Decreased appetite

Hi all, some 5 weeks into the world of cat diabetes and since I live in the UK only in the last few days persuaded vet to change my kitty to prozinc insulin.

Kiska is 12 and has diabetes, suspected related to long term steroid use for allergies. She’s had a time of it on the Caninsulin with significantly upset tummy and diarrhoea on and off for a week or two.

We starts the Prozinc 5 days ago, we are only 2 units currently twice a days which is too low judging from readings but vet said wait a week so that’s what we are doing. Readings 8 hours plus after feeding ranging from 15mmol to 26mmol at the worst one just before feeding and insulin.

My problem is she’s got a severely decreased appetite. She’s on raw meat diet and recommendation is 120-150g per day for her weight 4.75kg. She’s currently eating about half that with encouragement. Doesn’t seem at all lethargic, poop finally normal and generally feels like she’s improving otherwise.

Is this being off food normal with the change to prozinc insulin and does anyone know what the issue might be? It’s clearly not hypo issue which is all I’m finding on Google searches.

Any advice happily received! And thanks for reading.

Rachel

Hello and welcome! I am sorry you have been having such a difficult time with your sweet Kiska. I don’t usually hear our members say that their cats who have transitioned to ProZinc have a decreased appetite — unless there were other issues. In fact, with the numbers you have mentioned (270 to 468) she should be quite hungry. Have you had bloodwork done recently that you can share? I am sure you had some done at diagnosis. Is Kiska still taking a steroid? My cat who has significant skin allergies does very well on Atopica (cyclosporine) which is not a steroid and won’t raise BG (blood glucose.)

I am glad you convinced your vet to switch to ProZinc. Caninsulin is not a good insulin for cats and it drops their BG hard and fast and doesn’t last long before it starts to rise again.

With ProZinc, you will not need to feed and wait 30 minutes before shooting the insulin. Unlike Caninsulin, ProZinc typically onsets at about +2 (two hours post shot) so you have plenty of time. As a result, with ProZinc you can test the BG, feed kitty, and shoot the insulin all within a few minutes. You can even give the insulin while she’s eating if that works for her. Even if she doesn’t eat a large amount at breakfast, you have about two hours to get more food into her before onset. I usually recommend that my ProZinc kitties get their first snack at +2 and a second snack at +4. This helps prevent steep drops and generally smooths the cycle. You don’t want steep drops of over 100 points (5.5) in an hour if you can help it because that potentially sets her up for a bounce where she will have high BG for several cycles afterwards.

You will find that her nadir (lowest BG in the cycle) will be around +6, so you probably should try testing BG at that time. It’s not unusual for new ProZinc users to have an early nadir at around +4 so you should try and vary your testing times and record them.

I am glad that your vet said to hold the dose for a week. That is what we would also recommend. It’s best to take it slowly. If you record nadirs in the 200s, I would recommend an increase of .25 units. If nadirs are in the 300s then I would recommend a .5 unit increase. You already have mentioned what we would call a yellow nadir (from the spreadsheet color of numbers in the 200s) so you should increase only by .25 units to be safe and to more gradually accustom her to lower numbers. Also, if I am understanding correctly, the 270 (15) was a reading taken at +8 so it’s quite likely she was lower than that earlier in the cycle. Moving too quickly often results in a lot of BG swings. Many vets recommend increasing only by whole units and that can be too much.

I would be happy to help you if you need it.

She is beautiful

Hi! Thankyou for the advice, some really useful information for new user.

Spoke to the vet and they’ve raised her dose to 2.5 units twice per day.

She didn’t eat last night (only a few biscuit treats (high protein ones)) but gave her prozinc dose anyway as blood reading was 410.

This morning her blood was 30.3 (545) and she wouldn’t eat. I’ve given her the prozinc dose anyway on the basis her insulin levels are so high. Tried to feed 2 hours post and she’s not interested still.

A bit frustrating as on caninsulin she was I think under control at highest she had at 2 units was 270 to 370, I know changing prozinc is probably in her best interests but it’s frustrating to see her blood sugars sky high and her not wanting to eat. I know it’s early days with dose change and she’s only been on Prozinc just over a week. It’s probably not helping the nerve damage in her front leg too.

Advice happily received, just frustrated worried kitty mom.

Update she finally ate breakfast 2.5 hours after her injection.

I’m glad she finally ate something. Are you testing her for ketones? I worry about her having a DKA with this lack of appetite and the higher numbers.

Rachels Kiska said:

. It’s probably not helping the nerve damage in her front leg too.

Click to expand...

What nerve damage in her front leg? When/how did this happen?

Last ketone check was a few days ago on Mon and zero ketones, will try and catch pee sample.
Last glucose check a few minutes ago was 313 which is at least a step in the right direction!

The nerve damage we think was brought on by undiagnosed diabetes and steroid long term use for allergies, back legs were wobbly and front right lost a lot of use of, has been slowly recovering. Blood test some 6 months before diagnosis showed no real signs of diabetes.

Hi,

Just an update, happily pee tests come back negative for ketones.

I think it’s the high blood glucose putting her off eating,