Just not making 12 hours - seems to climb at 10

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RobbiesMom

RobbiesMom

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I'm really feeling that Robbie is just not getting the full 12 hours out of his shots - this morning and last night I shot a bit early (about 20-30 minutes) just to keep him out of 400 range and because he's eating right around his PMPS time frame and depending on how the morning goes also right around his AMPS time frame which is what was happening this morning. Setting up the auto-feeder to give him a "snack" at 3am hasn't seemed to hold off his hunger much and he's VERY vocal about everything. Like I've said before - if I play with him or just hold him and pet him he OFTEN backs off the asking for food (which involves him walking around giving these really AWFUL sounding cries and than climbing up on the side table and ripping up my lamp shade and knocking the lamp over). When I do this he responds, relates with me and than goes off and naps - but sometimes it's FOOD OR NOTHING. He was like that this morning at 6am I held him off till 6:30 tested, shot and fed. By AMPS +2 he was down from 369 to 294 (and that was with breakfast in him). I know if I apply the 20% that isn't really much to write home about I guess - but I'm always happy to see yellow that soon after a pink.
I was hoping to get to see the vet tomorrow but that won't be happening (work has reared it's ugly head) so now I'm shooting for Saturday if possible - if not an actual visit I'm going to at least speak to him about the tests, the teeth and the fact that the numbers aren't where they should be.
 
The insulin you are using is more of an intermediate rather than a long lasting insulin.
If you feel that PZI is not lasting long enough, you may be right. While this insulin may be fine for some, and others are able to dose TID, many have found a better result from Lantus or Levemir which are longer lasting and have some overlap which comes in handy for flexibility.
 
Hi Ellen,

This is to be expected, it is how prozinc works. Normally a cat should begin rising by +8, duration of insulin is 10-12 hours typically but this varies per cat. Because of this, some people dose 3x a day....if your number at +8 is higher than a regulated number you know the insulin is wearing off, and onset of a new dose is typically 2 hours away so you can shoot ever 8 hours if needed for better control. If you think you want to try that then Kim (kse) is a good one to talk to. But there is nothing abnormal about the curves you are getting besides the fact that the numbers throughout are still higher then you'd like. Big doses scare me, 1u hypod my cat at the beginning and then we ended up only needing .05-.015u so I'm not one to help on dosing on your end of the scale. Sue is coming back soon I hear, she's awesome so make sure you keep your ss updated and get her to take a look.
 
Thank you ladies. 2 years ago Robbie was on 8u's for a couple of months (my vet tends to go high, he's adjusted thanks to my flooding him with info from here but he still is not the poster vet for start low/go slow) before I found this forum and he hypo'd a couple of times but with everyone here's help I got him thru - we reduced to (going from memory here) 1/2u's and within a couple of months he was OTJ and did FINE for 18 months. So 4.25 doesn't scare me so much as it just depresses me - with my work schedule I don't know how I'd do 8 hour schedule but I guess I could try ... at AMPS +6 he's at 210 today... not horrible I guess.
 
Well, the curves look good now, your PSs and nadirs stay similar and you get a decent drop, bout 30%?....it's just higher overall then you'd like. I'd continue the 4.25 for a few still and see if his PS drop and you get a little more out of it, if not I see nothing that suggests the dose is too high (even though it scares the sh*t out of me) and he may eventually need a little more to get that 50% drop at nadir we'd like to see.
 
Well, his ravenous hunger worries me (in terms of high insulin level) although he's never been one to turn down a meal and even when OTJ expected food about every 3-4 hours - when he was on dry food he grazed constantly and I shutter to think how much he ate as I would just unconciously grab a handful of the KIBBLE and toss it in his bowl (how he misses those days I'm sure) he got up to almost 24 lbs and the Vet really got on my ass about it - so we cut back and got him to 22lbs. He was there for a long while till the diabetes truly kicked in and he went down to 17lbs (he looked HORRIBLE) - interestingly enough our vet had always said "this cat should be about 18lbs" and when he WAS 18lbs we all looked at him and said NO WAY - so now he's just under 20 and while his gut hangs pretty low and he goes slow (there's our version of low and slow ;-) ) he actually looks good and is still very active for his age (and size) wrestles with the dog, chases his "sister" Roxie, climbs the cat tree...
OK so I'm hanging in here - the vet is booked for Saturday but he's going to call me when they close and I can talk to him a bit.

thanks for all input - it's what keeps me sane...
 
Same here, my coon got up to 22.5 and Vet said he'd be satisfied with 18. He's a little lighter than that now but he's almost 16 and doesn't eat like he used to. I think 18 is a standard goal for large cats, they are supposed to be lean.if he's holding on weight I wouldn't worry too much on the hunger, it should decrease once he's better regulated to where he wants food but doesn't act like he's starving to death all the time.
 
A lot of the male coons I know are around 19-21 - Robbie has a big frame - not long but big - his paws are enormous - I'm sure if he'd never gotten to 23 and been 20 his whole life he wouldn't have the pouch of a belly he has. His "sister" (same breeder different blood line) is currently 12 lbs - she was 15 at one point but she's almost 13 and skinnier now- but at 12 she looks good. I love my Maine Coons but pure breeds are just so problematic - my Heinz 57 dog never has an issue in the world. Healthy as can be.
and Woot Woot on 16 years old - I'd love to have Robbie for another 5-6 years or more!
 
Yeah, purebread always seem to have issues, and Maine coons like great Danes have a probable decrease in life expectancy due to size. I have has this cat literally half of my life, we got hook when I was 16. He has a slow growing ocular cancer that has already spread when he was diagnosed and I'm not one to put a cat that old through hell so were just letting him enjoy his time here, been 2 years and he's still a happy but grumpy old guy!
 
For a large breed Maine Coons actually live a lot longer , in comparison, than large dogs - the breeder I got my cats from has Maine Coons that are 20-22 years old - there's even an online "chart" that Maine Coon breeders can enter the age of their cats and someone than "confirms" it (a vet, another breeder etc.) and it's amazing how long these cats can live. My friend has a BIG boy who's 17 and while he's probably not going to make it that much longer (he's starting to have some complications) he was in great shape till this year. Roxie my girl is going to be 13 in July and she's in amazing shape - our vet says if he didn't know her age he'd put her at about 9 from her teeth, skin, all around condition. Of course indoor/outdoor makes a huge difference. But I digress from the topic at hand...
Glad Hook is living out his old age with you - I had one cat from age 2 to age 22 (she lived with my mom after I moved out at 18 but was still "my" cat), another from 19 to 38 and got Roxie at 38 - she'll be 13 the same day I turn 51 - so I've been VERY lucky with the long lived cats... keeping my fingers crossed on that.
 
Grayson is (was) one of my three "big boys" - although now at only 13.1 pounds, he looks anorexic! The others are about 20-21 pounds. Peaches' head never grew proportionately with his body size, but he's also long and carries his weight much better than Stanley. Stanley's just a big round happy guy!

But my two look small compared to the cat on the news today... 40 pounds! He makes my guys look skinny! :lol:
 
oh, that poor cat on the Today show - 40lbs... poor thing can't walk more than 3 steps at a time. He was still cute though.
 
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