetsulin the vet said if it’s under 150 don’t shoot, 150-300 1/2unit above 300 full unit. Now she’s saying don’t adjust dosages everyday and give the same amount. This morning his glucose was 145 I was calling to see if I should skip it. She said feed him and still give 3 units of prozinc. What is too low? Does anyone else adjust dosages? I don’t know what to do. He never shows signs when it’s too low. He’s the same all the time. I don’t know if I should keep doing what I’m doing or what

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi everyone I’m new to this group. I need some advice. I’m very frustrated because my vet is telling me different things about my cats condition than last time. He went into remission for a year then came out of it for some reason. He was on vetsulin last time now we’re doing prozinc. When he was on the vetsulin the vet said if it’s under 150 don’t shoot, 150-300 1/2unit above 300 full unit. Now she’s saying don’t adjust dosages everyday and give the same amount. This morning his glucose was 145 I was calling to see if I should skip it. She said feed him and still give 3 units of prozinc. What is too low? Does anyone else adjust dosages? I don’t know what to do. He never shows signs when it’s too low. He’s the same all the time. I don’t know if I should keep doing what I’m doing or what

Hi Courtney welcome , sorry I can't help you with dosage, try to change your thread to
? Need help with dosage, I'm sure some one will come along and help you
What is your cats name he's a beauty, he looks like a big kitty
You might also want to post on the Prozinc page look under forums in the upper left hand corner and look for Prozinc put a ? Need help with dosing

 

[Deb & Wink]

Well, what type of glucometer do you home test the BG levels with? Human or pet specific?

Here is an 'sticky' from over in the Prozinc forum that might help you.

There are other 'sticky' at the top of the Prozinc forum you may want to look at also.

 

[Courtney Gill]

Well, what type of glucometer do you home test the BG levels with? Human or pet specific?

Here is an 'sticky' from over in the Prozinc forum that might help you.

There are other 'sticky' at the top of the Prozinc forum you may want to look at also.

I use an alphatrak pet meter

 

[Deb & Wink]

Just to let you know, all the documents and most of the dosing information you get from experienced people is based on the BG readings from a human glucometer.

Most people here use the human glucometer because of the much lower cost of test strips.

We really need you to update your signature with some of this basic info, so people familiar with prozinc and the alphatrak meter readings can help you better.

Here is how to update your signature and what would be helpful for us to see. It only takes a minute or two but is invaluable to us.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Hmm, different insulins work in different ways, so it's not unusual to change the instructions when switching. We have separate forums for that very reason-- helps everyone to keep all the quirks of dealing with the various insulins straight!

Your best bet to get some specific help on this question is probably the ProZinc forum itself, but I'll offer a few general things now just to get you started (keep in mind I am not a ProZinc user myself).

Without more data, I'd be more conservative than your vet with a 145 on an AT2. 145 is on the high end of normal on an AT2, before shooting a number like that I'd think you'd want to know much more about how your kitty himself responds to the insulin.

Some questions they'll likely have over in the other forum:

Has he been on the ProZinc long? Did he have a shot last night? What (if known) was the pre-shot number? If you don't have at-home data, what kinds of numbers was he showing at the vets? How was the 3U decided upon?

Good luck, and welcome!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Now she’s saying don’t adjust dosages everyday and give the same amount.

Most of the time, ProZinc does best when given at the same dose both AM and PM...Some cats do better on a sliding scale, but for now, you're better to just stick with the same dose for both shots.

This morning his glucose was 145 I was calling to see if I should skip it. She said feed him and still give 3 units of prozinc.

Your vet isn't giving you good advice. For one thing, 3U is a pretty large dose. How long ago did he come out of remission? We usually advise starting at 1U and slowly going up in .25 to .50 increments.
At first, if you get a Pre-shot number under 200, you can try stalling, 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, it's usually OK to shoot as long as you can test as much as necessary. If you use that 20-30 minutes to post here, someone should be able to help you make a good decision, but we really do need you to start keeping track of his numbers on our spreadsheet and get your signature filled out so we don't have to ask the same questions over and over again. Make sure your subject line says something like "STALLING..NEED HELP!" so you can get someone's attention ASAP.

What is too low?

Anytime you get a number under 68, it's too low (on a pet meter). You need to feed a teaspoon or two of high carb food or add a few drops of Karo/honey/syrup to regular food and test again in 20-30 minutes.

If you need some help setting up your spreadsheet, I'd be happy to do it for you. Only takes me about 30 seconds once I have some information from you. Just click on my sign on name and choose "start a conversation" to send me a private message.

 

[Courtney Gill]

Well, what type of glucometer do you home test the BG levels with? Human or pet specific?

Here is an 'sticky' from over in the Prozinc forum that might help you.

There are other 'sticky' at the top of the Prozinc forum you may want to look at also.

I use a pet meter

 

[Courtney Gill]

Hmm, different insulins work in different ways, so it's not unusual to change the instructions when switching. We have separate forums for that very reason-- helps everyone to keep all the quirks of dealing with the various insulins straight!

Your best bet to get some specific help on this question is probably the ProZinc forum itself, but I'll offer a few general things now just to get you started (keep in mind I am not a ProZinc user myself).

Without more data, I'd be more conservative than your vet with a 145 on an AT2. 145 is on the high end of normal on an AT2, before shooting a number like that I'd think you'd want to know much more about how your kitty himself responds to the insulin.

Some questions they'll likely have over in the other forum:

Has he been on the ProZinc long? Did he have a shot last night? What (if known) was the pre-shot number? If you don't have at-home data, what kinds of numbers was he showing at the vets? How was the 3U decided upon?

Good luck, and welcome!

He started with one unit then overtime increased to two and now 3. She said not to change the dosages but what if his blood glucose is not high enough for 3 units? Do u skip it all together? Just give a smaller amount, or still do 3? I just don’t understand if your not supposed to change dosages on prozinc what do u do if your cat is not regulated?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

The goal is to find a dose that you can give safely every 12 hours. If you keep getting Pre-shot numbers that are too low to shoot, that's a good indication that the dose is too high so it makes sense to reduce the dose.

Also, if you get a mid-cycle test (sometime between the shots) that's too low, that's an automatic reduction in dose too.

Eventually, we hope that our kitties keep "earning" reductions until they're on Zero insulin!

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hi Courtney, there are a couple of ways you can help us to help you better.

Add some info to your signature (in your user profile). Nice to see your name, cats' name, cat's age, diagnosis date, insulin used meter used, and concurrent medical issues or other meds your cat gets regularly.etc. Look at Chris &China signature for examples.

Set up a spreadsheet. How to do that is in this link. What it all means is in this link. If you need help with the SS setup, tag Chris &China or Marje and Gracie. They both do the SS setups for people quite frequently. To tag someone, use the @ sign and then start typing the user name and it brings up a list. The more you type, the shorter the list.

 

[Courtney Gill]

The goal is to find a dose that you can give safely every 12 hours. If you keep getting Pre-shot numbers that are too low to shoot, that's a good indication that the dose is too high so it makes sense to reduce the dose.

Also, if you get a mid-cycle test (sometime between the shots) that's too low, that's an automatic reduction in dose too.

Eventually, we hope that our kitties keep "earning" reductions until they're on Zero insulin!

So even if he technically needs more insulin for a dose

The goal is to find a dose that you can give safely every 12 hours. If you keep getting Pre-shot numbers that are too low to shoot, that's a good indication that the dose is too high so it makes sense to reduce the dose.

Also, if you get a mid-cycle test (sometime between the shots) that's too low, that's an automatic reduction in dose too.

Eventually, we hope that our kitties keep "earning" reductions until they're on Zero insulin!

so if he technically needs more insulin according to his test just keep it consistent and give him the safe amount not increase it? And then let’s say it’s kinda high like 250 but not high enough for 3 units then skip the dose instead of giving him less? This is where I get confused. I know I shouldn’t change it everytime but I feel like if I didn’t give him a dose at all it would sky rocket by the end of the day

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

so if he technically needs more insulin according to his test just keep it consistent and give him the safe amount not increase it?

We're not saying that you should hold the dose forever....Usually within a few days we can tell if they need a little more insulin and may suggest you go up by .25 to .5 unit

A cat's need for insulin can (and often does) change. We based our advice on what kind of test numbers you've gotten over the last few days. (for increases)

If he drops too low (under 68 on a pet meter) he automatically "earns a reduction" because it's obvious that he doesn't need that much.

If you keep getting Pre-shot numbers that are too low to shoot, that's another sign that he's getting more insulin than he needs right now.

Using our spreadsheet to record your numbers will really help us to help you! I'd be more than happy to set one up for you if you want. Just click on my name and choose "start a conversation" to send me a private message so I can get some information from you.

Also, please go ahead and set up your signature. If you click on your sign on name (top right of the page) there's a dropdown menu...choose "Signature". A new box will pop 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 a general location and then "save"

When you get your spreadsheet link, that would go into your Signature too. It makes it easier for us to help you if we don't have to go back and read to find the answers to those questions each time.