Couple Questions

[Renegaderem+Dainty]

Dainty is still in the process of being regulated, her numbers average around 340 to 400. How long does it normally take for the numbers to sink down? The vet keeps increasing her insulin. We we're going to move it up to four units twice daily from three units but then her appetite tanked. Now I am struggling to get her to eat half as much as she was eating a couple of days ago. Tonight she wouldn't eat her kibble or her wet food so I had to go to my last resort of straight tuna. Luckily she's picking at that right now. Next question: Does anyone else use Blue brand cat food?

 

[Blue]

What insulin are you giving?

 

[Renegaderem+Dainty]

What insulin are you giving?

Prozinc 3 units twice a day

 

[Blue]

OK thanks.
I can't help as I am not familiar with that insulin, BUT if you edit your first post in this thread and change the Subject to something like
Prozinc dose 3u BID - have questions

you will get replies from others using the same insulin as you are.
As for how long it takes, it depends on the cat.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Can you answer a few more questions for us?

1) Are you hometesting?
2) What food are you feeding her?
3) What was her dose when she first started insulin and when was she diagnosed?
4) How often were the doses increased and by how much?

My first thought is that you are giving too much insulin and you are dealing with Somogyi rebound effect. What this means is that when too much insulin is given in order to protect itself from becoming hypoglycemic, the body produces extra glucose. That is why you are getting the higher readings. But eventually the body will not be able to protect itself and Dainity may become hypoglycemic, which is very bad.

The other thought is your diet. If you are still feeding a high carb diet such as dry food, that also will cause the glucose readings to be higher.

The only real way to determine how well a dose is working is by testing before every dose (a.k.a hometesting) and doing your own curves at home by testing every 2-3 hours between shots.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

I agree with Lisa. I would look at rebound: Rebound If you started at 3 units, you may have started over the ideal dose. And any dry food can raise blood glucose levels. When we changed Oliver from dry to wet, his blood glucose levels dropped 100 points overnight.

Here are some ideas to get her to eat: Getting your cat to eat Fortiflora is also considered a miracle here for reluctant eaters. You can get it from your vet or the vets at PetSmart or online. It is a probiotic but has the flavoring that attracts cats to dry food.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I agree with Lisa. I would look at rebound: Rebound If you started at 3 units, you may have started over the ideal dose. And any dry food can raise blood glucose levels. When we changed Oliver from dry to wet, his blood glucose levels dropped 100 points overnight.

Here are some ideas to get her to eat: Getting your cat to eat Fortiflora is also considered a miracle here for reluctant eaters. You can get it from your vet or the vets at PetSmart or online. It is a probiotic but has the flavoring that attracts cats to dry food.

If you are feeding dry food, please do not change it until you also reduce the insulin dose. Right now that may be what is keeping your cat from becoming hypoglycemic. This is one of the reasons that we highly recommend hometesting. By testing before every shot, you will know if it is safe to give insulin.

 

[Renegaderem+Dainty]

Can you answer a few more questions for us?

1) Are you hometesting?
2) What food are you feeding her?
3) What was her dose when she first started insulin and when was she diagnosed?
4) How often were the doses increased and by how much?

My first thought is that you are giving too much insulin and you are dealing with Somogyi rebound effect. What this means is that when too much insulin is given in order to protect itself from becoming hypoglycemic, the body produces extra glucose. That is why you are getting the higher readings. But eventually the body will not be able to protect itself and Dainity may become hypoglycemic, which is very bad.

The other thought is your diet. If you are still feeding a high carb diet such as dry food, that also will cause the glucose readings to be higher.

The only real way to determine how well a dose is working is by testing before every dose (a.k.a hometesting) and doing your own curves at home by testing every 2-3 hours between shots.

1) We do home test
2) She was eating Purina DM however, when practically stopped eating a couple of days ago. I brought her into the vets and was told to try anything to get her to eat. So since she ate kibble her entire life up until December, I thought I would try this Blue stuff. The bag said it had high protein and low carbs so I thought it better than the others.
3) She started off with 2 Units twice daily in early December
4) She gets "vet tested" every two weeks. After a couple times of seeing high readings we went up to 2 and 1/2 units then two weeks ago the vet thought that we should try three units. This last Thursday we would have moved to 4 but then I told the her about the appetite decrease so we stayed the same.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Wonderful that you are hometesting! That makes this whole thing so much easier.

It would be very helpful if you would set up a spreadsheet with your history of doses/blood glucose levels. We have a wonderful one here that is color coded and makes it easy to see patterns. It also is accessible to anyone on Google so doesn't require downloading. Here are the directions: Setting up a spreadsheet If you need help, just ask.

Once we can see your kitty's "history" it will be easier to give advice. It may be that rebound is a consideration but past doses and numbers will make that clearer.

The problem with vet testing and subsequent dose changes is that stress raises blood glucose levels. So with the strange noises, smells and people at the vet, your cat's number might be much higher than they would be at home. Doses based on stress induced numbers can be too high.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

That is great that you are hometesting.

Like Sue said, once we have your spreadsheet with your testing and dose history, it will make it easier to possibly determine what is going on.

Also, since you are hometesting, you may be able to eliminate the trips to the vet for just testing. Vet stress can easily raise the BG levels up by 100 or more than what the true BG should be. One method that I used when one of my cats was first diagnosed was to either email or fax my readings to my vets office on a regular basis (once every couple weeks in the beginning). She would then look over it and let me know if she thought the dose should be changed. Plus if you notice any weird patterns in the readings, you can point them out to your vet, which is something I did with my vet. That way your vet is still involved with determining your dose until you are comfortable making dose changes on your own.

Since you started at 2 units, you may already missed your optimal dose from the beginning. It may be possible that by reducing the dose and switching to a low carb diet, that Dainty may soon become OTJ.

Have you tried feeding Dainty canned food? You do not need to feed her prescription food. Many of us feed our cats either Fancy Feast or Friskies canned food. If you have to continue feeding her dry food until you can get her to the point where she will eat only canned food, you may want to feed her Innova EVO cat/kitten food. It is has a lot of protein and low carbs. It is a little harder to find since most stores do not carry it, but if you use the store finder at their site http://www.naturapet.com/where-to-buy/default.asp you can see if anyone in your area carries it.

It is important that she does eat so you may want to see if she will eat canned food if she is not eating much of the dry. As you have discovered, most cats don't like the prescription foods and most of those foods are not as good for the cats as the vets want us to believe they are.