Does this sound alright?

Heather & Ducote

Heather & Ducote

Member Since 2020
Hello. I switched Ducote from Vetsulin to Prozinc a week ago (6/16/20) and I am seeing much better numbers than before. I was so used to living in the blacks that now I feel lost when his preshot numbers are blue. I posted in the main health forum about his preshot number being 124 this morning and holding his dose. I want to become more independent when he gets these numbers at AMPS or PMPS so I would like to print out a "cheat sheet" to use rather than create a post for advice at every confusing number. Does this sound alright?

Preshot instructions:

-Test again in 30 minutes to one hour. If he >175 give full dose
- If he is 150-175 give smaller dose (around 2.5 instead of 3.25)
- If he is under 150 give chicken shot (around 1 unit)
-If he is under 100 skip dose


P.S. - by the time I recheck he already has eaten a meal. I always give him his food and test/dose while he is eating. So if I test and have to hold the dose he is finishing up his meal by this point.
 
I think the Prozinc switch was a good call. I'm not a dosing expert, but personally, I was wary of giving any dose at all under 150. Under 200 I went to a small dose of .25. But every cat is different.

His morning pre-shots are looking quite low for him. Is he getting food at night? I wonder just how low his BGL is dipping overnight. How often a day is he getting fed? Are you using a Tight Regulation protocol of a Start Low Go Slow dosing protocol?
 
Juls and Billy said:
I think the Prozinc switch was a good call. I'm not a dosing expert, but personally, I was wary of giving any dose at all under 150. Under 200 I went to a small dose of .25. But every cat is different.

His morning pre-shots are looking quite low for him. Is he getting food at night? I wonder just how low his BGL is dipping overnight. How often a day is he getting fed? Are you using a Tight Regulation protocol of a Start Low Go Slow dosing protocol?
Click to expand...


He is eating with his night dose (around 8:00 pm). I have stayed up a few nights until 11:30-12:00 to test and his numbers seem to be alright at that point. He eats with his morning dose, at +5, and at night dose (with a few pieces of chicken breast in between as testing treats). If he seems overly hungry I always give him a spoon or two of pate food but he has not acted this way in a week or so. I hate to say it but I am not sure which protocol I am using :oops:
 
No worries! Personally, when I was starting out, the SLGS method appealed to me. Read the sticky posts in this section of the forum and you will learn all about dosing protocol. More knowledge equals less worry, I promise.

While all vets seem to suggest 2 big meals a day, studies show that all diabetics do better with many small meals. You might want to consider it, especially since he might be dropping quite low at night, which could be dangerous if he drops too low. If you do decide for meals more often, all you have to do is pick up food 2 hours before test time. That will give you a more accurate pre-test BGL, and make sure kitty is hungry when he gets his insulin.

I'd also love to see a PM test at around +6 or +7. Not every night, of course, that would be insane. But if you could set an alarm some night soon, and just get up long enough to give the BGL test, I think it would be a good idea to try to see how low he's dropping at night. Maybe do a +5 one night, and a +7 another night, and try to catch his Nadir (lowest reading.) If you can, of course. I know sometimes it's not possible. All any of us can do is the best we can.
 
Heather, you really do want to hold off on feeding Ducote if his BG numbers are low, and you need to stall and retest.
That is because you do not want to shoot insulin into a BG number that is food influenced. Because then, he could drop lower when the insulin onsets and at nadir. Let's keep Ducote safe.

You could try stalling for 1 20 minute time period, and seeing if the BG is rising (15-20% or more) when you get a low BG level. Do you think Ducote would let you hold off on the food for 1 20 minute time period, and let you retest before you go ahead and give him his shot

The protocols have guidelines for decision making if the BG is lower than normal. See the Sticky at the top of this forum.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Heather, you really do want to hold off on feeding Ducote if his BG numbers are low, and you need to stall and retest.
That is because you do not want to shoot insulin into a BG number that is food influenced. Because then, he could drop lower when the insulin onsets and at nadir. Let's keep Ducote safe.

You could try stalling for 1 20 minute time period, and seeing if the BG is rising (15-20% or more) when you get a low BG level. Do you think Ducote would let you hold off on the food for 1 20 minute time period, and let you retest before you go ahead and give him his shot

The protocols have guidelines for decision making if the BG is lower than normal. See the Sticky at the top of this forum.
Click to expand...


This could be what happened yesterday and why he went down so low. I will start testing before feeding from now on. Our current routine is to put his food on the counter and as soon as he starts eating I prick his ear and then give his shot so he doesn't even notice that anything has happened. He doesn't mind testing so I will start testing him first then giving him his food just in case I need to hold off and retest. I am sure at first he will be squirmy because he is looking for his food but, like everything else over the last month, he will get used to it.
 
You could try giving Ducote one very small, think corn kernel sized, treat when you test. That should not make too much of a difference in his BG levels if you stall and retest.

Try without even the treat first, and see if he "cooperates" with you. If you are sure you are going to go ahead and shoot the insulin, based on the pre-shot test you got, then it's ok to feed him as you are giving him the shot.

Shooting the insulin while a cat is feeding is what many people do for their cats.
 
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