New Member - Sevy - HELP D: | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

New Member - Sevy - HELP D:

Sevytheking

Sevytheking

Member since 2025
Hi everyone, my name is Johanna.

I have a senior cat named Sevy, he’s 17 years old, and just this Monday (10/21), he was diagnosed with diabetes. I officially began managing his condition today and wanted to share what I've done so far.

I've gathered all the essentials: a glucose meter, ketone test strips, and ProZinc insulin. Sevy received his first dose of insulin today at 6:30 PM. His blood glucose reading at that time was 251. Two hours later, at 8:30 PM, his reading dropped to 103 (2+), which honestly surprised me. :arghh: It seemed like a pretty big drop in a short amount of time.

My plan is to check his levels again at 10:30 PM (+4) to see where he’s at. I’m a little concerned since it’s a 150-point drop already, and he’s not even at the typical six-hour lowest point yet. I do have honey on hand just in case his numbers go too low.

Thanks for reading. Any insights or advice from fellow cat parents would be really appreciated! 🎃
 

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Joha 👋

This is a friend of mine and she's doing amazing, but drinking from a fire hose as we all do at first. I don't know Prozinc well enough to advise, but wanted to get her started here, especially since Sev saw a pretty big drop from PMPS to +3.

A few other notes: Sev has switched from a mix of kibble and wet to LC wet. He is also on antibiotics for a potential infection. And he just started insulin. So multiple factors at once that could lower Sev's numbers. (Correct me if I'm wrong on any of that, Joha.)

Joha's vet recommended to start with 2 units twice a day, but after we talked and read the Prozinc sticky, she started with 1 unit (twice a day), which IMO is the correct call, especially with the food switch and antibiotics. He also started her on Prozinc. Would the recommendation be to push for a switch to Lantus here in the near future? She is home testing with a human meter.

Also, let us know when she should start posting specifically in the Prozinc forum. I advised her to start here to introduce herself. Thank you everyone!
 
👋☺️ You are right about all the factors. Also, the "cheat sheet" he gave me also led me to want to only do 1 unit since he only was 251.

The Cheat Sheet: over 250 give 2 units, from 200 to 250 give 1 unit, less than 200 no insulin.
 
Talking with Johanna this morning - Sev’s AMBG was 193. She fed him a couple bites of LC before realizing she should stall without feeding to see if he gets above 200 on his own. She’s now around 1 hour after her normal shot time and wondering if she should shoot this morning. She can get a BG check, but it may be slightly food influenced. Wondering on some guidance about whether to shoot or skip or keep stalling.

Joha, when you get a BG reading, could you bump this thread?
 
Last edited:
Sevytheking said:
Hi everyone, my name is Johanna.

I have a senior cat named Sevy, he’s 17 years old, and just this Monday (10/21), he was diagnosed with diabetes. I officially began managing his condition today and wanted to share what I've done so far.

I've gathered all the essentials: a glucose meter, ketone test strips, and ProZinc insulin. Sevy received his first dose of insulin today at 6:30 PM. His blood glucose reading at that time was 251. Two hours later, at 8:30 PM, his reading dropped to 103 (2+), which honestly surprised me. :arghh: It seemed like a pretty big drop in a short amount of time.

My plan is to check his levels again at 10:30 PM (+4) to see where he’s at. I’m a little concerned since it’s a 150-point drop already, and he’s not even at the typical six-hour lowest point yet. I do have honey on hand just in case his numbers go too low.

Thanks for reading. Any insights or advice from fellow cat parents would be really appreciated! 🎃
Click to expand...
Hi all! I was stalling this morning before giving him his shot because his pre-shot reading was 193. My vet gave me a cheat sheet that says not to give insulin if he's under 200, so I wanted to be cautious. While stalling, I accidentally gave him a little bit of low-carb wet food. I tested again and got 191. I called the nearest ER for advice, and they told me to go ahead with the shot since he's still new to insulin and the number was within a safe range. I gave him 1 unit, but he only ate a little and didn’t finish his food. I might try switching to a different brand since he doesn’t seem too interested in this one.

I’ll be monitoring him every two hours today to make sure his numbers don’t drop too low and to get a better sense of his curve.
 
@Suzanne & Darcy

Apologies for the tag, I was just wondering if it would be better for Johanna to start a posting in the Prozinc forum. I know new members are encouraged to start posting here first, but she’s got her spreadsheet and signature set up (way to go Joha!)
 
Unless Suzanne encourages you to move over to Prozinc, I'd continue posting here. We want to be sure you have the basics well in place before moving over to one of the insulin specific forums.

If Sevy is on an antibiotic it can drop his numbers. Any form of infection or inflammation will raise blood glucose numbers. As the infection clears up, numbers can drop quickly. The same is true with a switch to low carb food.

Both Prozinc and Lantus (glargine) are very good insulins for treating feline diabetes. If your cat is doing well on Prozinc, I'd stick with the insulin. The only negative with Prozinc is that it is only available through a vet or an online source (e.g., Chewys). It's an insulin formulated for animals, not humans. Lantus is a human insulin so it's available at any pharmacy.

Just so you're aware, adjusting the dose based on the pre-shot numbers is old school thinking. It was a fairly common approach roughly 15 years ago. The dosing methods we use are in this post.
 
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