Getting a handle on BG with Prozinc

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Kerflumper

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After about 3 months of shooting in the dark with Prozinc (at the advice of the vet), I've finally started home testing (against the advice of the vet). At the same time, I changed from Hill's W/D wet and dry to all wet 9-Lives or Special Kitty. I now need some help in interpreting her BG numbers. I have some numbers in her spreadsheet to work with now. Should I make any adjustments or should I wait?
 
Welcome! Glad you made your way here. I post on Health and here, as I have used PZI. We are a small but friendly group, busiest in the am and pm. Come back to check for answers and be sure to post on Health if you need an immediate answer.

You have changed food and that can make a big difference in numbers. She is already in the low 200s at preshot and dipping into the blues at midcycle. If she were my kitty, I would reduce the dose and monitor carefully.

Let's see what others think.
 
Hi and welcome
So she stopped dry food 5 days ago when you started testing
What dose was she started on...did she start at 3 units
or have you worked your way up with your vets advice

As you just started testing and took away the dry, I would be careful of dropping low...
I think if I were you I might drop the dose a little, especially if you work and are unable to test..

Welcome and I am sure there will be others along to give some advice
 
A big part of your decision will be how often you can test her. Right now, her numbers look good, and if she's been on canned and off dry for five days, all of the dry food effects are gone.
You are feeding 9-lives and Special Kitty? Which flavors? Are they all the lower carb kind, or are some of them "gravy" style? (Trying to make sure these are all "low carb food" numbers...)

If you can keep testing this often, and you are feeding nothing but low carb food, the dose actually doesn't look to me like it is too much? She isn't dropping really low at nadir. It's just not common to see a dose of 3u on numbers that low, but ECID (every cat is different).

I would say that if you continue on this dose, you want to make sure she doesn't drop all of a sudden, so getting tests around +3 and +4 after a shot will give you an idea of how low the BG might go by the usual nadir time of +6.

Can you tell us when she eats in relation to her shots?

Carl
 
Welcome to the PZI family! cat_pet_icon

My original vet was very against home testing, so good on you for doing it anyway! It really is the best thing for our sugar babies. :-D

I mostly use Special Kitty and usually use Super Supper and Mixed Grill as they are only 4% carbs. Once in a while I'll give Poopy Tuna but it's 7% carbs and I do try to limit the fish as a main flavor. I'll also occasionally do the Turkey and Giblets as it has 0% carbs. I find the 0% doesn't really give better BGs for Poopy. It's as if he needs a few carbs to dance with the insulin for more even numbers. Go figure. :lol:

It would be helpful to know when Lilly eats, especially if she also eats during the cycles. Poopy is a snacker so the only time I can be sure he's food free on BGs is to pull it at least two hours before testing. The things we go through for our babies. :-D
 
Thanks for the helpful replies. When we first started, we went through the progression of 1U to 5U over about 5 weeks. The vet said the 5 wasn't doing anything so we went back to 3. We've been on 3 since. With her peeing so much (she was still peeing as much as she was the day she was diagnosed) I felt the need to try something different.

The foods are all below 10 on the Binky list. Previously she was taking one can of Hill's W/D in the morning, grazing on the W/D dry all day and then another can in the PM. I give her AM and PM cans right after the shot. I started her on just a wet can of 9-Lives (ocean whitefish and chicken and tuna) in the AM and one in the PM, but that wasn't enough. Now I've started leaving out a frozen serving that she can snack on throughout the day. During the week testing is limited to AMPS and maybe at +1 and PMPS and +1-3 at best.
 
Way to go you, checking out Binky's list! ;-)

Has your vet mentioned anything about shooting under 200 on PSs? Sometimes they do mention something, but most times they forget. For a lot of us here, if our sugar babies are below 200 for a PS, we won't feed and will retest in 20 minutes to be sure they are rising on their BG before feeding and shooting. ECID (each cat is different) but it's a good rule of thumb. :smile: We will also wait to be sure they are eating before giving a shot, just in case they decide today is the day they are going to be stubborn (I know...a cat stubborn? HA!) and not eat.

It's a delicate dance we do, trying to balance out their BGs with food and insulin. You are learning the dance steps very well! :-D

It can be tough, getting BGs during the cycle when we work. You're doing great on the weekends, getting the readings around nadir. :-D
 
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