DCIN foster-MK-switched to ProZinc today

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BuddyandDillonsMom

BuddyandDillonsMom

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I just switched to ProZinc this morning with my foster cat, Miss Kitty....I put her info on her SS, but I wanted to make sure the dose shows up correctly. I gave her .2, but it keeps showing up as .20....is that how it should look on the SS?
 
Wow, I just read Miss Kitty's story on the DCIN blog. You are an angel for taking her into your home.

http://fdmb-cin.blogspot.com/2012/05/kitty.html

From the spreadsheet notes it sounds like you've had your hands full. Is she on meds besides insulin currently? Is she eating okay?

Have you used pro zinc before?

Carl
 
Oh, never mind... Buddy was "broken" when you got him, so MK is your "first" that's needed insulin, right?
Carl
 
Hey Sue & Carl!

Sue, MK actually came with Pro Zinc but since I'm so used to Lantus now & I was helping we were gonna switch her. Well, MK has lots of tricks to throw out! As you can see she has only needed insulin once in a while, that really doesn't work with Lantus. I think the only reason she's getting any insulin at all is cause she won't eat FF. We finally decided it would be easier to try to give her insulin on a regular basis with Pro Zinc. I had her start with .2 since she was getting huge drops on micro doses of Lantus. Hopefully she will level out on Pro Zinc so she can shoot every 12 hrs.

Carl, the only thing she is getting on occasion is Miralax. And yes, this cat has been a challenge. I have never had to deal with one that won't eat can food. I think Jennifer has spent a fortune & a lot of time at the store getting things for her to try. It's frustrating! And all of you know what a hard time I have had with vets....guess I passed that on cause MK has been to 2 different vets now & it's not been a good experience either time! I made phone calls trying to screen vets close to where Jennifer lives but the one we ended up seeing was awful! MK has something on her ears & the vet tried to tell her it was cause she was testing her ears! :roll: Then she took her to my new great vet's office but saw another one in the practice....turns out the worst one they have there. It was not a good experience either. This is Jennifer's first foster...for that matter mine too. It's been a pretty stressful situation. Both of us were shocked at the FIV+ DX but that came from the 1st crazy vet & she said it was a "weak" positive so I'm hopeful it was a mistake. We do have old vet records that say she was negative in 2004 & no notes of a bite since then so we will see. MK is still isolated from the other 2 cats. She has access to the bedroom now but won't come out of the bathroom much. She's a very timid cat.

Boy, I had to do some thinking about Pro Zinc...how quickly you forget! :lol: She's got the conversion sheet & I had to pull out my old copy to be able to help her. Thanks for your help!

Barbara

Oh, this gives me a good excuse to come back!
 
Barbara and Jen
I'm working till 10, but will post after that. Good call on the. 2 though.

Carl
 
Sue,

Glad my mom explained why-I was getting ready to have to text her to ask why I did-I just follow what she tells me, because I'm such a good daughter! :lol:

Carl,

Yes, she's my first that's needed insulin....Buddy and Dillon are both OTJ. :mrgreen: She's given me some issues for sure- I've finally found stuff she likes (Friskies Tuna), but of course, it's not the best thing for her. This girl looks at me like I'm trying to poison her if I even mix the smallest amount of FF in her food. She does love Trader Joe's Tuna for Cats, but it scared me with all the little bones I saw in it. Since I'm not working for a while (I'm a teacher), I think I'll start trying some FF mixed into her Friskies again and put some of the TJ tuna on top since I can sit with her and not be in such a hurry to get out the door. :YMSIGH: At first she didn't even care if I sat food down, but thankfully she gets excited to see food now and actually gets up and comes to see it. I've never had a cat that doesn't gobble their food down right away, so she's a first of a lot of things for me! confused_cat

I've updated her SS-her numbers are going up, so that's different from Lantus when she would go right down IF I even had to give her any insulin. confused_cat We'll see.....I do have some professional development meetings to go to this week, but I should be able to get more numbers for her.
 
Well, glad you are here. Hope ProZinc works for her. Two things in your ss suggest you may want to monitor tonight. One, the pmps was not rising. It was generally flat, but could have been going down. And .2 on the yellow number gave you a low cycle with lowering numbers. .2 on a 145 may take her fairly low.

Both illustrate differences between ProZinc and Lantus or Levemir. We only shoot a rising number. Because ProZinc hits a little harder and faster than the Ls, we don't want to add more insulin if the first shot hasn't finished. With the l's long cycles, it isn't as much of a worry. A flat, long cycle like she got could mean a smidgen too much insulin or could be the Lantus shed working with the proZinc shot to give us more wallop than we intended.

We do use the preshot numbers to help with dosing, as well as the nadir, until the Ls. So the fact that .2 on your amps gave you a long cycle with lowering numbers means we probably would have reduced on the pmps.

Having said all this, it most likely will be fine. She may go lower but she didn't get super low this cycle.
I just don't know what the Lantus and ProZinc will do together, until the L gets all out of her system. So I would plan to get a few tests in. She went up at +2. That could shoot my ideas out of the water or just be her pattern plus the food. Or the L is all gone and this cycle will be a better picture of how PZI is going to work for her.

What fun, huh?
 
BuddyandDillonsMom said:
Sue,

Glad my mom explained why-I was getting ready to have to text her to ask why I did-I just follow what she tells me, because I'm such a good daughter! :lol:
Click to expand...

No comment.... :lol:

Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
One, the pmps was not rising.
We only shoot a rising number.

I just don't know what the Lantus and ProZinc will do together, until the L gets all out of her system. So I would plan to get a few tests in. She went up at +2. That could shoot my ideas out of the water or just be her pattern plus the food. Or the L is all gone and this cycle will be a better picture of how PZI is going to work for her.
Click to expand...

I knew I would forget something....like waiting 20 mins & retesting...although I have been doing that with Thumper lately! :roll: Too much on my mind! Jen, remember that one...if your PS # is lower than the previous PS you need to hold off food, wait 20 mins & retest. Never shoot a falling # with Pro Zinc.

I was going on the assumption there was no Lantus shed just because she had gotten tiny doses & not on any regular basis.

I don't know if Jen will post again tonight but I told her to get a +3, if she runs into any trouble she might be back if anyone is on. She does have Karo & HC gravy food.
 
That's a little low for +3 but not super low. Can you monitor some tonight? This first cycle with Prozinc should give you an indication of how it might work for her. Sounds like the Lantus is all gone and this is just a PZI cycle.
 
Hi Jen -

Glad to see Buddy and Dillon continue to do well!!! You realize you'll need a group shot for your avatar???!!!

As for the FIV dx... I have two FIV boys. Both were ferals that showed up to eat, one had extensive battle wounds, the other nothing. Both now are strictly indoor cats, interact w/ my entire tribe, and are not aggressive - they're actually two of the most loving and social. So, with time, you may find that MK can interact w/ the boys and get along just fine, sharing sun spots, food and water. FIV is transmitted by deep tissue bite wounds, so I would encourage limited supervised interaction initially, when you get to that point. Then gradually a little more until they're all "playing nice in the sandbox". FIV doesn't have to be a death sentence. Moochie Pooch is almost 9. He was about 3 at dx/coming into the fold. Other than some pottying issues, which appear to be resolved with "happy pills", he's perfectly healthy.

Good on ya for taking in all these special needs kits! Good luck w/ them all!!!

Lu-Ann
 
That sounds like the right direction - or at least flat (considering the 20% variance). As long as she isn't crashing further down, I think it's better.

Just a little nervous since you don't know how the PZI will work. If you leave out some food, would she eat tonight?
 
She might eat....I'm going to try to get up and get another test in an hour or so, just to make sure. I'm sure she'd eat the gravy lover food if it was out! ohmygod_smile
 
I wouldn't break out the gravy stuff - not unless you get a number below 40. I was just thinking some regular low carb might let her surf awhile in that 80-90 range.
 
BG was down to 86 at +5....gave food...ate a little while I was in room with her. Left the food-she's a grazer.


Buddy was quite disgusted to find out the food I was putting into a bowl was not for him. He had gotten up from a good sleep and ran downstairs for nothing but disappointment.....now I'm being stalked and stared at... :roll: and here comes the Siamese chattering to go along with the stares.... ohmygod_smile
 
I think so. It will be interesting to see how long her cycle is. It would be nice if your 80-90 range is the lowest point of the cycle and she moves up from there to amps.
 
It would be nice to have a shootable number in the am. If you don't have one, then you need to "chase" the numbers, testing till you get to a shootable number without feeding.

Here's the basics for mini dosing

When your cat is consistently in numbers too low to shoot at shot time and in numbers in the 100 range and below during the cycle, you can consider micro dosing. This process should be guided on the forum by experienced members and will require more frequent testing.

You may be shooting at times other than the 12/12 schedule, when the blood glucose levels rise enough to require a small dose of insulin. You will need to pick a number somewhere near the 150 range at which you will plan to shoot, being sure that the number is indeed rising. The dose at these low numbers will vary with each cat and its patterns, so advice should be solicited. But you may be considering doses below .25 and even considering a “drop” of insulin. At this point, U100 needles and the conversion chart will be necessary.

It is important during this period to offer small frequent meals. You may want to experiment with the lowest carb foods to help bring down the numbers, staying away from seafood more than once or twice a week.
 
Good info on micro-dosing. By MK's SS, it looks like micro-dosing will be a definite possibility in your near future.

I wasn't overly concerned with the .2 shot into a 140ish number. That dose dropped her around 80 points maybe today, so I figured you would see a nadir in the 70 range. Not a lot of wiggle room, but with Mom's experiences with Thumper all of a sudden throwing low numbers out of nowhere last year on Prozinc, I figured at most, Mom's help was a phone call away. :smile:

I think tonight's cycle looks beautiful. And tell MK that bouncing is not allowed!

Oh, and since it had been 24 hours since her last (tiny) dose of Lantus, I didn't think the "shed" would be an issue.

Carl
 
I'm wondering why all of a sudden she is consistently throwing out #'s high enough to shoot. As you can tell from her SS she has hardly needed any insulin since she got to Jen's. She did have a UTI but has finished the antibiotic. I'm wondering if that could have flared up again. Jen, how does she seem? Is she acting any different than she was last week?
 
She seems fine-she's actually getting more and more interactive with us every day. Since we have to go through our master bedroom to get to her in the bathroom, you can hear her jump out of her window as soon as we open the bedroom door to go see her. She starts purring and rubbing on our legs the entire time we are with her. She loves to rub her head on her water bowl, but she always makes her water get so dirty by doing that! :roll:
 
I was too cautious with your dosing last night - the combination of the pmps not necessarily rising, the Lantus carryover and it being night, your first one on ProZinc - I wanted him to be safe.

Your dose worked great and now we have data to help the next time.
 
Hi Jenn, Just wanted to stop by and wish you and Miss Kitty luck with the ProZinc! Looks like you are off to a good start and have a great support network in place. :-D

Loving today's +6 :mrgreen: 83
 
I just wanted to say welcome to the PZI family. I am Jenn & my big brown cat is Baxter?
I have a question....do you have the cat that Lu Ann helped transport? I'm kind of thinking it might be. I read a story about I big blued eyed cat needing help getting to a furever home. When I saw the picture & read the story it broke my heart. I don't understand some people, but oh well. If you own the cat I'm thinking of then I am excited because I will be able to follow & know how she is doing.

So welcome!
cat_pet_icon
 
Hi Jenn,

Thank you! :-D
I saw your avatar and thought how pretty he was! Yes, Lu-Ann helped get Buddy to me- the Siamese....he looks like a short hair Baxter! Buddy is diet controlled, so all they had to do was put a little time into finding that out, but, their loss is my gain-I'm so glad we were able to get him! I'm like you, I don't understand some people-makes me sick. :-x
I also have Dillon, the Russian Blue from DCIN. Miss Kitty is my foster, she's the one who was being taken to the back to be PTS-she's a handful, but a sweet girl!
 
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