9/2/22 New Member

[Robin & Quito]

Hi all,
I am so glad to have found this community. Overwhelm and worry have been a constant since Quito was diagnosed last month (4 weeks ago). He's a 12 year old, long haired black beauty.

Quito is on 2 units of PZI ProZinc insulin every 12 hours. His diet is now mostly wet food. We are transitioning him to only wet as I have read here that is critical.

We have a BG monitor stuck to his neck (started August 29) for the next week (hopefully) and have been taking readings periodically. We had a consult with the vet night before last and she had the dosage upped from 1 unit to 2. He has responded well for the most part and the BG has dipped to 292 at the low end but still goes up to 500 in the early morning. He is seeking out water on the regular. His use of the box has increased dramatically too.

Thank you

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Welcome Robin and Quito
Glad you found your way here
If you can set up what we call our signature that would be helpful
Information about Quito

To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information

• Add info we need to help you:
  • Caregiver & kitty's name
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine tap on the tap up top and tap on 2020 you will see more tests because on 2022 tab there isn't much because Tyler is in remission now

We also use a spreadsheet to track our cat's BG numbers to see how the insulin is working and how low it's dropping and in case you need any advice , if you are interested in setting one up just ask , we have a member who will be happy to do it for you


We don't increase insulin by whole units, we increase or decrease by 0.25 units at a time so you don't skip over a good dose for Quito

They come in half unit increments but still make it easier when adjusting by 0.25 units

You can read all about prozinc here , read all the yellow stickys especially the 2 dosings
They will let you know when an increase or decrease is needed.
We don't base how much insulin we give going by the Pre Shots (AMPS)
or the PMPS we base the dose of insulin on how low the BG is dropping
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/

Part of that process is getting a feel for basic concepts:

• Onset - the length of time before insulin reaches the bloodstream & begins lowering blood glucose
• Peak/Nadir - the lowest point in the cycle
• Duration - the length of time insulin continues to lower blood glucose

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

The spreadsheet is easier than it looks
Just some info about it look at mine at the end of my signature it says Tyler's spreadsheet to get a look at it, you can look at anyone's spreadsheet

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers


If you want to try and set it up here the link, if you need help just ask we have a member who will be glad to set it up for you
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

The information that Diane provided can be found in this post on helping us to help you. The post is considerably more concise and has everything in one place making it a bit easier if you need to bookmark the information.

It sounds like you've been doing your homework! I'm hoping you found our resources on a low carbohydrate, canned food diet. If not, this is a link to a website on feline nutrition and the food chart on the site that has pages of options for canned foods that are under 10% carb. (Most of the members here tend to feed their cat foods that are in the 5% range.)

It sounds like your cat has a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). If that is the case, I'd encourage you to get more frequent tests. Those are wide swings in your cats blood glucose (BG) numbers. It may be that the numbers are dropping lower and what you're seeing is a bounce back into higher numbers that is a response to those lower numbers. Once you have a spreadsheet set up, it will be easier to see those trends.

You may also want to consider getting a glucometer so you can home test the "old fashioned" way. The CGMs are costly. The sensor doesn't always stay on for the advertised 2 weeks. The Walmart Relion meter has the least expensive test strips around and having a meter means that you are not in a problematic situation if the CGM stops working and you're concerned about where your cat's BG level is.

This is another link (sorry!!!) to information on Prozinc. You may find the sticky notes at the top of the section helpful.

Please let us know if you have questions or how we can help.