Insulin increase

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megandenman

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Each time we go to the vet with Teddy, he has to have his insulin increased. He's up to 3.5 units twice a day.. is that unusual? Also, is there a reason why he would quit hanging out with us, and start staying in the basement by himself?
 
Refresh our memory. What kind of insulin? What dosage did he start on? Are you hometesting?

3.5 units is a pretty big dose for a new diabetic. Any changes in personality and behavior are a little worrying because they might indicate that he is getting too much insulin and exhibiting hypo symptoms: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

If the dose is based on vet visits, often the dose is too high. Cats are stressed at the vet (strange noises, sounds, people who are not the mommy, other animals...) Stress raises bg levels. And then dosages based on those levels can be too high when Teddy gets home and relaxes. That is one of the reasons we urge people to hometest so they can use actual bg levels to base doses on.
 
megandenman said:
Each time we go to the vet with Teddy, he has to have his insulin increased. He's up to 3.5 units twice a day.. is that unusual? Also, is there a reason why he would quit hanging out with us, and start staying in the basement by himself?
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He could be 'hiding' and wanting to be by himself because he doesn't feel well, possibly because of too much insulin.

What kind of insulin are you using? 3.5 units twice a day is more insulin than most cats here are on, but hometesting would be the only way you would really know.

Testing at the vets won't tell you much, if anything, how the insulin is working on a day to day basis at home. He could be going low and you wouldn't know it until one day he might go really low.

I am assuming you are not hometesting since you are going to the vets to get him tested. I am sorry we are such nags about this but it is important. Would you like to learn? It is very easy. Perhaps one of our members nearby could show you?
 
I would suggest that you home test Teddy's BG and you will find out if he is going too low from too much insulin or if he is hiding because he is staying too high on the insulin.

If you can post any info or test results and BG numbers from your vet visits, people here can help you figure out the reason for the high dose of insulin.

Quite often, animals are very stressed at the vet office so if the vet tested Teddy's BG on a visit, it may show he is very high and that's the reason the vet says to increase the insulin. But that dose may be too much for Teddy once he gets back home again.

Please tell a bit more about his hiding; how else is he acting? Is he OK at the time of his shots but hides later? How long after his shots does he seem to act differently?

Also, what are you currently feeding Teddy? If you are feeding dry food, that may be the reason for Teddy's high BG and higher dose.
 
The insulin he is on is called ProZinc... it says protamine zinc recombinant human insulin. He started out getting 2 units back on June 7th, today they upped it again to 3 1/2. I don't do home testing.. I'm not really sure how to do it. :( If there is anyone near Cokato, MN that could show me that would be great! We haven't changed his food - he does eat dry cat food, turns his nose up at ANYTHING else: wet food, people food, all of it!

He has gained almost 4 pounds since June, but I noticed in the last few days it's easier to feel his spine - not as bad as it was in June, but not as good as it had been either. Let's see.. he's 10-13 years old... umm, he had been doing really super, hanging out with us, playing with the other cat - I even saw him run once! His back legs are weak, he walks on the legs, not just on the paw. He takes a pill each morning with his food to help out his joints.

I just don't know what to do. It is so strange for him not to finish his food (he eats most of it, but even leaving a few pieces for him is weird - he usually eats it ALL). And right now is his dinner time and he's nowhere to be found. Now that, is just plain strange.

Can anyone give us some advice?
 
Here is a good beginning site for hometesting: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm amd a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

It is very hard to regulate a cat on dry food - it is like giving insulin to a human diabetic and letting them eat donuts 3 times a day. Have you seen Dr. Lisa's site: http://www.catinfo.org She has dealt with cats who were very resistant to changing diets and had great success. She has some wonderful tips on transitioning.

I'll ask over in Community if anyone lives nearby. Is there a larger town near you?
 
Hi,

I'm west of Minneapolis, Buffalo is about 45 minutes away, St. Cloud is a little over an hour. I work full time and shoot at 7:30 so I'm not sure I could do it during the week but could meet up on the weekend to show you how I test Harley.

Also, Walmart has their Relion Micro & Confirm meters on rollback right now for $9.00. Their test strips are $20.00 for 50.

Let me know what I can do to help.

Robin
 
It sounds like you have some help. Thank you Robin! Let us know how it goes.

And Teddy's Mom, don't hesitate to come back here in the meantime to ask for help.

Again, take a look at this link. It will explain a lot about what to feed a diabetic cat:

http://www.catinfo.org/
 
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