? Ava no shot in 8 days, what's next?

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AvaTaylor

AvaTaylor

Member Since 2022
BACKGROUND:

Ava is a 10 year old calico female. Diagnosed as diabetic about a month ago.

She was in the 29 mmol/L range. Under vet's instructions, we gave her shots (Prozinc insulin) twice daily for two weeks, then did a 12 hour blood glucose (BG) chart.

She's on all low/no-carb food (Purina DM wet and dry).

Since then we've been measuring her blood levels daily (before meals), and only giving shots when she was over 10 mmol/L (as instructed by the vet).

Here's her most recent history ...
  • Friday April 8, at 7am, Ava's BG was 12.2 mmol/L. We gave her a 1/2 unit of Prozinc insulin.
  • Friday April 8, at 7pm: BG 7.6 (no shot)
  • Sat Apr 9, 7am: BG 6.2 (no shot)
  • Sun Apr 10, 9pm: BG 8.2 (no shot)
  • Mon Apr 11, 7pm: BG 8.4 (no shot)
  • Tue Apr 12, 5pm: BG 10.4 (no shot)
  • Wed Apr 13, 7am: BG 8.8 (no shot)
  • Thu Apr 14, 6am: BG 8.3 (no shot)
  • Fri Apr 15, 7am: BG 8.1 (no shot)
  • Sat Apr 16, 6am: BG 8.1 (no shot)
TODAY'S QUESTION:

So she hasn't had a shot for 8 days and her BG levels appear to be decreasing.

Any advice on how to proceed? Officially "normal range" is 4.4 to 6.6 mmol/L.

Should we consider giving her small shots to get her lower, or continue on our current path of "no shots if under 10"?

NOTE: I will be consulting our vet later next week.

Thanks for any help!

-- Ava's Dad.
 
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Previous post
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/newbie-question-about-insulin-when-bg-is-8-8.261202/

CURVE CAN BE SEEN ON PREVIOUS POST

Hi it would be helpful if you can set up your signature and our spreadsheet Here is the link
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.



If you need help setting anything up just ask
For now/I can tag a prozinc user for you
@FrostD


Also here is the link for the 2 dosing methods
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/
 
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Just to provide a bit more information. The DM dry is a lower carb food. The DM dry is not. Neither of those products is zero carb.

My guess is that you may have missed dose reductions. This is why a spreadsheet is helpful.

By the dosing method we use, your cat still needs some insulin. You may want to take a look at the sticky notes on the Prozinc forum. You may find the dosing methods note helpful.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
The DM dry is a lower carb food. The DM dry is not. Neither of those products is zero carb.
Click to expand...

Sorry, you typed "DM dry" twice there so I was confused ... Which one (wet or dry) is lower carb and which one is not?

The "Purina DM" was advised to us by the vet, would you recommend I try a different food that is full zero carb?

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
My guess is that you may have missed dose reductions. This is why a spreadsheet is helpful.
Click to expand...

Our instructions from the vet were, when she's in the 29 BG range, give her a 2.5 unit shot. When she's in the 13 BG range, half the dose (meaning 1 1/4 units). When she's in the 10 BG range, quarter the dose (meaning about 1/2 a unit).

We were following that, but learned from measuring her BG that the insulin was very effective at driving her BG down so we went smaller on doses.

The new instructions from the vet were, no shot if less than 10 BG.

So the last shot she received was the 1/2 unit dosage when she measured 12.2 BG, that was 8 days ago. She's been in the 8.x BG range pretty consistently since then.

When you wrote "my guess is that you may have missed dose reductions", are you referring to a plan popular in this forum that you follow using the spreadsheet? Still new here, so still learning about your methods.

Any pointers are appreciated!

S.
 
The DM dry is higher in carbs. The wet is fine although most cats get tired of it. It's not a great food. (Take a look at the ingredients.)

We approach dosing differently than your vet. We look at reducing a dose if the BG numbers are below 5. At 12.2, we would likely be suggesting you give a full dose. However, without seeing a spreadsheet with what you're dosing and your cat's response, this is all hypothetical.

The information about dosing is on the page of the board that I linked -- the Prozinc forum. There is a sticky note that discusses dosing that you may find helpful.
 
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