Introducing Autumn and ???

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MommaOfMuse

MommaOfMuse

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As of tomorrow Miss Autumn will be a PZI girl, so while I know the Ls inside out and backwards I'm completely clueless with PZI. So thought a little back history on Autumn would be appropriate to help you all help her.

Autumn is approx 17 years old, I adopted her from DCIN 2 yrs ago and she's come a long ways since then but last month we hit a snag using a depot insulin (Levemir) when her BGs went extremely erratic then all my cats came down with food poisoning which lead to having Autumn's BW run. At that time she had both an infection and an extremely low thyroid. Dr Tami put her on antibiotics and we crossed our fingers that her thyroid would come back up once we cleared the infection ..no such luck. On her recheck she was still hypothyroid.

Now to back up a little somewhere in Autumn's past before I adopted her she was shot in the face and chest, she still has several pellets in various parts of her head, neck and chest that were deemed too risky to remove it is one of those pellets that is causing her thyroid problems. Neither Dr Tami or I felt at her advanced age it was worth the risk of putting her under to try to surgically fix the thyroid and instead she ordered in a synthetic thyroid med but it like insulin is a hormone so I now have a balancing act between two hormones. Which is why Autumn is forum hopping until we have the thyroid stabilized I need an insulin I can adjust dose quickly with her changing metabolic rate.

So the question is if she is currently on .5 of Levemir where do I start her on PZI? And should I skip tonight or can I just go from one to the next?

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Welcome Mel and Autumn. How lovely to have you here! Balancing the thyroid meds and the insulin will be interesting, but you'll done almost every variation of insulins and whatever. :mrgreen:

I think I wouldn't go directly from Levemir to PZI but give a cycle for the Levemir to deplete. She is on a tiny dose and any overlap could be a problem? And then maybe start at .2 on a day you can monitor. It may not be enough, but you know "better high for a day......". Give it a couple cycles (unless you see a big drop) and then raise by a smidge if you need.

Assuming you have U100 needles and the conversion chart.
 
Yep got the U100 syringes but still tracking the conversion chart down. This is even a first for our vet as hypothyroid in cats is extremely rare especially from an injury damaged thyroid rather than one destroyed in treatment of hyperthyroid. So she and I are both winging it here.

Lord knows after I get Autumn figured out there won't be an insulin I don't know. Lol

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Hi Mel and all the family. I want to take this opportunity to tell you that I think you are a saint. Fostering and taking care of so many little kitties that are in need is so touching. Reading about Autumn is so heartfelt...she and the others are so lucky to have you. I am new here and I have received so much help in this forum. Good luck on your switch to prozinc and bless you for all that you do.
 
Just got home from picking up her meds. Her PZI is U100 so guess I'm not going to need to convert. Luckily I'm a champ at microdosing so unless someone has a reason not to I'm planning on skipping tonight to let the Levemir drain and starting her on .25u of the PZI tomorrow morning.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
There's Lucian's GF!! Glad to see you Mel! Good luck with the PZI, Lucian is still Lucian, 'Predictably Unpredictable', but still doing better than he did before.

Much Love!
 
Hi Mel - good to see you & Autumn here!

Grayson is Hypothyroid as a result of his SRT. He takes Thyrosin, .5 mg/day. We started for a month, then rechecked T-4 and adjusted down slightly. It apparently doesn't taste bad, so I put it in a dish w/ some FD Chicken crumbs and he gobbles it up. No poking or pill-pockets or anything (but G is very food motivated!). Hopefully she'll be as easy. I've only been on Lev since the Hypo-T dx, but I don't know that there has been any real indication of interaction w/ the insulin. Charisse's Snuggles is Hypo-T as well, same reason.

Is your PZI mixed at a pharmacy? or BCP? I thought ProZinc (by Ingleheim... mfr) is only U-40. I may be mistaken.

Anyways, welcome to this group! Hoping Autumn responds well to PZI.

Lu-Ann
 
Autumn's is mixed at a pharmacy. Bottle says Protamine Zinc insulin (PZI) 100u/ml.

Dr Tami was just worried because Autumn is a first for her as a hypothyroid kitty was as we got her thyroid back up to speed the Levemir would over power and crash her. The game plan was use the PZI while stabilizing the thyroid dose then go back to the Levemir. If she doesn't just go off.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Okay - no experience w/ the compounded PZI, so no idea about interaction. But I've never seen anything with it and I give at shot time with Lev.
 
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