Rebel's Hooman
New Member
I'm at my wits end and hope someone here can help! My Rebel was diagnosed diabetic about nine months ago and it seems we are still a long way from getting him regulated. He has definitely improved some since we started Prozinc, but he's not anywhere near regulated. A little background...Rebel is a 13 year old, inside only gray tabby boy. He began losing weight (got down to 10 lbs from his normal weight of 14), while eating, drinking and peeing constantly. I took him to the vet and he had a very hard time initially figuring out that he had diabetes as his blood work didn't indicate a problem. He was convinced he had hyperthyroidism, but eventually ordered a fructosamine test that showed he was indeed very diabetic. Using the start low and go up from there protocol, the vet put him on 1 unit once a day. After gradually increasing his dose over several months, his symptoms began to diminish when we hit 4 units twice a day. It was at this point that the vet told me to "keep doing exactly what you are doing" as he was very pleased when another fructosamine test showed numbers in the 200 range. We were so relieved; however that relief was short lived as his symptoms quickly returned. It was at this point that I started using all the knowledge I had gained by reading everything I could find regarding feline diabetes and began increasing his dose on my own. I have very gradually increased his dose by .25 units over two week periods and have seen no change in his symptoms. We are at an incredible 8 UNITS TWICE A DAY now and I just started home testing his blood glucose levels this week (I know I should have started a long time ago, but Rebel is a real handful so I put it off as long as I could). I have to pick my times carefully to successfully get a blood sample, but so far, I have gotten two. He was 404 one hour after his injection of 8 units and 499 at the end of the 12 hour cycle. He still eats, drinks and pees way too much, but he has gained weight (back to his normal 14 lbs) and is happier and stronger. I'm beginning to think he may be resistant to this type of insulin?? Another issue is that he's his own worst enemy when it comes to diet! He only eats Fancy Feast 'grilled' canned food, he will not eat the low carb 'classic' kind. I know what you are going to say, but he is impossible to live with if he doesn't get the 'grilled' kind so we are doing the best we can. I have tried literally every low carb canned food I could find, but he just won't eat them. He's eating us out of house and home and is now going through a $100 vial of Prozinc every 25 days. I'm afraid to increase his dose any higher. Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe a different type of insulin? Any advise would be most appreciated.
This is his house, he just allows me to live here because I have thumbs and can open his food! I will research the Levemir option as well. I was just a little hesitant to up his dosage any more as I've spent hours and hours trying to locate information on high dosage Prozinc and have never found anyone giving a dose over 8 units at a time.
