Catherine, Benny, and Squirrel

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Ben&Squirrel

Ben&Squirrel

Member Since 2022
Hi everyone,

Thanks to Bhooma I think I am starting to get my technical ducks in a row, so I thought I would introduce us.

Benny is a 15-year old Maine Coon mix. He has been losing weight and urinating a lot, and was diagnosed on March 10. At first, he was given insulin and tested at the vet; they did not really introduce the idea of home testing. The complication in our house is that we also have another cat, Squirrel, who has kidney disease.

His numbers do not seem to be going down. Can anyone tell me whether this is progress for the first week of home testing/insulin shots? The vet wants him to be on 4 units of PZI each morning, and I'll call him later in the week.

I have had a diabetic cat in the past, and he went into remission. I'm really praying for that for my Benny, or at least some good, controlled BG values.

Thanks for being here. I'm learning a lot from other threads already.
 
I'll tag a prozinc user for you , but first you need to do a lot more testing than you have to see how the insulin is working . You need to be test his PMPS and get some tests in after that, same goes for the day cycle. I don't think any member can tell you if there is any progress because there is not enough testing, only giving insulin in the AM
His numbers are most likely just as high during the night cycle because he's not getting any insulin

Are you only giving insulin in the morning. Insulin has to be given every 12 hours
Your vet is wrong suggesting to only give insulin once a day
4 units seems a large dose to start him on.
Is the D/M kibble or wet ?
Tagging Melissa
@FrostD



Here is a link to read about Prozinc
 
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Prozinc should be given twice a day not once a day. Insulin in cats only lasts 12 hours so what is happening is that for the other 12 hours Benny is remaining in high numbers. I don’t think your vet knows much about feline diabetes.
Also 4 units is far too high a dose to be starting with. Most cats start off with 1/2 or 1 unit of insulin twice a day.
I’m very glad you are hometesting the blood glucose….well done!
Are you offering snacks during the cycles as well as before the dose?
 
Welcome to FDMB.

Bron is on target (as usual). Regardless of the insulin, cats need to be dosed twice a day. They have a fast metabolism and once a day dosing means that the insulin is wearing off after roughly 12 hours. If you want to read more about Prozinc, take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Prozinc/PZI forum. And FYI, Prozinc is what is available in the US. I also agree that 4.0u is a very large starting dose. If it were me, I'd consider splitting the dose (or starting even lower) and dosing twice a day.

Given what Benny's numbers look like, I'd also encourage you to pick up some Ketostix. They will allow you to test for urinary ketones. It's a precaution when a cat is sitting in high numbers given that ketones can be dangerous. You dip the strip in your cat's urine and compare the result to the color guide on the container a few seconds later.

Both of your cats can be on the same diet unless Squirrel's kidney disease is well advanced. You want to look for foods that are low in phosphorus and carbohydrates. Squirrel will be fine on a low carb diet and the low phosphorus, which is important for the kidney issues, is protective for Benny. If Squirrel's kidney disease is advanced, a phosphorus binder will help. Using a binder will allow you to feed whatever your cat will eat and you can feed them both the same food. This is a link to a food chart that contains nutrition information including both carbs and phosphorus. I believe this link was in your previous thread.
 
Agree with what was said previously. Given the tests you do have, I suspect he's going pretty low early in the cycle, then shooting back up. I would back it down to 1U AM and 1U PM, 12 hrs apart.

If you can test and monitor a lot (meaning the two preshots, plus at least 2 more tests each AM and PM - so 6 total tests a day), and have a hypo kit, you could try 1.5U AM and 1.5U PM. I suspect that may be a bit too high once he levels out from twice a day dosing.

If you are going to change food let us know ahead of time. Changing carb % can have big effect on numbers so we have to be careful with dose.
 
Thank you so much for your responses! It sounds like the concensus is that Benny should be on a lower dose of insulin, twice a day. I will talk to the vet about that.

Do I need to give him the same food every day, or can he be given higher-protein wet food of different kinds? He and Squirrel are fussy about food and changing it up seems to increase their interest.
 
Ben&Squirrel said:
The D/M is kibble for now. I will be trying a can later today.
Click to expand...
I would not do that. The kibble is significantly higher carb than the wet, even giving a small bit of wet can drop numbers.

I would keep him on the kibble with the lower twice a day dosing we mentioned. Get a weeks worth of data, then start trying to change food.

Eventually you want to be feeding all low carb wet, but like I said must be careful. You want to try to keep the wet foods around same carb %, most of us feed the 4-7% range.

What is current and ideal weight? Have you checked he's getting enough calories to gain weight? Unregulated diabetics do not utilize food fully so often need even more food to gain weight. My cat ate twice as much when he was unregulated than he does now, and he's been a consistent weight
 
For your hypo kit you want some
Med and High Carb food and some honey



Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart.
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

About carbs
LC (0-10% carb)
: MC (11-15% carb)
: HC (>16% carb)
 
FrostD said:
What is current and ideal weight? Have you checked he's getting enough calories to gain weight? Unregulated diabetics do not utilize food fully so often need even more food to gain weight. My cat ate twice as much when he was unregulated than he does now, and he's been a consistent weight
Click to expand...

He's at 14.5 now. Ideally he should be at 17 or 18, not the vet's word but my guess. He has been as much as 20 pounds in the past, between the Maine Coon meatiness and some extra fat.

I have not checked how many calories a day he eats, but I have been feeding him 4-6 times a day for the pre-diagnosis weight loss. Lots of treats, which were a stupid idea, but I did not know he had diabetes (have stopped almost all, and am awaiting freeze dried versions). Free feeding the D/M. He and Squirrel eat from each other's bowls so it is hard to tell who eats what. How many calories should he be eating?

Diane, thank you. I do have a hypo kit then!
 
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