Susan Shropshire
Member Since 2021
I have been back and forth with vets. When Leo was first diagnosed, it was because he had diarrhea that wouldn't go away. That was really his only symptom. They ran blood work and found his glucose was 425. That was the only test they did and put him on Vetsulin. He has NEVER been regulated other than a short time when a new Vet did a fructosamine and said it was in regulated ranges. His test since then show he is not being regulated. He has had pancreatitis back in July. He never lost weight, actually the opposite.
I changed vets back in April 2020 because I was being told his numbers in the 300s were fine and as long as we weren't seeing any clinical signs he was fine! UGH! They had changed him to Prozinc pretty early on at the previous vet. The next vet (starting in April 2020) was about the same. We only increase Prozinc to 3.5 over awhile because I kept fighting to raise it. You can see on Leo's spreadsheet what the #s were. This vet didn't even want me testing at home. He went strickly by clinical signs. I have multiple cats that all use the same litter box and drink the same water so I have NO IDEA how much is Leo's.
Then in July I had a cat that got pancreatitis. About a week or two later, Leo got sick and threw up one day and then a couple of days later, threw up again and then the next morning with a little blood in the vomit. He had been a little less active but not nearly as sick as the first cat with pancreatits. I took him to the vet and they ran in the house snap test and said it was positive for pancreatitis. They didn't send off blood work like they did with the first cat. (MY normal vet had gone on vacation so the vet with Leo was different that the one with my other cat). They just said since he was diabetic that was the issue. He had to stay in an emergency vet for 3 days getting fluids and antibiotics. He then came home and went back to his normal self. That was all they did with Leo. I again fought about the dosage and we got up to 4 units of prozinc and I fought to change the Lantus. Then my vet took a job in another state. This was in August. That is when I found this forum.
I continued to increase the Lantus and got up to 5 units. The numbers are still way too high. I had to choose a new vet and I went back to the original clinic but a different DR. He said that we switched from Vetsulin to Prozinc too soon and he has seen good success with Vetsulin. He wanted to start there. We have increased a unit after every 5 days and are now at 5 units and are finally seeing upper 200's. I have seen a more steady reading, however, still way too high.
He also did an ultrasound on Leo and said they saw a mass on his pancreas, but that was all the info he had. It's a 2cm x 2cm mass. He wants to redo the ultrasound in a month (2 more weeks from now) to see if it's larger, smaller or he said it could possibly be gone. Could be an abscess, benign tumor or cancer. He doesn't really want to do anything to treat it such as surgery etc. I don't have a lot of confidence in the Ultrasound person. It's someone that also does human ultrasounds and I had a previous cat with a heart condition and 2 masses in her lung that we could see on the x-rays but she couldn't find the masses in the ultrasound???
I am now at my wits end. Leo seems fine. He eats really well, plays and overall seems like his normal self. Sometimes he doesn't want to be pet but he's always been a little picky about that. He weights 12.8 pounds and has held or gained weight over this year.
Has anyone had a case where they were misdiagnosed? Could the insulin I am giving him be causing his numbers to increase? Is there a thing of resetting and going a couple of days without insulin to see what his numbers are without anything? His numbers now aren't terribly lower than his original vet numbers at diagnosis.
I am in the process of still looking for a new vet but we really don't have many options in our area. I want what is best for Leo but all these shots and blood test seem they are for nothing.
Can you get Lantus and/or Prozinc anywhere without a vet? I can renew his Lantus prescription with refills but do not have a way to get Prozinc.
I changed vets back in April 2020 because I was being told his numbers in the 300s were fine and as long as we weren't seeing any clinical signs he was fine! UGH! They had changed him to Prozinc pretty early on at the previous vet. The next vet (starting in April 2020) was about the same. We only increase Prozinc to 3.5 over awhile because I kept fighting to raise it. You can see on Leo's spreadsheet what the #s were. This vet didn't even want me testing at home. He went strickly by clinical signs. I have multiple cats that all use the same litter box and drink the same water so I have NO IDEA how much is Leo's.
Then in July I had a cat that got pancreatitis. About a week or two later, Leo got sick and threw up one day and then a couple of days later, threw up again and then the next morning with a little blood in the vomit. He had been a little less active but not nearly as sick as the first cat with pancreatits. I took him to the vet and they ran in the house snap test and said it was positive for pancreatitis. They didn't send off blood work like they did with the first cat. (MY normal vet had gone on vacation so the vet with Leo was different that the one with my other cat). They just said since he was diabetic that was the issue. He had to stay in an emergency vet for 3 days getting fluids and antibiotics. He then came home and went back to his normal self. That was all they did with Leo. I again fought about the dosage and we got up to 4 units of prozinc and I fought to change the Lantus. Then my vet took a job in another state. This was in August. That is when I found this forum.
I continued to increase the Lantus and got up to 5 units. The numbers are still way too high. I had to choose a new vet and I went back to the original clinic but a different DR. He said that we switched from Vetsulin to Prozinc too soon and he has seen good success with Vetsulin. He wanted to start there. We have increased a unit after every 5 days and are now at 5 units and are finally seeing upper 200's. I have seen a more steady reading, however, still way too high.
He also did an ultrasound on Leo and said they saw a mass on his pancreas, but that was all the info he had. It's a 2cm x 2cm mass. He wants to redo the ultrasound in a month (2 more weeks from now) to see if it's larger, smaller or he said it could possibly be gone. Could be an abscess, benign tumor or cancer. He doesn't really want to do anything to treat it such as surgery etc. I don't have a lot of confidence in the Ultrasound person. It's someone that also does human ultrasounds and I had a previous cat with a heart condition and 2 masses in her lung that we could see on the x-rays but she couldn't find the masses in the ultrasound???
I am now at my wits end. Leo seems fine. He eats really well, plays and overall seems like his normal self. Sometimes he doesn't want to be pet but he's always been a little picky about that. He weights 12.8 pounds and has held or gained weight over this year.
Has anyone had a case where they were misdiagnosed? Could the insulin I am giving him be causing his numbers to increase? Is there a thing of resetting and going a couple of days without insulin to see what his numbers are without anything? His numbers now aren't terribly lower than his original vet numbers at diagnosis.
I am in the process of still looking for a new vet but we really don't have many options in our area. I want what is best for Leo but all these shots and blood test seem they are for nothing.
Can you get Lantus and/or Prozinc anywhere without a vet? I can renew his Lantus prescription with refills but do not have a way to get Prozinc.
Some cats bounce when they see low yellows if they aren't used to them, and it looks like Leo hasn't seen anything as low as that 234 for a while.
