How many units to give?

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Sorin & Loki

Sorin & Loki

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Our vet has Sorin on 5 units twice a day, as he'd pop in the mid 400s each week at the vet. She started him on 1 unit twice a day, and each week it went up to one unit until we hit five and we found this board and decided to try home testing. He popped 437 yesterday before his PM shot, but my husband thinks he may have missed when injecting the insulin that morning. He was 294 right before today's PM shot.

Everyone keeps telling me that 5 units is a lot, but I am not sure what to do regarding that. I'm keeping numbers to call my vet and see about getting it lowered, but I'm probably going to need a lot more data than what I have. Should I keep him at what he is, or should I be giving him less?
 
5 units is quite a bit of insulin; most kitties here here are under 2 units. And we suggest increasing slowly, 0.25 units at a time, based on home testing. His dose was increased pretty fast, without really knowing what the insulin was doing. (Home testing is so much better than vet testing. Cats are often stressed at the vet and stress raises levels. Then doses based on those inflated numbers can be too high once the kitty gets home.). It may be that he needs that much insulin, but sometimes too much insulin gives you the same numbers as too little.

We put together a protocol for ProZinc - it's in blue in my signature.

If he were mine, I would get some data. That will help you see exactly what the insulin is doing. The 294 is definitely different from the 437 so I think there is a lot you don't know. I'd start getting a preshot twice daily. We suggest new diabetics not get shots when under 200. The lowest point of the cycle is usually 5-7 hours after the shot; it is great if it is in low 100s or double digits, but you don't want numbers below 50 on a human meter or 68 on a pet meter. Those ranges are nearing hypo. Once you know how low the dose takes him, you can adjust it.

It is fantastic that he is eating wet low carb and that you are testing. Now to get some numbers!
 
We're hoping to do a curve on Saturday, and going to do 2, 4 and 6 tonight and probably pre-dinner and 4-5 hours after the rest of the week. Can't do mornings currently, we are both not here to do so and he needs both of us to do his blood draw.
 
Hmmm...do you give treats after the test? It took me a week or 2 to get comfortable with it, but after that, I was able to home test alone. Gypsy came running to me to get tested!
 
We do give him a treat. But he was never a cuddle kitty to begin with, he is the type to lay near you, not on or by you.
 
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