Mason - prozinc dosing

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It might be a combination of being a bouncy cat and not yet at a high enough dose. The way forward is careful increases every 3 cycles, numbers permitting. You don't want to leave him high any longer than necessary because glucose toxicity (which is reversible at a high enough dose) can impair insulin response.
 
christobevii3 said:
Ok, I'll look at ordering the feeder for him. I could always feed a can at lunch but not everyday without the feeder. His initial issue with eating was obsessing about dry food so the behavior is there and todays test 30 minutes before feeding and at feeding showed that large difference. Also, am asking since I will probably need to get another bottle of prozinc in a few weeks is all. I guess I can order that and give it another bottle and see.

Any thoughts on that oeverpaw meter? Strips look significantly cheaper if the accuracy is ok. May end up getting that. Strips look like they take more blood but shouldn't be too big of an issue. 150 strips for everpaw at the same cost as 100 for the alphatrak
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Sorry for the late response. I have been gone so trying to do some quick check ups on everyone before I head out again today! I did look at Everpaw pet meter because test strip price seemed better than AT2 but decided not to go with it due to less knowledge and it does not seem user friendly. This was just from what I looked at online so no "real" experience. I know we're not suppose to enforce this method, but I use Free Style Lite test strips in my Alpha Trak 2 meter. About half the price of AT2 strips but you have to do multiple comparison tests between AT2 strips and FSL strips. I couldn't just tell you the difference between mine, everyone's is different :) I can explain more in detail later but I just got a call to get job site :D
 
324 PMPS!!! I haven't seen a pre shot number that decent in a long time. I went ahead and went with the 2.25u shot. I didn't make it home for lunch so no mid day test sadly and only did 1 can each for each cat this morning. Was planning on giving a can at lunch.
 
Chris, 4 things. 1. Can we clarify your name? lol. I think we just keep adding a letter or two and removing them. 2. Will you be getting a picture of Mason for your avatar? Or at least post one? :cat: 3. Either tonight or tomorrow morning, may want to start a new thread. :) 4. Have you tested for ketones?
 
YELLOW?!?!? You got a yellow!!!!!! That's awesome! It's a long cycle again, which are always a little perplexing to interpret, but I think your decision to stick with the regular dose was the right choice. I know you'll monitor him to make sure the overlap doesn't mess with him too much. The PM shot should kick in a little after +2, but based on your last long cycle, the AM dose should be gone by then. Post if you get anything weird tonight though.
 
Name is Alex actually, name is just an online name. Tonight at +3 were at 385 so good sign so far in the right direction after last week. Why a new thread and not continue the current? And no haven't tested for ketones yet. The vet had a handful of times though when they did curves and didn't see anything.

Here's a picture:
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181 AMPS, went ahead with 0.75u since I'll be around today to monitor. So this would be third blue pre shot so guessing 1.75u to 2.25u is the sweet spot when Mason decides to calm down
 
I think we might just be moving his doses up a little too quickly, and he needs a bit more time to settle in. Although it's great to see that blue!

One trick when you get a lower than normal pre-shot is to stall 20 minutes without feeding and retest to see if the number is rising. You can repeat the stall/re-test for up to an hour without messing up your insulin schedule. Sometimes in that last hour, the insulin will rise over 100 points, so if it's lasting just a bit longer than usual, you can get what looks like a low pre-shot, but 20 minutes later, would be a totally normal pre-shot. So using the stalling trick can end up with him getting a normal dose of insulin instead of being high for a cycle. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work, and the cat really does need a reduced dose, but the stall helps you tell the difference between a real low and a low that's just the result of timing.
 
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When a thread gets up over 100 posts it can be difficult to find info. That's why we suggest starting a new one when yours gets to that length. Your kitty is awfully cute!
 
Bad numbers last night :banghead: but sticking with the 2.25u dose for now. I think if I see a high blue number like on the 14th I'll look at 1u to 1.25u. I think we're narrowing in on a 1.75u to 2u shot though.
 
Hopefully he starts giving you some lower numbers soon!

ETA: Stalling and retesting to see where he goes is a good idea if you get those lower preshots.
 
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I'm so sorry he hit those high numbers! Don't worry, you'll get him back on track! If it's possible with your schedule, I would really recommend trying the stalling technique on those low pre-shots. If there's anyway you can safely stick with the regular dose, that will help him, and stalling gives him a chance to rise into safer numbers.
 
Think I may have a bounce moving to 2.5u. I'll see in the morning but won't be available to test in the afternoon so if low or high I don't want to adjust too much. Still hoping to see an improvement by the end of next week before I decide to get more prozinc or move to lantus.
 
I think you're still quite safe to do your next increase assuming a typical pre-shot tomorrow. However, it looks like at 1.5, 1.75, and 2.25 it was the third or fourth cycle that ended up being long, so you may end up with a lower-than-normal pre-shot tomorrow. If that does happen and you can stall in the morning then you could shoot the 2.5 again, and then increase in the evening.
 
I think the increase was needed and not premature. It's great to see some improvement, but remember that you're aiming from blues and greens, so there is still a ways to go. Keeping the increases coming steadily is important to get him into safer numbers. You're doing a great job!
 
It's great to see a couple of yellows appearing! If you feel ready for it, I think you can safely raise to 3.0u. His evening cycles are still looking inverted and he has plenty of room to drop still.
 
206 AMPS!!! I'll see at +3 or +4 tonight. I think I'll go ahead and re-up on prozinc instead of moving to lantus. He was active out in the front all day today. Even swatted at our rat terrier when he got up in his face. Usually he just cowers and runs so good signs. Might be looking at possibly a slightly higher dosage at evenings vs morning with the numbers we seem to get?
 
What!??! That's awesome!!! I might recommend getting a +2 tonight since you shot the full dose on a 206. His history of long cycles that end up high make it unlikely he'll drop, but since this is the lowest you've shot it would be good to check earlier than later.

It's great to hear he was out and more active today!

You may end up with different doses, but I would wait until we start to see some blues or greens at mid-cycle before you do that. It's not uncommon to spend some time in this journey with an AM dose and a PM dose.
 
I'm thinking hold the 3.0U unless he gives you another low 200 PS. This might be bounce cycle 2, and they can last up to 6 ;) but we'll see what the others think.:)
 
The morning doses are trickier since you aren't home until +6, but at this point, I think you can pretty safely shoot 3u (we'll see after today's dose) into the high 200's, with maybe just a little reduction into the lower-mid 200's.

As far as separating into an AM dose and a PM dose: you don't want the two doses to get too far away from each other as it can cause one of the cycles to become unpredictable, however I've seen being off by 0.25 work pretty well. Again, I would wait until you're seeing a better reaction in at least one of the cycles before you split them, but if you really want to do it now, you'll need to hold both doses at 3.0u for three cycles, and then raise just the PM dose for three cycles, and then go back to raising both doses again. The reason I am suggesting waiting is that doing that slows the overall increase, and right now, I think Mason needs more insulin sooner rather than later. It's really not good for him to be in these high numbers for so long. So I would rather see him continue to do the AM/PM increases until we see some better numbers, and then do the increase on just the PM cycle at that point.

Also consider that we really don't know how low he's getting during the PM cycle right now, nor do we know where he's at during +3 of the AM cycle. That makes it hard to fairly compare the two cycles. It's possible that he's hitting yellows by +6 at night (most cats run lower at night than during the day), and it's possible that if we had +3's during the day, they would look just as inverted as the PM cycle +3's do. So that's another reason I would hold off -- the data isn't all that clear at this point. You could set an alarm for a couple of nights to try to grab a later cycle test during the PM cycle, or wait until there's a day when you can run another curve to get a clearer picture of if those two cycles are really that different.
 
I just wanted to check in and see how Mason's doing? And also, would it be possible to get a curve sometime this weekend? It looks like there is some bouncing happening based on your last two AMPS's, so might be helpful to get a peek along the curve.
 
I can try to get one tomorrow. Been busy with a work transfer, buying a house, and getting this house listed. I think I miss shot two nights ago so good to see better numbers today.
 
Ah! Now that 515 makes perfect sense! Yes, glad he's back in better numbers today. And huge congrats on the new house!!! Hopefully you're old one will go quickly!
 
Yeah, lots! Old house is a trailer home we own out right and lot so no big deal there. Job transfer is great and allows us to grow up some and have to be adults. Mason numbers are starting to get more predictable too. 239 PMPS
 
That's great on all counts! And two yellow pre-shots in a row is pretty fantastic. You're doing great keeping up with the steady increases too. Hopefully soon you'll hit a dose that will bring those mid-cycles down into healthier ranges.
 
Been cautious about raising and get a random 71 number tonight PMPS. Any thoughts? I gave food already and no shot, but may check in 30 minutes and do a small 1U if it bounces back up. Such a bizarre reading after testing at lunch at 300.

83 now 10 minutes after eating
 
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christobevii3 said:
Been cautious about raising and get a random 71 number tonight PMPS. Any thoughts? I gave food already and no shot, but may check in 30 minutes and do a small 1U if it bounces back up. Such a bizarre reading after testing at lunch at 300.
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It's a good idea to do another test right away when you get a totally unexpected result like that 71. You could go with your plan of giving a small dose.
 
137 at +2 so looks ok doubling and not going up like crazy. Hoping to see a 200 at +4 so don't have to worry tonight. Morning numbers will be interesting for dosing. Mason is still acting normal so not too worried right now.
 
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