Guidance with Steroid Induced Diabetes

M

mckailey1029

Member Since 2026
My cat (Kitty) was recently prescribed a prednisolone taper for allergic dermatitis and on the 8th day she began excessively vomiting and became very lethargic. An emergency trip to the vet on January 30th determined that she had steroid induced diabetes and was prescribed 1 unit of Prozinc insulin every 12 hours after being given an initial dose of 2 units at the vet with fluids. I have been measuring her glucose levels and am very nervous about her becoming hypoglycemic while I work during the day. I have been reducing her dose, but it seems that her levels are continuing to decrease. I have been trying to get her to eat more wet food on a twice per day schedule, but am having a hard time transitioning her to this from being a free feeding kibble kitty! I have attached my spreadsheet. Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome as I am very new to this! Her follow up visit with the vet is February 13th.
 

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Did you discontinue the steroid? Was it Prednisolone? What was it prescribed for?

We need to get you all set up with a signature and spreadsheet attached to your signature.

I was able to see your spreadsheet. You are already seeing some fairly decent numbers on a low dose. What kind of numbers are you getting today on the .25 unit dose?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Did you discontinue the steroid? Was it Prednisolone? What was it prescribed for?

We need to get you all set up with a signature and spreadsheet attached to your signature.

I was able to see your spreadsheet. You are already seeing some fairly decent numbers on a low dose. What kind of numbers are you getting today on the .25 unit dose?
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I got a PMPS of 125 and wasn't sure if I should dose her if it is even lower than this morning (135) when I gave 0.25! Prednisolone was for allergic dermatitis (likely due to her food) and was discontinued on the day of diagnosis!
 
Without a mid-cycle test today we can’t know how low she went so we really can’t say if it’s safe to give insulin tonight. Also, many cats will drop a bit lower at night.
 
I am surprised that you didn’t taper down the Pred.

Kitty’s BG is really quite good. Normal BG for a cat is between 50-120. Can you get a test before you go to bed so we can have an idea of what she’s up to?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

Did you read this to make your spreadsheet? If it is a Googledocs spreadsheet it will automatically update and you can attach it to your signature so that it will be easy to read and see updates without having to re-download the spreadsheet each time it is viewed. Be sure to set the permissions to “anyone with link” can view the spreadsheet.
Click to expand...
I have added a signature with a link to the spreadsheet! Her BG is a little higher this morning, so I gave the 0.5 unit dose. Since it is the weekend I plan to get some more readings throughout the day!
 
A very nice cycle today. I would like to see you hold the .25 dose for the next 7 days and gather some tests. What and when did she eat today? When she is off the kibble it will be a good idea to give her a wet food snack at +2 and +4. This will help stabilize her BG and prevent steep drops. ProZinc will onset at about +2 and start to lower BG (as you can see from the cycle today but she stabilized nicely which is encouraging.)
 
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