Dosing question

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Okohme

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I changed my kitty, Tater, to ProZinc today. He was on Humulin N but I was having problems with it and the more I spoke with people who have and are treating cats with diabetes, the more I heard that Humulin N was not a very good option. So went to my vet and told him I was unhappy with the performance of the Humulin and said "okay, how about we try him on ProZinc?"
So I purchased a vial pf ProZinc.
I have been home testing and home adjusting my cat's insulin, primarily because I have been adjusting his diet in an attepmt to reach a 5% max carb intake.
The vet told me to start Tater on 1 u of ProZinc once a day. The last time I spoke with my Vet, Tater was on 1 u of Humulin N once a day, but that later proved insufficient and I went to 1 u twice a day. (Every 12 hours).
Does anyone here have experience with ProZinc?
Is typically or often given once daily ?
This morning when I tested him he was at 512. (not unusual with how the Humulin N has been performing lately.)
I checked him a bit ago (about 8 hours after dosing) and he was at 306.
I will test him again in an hour to try and get the best Nadir for the insulin's performance.
But if he's at 300 BG 12 hours after a dose, should I dose again?
I now I need to wait 3+ days to get a good idea of the insulin's true effectiveness, but I'd like to give tater the very best treatment I can.
 
Hi, Okohme & Tater (LOVE that name!)

I'm not familiar with proZinc...but lots of folks here are,
and since we just met in another condo...wanted to stop by and say "hello!"

celi & binks
 
Welcome to the ProZinc family! cat_pet_icon

Posting in Health is fine, but you can get more eyes familiar with ProZinc over in PZI. :smile:

Prozinc is a much longer lasting insulin than the N stuff, but even cats are normally dosed 2x a day. A normal beginning dose is 1u 2x a day. Getting numbers while Tator adjusts to the change is fantastic! The nadir, usually somewhere around +5-+7, can move around at first, and a couple of kitties here hit theirs earlier. ECID ya know. ;-)

With Tator having a history of higher numbers, I'd be very comfortable shooting Poopy twice a day with 1u if it were him. Others may be more aggressive, or not. :smile:
 
Prozinc is a twice a day insulin for cats, as are Lantus and Levemir. According to the prozinc website, the typical duration for prozinc is 10-14 hours. Given once per day, kitty's body would only have outside insulin available for half the day, and the other half, there'd be nothing on board to combat rise in BG.

I used PZI, not prozinc, but they are very similar. PZI probably has a shorter duration.

If your vet is suggesting 1 unit, once per day, you would most likely be better off giving 1/2 unit twice a day to start. Then after 2 or 3 days, review your test results and see how it is working. At that time, you could consider adjusting the dose.

If you test him in four hours, the number will mostly likely be higher of course, but maybe not as high as it was this morning. What you can do is give him 1/2 unit at that time. If it is as high as 500 like it was this morning, then you could give him 1 unit and you should get about the same results that you saw today.

The normal routine is to test prior to the shot, then feed him, then assuming he eats, you can give him the shot. I know that people have said that you should feed a half hour before giving Humulin, due to how fast and harsh it acts rather quickly after the shot is given. Prozinc isn't that fast or that harsh. Usually, it will start to work on the BG about 2 hours after the shot, give you a nadir sometime between 5-7 hours after the shot, and then taper off as you get close to the 12 hour mark where you would test, feed, and shoot again.

If you have questions at shot time tonight, definitely post them here. I might be off in dreamland by then since I am up at 4:30 tomorrow AM, but someone will be here that can help you out.
 
Ooops. I'm not sure where I got the idea that the nadir should occur at around 9hrs...
Anyway, I guess I'll test him in 3hrs and see where he's at.
I'll stick with 1/2 u tonight unless he's as high as he was this morning.

Thanks for the help!
 
I agree that you should go with 1/2 or 1u twice a day. Either are.good starting places; given that he was on 1u of N twice a day, that should be safe with the prozinc, too.
Here is some info on prozinc; pzi is slightly different but acts similarly. Feel free to visit the pzi forum; you can post either place. Good luck!
 
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