Dosing

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Sammysmom

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Hello friends.

I have attempted to update my spreadsheet but I had a dosing question because now I am second guessing my decision. Last few days our amps and pmps have been in the mid to high 300's and we have been dosing .5 units after seeing success with this dose over the weekend. This morning, however amps was 134 so we skipped the dose. Tonight pmps was 239. Our vet told us not to shoot under 250 but I gave .25 units since he was over 200 and close to the 250 mark. Just curious what your thoughts are? And if in the future I should do something different. We have been struggling to find the right dose as he spent a number of days with normal numbers without insulin. And more recently since he has been higher we have started back at 2x a day pzi. Any thoughts suggestions are much appreciated!
 
I think that all of your decisions have been logical, and good ones. I think .25u was a great choice, as was skipping this morning.
It might make sense to go with what you have been doing the past few days.
.25u if you see a number you feel okay shooting, that is also under 300 or 325. And .5u if you see a number above that line. The only way to know for sure is to get a test "in the middle" to see what sort of numbers you get. They might be low, they might be more "flat". If you can't get those tests because of your schedule, then it is always best to be conservative on dosage.

Carl
 
Very interesting spreadsheet! Yes, you were right skipping this am. Our no shoot number for newbies is generally 200 so your shot tonight seems okay too. I would get a test before bed to make sure he is not heading down faster than you want.

The ideal scenario is a smile curve over 12 hours - morning number gradually going down until the low point at 5-7 hours and then heading back up till 12 hours after the am shot when the number is about what the am number was. You got a long duration from last night's shot, which generally means the dose is too high. Tonight's dose may help you figure if the .5 is more than he needs or is just right.

ProZinc generally works best twice daily, rather than once. But he is getting a long cycle out of low doses so we will just need to keep track of how the insulin is working.

Lots of the members post morning and evening and get feedback on their numbers.

What are you feeding?
 
Thanks guys you are the best! I'll get a spot check a little later. It's just been tough because he seems to respond to different doses at different times. Over the last few weeks we have tried a number of different foods, all wet and low carb ( well at least we think so) during those lovely numbers in late jan early feb we were feeding purina DM until we got poor results and then switched to FF turkey giblets classics. we tried Ff salmon and chicken classic with no improvement so we are now continuing the purina DM (even though I strongly dislike this food) since he seems to have the best response to it and we still have so much of it.
 
PurinaDm is okay carb wise - just a lot of money for mediocre ingredients. You might mix some of the FF with the DM? Sometimes they like it mixed with warm water, heated till stinky or with the little Parmesan cheese on top.
 
Sometimes they like it mixed with warm water, heated till stinky or with the little Parmesan cheese on top.
Click to expand...

Well, who wouldn't? If I were a cat, I'd insist on it! :lol:

Carl
 
Will be interested to see where you are this morning. The 157 looked like it was a slow enough drop but wonder if he will surf along in low numbers today.

Do you have U100 needles and use the conversion chart for the doses under .5 or just eyeball or is your insulin BCP 100U PZI? (that probably sounds like a different language.). Just tell us what insulin you are using - what does it say on the bottle?
 
Amps 2/22 170

Hi guys, thanks for all the help last night this morning pre shot was 170 so I didn't give any insulin since I would be gone at work and 170 seems a little low to shoot. But his pm shot is in 20 mins so hopefully he has done ok today. We use pro zinc insulin and u40 syringes and eyeball the .5 units. .5 is not so hard but gets slightly tricky with.25 my guess is he will be pretty high since he has gone the last two days with only insulin in the evening.
 
You hold the needle, and you need to be comfortable shooting with whatever number you get. But if I look at last night's cycle, where you started at 239 and he dropped somewhere in the vicinity of 150 or so... that's 90 points, assuming you "caught" the lowest part of the cycle. Figure 100 points on the .25u dose. So today, on the 170 AMPS, IF THE SAME THING would have happened, you might have seen a mid-green number, like 50-75? Again, it's all about level of comfort and being around to test. You "could" have shot a "skinny" .25u dose, like a drop less? And seen a safe green nadir.

I might try something like that myself, but it's totally your call since Sammy is your kitty. The more data you are able to compile, the better idea you'll have as to what to expect from a specific dose. And the level of comfort you get will come from the level of confidence you'll build from the data you've collected.

Carl
 
If you will be around during the day this weekend, you could experiment with being a little more daring. Just be sure you are around to monitor and feed him if you get a number in the 40s. First with regular low carb and retest. If he doesn't come up, then higher carb and retest. Come on for advice - in Health if no one is here.

But, as Carl says, only if you are comfortable with it. He was rising this am so you could retest in 2 hours and see if he is more in your comfort zone. 170 is a good number to shoot a tiny dose, but you have to feel okay with it. He's your cat and we don't have the syringe and may not be around if he drops and you are nervous.

Not sure if we have shared the ranges. We consider a cat in remission if they range from 40-120 without insulin for 2 weeks, with the majority of the time spent in double digits. And remember, he is doing fantastic - feeling good, staying in lower ranges on tiny doses. You can afford to take your time if you are nervous about being more daring.
 
Delayed response

Thank you for your advice! Literally as I was getting ready to feed Sammy and his brother, my brother in law unexpectantly knocked at my door which is the end of the world for my kitties. For whatever reason knocking scares them into hiding for a long time. I was able to coax them out with treats and Sammy ate his normal amount and I gave him the .25 dose I be
I'd've his pmps was around 230. I fully expected that this morning'pre shot would be high given the stress of an unexpected vositor( normally I would put them in our bedroom beforehand) this morning was 281 so I gave .5 units. I'm going to get a mid cycle number. And I'll definetly talk to the vet about getting the u1000 syringes. Thanks for the conversion chart also! You all are the best!
 
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