? New Member- Bouncing? Help!

[Toriable]

Hey everyone! My kitty-baby, Banksy, was diagnosed in July of 2022. I managed to figure out how to take care of him for the most part. The only problem is he has never really been regulated? Then, this past Saturday (1/9) he scared the ever living hell out of me. He dropped to 50 and started acting a little lethargic, so I panicked and gave him corn syrup. My friend is a vet and told me I should feed him every hour and re-test. After 2-3 hours he shot up to like 450?! I'm not sure what is wrong. The vet reduced his 3.5u to 3.0, so that's what I've been giving him.

I have his recent numbers in the spreadsheet. Tonight, he was like 105, so we skipped the insulin. Now he has bounced again. What should I do? Should I give him a half dose, or what?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Are you feeding Banksy 1/2 hour before you are giving the dose of vetsulin? it is really important that he has food aboard before the insulin hits.
And are you giving him snacks during the cycles as well as the preshot meals? This will help stop the fast drops he is getting that are causing the bouncing.
I would also recommend you get at least one test during every pm cycle as cats often drop lower at night.
Are you leaving food out for him at night?
Vetsulin is not really a very good insulin for cats…it is really a dog insulin. Cats have a much faster metabolism than dogs and the insulin does not last 12 hours.
Lantus and prozinc are much better insulins for cats and I think after 6 months on vetsulin, you would be much better swapping to one of those insulins I mentioned. He is much more likely to become regulated on one of those.
Not much data in the SS yet, but you need to reduce the dose down to 2.75u with that drop to 87.
Any drop under 90 should result in a dose reduction.
I would try the 2.75 U dose to see if you can shoot both cycles. If not you might need to reduce further.
I will tag @FrostD as she has used vetsulin for her opinion.

Keep asking questions ​

 

[FrostD]

Welcome!

(Sorry for brevity, trying to get everyone some quick guidance)

I agree with Bron. Give the 2.75U a try and see if you can shoot that consistently (if BG is high enough).

 

[Toriable]

Hi!

Thank you for your response. We feed Banksy at 5am/5pm, and he receives his insulin 30 minutes later. We were never told snacks were an option. In fact, we were discouraged from feeding him at all between doses.

I am getting a second opinion today from a different vet. Were hoping to get a FreeLibre on him to be constantly testing. My husband also did a curve for me today, so I think that info should be on the spreadsheet. I will also try to talk to the vet about changing his insulin. I read up on Vetsulin, and I think you're right. I don't think it's as long acting.