Diagnosed yesterday, panicking over scheduling; could really use advice

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N7Bri

N7Bri

Member Since 2016
Hello, my little buddy Zorro was diagnosed yesterday and I'm a big ball of anxiety and panic over here right now. I just can't figure out what to do with my schedule and giving him shots every 12 hours. The anxiety isn't helping me think straight so if anyone could read this and give me advice it would help.

He's supposed to get 1 unit of prozinc every 12 hours with food. I live about 10 minutes away from work, so in theory I could go home at my lunch break - but the problem is my lunch break is very often delayed by an hour (or more) and sometimes my break is canceled all together and I never leave. There are also some days where I have to stay late after work for several hours (also sometimes in combination with having no break).

Wednesday / Thursday / Friday: I work from 4am until 1p. Break can begin anywhere from 9am to 11am but normally starts at 9.

Saturday / Sunday: Work is from 5am until 2pm. Break begins anywhere from 10:30 to 11:30.

Monday / Tuesday: Days off, home for most of the day.


So if I do a 3:30a / 3:30p schedule - that means I have to get up on my days off at 3:30a (when normally I use these days to "recharge" and sleep until 9a). Also what if it's 3:30am and he doesn't want to eat but I have to leave for work?

If I do a 9:30/9:30 schedule - that has me counting on my break to not be drastically delayed or canceled. Also it has me staying up until 9:30p when I get up for work at 3 or 4am depending on the day.

I can't afford to hire someone to come to my place every day and I live alone with no family nearby. Hopefully someone reads this and can help, I don't really have anyone else to talk to.

Thanks!
 
Welcome, now take a deep breath! You're using ProZinc which is an excellent insulin and much more forgiving when having to move shot times around. The most important thing you can do is learn to home test Zorro. That way you will know if it's ok to give him his insulin. It's easy to do and we'll help you learn. Also what are you feeding? A low carb canned food is best, and we can help with that too. I'll tag @Sue and Oliver (GA) who is our ProZinc guru to help you work out a schedule.
 
I have three cats and all of them have had a dry food only diet their whole lives. I would give them a bowl of Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula once a day. My vet told me to break it up half and half to go along with the insulin shot times now. They didn't appreciate that today.
 
It looks to me like you have figured out the two possible schedules. The 3:30 is probably safer because it'd less dependent on getting away in the middle of your work. The best idea I have to set your alarm on your days off, get up and shoot and go back to sleep.

As far as the food, it might work better to feed several small meals during the day rather than try to stick with a 12-12 feeding schedule. An automatic pet meter is great for this - I love my PetSafe5.

We have a protocol and beginner's guide for using ProZinc. They are in my signature in blue.
 
Purina Cat Chow Indoor dry food is very high carb. Zorro would do much better on a low carb wet food diet as would all your kitties, BUT, do not change foods unless you are home testing because his glucose levels could drop 100 points or more.
 
I agree you may have to suck it up and do the 3:30 schedule.


If you really can't get your cats off dry, there's a good called Young Again Zero that is excellent. Otherwise stick with fancy feast classics or some other low carb wet food.
 
Al
JanetNJ said:
I agree you may have to suck it up and do the 3:30 schedule.


If you really can't get your cats off dry, there's a good called Young Again Zero that is excellent. Otherwise stick with fancy feast classics or some other low carb wet food.
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Also you should try to change the food for all of the cats. That will eliminate the chance of Zorro getting to the high carb food. It also reduced the odds for any of the other cats from developing feline diabetes.
 
Lisa and Witn (GA) said:
Al

Also you should try to change the food for all of the cats. That will eliminate the chance of Zorro getting to the high carb food. It also reduced the odds for any of the other cats from developing feline diabetes.
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So true. I don't want to have to deal with this with any of my other cats if I can avoid it!!!
 
Hooray! They changed my schedule at work to something much easier for me to manage. Now it's 2:30p to 11:30p Tues-Sat. It will be very easy to do a 1p/1a schedule every day now. :)

And if you're wondering why my job has such a range of weird hours - I work for a 24 hour news network!
 
N7Bri said:
Hooray! They changed my schedule at work to something much easier for me to manage. Now it's 2:30p to 11:30p Tues-Sat. It will be very easy to do a 1p/1a schedule every day now. :)

And if you're wondering why my job has such a range of weird hours - I work for a 24 hour news network!
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Awesome!
 
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