350 to 500 glucose readings won't go down

[chekoya]

Maxx has been diabetic for 7 to 8 years. He was very well regulated till June 2010. I decided to change his food from Fancy Feast to Evo 95% canned. He doesn't get any dry food. Very high readings started and I changed back to Fancy Feast with no better results. Took him to the vet and there weren't any other problems. Vet said to put him on Science Diet diabetic food. After 2 months Maxx still had high readings. Vet said to try Purina DM and have been on that now for 3 months with high readings. In between I tried him on cooked chicken and fish and that didn't help either. He cannot eat raw food as he just throws it up.

I have gone back to 1 unit and started all over with the BCP PZI and am now up to 2 units at 6am and 6pm.
Yesterdays readings: 6am 393....8am 359.....11am 230....4pm 477....6pm 453

Obviously I tried him on too many different foods.....now I'm completely frustrated and just don't know what to do. I don't think the Purina DM is the best food as it has so many carbs. I don't know if I'm giving him too much insulin or too little. He used to be regulated with just 1/2 unit.

Where do I start and what do I do to get him regulated again?? I thought EVO 95% was a good canned food with few carbs. If it's not the food what else could it be?

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

I wish I had a great answer. It is a puzzle that you can work on solving. It sounds like you increased from one unit which is a good starting dose. Did you increase by .25 units each time? How fast did you get from one unit to two? With pretty high flat curves, it could be that you are over his ideal dose. Or it can be that he needs a little more - so 2.25 could be the next dose. How old is your PZI? Any chance it has lost its potency?

It sounds like your vet is sure there are no infections or bad teeth that could be impacting the readings? Sometimes needing a dental can make it hard for numbers to come down.

Have you seen this document on PZI: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799 It may give you some ideas.

I have asked more questions than had answers. If you have just started on a new vial of PZI, I think you could consider upping the dose or lowering the dose to see what happens with the numbers. If you are ending the vial, you might want to consider another insulin.

I don't see much reason for the food to be impacting the levels unless he is terribly carb sensitive. You could experiment with some very low carb foods to see if the levels come down: Janet and Binky’s chart If you do that, try to limit fish to a couple times a week. How often do you feed? We do find, with most cats, that frequent meals during the day and night help keep the pancreas supported and may help bring the numbers down.

You might post over on the PZI support group. Everyone there uses PZI and they are in all stages of regulation. It may help to look at some of their spreadsheets and ask questions there also. It is not as busy a forum as Health, but people will be on tonight to reply to your post. viewforum.php?f=24

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Sue has made some great points. The other thing to consider is that Maxx may have some sort of infection going on in his body. You may want to have the vet check. Infections can easily cause the BG levels to skyrocket.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

Have you added anything else in the mix? Any stress at home like a new cat? New treats or supplements? My Maggie always went high when taking glucosamine supplements, though many cats here don't seem to have that problem.

Did the vet check for a very low level UTI? Do a full blood panel? Check liver, kidney and heart? Have you checked your meter, test strips to be sure they are working ok?

Again, alot of questions, but no answers.

 

[chekoya]

Thank you for the replies.....I know it's hard to give advice without knowing more. Maxx was just to the vet for a full blood workup only 4 months ago. Vet said no problems.

I have decided to change his food back to Evo 95% as I know it's much less carbs than the purina DM. He hasn't done well on this or the Hills science diet for diabetics.

I also lowered his dosage to 1 1/2 units......will wait a week at least to see if his glucose readings stabilize lower....yesterday his numbers were mostly in the 300 range but some were down to the 200's so I might be heading in the right direction.

Just started a new bottle of PZI......have new test strips......thinking of getting a new meter next if things don't improve. I will also bring him back to the vet for another blood workup and complete checkup......also get his teeth checked again as he had to have teeth pulled a year ago. Do diabetic katz have more dental problems?? My other katz don't have any dental problems. Tomorrow I will check again every 2 hours and post his readings.

He doesn't get any treats or food in between feedings.....and I don't want to get him used to eating in the middle of the day cause I hope to be working again soon.

Another question......one of my katz has a very slight kidney problem and I give him the purina NF and he's fine with it. But the vet said something about him needing much less protein with the kidney problem. Does the protein cause the kidneys to have problems?? I thought protein is what katz needed.

Thank you so much for your support. I will post Maxx glucose readings tomorrow. He has been at 1 1/2 units for almost 3 days now.