Advice please

C

Cali22

Member Since 2026
Cali was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago. The vet did a glucose curve and recommended 1 unit of Prozinc twice a day.
I followed the vets recommendation for 2 weeks but saw no improvement to his constant food craving and thirst.
I started home glucose testing and increased his dose slightly to 1.1 units. This seems to worsened his preshot glucose levels. Did I make a mistake in increasing the dose?
 
Cali22 said:
Cali was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago. The vet did a glucose curve and recommended 1 unit of Prozinc twice a day.
I followed the vets recommendation for 2 weeks but saw no improvement to his constant food craving and thirst.
I started home glucose testing and increased his dose slightly to 1.1 units. This seems to worsened his preshot glucose levels. Did I make a mistake in increasing the dose?
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome! May I first ask what Cali is eating? Is she on a low carb wet food diet?

Thanks for getting your spreadsheet set up. I would not say that you made a mistake. The 1 unit dose should have been held initially for 7 days and then if you were seeing yellow nadirs (like what I see on Cali’s spreadsheet a lot of the time but not all the time.) you would increase to 1.25 units. Feeding at the right times can really help prevent steep drops and will help smooth the cycle. I recommend for starters that you feed a snack at +2 and +4 and don’t feed if possible after nadir or after about +6.
 
I think it looks like she is responding to the insulin and she’s on a small dose so that’s good. We probably just need to tweak the dose.

Well done getting all those BG tests. I am proud of you for stepping up to the plate like that!
 
Here’s information on how to set up a signature (so I don’t keep asking you the same questions over and over!) For me, it also helps if you put your time zone on there. See below:

Make sure your signature is up-to-date.
  • In the top right, click on your username, and then Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
  • 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)
    • Bexacat or Senvelgo (if applicable) and dates
    • 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.
 
Thank you for your replies!
Yes, I'm using U-40 syringes with half unit markings. So, his 1.1 unit shot is estimated as best as I can.
The glucometer is a CareSens N Feliz for humans.

Cali is on a low carb diet of Friskies Classic Pate. He receives two anchor meals of 1/2 can, at 6am and 6pm along with his insulin shot. Because he is always hungry, I give him about 1 to 2 TBS of Pate mixed with chopped zucchini about every 1 1/2 hours to reduce his hunger.

As you can see on his spreadsheet, I gave him one shot of 1.25 unit five days ago which reduced his glucose level into the blue range. In response to the low level, I skipped one shot which then caused his glucose to rise significantly the next day. In retrospect, I should have held off the shot 20 minutes to allow the glucose to rise.

So, I'm not sure how to proceed. Seems like he needs a higher dose along with careful monitoring
 
A good sign, the last two days (7/17 and 7/18) show stabilized (although high) glucose levels using 1.1 unit shots.
 
Cali22 said:
gave him one shot of 1.25 unit five days ago which reduced his glucose level into the blue range. In response to the low level, I skipped one shot which then caused his glucose to rise significantly the next day. In retrospect, I should have held off the shot 20 minutes to allow the glucose to rise.
Click to expand...
You should not have to go this journey alone. I can help you. I really recommend increasing to 1.25 units and giving small meals/snacks (a tablespoon or so) of low carb wet food at +2 and +4. Most times it is better to be consistent with ProZinc dosing, but occasionally it is necessary to give a reduced dose for a single cycle.
 
Firstly, I realized after my first post here that I had incorrectly recorded the Prozinc dose as 1.1 units, when in fact it was 1.25. I've updated Cali's spreadsheet to show the correct dose as 1.25, not 1.1 units.

The 1.25 unit dose resulted in consistent glucose reading in the 300 to 360 range. So, based on your recommendation I increased the dose to 1.5 units for the past 5 days, but the PM glucose reading are swinging back and forth between the 200's and the 400's. Is the a reason for these roller coaster glucose readings? Should I maintain 1.5 unit shots?

Thanks
 
I've requested my vet to write a prescription for a Freestyle Libre3. Constant glucose monitoring would be so beneficial in determine proper dosing.
 
How is everything going with Cali?

Just always get pre-shot test ( goes in the spreadsheet under AMPS and PMPS which just means a.m. pre-shot and p.m. pre-shot numbers.) Please always get those tests because you need to know if the blood glucose is actually high enough to even give insulin — or if a reduced dose is warranted. Then try to get a mid-cycle test. One day try for a +4 test and the next day try to get a +5 and then a +6. If you are not at home during the day, run a glucose curve on a day that you are home. We need to know Cali’s nadirs so we can safely make adjustments to the dose.
 
Cali's PMPS was AMPS was 275 last night, then 524 this morning. What is causing these extreme fluctuations? Is the 1.5 unit dose too high?
 
No. It doesn’t appear to be too high of a dose. You caught a beautiful blue last night. What you are seeing now is a bounce.

It’s a good time to talk about bouncing. High numbers do not always mean more insulin is required, or that the dose is to high either. We must be careful to base dose decisions on kitty’s nadir. This morning’s black is a bounce reaction from last night’s blue number.

A bounce is where the cat's body reacts to lower numbers that he is not used to being in anymore... since becoming diabetic. It's a protective mechanism where the cat's central nervous system perceives either a steep drop in blood glucose or simply the cat being in lower numbers - and the cat’s body releases adrenaline, cortisol, glucagons and growth hormone, all of which create insulin resistance and can keep numbers high for up to six cycles (the bounce). Bounces don't have to last that long (and hopefully will not) but in some cats they will. Over time, many cats will start to clear the bounces more quickly. When the bounce does clear, the BG numbers will come back down and give us an accurate picture of what a dose is doing for the cat.
 
I'm in and out of the house today, but I'll try for +6. On Wednesday afternoon, I'll begin monitory Cali with a Libre 3. Thanks so much for your help!!!!
 
I see she came down from the black number. That is really good. She may even go down further tonight. We will have to see. The Libre can be a handy tool, but one thing you should be aware of, and I can show you some spreadsheet data at a later date, but one thing you should be aware of is that the libre sensors frequently read too low in the lower numbers. In other words, you need to be able to check with a handheld glucometer, preferably a human meter since the libre is also designed for humans… But you need to be able to check when the libre gives you a low number… and do an ear prick and test with your glucometer to verify the real number because Libre is often will lead you astray and tell you that the number is quite low when it isn’t really that low.
 
Good to know! I'll perform a glucometer test when I start to see lower values on the Libre 3.
Cali's BC levels seem to be trending downward now, a positive sign after yesterdays high reading. We really appreciate all your help!
 
It’s great he had a yellow AMPS today (better than black!). Check him +4 or +6 (or maybe in between. Some newly diagnosed cats tend to nadir early around +4, and we don’t know Cali’s patterns yet. This is hoping you are not away from the house today 🤞
 
LC? Do you mean low carb food? We fed him a couple tablespoons of his normal food just now.
 
Last edited:
So new dose going forward for now is 1.25 units.

Yes, quite a jump up in BG. He’s probably starting another bounce. Fortunately, he comes down more quickly than a lot of cats I see.
 
I believe the 86 reading was false, due to moisture contamination from warming his ear with a hot moist towel. I'll use a rice bag to warm the ear from now on.
So, I kept the PM dose at 1.5 based on the PMPS reading of 421.
 
Last edited:
Cali22 said:
I believe the 86 reading was false, due to moisture contamination from warming his ear with a hot moist towel. I'll use a rice bag to warm the ear from now on.
So, I kept the PM dose at 1.5 based on the PMPS reading
Click to expand...
Okay. I won’t argue with that since an 86 is really not very low and it’s close to 90. I see you got a blue today 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top