Amanda and Button
Member
Hi all,
I posted a previous thread on the introductions page with some of my cat’s history. Button has been diabetic since 2012, honeymoon from 2013 – Aug. 2016. We are back on PZI and after taking care of a tapeworm which may have been affecting her ability to absorb insulin I am trying to find the right dosage for her. She is underweight (an issue we have been making some progress on) and very tiny, thus a little insulin goes a long way. My vet thinks she is burning through the insulin we give her because her metabolism is so high, and so the insulin does not last the full day. We have been seeing nadirs near 100 during the day and preshot values above 300. We recently reduced her dosage to try to counter the bouncing she has been experiencing. She is also in the early stages of CKD and we are administering fluids and Azodyl for this, but it is possible some of her symptoms could be related to kidney failure as I have seen a lot of parallels there.
Below are some of the ideas I am researching and talking to my vet about. If anyone has had a similar experience and can assist in pointing us in the right direction, please reply to this post.
- A few days ago I switched to an 11/13 shot schedule to try to see if this helps with her PMPS since this one is typically higher than her AMPS. The insulin seems to last longer for her at night. I’m not sure this is going to work as she has had GI issues since the change, but it might be too early to tell yet.
- I would like to see if anyone has recommendations for a decreased dosage when she has preshot values lower than 200. I know the typical recommendation is to not shoot, and I would never give her a new insulin dosage without checking her in the middle of the day, but the high numbers have such an immediate effect on her digestion and therefore her appetite and mood that I don’t like going without any insulin unless she is very close to 100. I have read that some people have had success giving PZI on a sliding scale as opposed to the same amount every time. This might help when we get numbers above 350 as well and I am curious to try this but my vet is not familiar with this technique. I have u-100 needles with half marks indicated so I can adjust as small as 0.1u.
- I have discussed the possibility of switching to Lantus with my vet. Perhaps her body will react differently to Lantus and take more time to absorb it. If anyone reading this has gone from PZI to Lantus, why did you decide to do so? Was it successful?
- Another option I discussed with my vet was giving additional short acting insulin shots two hours before her PZI shot to give her a boost before her next shot. If anyone has tried this, let me know.
Thank you for listening and any advice you can give.
Amanda and Button
I posted a previous thread on the introductions page with some of my cat’s history. Button has been diabetic since 2012, honeymoon from 2013 – Aug. 2016. We are back on PZI and after taking care of a tapeworm which may have been affecting her ability to absorb insulin I am trying to find the right dosage for her. She is underweight (an issue we have been making some progress on) and very tiny, thus a little insulin goes a long way. My vet thinks she is burning through the insulin we give her because her metabolism is so high, and so the insulin does not last the full day. We have been seeing nadirs near 100 during the day and preshot values above 300. We recently reduced her dosage to try to counter the bouncing she has been experiencing. She is also in the early stages of CKD and we are administering fluids and Azodyl for this, but it is possible some of her symptoms could be related to kidney failure as I have seen a lot of parallels there.
Below are some of the ideas I am researching and talking to my vet about. If anyone has had a similar experience and can assist in pointing us in the right direction, please reply to this post.
- A few days ago I switched to an 11/13 shot schedule to try to see if this helps with her PMPS since this one is typically higher than her AMPS. The insulin seems to last longer for her at night. I’m not sure this is going to work as she has had GI issues since the change, but it might be too early to tell yet.
- I would like to see if anyone has recommendations for a decreased dosage when she has preshot values lower than 200. I know the typical recommendation is to not shoot, and I would never give her a new insulin dosage without checking her in the middle of the day, but the high numbers have such an immediate effect on her digestion and therefore her appetite and mood that I don’t like going without any insulin unless she is very close to 100. I have read that some people have had success giving PZI on a sliding scale as opposed to the same amount every time. This might help when we get numbers above 350 as well and I am curious to try this but my vet is not familiar with this technique. I have u-100 needles with half marks indicated so I can adjust as small as 0.1u.
- I have discussed the possibility of switching to Lantus with my vet. Perhaps her body will react differently to Lantus and take more time to absorb it. If anyone reading this has gone from PZI to Lantus, why did you decide to do so? Was it successful?
- Another option I discussed with my vet was giving additional short acting insulin shots two hours before her PZI shot to give her a boost before her next shot. If anyone has tried this, let me know.
Thank you for listening and any advice you can give.
Amanda and Button