NEED HELP -- Priscilla ate some Fancy Feast!!

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Marlingirl

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Thanks to everyone who posted with advice. After about an hour and a half of trying different flavors and combos, I got Prissy to eat about 1.5 oz of Fancy Feast tender beef classic. Considering she had to skip her morning dose of ProZinc, I think it's ok to give her a half unit, which is her normal doseage. She was at 2 units in hospital, dropped to 1 after the first day, now at 1/2 - does anyone think I should drop her lower than the half unit? I'm on hold for the vet at this moment, but I don't think anyone but the techs are in at the moment.
 
So glad she ate. I am attaching your previous post so people know what you are dealing with: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=19427

If I were you, I would give her the 1/2 unit of insulin. But, we really need to get you hometesting. With all her issues, it is scary to be shooting blind. Have you tried it? What could we do to help?
 
hi there,

I'm sorry I don't know about Prozinc dosing...might help to add PRO ZINC DOSE Q to your subject line to get quick attention.

good news that she ate thou!
 
Wow you guys are fast! Thanks so much -- I did get a vet tech from the specialist's office on the phone (they're open 24/7 for emergencies, too!) and she knows Prissy and has been helping me with her issues with food. She told me she had eaten enough and to stick with the 1/2 unit -- the ProZinc is in and Prissy is snuggled up in her bed. I'm leaving out a greenie or 2 and I have the Karo standing by, but I'm leaving her a couple of pieces of dry k/d, just in case. Her ketodiastix showed glucose for the first time since I started using them (Wednesday, I think -- the days are running together feeding to feeding, shot to shot) but it was the first color after negative and no ketones. Keeping my fingers crossed for an uneventful night. Thanks again.
 
Sue and Oliver said:
So glad she ate. I am attaching your previous post so people know what you are dealing with: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=19427

If I were you, I would give her the 1/2 unit of insulin. But, we really need to get you hometesting. With all her issues, it is scary to be shooting blind. Have you tried it? What could we do to help?
Click to expand...


I would LOVE to start hometesting, but I need someone to show me how. I've watched the videos and I understand how the curve works -- but I need someone to sit with me and Priscilla and really help me do it the first time so I get it right. I'm very math-challenged, and these spreadsheets are intimidating, to say the least. I think my regular vet might be willing to teach me and I will call on Monday and ask. I think the specialist will charge me $$$$ to do it in-house and with that painful UTI and the recent onset of blindness, she's got enough stress for now. And I'm MORE than stressed...
 
Glad to hear she ate some food for you.
Not eating is extremely stressful.

What area are you in. City/State is fine. Maybe there is a member near by that can come over
and help you with the testing. It does seem daunting at first but it does get easier.
Have you tried at all?

Also, don't let the spreadhsheets scare you. They are all set up, you just have to
enter in your Bg (blood glucose) numbers.
I am not familiar with prozinc as we were using Lantus.
 
From what I have learned and from what a wise member once said - a diabetic cat always needs insulin, no matter if they eat or not. Eating/not eating only effects how much insulin you give.

Odds are that 0.5u of Prozinc twice a day is going to be an ok starting dose until you can start to learn testing on Monday. But for her long term safety and regulation, it is really important that you learn to do it. Hopefully someone will live near you or can maybe coach you over the phone? Would that be a viable option for you?
 
I hate to comment on dosing, but I think the amount of food eaten DOES affect whether the shot should be given -- and especially when one is not testing. You can be in control if you are testing -- you keep your supply kit of high carb food available for emergencies -- but if you are not testing, you just don't know how Priscilla is reacting.

You'll feel much better when you start testing! I'm sure you'll get the help you need.
 
Yes, give us your city/state, and we'll do our best to find you a person to sit and show you how to do this.

I can set up your spreadsheet and then hand it over to you if you want. Just send me a PM. Click on that PM button on the right------>
 
Hi -- thank you so much. I'm in Miami. I've contacted my neighbors and friends who are cat lovers/owners and none of them has experience with diabetes, especially when coupled with CKD. Every case truly is different. Thank God I have great vets, but I think their techs are tired of my constant phone calls. I have also communicated daily with a friend in VA who has had multiple cats over the years with every kind of illness, but she's too far away to show me the ropes.

I felt much relieved this morning when I heard her get up on her own and hit the litter box. I ran in and stuck a ketodiastix under her and got negatives on both ketones and glucose. I gave her the baytril and I did get her to lick an ice cube, so at least I chased the pill pocket. I left some dry k/d out for her overnight but she hasn't eaten any nor has she drunk any water. I gave her a mix of canned k/d and fancy feast, but she didn't eat anything, so I put it away and will put it out again in a couple of hours.

I feel less pressured today since I don't have to give her another shot until tonight. I was able to sleep a little longer without having to jump out of bed and force her to eat and worry about whether she'd eaten enough so I could give her the insulin on schedule. Phew! I might actually be able to get out of the house to get some groceries today!!
 
Hopefully, there is a member here in the Miami area who can help you learn to home test. Have you gotten a meter yet? If not, Walmart's Relion meters are a good choice, the meter and the test strips are reasonably priced and accurate. There are other choices, look for a meter that has inexpensive test strips as that is your biggest ongoing cost.

Kelly made a good point, insulin is important even if the cat isn't eating. From what I understand, the risk of ketones is higher if the cat isn't eating, so that is a concern. However, there's no way to know what a safe dose is if you have no data about how the insulin works in your cat. That's why home testing is so important....it gives you the data you need to make those kinds of decisions.

Are you able to leave food down for Priscilla? If so, you can add water to the Fancy Feast and leave it out for her. The extra water is good for her, and it will keep the food fresh longer. I think you said she is a grazer, so I would leave the wet food down for her to graze on. It's ok for her to eat when she wants to, you don't have to limit her to eating on a schedule.
 
Some other ideas to make the Fancy Feast more enticing: put parmesan cheese on it, heat it up in the microwave until nice and stinky, pour tuna juice on top.
 
I left her a mix of k/d wet and fancy feast alongside her water bowl and another bowl of k/d dry with 2 greenie treats on top. I went out for a couple of hours and when I got home, she had peed in her litter box, eaten some of the wet food and had drunk some water!! I took the wet food away (so she'll eat again when I need to give her insulin later on) and that was a couple of hours ago. As I'm typing, she just walked out of the closet and went straight to her dry food and ate a little bit -- wow! She's due for her only insulin of the day at 9:30 tonight -- can I go a little earlier?? It'll be 24 hours by then -- I;m boiling some chicken breast to add to the wet food and hoping she'll eat enough for 1/2 unit of insulin.

You guys are great to help me out -- I appreciate it. I know the dry food is verboten, but at least she's grazing, which makes me happy -- and since clearing up the UTI and diet for CKD seems to be the priority.... think I'm doing the right thing.
 
That is great she is eating. I think with the other issues, right now any kind of food is important.

The insulin should be given, ideally, every 12 hours. So if you can set up a 12 hour schedule that will work for you, you can give it at a time that will work. (If it has been 24 hours, the insulin previously given will most likely be out of her system.) Are you still doing 1/2 unit?

But again, we have to get you hometesting. Have you gotten a meter yet?

We can do this over the internet; we have lots of times with other newbies. You read the stuff and watch the video. Get all the tips to help. Give it a try and come back on for more ideas. That's how we learned how. Or if you want someone to call and talk you through it, we could do that too. I don't know if we have someone in Miami to actually come over.
 
Sue and Oliver said:
That is great she is eating. I think with the other issues, right now any kind of food is important.

The insulin should be given, ideally, every 12 hours. So if you can set up a 12 hour schedule that will work for you, you can give it at a time that will work. (If it has been 24 hours, the insulin previously given will most likely be out of her system.) Are you still doing 1/2 unit?

But again, we have to get you hometesting. Have you gotten a meter yet?

We can do this over the internet; we have lots of times with other newbies. You read the stuff and watch the video. Get all the tips to help. Give it a try and come back on for more ideas. That's how we learned how. Or if you want someone to call and talk you through it, we could do that too. I don't know if we have someone in Miami to actually come over.
Click to expand...


Thanks, Sue == she's been more eager to eat on her own -- a few more kibbles just now, and some warm fancy feast, too. I have some boiled chicken ready so I can get some more into her in the next half hour or so. Every 12 hours was nuts... I'm doing 1/2 unit once at night until the vet tells me otherwise. They sent some bloodwork out yesterday so I'm waiting to hear how that all turns out. She's letting me feed her, so I know she's getting more food -- phew!
 
Well, she is on a small amount. But really insulin is generally only good for 12 hours. So she will feel okay for that first 12 hours and then feel crummy for the next 12 hours. Sort of like a roller coaster. It would be better to split the dose and give it every 12 hours.

Again - yes, I am a nag - if you knew her bg levels, you would be able to see exactly how the insulin is affecting her over a 23 hour period.
 
The dose of ProZinc she is on is small...the typical starting dose is 1 unit BID. As long as she is eating something, I would give her the insulin. She doesn't necessarily have to eat a certain amount at the time you give the dose, either. I'm sure the vet told you to feed her twice a day, when you give the shots, but some cats are grazers and only eat little bits at a time....and that's ok too. I would let her eat whenever she wants. If there is food down, and her BG starts to drop low from the insulin, most cats will go and eat, the drop makes them hungry.

BTW, you could have given the shot early tonight. Since you didn't give the shot this morning, you could have given it at any time today. As Sue said, the insulin lasts about 12 hours, so the last dose was out of her system this morning. It would be fine IMO to give the two shots per day, 1/2 unit each, as long as she is eating something. I understand you wanting to check with the vet though. It won't hurt to wait and talk to the vet tomorrow.
 
Hi everyone! Talked to Prissy's internist this morning. He wants me to put her back on 1 unit of ProZinc twice a day as soon as I see glucose in her urine using the ketodiastix. Since she's back to her grazing, I'll have to wait and catch her in the litter box and see how it looks. He told me if there are 2 negative tests in a row, to drop her to 1/2 unit twice a day. So now I'm getting anxious again... I'm confined to the house making sure she eats enough so I can give her the shot tonight, after not having any insulin since Sunday night. She's still uncomfortable from the UTI and I KNOW that's putting a strain on her -- maybe these elevated glucose levels are from the infection?? Maybe she's not diabetic? I don't know what to think anymore -- I'm stressed, she's stressed, and after feeling so good having her OFF the ProZinc and eating/drinking/peeing normally, I'm back to feeling like crap. I wish I could just leave her alone so the antibiotics can work on her infection and get her insides back to normal.
@#@$^%(&*_$)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laurie
 
Laurie,

The ketodiastix will show if there is sugar in the urine, but it is not going to give you accurate, or timely, information about where her BG levels are. Her BG levels can still be quite elevated with a negative urine test, and the test tells you if the BG was elevated in the past, not present. It is far from ideal to try to adjust dosage based on urine tests. If you had a cat that was very difficult to test and it was the only way to monitor, I could see using that method. Using a glucometer is far more accurate and gives you immediate information about what the BG level is now.

Did you discuss home testing with the vet? Many vets will discourage you from home testing. Mine did, I told her I was going to do it anyway. ;-) Now, when I take my spreadsheet in, she is happy to see it and is pretty impressed with how well Tinkles is doing. My vet works with me to help ME manage Tinkles' diabetes.

ProZinc should not be adjusted by half units, IMO. Smaller adjustments are better, no more than 0.25u at a time. Small adjustments often give you big results with ProZinc.

I'm glad to hear that Priscilla is eating, but you really don't have to stay home to make sure she is eating! You will be less stressed if you can test her and KNOW that her BG is fine. Please consider home testing, it really will help you reduce your stress (and Priscilla's too!) If it will help, I will be happy to PM you my phone number. I would be happy to talk to you over the phone, even coach you on testing over the phone. I wish I was closer so I could help you in person!
 
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