New Member- No idea what I'm doing

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Jamesgatto

Jamesgatto

Member Since 2021
Hello from Ontario Canada!

My cat was diagnosed with Diabetes on August 6. I'm not sure when symptoms started, we moved in March and I got pregnant in March so my husband started scooping the box-he didn’t know to watch out for large amounts of urine (I only thought to tell him about small quantities as James had a UTI years ago)

James was 22.6 pounds in January and weighed 15.6 lbs August 1st which prompted the vet visit. At first we assumed the weight loss was due to the move/stress until we saw how much he lost. He is a large cat 16lbs is a healthy weight for him according to the vet.

The vet prescribed Prozinc and I started his first dose yesterday, after doing some reading on here I'm not sure if its the correct amount.

I bought the freestyle monitor and have been testing before doses but after reading here I think I should be testing more..

I switched to all canned food immediately (which he loves) Previously he was on dry and only getting a small amount of canned a day.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This forum is really helpful but I am having trouble understanding some things with all the short forms of words and the different readings mg/dL vs mmol/L
 
Hi Kaldrina!
Great job testing and setting up a spreadsheet :)
First and most importantly, it looks like you gave James 1 unit tonight after a BG reading of 186. According to the Prozinc guidelines on this site, until you have a lot of data to see how your cat reacts to insulin, it's not recommended to give a full dose when the BG is under 200. I'm not saying this to blame you or call you out, I'm sure you didn't know. Just worried about your kitty's safety. I highly recommend testing him again as soon as you can, keep monitoring him and testing and update his values here. I'm tagging some more experienced members to help you out.
@Bron and Sheba (GA) @Chris & China (GA) @JanetNJ
 
I'm so confused my vet didn't tell me anything about lowering doses. She actually didn't recommend testing either she said getting him the insulin was more important.

I just tested now and his reading was 7.

Its after midnight here and I work tomorrow am I safe to go to sleep or should I try to stay up for a few hours?
 
Hi Kaldrina and James and welcome to the forum.

Great you have the spreadsheet up and running and are hometesting the BGs! Fantastic!
And you are feeding a low carb diet and have the signature done…..you are very well organised!

I am going to give you a couple of link with information in them about Prozinc, a hypo kit, and other useful informational at the end.

@Bree & Misty has given you some useful information about using Prozinc.
In the beginning, until you gather a lot of data it is best not to give the dose of the preshot a bag is under 200. This is because we don’t know how James will react to the insulin. And cats can act differently on different days…so it is good to get that data so we can see.
Also testing during the cycle is also really important so we can see how low the dose is taking James.
At the moment if you get a BG under 90, you need to feed a higher carb food to bring the BG up higher.
If the BG drops under 90, you need to drop the dose by 0.25 units.

HYPO INFORMATION AND OTHER INFORMATION

PROZINC BASICS
 
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Kaldrina said:
I'm so confused my vet didn't tell me anything about lowering doses. She actually didn't recommend testing either she said getting him the insulin was more important.

I just tested now and his reading was 7.

Its after midnight here and I work tomorrow am I safe to go to sleep or should I try to stay up for a few hours?
Click to expand...

7 (126) is a safe number. But he has dropped down from the preshot BG quite a bit, so he is likely to drop down further. Did you give him a snack of food when you tested at +2? If not I would give him a good snack now and test again in an hour. You may need to test again later depending on how low he goes.

Are you giving snacks during the cycle? We suggest given the main meals before the dose then a couple of snacks at say +3 and +5 every cycle. Use the normal low carb food.

Do you have any higher carb food at home in case it is needed?

There is a lot to learn in the beginning and sadly vets often don’t give caregivers much information. Many don’t like hometesting, but as you can see it is so important to keep our kitties safe. It will get much easier and less confusing as you go along and it will soon be old hat.
 
Kaldrina said:
Is he in danger tonight? should I stay up and keep testing? Now I'm terrified
Click to expand...
Don’t be terrified. you are testing the BGs so you are in control.
You can manage any drops with food and if needed honey or Karo.
We will tell you what you need to do, if you need to do something.
At the moment, all you need to do is feed him that snack I mentioned and test again in 1 hour.
Try and stay calm. We won’t leave you and he is in safe numbers.
Keep posting any information
 
It was at 6.6 just now I gave him a snack. I really need to go to sleep do you think he will be safe for the night? I'll be up in 6 hours
 
Kaldrina said:
It was at 6.6 just now I gave him a snack. I really need to go to sleep do you think he will be safe for the night? I'll be up in 6 hours
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Well done giving another snack
It does look as if he is slowing down but he is likely to drop further. As we have no data to go on, I can’t say absolutely whether he will not drop further or how far.
Do you think you could set the alarm for 2 hours and get up and test again?
Not sure if you have an timed automatic feeder but if not I would strongly recommend you look into getting one. I believe the Petsafe 5 is a good one in the US and Canada.
 
Hi. Looks like getting him off dry made A BIG difference. I'm so impressed you learned to test already and got that spreadsheet up!!!James is lucky to have you. Since the numbers dropped so much already I would lower that dose to 0.5 which if you have half unit siringe will be the first short line. If you have whole unit siringe you will have to eyeball it. For now if you get a preshot under 200, stall without feeding for up to an hour and see if the number is going up before you shoot.


I'm curious what was his bg at diagnosis?
 
Morning

thank you so much everyone for all your help, I don't know what I would have done without it

I did get up around 5 to test again and he was at 10.9 but I was to tired to post anything


I currently 'free feed' him canned food, according to his weight I am supposed to give him 1.75 cans of Friskies a day, but I just give him the one in the morning and one in the evening. He has never been an overeater and from what I can tell there is about a quarter of a can left over at the end of the day.

According to the bloodwork I got at the vet his BG was 22.3 but that was with a blood test that was sent to a lab, she said they tend to read a little higher then the home tests.

I'm testing again at around 9.30 I've pulled his food so I will see where he is this morning and go from there.

I'm also super frustrated with my vet for not warning me about any of this. I am very happy I found this forum
 
Well done getting up to test again…it’s all useful data.
Sounds like you have learned a lot already.
Keep asking us lots of questions. We are very happy to help in any way.
It is true that most cats have higher BGs at the vet due to stress.
 
I just tested and he is at 15.7, I did give him a small amount of the vet 'diabetic' kibble last night which I'm assuming contributed to the number. I don't plan on giving him kibble in the future.

If I am started the slow and low method I'm assuming I should give him .5 iu this morning?
 
I need more advice tonight please

I Just tested him at he is at 12.6

I'm confused about this part
  • Above 200 (11.1 mmol/L) but below the cat's normal pre-shot value, a reduced dose might be wise.
I don't know what his 'normal' pre shot value is yet

I will not be able to stay up tonight to monitor, I'm pregnant and didn't sleep at all last night there is no way I will be able to get up

Do I give .5 or reduce the dose?


Thank you so much in advance
 
Kaldrina said:
I need more advice tonight please

I Just tested him at he is at 12.6

I'm confused about this part
  • Above 200 (11.1 mmol/L) but below the cat's normal pre-shot value, a reduced dose might be wise.
I don't know what his 'normal' pre shot value is yet

I will not be able to stay up tonight to monitor, I'm pregnant and didn't sleep at all last night there is no way I will be able to get up

Do I give .5 or reduce the dose?


Thank you so much in advance
Click to expand...

Hi Kaldrina, how long until he needs his shot?
 
Soon less then half an hour. I thought I understood the dosing from reading today but now im second guessing
 
Hi Kaldrina & James. We also live in Canada, second igloo on the left.
The title of your thread caught my eye because I clearly remember standing 10 feet from this very spot thinking I have no #@*&% idea what I'm doing.
That was 10 years and two cats ago. After I realized God wasn't angry with me this all got a lot easier. It will for you too, I promise. I don't give much medical advice here but I clearly remember thinking 'Crap, is he dead?' That's when my wife found this and it changed everything.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/letter-from-your-kitty-to-you-during-this-time.131186/
It won't take long before you realize diabetes is just an inconvenience and not a death sentence. It also helped that our first diabetic cat loved being in the car, that meant we could take weekend "vacations". That's a word we don't use much here. :oops: o_O :banghead:
 
Thanks for the support! and that letter is very accurate lol

So far I'm pretty lucky. James doesn't mind getting tested or getting his insulin, he has taken to sitting by the table hoping for treats. He also switched over to all wet food with no issues.

Its just very overwhelming trying to learn everything quickly without doing any damage.

He is only 8 years old so with luck I still have a long time with him and want to do this right.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Hi Kaldrina & James. We also live in Canada, second igloo on the left.
The title of your thread caught my eye because I clearly remember standing 10 feet from this very spot thinking I have no #@*&% idea what I'm doing.
That was 10 years and two cats ago. After I realized God wasn't angry with me this all got a lot easier. It will for you too, I promise. I don't give much medical advice here but I clearly remember thinking 'Crap, is he dead?' That's when my wife found this and it changed everything.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/letter-from-your-kitty-to-you-during-this-time.131186/
It won't take long before you realize diabetes is just an inconvenience and not a death sentence. It also helped that our first diabetic cat loved being in the car, that meant we could take weekend "vacations". That's a word we don't use much here. :oops: o_O :banghead:
Click to expand...
I just laughed reading this because I feel the same way! It's very scary thinking of how stressful and time consuming this is going to be. My husband and I recently bought a beach condo that we go to every weekend (we live in Florida), leaving the cats alone free feeding on dry food. Mocha definitely won't get in a car easily so bringing him is not an option. Guess I'm going to be spending more weekends at home now!

I know that my husband and I are good cat parents so we'll do anything in our power to help Mocha, but it's certainly going to be an adjustment. Glad to have this group for reassurance :)
 
Kaldrina said:
Thanks for the support! and that letter is very accurate lol

So far I'm pretty lucky. James doesn't mind getting tested or getting his insulin, he has taken to sitting by the table hoping for treats. He also switched over to all wet food with no issues.

Its just very overwhelming trying to learn everything quickly without doing any damage.

He is only 8 years old so with luck I still have a long time with him and want to do this right.
Click to expand...
I just read that letter too for the first time. Very true! I don't know if I'm just overly emotional right now with all of the changes but it made me cry. Good tears, like someone actually understands what I'm going through!
 
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