My cat Buddy is about 10 years old. He was a stray who came to us one winter and took up residence under our barn. Last Nov 2020 he was diagnosed. We worked with our vet starting with a 1u dose daily and reporting weekly curve numbers. I test him in his paws because his ears are damaged, we are guessing that he may have been hit by a car before finding our barn. After several months working with the vet he was gradually increased from 1 unit to 2 then 3 then 4. At four he went into shock and we nearly lost him. Thankfully, my mother was a diabetic and I knew to give him a small dose of honey from my finger, and he bounced back. So since then I have been testing him twice a day after meals and giving him 1 unit if he is over 225-250. This morning he was 245 so I gave him the one unit. BUT he did not eat anything all morning and at noon I tested and he was down to 35, so I gave him some honey. By 3.30 he was back up to 253 and had still not eaten anything. At 6:30 he was up to 327 and did eat some dinner, so I gave him another 1 unit. Right now at 9pm he is 147. I will be watching him carefully now so that he does not drop back down to dangerous levels. I read your prozinc forum about dosing methods. I had not been dosing him every twelve hours but according to readings after meals. My question is about the slow method on the forum. Would it be wise to start a 1/2 unit dose morning and evening and see if he stabilizes? Thankyou
Hi Hillary - that’s my name too (one “l” though) Since this is your first post, would you mind reposting on the main health forum? You will get more eyes on your questions there and some good advice. The Prozinc forum is lightly trafficked, so it’s recommended that people start on the main health forum first. A couple of things to get you started though…you’ll want to be sure you’re actually testing before you give him food so you know his numbers are high enough to shoot without being influenced by food. 35 is quite low so you definitely won’t want to give him 1 unit tonight, but the main forum should be able to give you specific dosing advice if you post there. I’ll also tag @JanetNJ in case she’s around and sees this here. Have you had a chance to look at the spreadsheet for tracking his numbers or to start one?
I think starting at 0.5 is a good thing. ProZinc should ONLY be dosed at 12 hour increments!!! I can't believe your vet told you to dose him randomly. ProZinc can sometimes peek at 6 hours, and sometimes as late as 10 hours, and can last up to 14 hours in their systems. So please don't randomly give him a dose. Pick a time am and pm that works like 8am/8pm.
Thank you for your response. My vet was having me give 1 unit twice a day. When he was first diagnosed his numbers were in the 4-500 range. But when I began with the change of diet that has been recommended on this forum his numbers dropped drastically. for about three months he was in remission and his numbers were between 70 and 120 and I began to test in the evenings only. In July he began to fluctuate again and I began the morning evening testing again, but after he ate. In Hshray's response to me she said I should test before food, which I started this morning (he was 154). Is this what she meant by "if the numbers are high enough to be influenced by food"? would you give .5 ? What is the range considered high before food?
That's pretty low with out much mid cycle data. It would be awesome if you could share your readings. With a reading like 154 is suggest stalling without feeding for up to an hour and see if the number is going up. I say to stall without feeding because of you feed the number will go up because of the food, not on its own, and you may think it's safe to shoot and it may not be. If yes you could do 0.5. If no you could skip or give a tiny 0.25 dose. It would be great if you could set up a spreadsheet. If you can't figure out how, I can tag someone who can set it up for you.
Buddy's spreadsheet is up and I am giving him .5 twice a day and began testing mid day (1pm) and before bed 10pm. I usually test morning between 7-7:30 and evening around 5pm. I have ordered some U-100 syringes and will use the .4 conversion that "marge & Gracie" recommended after helping me with the SS. I ran one curve day early on before beginning the SLGS and will run another after a full week of .5 dosage. Thank you for your advice I think we may be on a path to good health for the Bud's.
would you look at my Buddy's spreadsheet and advise. I have been keeping it since 9/18 using the SLGS instructions. this week I changed the syringe from the U-40 to the U-100 and have been dosing .4 according to the conversion table. His nadar has fallen below 90 several times. I am uncertain when to lower the dose. At first I tried giving the shots 12 hours apart but it upset his feeding schedule and mine as well. I like to test the AMPS at 7am, feed, and then shot around 7:30 and the PMPS around 5pm, feed, and shot around 5:30. I know it is a 10 hour and then a 14 hour spread. He gets 3/4 can of FF and 1 tbsp of dry orijen fit and trim at each feeding . Then the other 1/4 can around 1pm for the afternoon and Bedtime around 10pm for the overnite. to lower the dose by .25 I would be giving .5 unit on the U-100. a pretty tricky dosage. should I do this? or because his dosage is so low already, just skip the dose. AND how do I determine this? from his AMPS #? In the Prozinc dosage instructions it says if he is between 150 - 200 I should give nothing or a token dose. I may not have enough information in a two week spreadsheet for you to make a determination but I would appreciate your advice. Thank you
Hmmm. That is a big difference. Any chance you could slide them just an hour apart? Or do 630/630 right in the middle? You got a tad on the low side... you could try 0.2 on the u100... But it's up to you. If you are confident you can test and steer you could stay at 0.4 It's very exciting to see these numbers. I have my fingers crossed that we will see a remission soon!
It is almost 6:30 now on the east coast (Maine) so I will test him again this will be at +1 from when he got his dinner. If he is over 150 I will give him a .2
Hi Janet I would like to ask that you look at my Buddy's spreadsheet again. I just began with a lower dosage and am having some 0 days. It is looking good.
In glad the numbers are looking good but I do think he still needs insulin support. Remember that normal is 50-120 on a human meter and there are days that he is above that. I like that 0.2 dose …. As long as he’s like 130+ I would give that little dose. If it’s under that, stall without feeding and see if it goes up. You want to keep those numbers down for your best possible chance at remission. You’re doing great.
Thank you, I began the .2 if over 130 as you recommend. I did not know that 50-120 should be the normal range. I was getting worried when he was below 70 and would give him higher carb food at the next feeding. I have also standardized his feeding. 1 full can of FF Naturals morning and evening, with 1/4 can mid day and before I go to bed around 10 pm.
curious....... is it more important to dose every 12 hours regardless of feeding times. Buddy would like to eat earlier in the evenings so I am testing 1-1 1/2 hours early. Do you think I could start dosing at the 12 hr mark in the evenings and just test in the mornings when he seems to run high? Is this just because he is past 12hr for the morning test?
can you move the morning back and do like 6am/pm? we don't know if he's running high at night because you are testing an hour and a half early. a lot can change in that time. Do you let him eat in the afternoon so he's not hungry so early? it's ok if he eats during the day.... just no food at least two hours prior to the preshot test. Can you try to get a reading before bed and during the day on days you are home so we can see how low the dose is taking him? i feel like we really should see what is happening in between shots.
I am going to attempt a new routine, setting an alarm for 5am to just get up for 10-15 min to test, feed and dose Buds. Then the 5pm testing will be easier. I have been giving him a little snack mid-day (but don't always remember) and again before bed around 10pm which I am much better at remembering. I will take a reading before bed and at lunchtime for the next week and post to his spreadsheet along with the new timeline.
I now have over a week of 5am and 5pm dosing. And have tested midday around 11-12am and given a snack and again around 10pm with another snack. I give .2 insulin if he is over 130. It seems that he needs insulin in the mornings but seldom in the evening. Does this give you a better idea of how I should proceed from here? He is getting a little snippy with 4 tests a day. Can I go back to testing twice a day when dosing?
I'd keep doing what your doing. Since he seems to run lower in the day is still get that mid day reading to make sure he's not going too low. @FrostD what do you think
