Hi there. I’m so sorry that you have been struggling with Patches blood glucose. I totally understand. My cat struggled for a long time with high numbers that didn’t respond to insulin. My boy had acromegaly and was on a very high dose. The only thing that helped us was actually joining this Board and learning how to properly adjust doses and also treatment options for Acromegaly. We went the opposite way with insulin, moving from ProZinc to Lantus and eventually to Levemir insulin. With regard to high numbers, the problem can also be holding doses too long and then glucose toxicity sets in, where the cat’s body gets comfortable in high numbers. Other times there is a problem with how large the increases have been (like 1 unit at a time, for examples.). Some cats are being overdosed when the vet increased insulin too high by increasing in full units or more at a time. You may see a hypo in this situation. Has your vet mentioned acromegaly to you? We recommend testing for acromegaly when a cat reaches about 6 units. It’s a blood test sent to Michigan State University. The other thing to test for are Insulin Autoantibodies where the cat’s body produces antibodies that cause it to be very insulin resistant. It’s good to find answers to these things so you know what you’re dealing with and how to respond. We can help with that. If Patches were my cat, I would want to know if either Acromegaly or IAA before I switched insulin.
What kind of blood glucose numbers are you getting on Patches? If you had a spreadsheet with some of her numbers on it, I would be able to see more about what is going on. Are you testing his blood glucose at home? Do you know what his nadirs are (nadir is the lowest point in the cycle.) I realize you may not be seeing much of a nadir. It’s important to know the BG number before every shot (to make sure it is safe to shoot) and it’s important to know how low a dose is taking your cat (nadir) because that is what will tell you if you need to increase or decrease the dose.
I hope we can help you further. Below is a screenshot from the MSU Veterinary Laboratory catalog for the Insulin Autoantibody and Acromegaly (Insulin Like Growth Factor 1).
