Hi Everyone,
I’ve been treating my cat, Milo with Prozinc since April 2017. My husband and I rescued him in February 2016 after he was abandoned by his previous owners. As far as we know, he’s around 11 or 12 years old and he weighs 7.4 kg. He was well controlled (based on fructosamine levels) until December 2018.
Recently, we used a Freestyle Libre sensor to better understand his blood glucose on Prozinc. His fructosamine was high at 3.5 units twice daily and at 4 units twice daily, his blood glucose plummets 4-6 hours after his dose. 2 weeks later, we’ve found that his levels fluctuate a lot throughout the day and night. In the mornings, he is often over 27 mmol/L (486 mg/dL) and he had 2 hypoglycaemic events in two weeks: one at night and one while my husband and I were at work.
After a couple of long conversations with his vet, I’ve been told that his numbers are good enough and that he’s probably a patient that will need to be monitored based on clinical signs. He is happy and healthy overall but I worry about the stress on his body with such fluctuations. I’ve been pushing to change his insulin to Lantus in hopes that his BG levels won’t rise and plummet so much but I’m not sure if that’s the best option for him.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post. I really appreciate any guidance/support you can offer.
I’ve been treating my cat, Milo with Prozinc since April 2017. My husband and I rescued him in February 2016 after he was abandoned by his previous owners. As far as we know, he’s around 11 or 12 years old and he weighs 7.4 kg. He was well controlled (based on fructosamine levels) until December 2018.
Recently, we used a Freestyle Libre sensor to better understand his blood glucose on Prozinc. His fructosamine was high at 3.5 units twice daily and at 4 units twice daily, his blood glucose plummets 4-6 hours after his dose. 2 weeks later, we’ve found that his levels fluctuate a lot throughout the day and night. In the mornings, he is often over 27 mmol/L (486 mg/dL) and he had 2 hypoglycaemic events in two weeks: one at night and one while my husband and I were at work.
After a couple of long conversations with his vet, I’ve been told that his numbers are good enough and that he’s probably a patient that will need to be monitored based on clinical signs. He is happy and healthy overall but I worry about the stress on his body with such fluctuations. I’ve been pushing to change his insulin to Lantus in hopes that his BG levels won’t rise and plummet so much but I’m not sure if that’s the best option for him.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post. I really appreciate any guidance/support you can offer.
My cat was NOT into home testing when I started trying and she was a little nightmare. But most cats are very trainable if you stick to a routine and find a reward they like, which for my kitty is treats! If your cat is particularly difficult like mine was, or even just needs some persuading to cooperate, a good place to start is with establishing a routine and getting them used to the testing process. So you could rub his ears a few times with a treat, hold him in place for a few seconds (my cat’s least favorite part) with a treat, etc. That way he associates test time with positive things. And I say treats, but it’s whatever reward works for your cat. Some cats like brushing, others like pets.