Need advice on increasing Morlei's dose

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Becky & Morlei

Becky & Morlei

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Hello everyone!
This is my first venture out of the main forum and into the PZI Support Group forum. I need some advice on possibly changing the dosage for my kitty, Morlei. Please take a look at my spreadsheet, we just did a 12 hour curve yesterday and I'd like to know what to do in terms of going up in dosage. My vet told us to do 3u of ProZinc twice daily and that's what she got at the vet the first day, but after coming on here we took it down to 0.5u twice daily. I believe that her dose needs to go up but I want everyone's advice on how much to go up/how much extra testing to do/anything else I need to do or watch for. I've seen in some posts that they say go up by 0.25 but in the "start low-go slow" doc I read it said to increase by 0.5 if the lowest point is above 150, Morlei's was 182. During this curve, she was only fed before each shot and had one freeze dried chicken treat after each test. She has had no dry food since 1/5/12 am meal. I am off of work tomorrow, just have to run a few errands, so I'll be able to test her frequently on her first day of a higher dosage.
I also saw on the start low-go slow doc that PZI may be suitable for cats who free feed. All four cats were free fed dry food until we got the dx with Morlei. Now they're on 2 meals of wet/1-2 snacks per day but I don't believe the others cats are taking to it very well. What is everyone's opinion on free feeding with 1 sugarcat who loves wet food and 3 civvies who are very used to free fed dry food and only eat small amounts of wet at meal time? I'm concerned that they are not eating enough. Thanks!!
 
I can't speak with any authority on the matter, but my experience in the PZI group is that there are several people who have been around the block a few times and will be able to offer you some excellent advice.

How is Morlei feeling lately? Have you noticed an increase or decrease in his litter box contents? Any weight gain or decrease? The reason I ask is that, to me, those numbers don't look bad. It would certainly be nice to see more blue, but if he's in yellow most of the time and he's otherwise healthy, I think you're probably headed in the right direction. In that case, increasing by 0.25 and letting it simmer for a few days would be reasonable. Now, if he's still drinking a ton of water and filling his litter box, or if he's still losing weight, then I can see where you might want to be more aggressive. I'm looking forward to what others have to say, though, because your Morlei and my Melville have similar numbers.

By the way, can you link to the "start low, go slow" document? The one I remember reading was for lantus, not PZI. I'd like to read through it.
 
Good morning! cat_pet_icon

Looking at your spreadsheet...thank goodness you're not still doing the 3u bid! Whew! Good on you! I can see where there is room for upping the dose, but I would do small increases, and hold the increase for at least a few cycles before changing it again unless the numbers drastically reduce. Can you up the dose by .2 or .25u? I wouldn't feel comfortable upping it more than that at a time since you could miss what works best for Morlei. His numbers are not bad and you are close! :smile: And we do try to err on the side of avoiding hypos. :smile:

Oh, and welcome to PZI! :-D

As far as feeding, there are folks who free feed, and those that don't. You'll need to do what works best for you. Having said that, leaving out dry kibble will not help Morlei as dry is higher in carbs. My civvie kitty, Mia, was not keen on 2x a day wet feeding and only nibbled the first couple of days. She eats with gusto now that she's figured out that is what is offered. I know it's tough to watch our kitties being hungry, but I also know we care about our fuzzies and want what is best for them.

If you want to feed more than 2x a day, there are automatic feeders you could look into. :smile:
 
Hi and welcome to our group!

You have gotten great advise already, and I agree that increasing by .2 or .25 is the way to go, especially if you will be home to test mid cycle to see the results.

I look forward to getting to know you and Morlei better and I'm glad you joined us here.

Robin
 
ericbakes said:
I can't speak with any authority on the matter, but my experience in the PZI group is that there are several people who have been around the block a few times and will be able to offer you some excellent advice.

How is Morlei feeling lately? Have you noticed an increase or decrease in his litter box contents? Any weight gain or decrease? The reason I ask is that, to me, those numbers don't look bad. It would certainly be nice to see more blue, but if he's in yellow most of the time and he's otherwise healthy, I think you're probably headed in the right direction. In that case, increasing by 0.25 and letting it simmer for a few days would be reasonable. Now, if he's still drinking a ton of water and filling his litter box, or if he's still losing weight, then I can see where you might want to be more aggressive. I'm looking forward to what others have to say, though, because your Morlei and my Melville have similar numbers.

By the way, can you link to the "start low, go slow" document? The one I remember reading was for lantus, not PZI. I'd like to read through it.
Click to expand...

She isn't sleeping by the water bowl and drinking it out of it constantly like she was before the dx. I think there is a decrease in the litter box, I'm not scooping huge amounts of urine anymore. As for weight, she pretty much looks the same, a little scrawny in my opinion but that's because she was overweight and so darn fluffy before. She's about 13.2 pounds, so she only lost about 1.8 pounds before we caught the diabetes.
Here's the start low, go slow link. It was in the PZI sticky...it looks like it's pretty generic so you may have read it, but I was interested in the fact that it said PZI (and Lantus now that I went back and re-read it) may be more suitable for a cat that free feeds.
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/SLGS.html
 
Welcome Morlei and ???

Great you didn't heed the vet's advice to start at 3.0 units. Morlei's numbers don't look bad at all. I have found with my Alex that I really need to hold a dose for more than just a few days to see how he's going to react.
 
Hello Ginny and Alex! My name is Becky. Sorry, I realize now I should have put my name in my username rather than using the one I always use. I will definitely hold the 0.75u until next weekend and probably do another curve before going up to 1.0u. I feel bad pricking her little ears so much but I keep trying to tell myself that a kitty with sore ears is better than a kitty with dangerously high or low numbers!
 
Hi BEcky and Morlei and Welcome!
Looks like you 2 are doing great
I am ussually on in the early morings monday -friday anyway
I will check out your SS later, just want ed to say welcome!
 
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