Again, too low in a.m. to shoot, higher in p.m.

[CarolandTigger]

i still can't figure out what going on with Tigger's numbers. He had been on 3 units of Vetsulin but then started to drop lower in the morning, low enough not to shoot. But then his evening numbers would skyrocket! Several suggested on this board that three units is too much and maybe bring him down to 2 1/2 and see what happens. We did that for a few days and it definitely raised him back up in the morning so that he needed insulin And he was still high in the evening. After a few days of this I got scared and put him back on three units. After a few days his numbers dropped again and now he is back to too low to shoot in the morning, and higher in the evening. However his evening numbers aren't spiking like they were a week or two ago. They're staying in the 300 range. The only thing I can figure out is that he's low in the morning because he's fasted for 12 hours and got no food during the night. Then I think maybe he's just been getting too much food during the daytime and that's why he's high in the evening? So I've tried to reduce his food intake a little bit and see if that brings his evening numbers down a little bit. But then he cries so much food for food I give in! Advice, or time to see vet?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Tigger may be getting insulin independent. I would reduce dose to say unit when high and see what happens.

 

[Mogmom and Goofus]

You may even need to change insulin, maybe something that stays more even and lasts longer rather than a hard and fast hit?

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

I would recommend changing the insulin. Vetsulin is not a recommended insulin for cats-- it's very difficult to get good control over BG. Cats have metabolisms that are twice as fast as people or dogs, so they need long acting insulins to see good results. Lantus, Levemir, and Prozinc are the three insulins recommended for cats. I think you've tried Vetsulin out long enough, and it doesn't seem to be working well (which is common). There's a 6 month window with treating cats with the longer acting insulins that leads to them having very high remission rates, and you're not too far outside that window right now.

Have you talked with your vet about possibly switching insulins? The price tag on Lantus and Levemir scare people away sometimes, but it's really affordable if you order from an online Canadian pharmacy (all you need is a script from your vet). You can get a 5 pack of pens (which we treat like 5 small 3ml vials) for $170 after shipping, and that should last you a year or more. If that's too much money to start, you can order single pens now, too.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

It looks like Tigger's pancreas might be decided to work a little on its own, but I would have to agree with others that Vetsulin doesn't seem to be working well for Tigger. Its too harsh to shoot those AM numbers to "shoot low to stay low" like some of the gentler insulins would allow, but going without the shot isn't a good option either. Some of those high PM numbers could be bouncing off of low numbers or a steep, fast drop, hard to say. To keep with Vetsulin, it looks like you would probably need to shoot less insulin more often in order to bring down his numbers throughout the day. He could be spending some time in good numbers now, just without many tests during the cycle its hard to say is that is the case.