good news for uncle street cat

unclestreet

unclestreet

New Member
hi everyone! it's jim here, on an account i never got to use! lol!

i have not updated since the board came back online at this address, but i wanted to share some information about uncle street cat because i have amazing news:

he appears to be going into remission!

i just moved to a new location that is stress-free, enriching, and overall better for his and my own wellbeing. i noticed for about 4-5 days his BG had consistently been in the 100-130 range. today, it was 85 right before dinner without having insulin for multiple days (I do not give him a shot if its below 200).

he was on 2 units of prozinc for approximately a month with recent tapering down in the last 2 weeks to 1.75 and then to 1.5 and 1.25, then a final token dose of .5 (since his reading was so good) before his BG began to completely normalize for many days in a row.

i am aware that the cutoff is usually 2 weeks to determine if remission is happening. but i feel confident based on his personality coming back and his general habits, BG readings, and appearance, that he is the cat that he used to be again!

please give uncle street your congratulations and wish him many happy days. his birthday was on August 30th and it feels like a wonderful gift to say that he is his normal self. i feel overwhelmed with joy to see him in this position, as i love him so so dearly.

obviously i will continue to monitor his sugar for many weeks ahead to ensure no rebounds occur.

thank you for the help and advice i received in this forum, particularly from suzanne & darcy.

much love to all owners and kitties out there fighting the good fight! meow!
 
We actually taper doses down below 0.5u. We look to be sure there is s strong remission so the insulin dose goes from 0.5 to 0.25 to 0.1 to "some" insulin. It would also help to see a spreadsheet so we can take a look at with Uncle Street's numbers look like.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
We actually taper doses down below 0.5u. We look to be sure there is s strong remission so the insulin dose goes from 0.5 to 0.25 to 0.1 to "some" insulin. It would also help to see a spreadsheet so we can take a look at with Uncle Street's numbers look like.
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i understand and see what you mean now. i just added his spreadsheet to my signature (i made it today with data i've collected over 2 weeks, it is very sparse unfortunately and i'm prepared to be criticized for my habits with testing and admistering shots, this has been a very busy period of my life but i accept responsibility for not staying on top of things!)

i likely have jumped the gun with assuming remission but he just seems immensely better and his sugar has only continued to drop without any insulin treatment whatsoever. the spreadsheet is sparse as i said so it likely does not give enough confident information. but based on my own observations and how well i know uncle, he seems immensely better.

as i said i will continue to monitor and possibly start to administer lower dosages if necessary according to what you guys think.

thanks so much!

Uncle's spreadsheet
 
Given where he was in August, his numbers are so much better!!

I'm not going to slap your hand! I will remind you, however, getting at least one test in the PM cycle (perhaps before you go to bed) is important. Without any PM tests, you're missing half of your data. Many cats experience lower numbers at night and you don't want to miss any reduction-worthy numbers. Likewise, if you're not testing and not giving insulin, you have no way to know where Uncle is with regard to his diabetes. Providing support to his pancreas will help the healing process.

I would also give some thought to not skipping shots. You can always delay giving a shot (don't feed Uncle) and see if his numbers are rising or giving a reduced dose are alternatives to skipping. Also, a pre-shot number of 140 is a very shootable number. Right now, I would not consider Uncle to be close to remission. Some of this is you're being more comfortable with shooting progressively lower numbers -- it takes some getting used to.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Given where he was in August, his numbers are so much better!!

I'm not going to slap your hand! I will remind you, however, getting at least one test in the PM cycle (perhaps before you go to bed) is important. Without any PM tests, you're missing half of your data. Many cats experience lower numbers at night and you don't want to miss any reduction-worthy numbers. Likewise, if you're not testing and not giving insulin, you have no way to know where Uncle is with regard to his diabetes. Providing support to his pancreas will help the healing process.

I would also give some thought to not skipping shots. You can always delay giving a shot (don't feed Uncle) and see if his numbers are rising or giving a reduced dose are alternatives to skipping. Also, a pre-shot number of 140 is a very shootable number. Right now, I would not consider Uncle to be close to remission. Some of this is you're being more comfortable with shooting progressively lower numbers -- it takes some getting used to.
Click to expand...
i appreciate your feedback! i am wondering though if you have any input on how i should go about continuing to administer shots. what number range corresponds to what dose? i was under the impression that a shot when he's under 150 is not recommended.

this is what i was following until now:

  • Below 150 mg/dl (8.3 mmol/L), don't give insulin.
  • Between 150 and 200 (8.3-11.1 mmol/L), you have three options:
    • a.) give nothing
    • b.) give a token dose (10-25% of the usual dose)
    • c.) feed as usual, test in a couple of hours, and make a decision based on that value
  • Above 200 (11.1 mmol/L) but below the cat's normal pre-shot value, a reduced dose might be wise.
  • Above the normal pre-shot value, give the usual dose, but if the pre-shot value is consistently elevated, it's a good idea to schedule a full glucose curve to see whether a change in dose or insulin is appropriate. In most cases, the target "peak" value should not be below 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/L), and for some cats it might be higher.
i feel like i must have been following the wrong information or did not understand it correctly. regardless i am hoping to get some clarity on how to continue.

should i give him .5 or .25 maybe since he is continuing to stay in the 70-150 range? i am just not sure what is the best option and i get a little confused by the process.

thank you for your time and input.
 
The instructions are meant for when you're just starting out. As you get more comfortable with managing Uncle's diabetes, you also need to get comfortable with shooting lower numbers. The problem with skipping early in the process is that we don't have a great deal of data to know how to move things in the appropriate direction. Skipping shots may not be providing enough/any support to your cat's pancreas. It's also important to get pre-shot tests since you can't assume that Uncle's numbers are in a "don't shoot" range.

I'm going to tag @Suzanne & Darcy since she's our go to person for Prozinc.
 
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