Crush's Dosing Thread - high numbers - dosing advice needed please

Andrea and Crushy Carran

Andrea and Crushy Carran

Member
On my third vet. Numbers are higher than ever and dose is higher than ever. She wanted me to change to a prescription food which I did and numbers went up. She thought maybe it was my 3 month old vial of Prozinc so I got a new vial and the numbers did not get better. Recent bloodwork doesn't explain these numbers. I switched back to Sheba for breakfast today at 3% carbs - down from the prescription food which is 13%. I could really use some advice on where to go from here. We have not been regulated since starting Prozinc in late January.

This is my third spreadsheet -- the others were on human meters and this vet wanted me to switch to Alphatrac because she thought the human meter "must be wrong" because my cat's numbers were so high. Of course, numbers are much higher on Alphatrac!

p.s. I've tried to follow all of the rules but if there is something missing from my signature, please let me know [gently - I'm super sensitive, frustrated, prone to crying at this point )
 
I would ignore the vet concerning the prescription food and the Alphatrak, you already know what you're doing.

Hmmm. Will be curious to see what Deb says about your spreadsheet. What dose did you start on when Crush was diagnosed back in December? It's possible he was started too high...or he hasn't hit his ideal dose yet...or he's developed glucose toxicity from those high numbers and he needs more insulin to break that barrier. What I mean is it could be a few different things, but rest assured it's nothing we can't handle. :) Don't despair!

Have you posted for spreadsheet advice in the Main Health forum? Hopefully Deb will have time to peek in her busy day but there's plenty of members there who don't always see the Prozinc forum questions.

The Prozinc may even not be lasting the full 12 hours with him... someone with better spreadsheet deduction could tell you, but he may benefit from switching to Lantus.
 
Panic said:
I would ignore the vet concerning the prescription food and the Alphatrak, you already know what you're doing.

Hmmm. Will be curious to see what Deb says about your spreadsheet. What dose did you start on when Crush was diagnosed back in December? It's possible he was started too high...or he hasn't hit his ideal dose yet...or he's developed glucose toxicity from those high numbers and he needs more insulin to break that barrier. What I mean is it could be a few different things, but rest assured it's nothing we can't handle. :) Don't despair!

Have you posted for spreadsheet advice in the Main Health forum? Hopefully Deb will have time to peek in her busy day but there's plenty of members there who don't always see the Prozinc forum questions.

The Prozinc may even not be lasting the full 12 hours with him... someone with better spreadsheet deduction could tell you, but he may benefit from switching to Lantus.
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She started at .5 back in January and we've been going up slowly ... first vet was awful and second not much better ... this one at least understands home testing but we were at 1.25 when I switched to the prescription food and now we're at 2.25 and testing even higher. I think switching to the prescription food has set us back quite a bit. I switched back to Sheba this morning and tonight her bg is going down fast (at +2 she's down to 103 ... going to be a long night). Thanks for your encouragement!! I need it.
 
Hi Andrea!
Looks like you have a pajama party going on tonight. Hang in there! We'll help you get Crushy better. Trust your instincts. They seem to be good ones. :bighug:

Even with the food changes, and the meter switch and the advice from different vets, I think that going back to the lower carb Sheba was absolutely the right move.

My first thought on looking at the SS is that Crush looks a bit overdosed to me. I'd recommend dropping the dose back down to 2U. I'm basing that recommendation on the low numbers on PM cycle for 8/5/20, and the fact that you had fed the Dr Elseys food (dry or wet? and which flavor please) to bring the BG numbers back up.
Would you be willing to drop the dose to 2U, on the say so of someone you've never met or heard from before?

I also think the switch back to the lower carb food is having an immediate effect on the BG levels. So much so, that you may need to drop the insulin dose even more or drop it very fast, from 1 cycle to the next.

Which of the Science Diet cat foods was Crush eating? Dry or wet? Was it the Hill's M/d wet food by any chance?

The pill pockets could have contributed to higher numbers.
The antibiotic could have contributed to higher numbers. (Some antibiotics have sugar in them, like the Clavamox liquid, but you said pill pockets so guessing it was the pill form of the antibiotic.)
 
Deb & Wink said:
Hi Andrea!
Looks like you have a pajama party going on tonight. Hang in there! We'll help you get Crushy better. Trust your instincts. They seem to be good ones. :bighug:

Even with the food changes, and the meter switch and the advice from different vets, I think that going back to the lower carb Sheba was absolutely the right move.

My first thought on looking at the SS is that Crush looks a bit overdosed to me. I'd recommend dropping the dose back down to 2U. I'm basing that recommendation on the low numbers on PM cycle for 8/5/20, and the fact that you had fed the Dr Elseys food (dry or wet? and which flavor please) to bring the BG numbers back up.
Would you be willing to drop the dose to 2U, on the say so of someone you've never met or heard from before?

I also think the switch back to the lower carb food is having an immediate effect on the BG levels. So much so, that you may need to drop the insulin dose even more or drop it very fast, from 1 cycle to the next.

Which of the Science Diet cat foods was Crush eating? Dry or wet? Was it the Hill's M/d wet food by any chance?

The pill pockets could have contributed to higher numbers.
The antibiotic could have contributed to higher numbers. (Some antibiotics have sugar in them, like the Clavamox liquid, but you said pill pockets so guessing it was the pill form of the antibiotic.)
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Dr. Elsey's dry food, chicken; Science Diet Glucosupport wet - it had the lowest carbs of the prescriptions she gave me (13).

Yes, I will definitely take dosing advice - I think she's going to earn a reduction tonight as it is! Thanks for your help!
 
@Andrea and Crushy Carran
I'm not one of those people that can stay up late and help you with the pajama party.
So, if you need help, please post on the Feline Health forum and put something in the thread title that mentions the word HELP and low numbers.

The Dr. Elseys' dry food chicken flavor is ok carb wise for a diabetic cat. The salmon flavor is a bit too high in carbs.
The Hill's Glucosupport is the Hill's M/d food. Good to confirm that was the one. I thought it was, simply from the carb percentage you had quoted.

Andrea and Crushy Carran said:
I think she's going to earn a reduction tonight as it is!
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Me too. In fact, she just did with that BG of 58.

Remember, you want to feed her small bits of wet food at a time, so she doesn't fill up and retest in 20-30 minutes until you see at least 2 hours of rising BG levels.

Sorry for your "sleepless in Seattle" night tonight.
 
Deb & Wink said:
@Andrea and Crushy Carran
Remember, you want to feed her small bits of wet food at a time, so she doesn't fill up and retest in 20-30 minutes until you see at least 2 hours of rising BG levels.
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I've been giving a little kibble every time I test and testing every 15 minutes. I guess when you hit that light green on the spreadsheet it's an official hypo? Great to know that we're not out of the woods for 2 hours -- I didn't know that either! We're at 166 now so it's all good.

Now I need to figure out her dose for tomorrow morning. Should I ask on the main forum?
 
Panic said:
And congrats on the reduction! Yay Crush!
Are you able to monitor tomorrow? Since Deb talked about possibly dropping even more I wonder if she suspects he might earn another reduction tomorrow?
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So I gave her 2.0 this morning and she didn't drop much at all. Do you earn the reduction for just one cycle? Or is it the usual 7 days?
 
Andrea and Crushy Carran said:
So I gave her 2.0 this morning and she didn't drop much at all. Do you earn the reduction for just one cycle? Or is it the usual 7 days?
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Yes, on SLGS you keep it the full 7 days unless another reduction is earned. For some kitties it takes a couple days before the full effect of the new dose is visible.
 
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