Need help with very high glucose

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Rocky&ClaireCat

Rocky&ClaireCat

Member Since 2018
Hi there,

Can anyone look at Rocky's spreadsheet and tell me how I can get his glucose lower? We opened a new bottle of ProZinc the other night and then his number finally went down to 208 a few hours later, but now it's back up and hanging out there with each test. He's only on 1 unit 2x a day. A few times lately, I have given slightly over 1 unit. It didn't seem to matter. I am going to check him 6x a day over this long weekend to see if there's another pattern happening. FYI - he's almost 14. He has HCM and recently threw a clot. He has chronic pancreatitis, but that seems to have resolved lately. His diabetes was in remission but came back in October. He also has severe arthritis and short colon disease (half a colon), so lots of IBD-type things, but his diarrhea stopped with the heart meds we added in December. He's on a lot of meds. They are listed in the 2nd sheet of the spreadsheet - ProZinc, Enoxaparin, Furosemide, Spironolactone/Benazepril HcL/Pimodendan Anhydrous Suspension, Buprenorphrine as needed, Gabipentin, Flagyl, Budesonide, Pepcid, Zenequin, Cerenia, Psyllium, Clopidogrel. We stopped his leukeran treatments in early December b/c he was getting so sick from the treatment.

FYI - he eats Fancy Feast pate, freeze-dried chicken, and home-cooked meats from time to time (chicken, beef, turkey). There is food out 24/7. He is fairly active - walking all over the house, jumping up and down the cat tree and furniture, walking up the stairs (17 steps on each level), etc. Quality of life is good. He wasn't expected to survive the clot, but he was better in a couple of days. Now my concern is this crazy high glucose.

Also - he used to be over 20 lbs but is now only 9 lb 3 oz. He dropped as low as 8 lbs in early December when he was so sick (before the clot). He's held steady above 9 lbs for a couple weeks now and looks better.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ubKJ57V71zoFer95G283STbqz2WHTFb187zpq/pubhtml
 
Yes you are holding doses far too long,it does look like she needs increase. Can you do curves on a weekly basis? So hold the dose about 7 days, then do curve?

Can you also get more random tests in? Does not matter what times, but more spot checks when you are able would help. For example, I can't tell if she might b bouncing from lower numbers. Doesnt appear so, but can't say with certainty
 
I'd raise that dose to 1.5. If a dose is no longer effective than you don't want to wait too long before raising it or they could get insulin resistance.

Poor kitty sure is on a lot of stuff. He's super lucky to have you.


The best thing I've found for arthritis is adequan shots. My cat had acromegaly which caused severe arthritis. Adequan shots made a big difference and have her a much better quality of life.

That is a lot of weight to lose. Had the thyroid need checked recently?
 
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Hi @JanetNJ - He used to be on Adequan but it worsened his diarrhea something fierce, so we had to stop. He also had red laser acupuncture treatments in May and June of this past year, but his diarrhea was so out of control that I couldn't even take him anymore b/c it was leaking out his back end the entire time. Awful. That's all under control now, so we could resume the laser, I guess. His thyroid numbers are ok. The weight loss was from his short colon and possible SCL. We started chemo this fall and he did well for a little while and then started getting violently sick after every dose, so we stopped. He was literally up all night vomiting after each dose in Nov./Dec. It was just too much. That was around the time he threw the clot, as well, and there were more clots forming in his heart on the echo, so the cardiologist started all these cardiac meds. Those have helped his diarrhea a lot, since they dry up the fluids a bit. Since he has only half a colon, he's always had diarrhea b/c his colon can't pull out the water from the stool. Hence the psyllium husk powder. It's exhausting, but honestly, he seems no worse for the wear right now. He doesn't even realize he's sick and spends all his time trolling for food, sleeping, playing, chasing the other cats, and getting into paper bags, cabinets, boxes, etc. I forgot to mention that his general vet also said that we should just do comfort care at this point, but then the next day, he threw the clot, and I took him to the ER. I couldn't just let him die like that. The ER vets didn't expect him to survive, and told me the next day to come pick him up and take him home to die b/c he wouldn't even eat for them and diarrhea was just running out his back end 24/7. It as awful. Then we saw cardiologist the next day and he said he thought he wasn't that bad. However, we still have the possible SCL and acute pancreatitis going on, so while the heart might have a chance right now, if he really has lymphoma, we are living a day at a time. Oh - and he couldn't do a colonoscopy and biopsy b/c of his heart issue. (He can't have most anesthesia, and no guarantees that the anesthesia they would use wouldn't kill him, so I said no. His internists were not thrilled with my decision, but it wouldn't have changed how we treated it. He can't have prednisolone and the chemo made him sick. We tried.)
 
I just want to make sure I'm reading your spreadsheet correctly. It looks like there are days when you're shooting at times that are not 12-hours apart (e.g., 1/14 your AMPS was at 6:52 and your PMPS was at 4:05 and your AMPS was 7:00 on 1/15 and PMPS was at 4:30). So it looks like you're shooting 2 hours early in the PMs and 3 hours late in the AMs. This is likely contributing to some of the ups and downs in Rocky's numbers.

Given that Prozinc is a longer acting insulin, it's best if you can keep the shot times as close to 12-hours apart as possible. It provides greater consistency.
 
Thank you, @Sienne and Gabby (GA) . There have been times when it hasn't been exactly 12 hours. My schedule is a bit different every day. I will try to get it to be every 12 hours. I was told to shoot before he has supper, which is usually earlier than 12 hours, so that's why I was often shooting ProZinc at 430pm or 5pm some days. I can level it all out and stick with 6am and 6pm.
 
Prozinc is more forgiving than some of the other insulins, like Lantus, but I suspect you may see better results if you're closer to every 12 hours. Some cats do get long duration with Prozinc and if it's the case with Rocky, his numbers could drop when you least expect it due to the overlap between doses.
 
Thank you so much! I will try to keep it to exactly 12 hours apart. Thanks. The hard part is withholding the food for testing. He eats 24/7.
 
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