New member - Bouncing or not enough insulin | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

New member - Bouncing or not enough insulin

Csj18

New Member
Long story short my cat was diagnosed in May as a result of being on steroids for IBD.
Worked our way up to 4 units Vetsulin over the summer and then he was reading too low which lead to a reduction in insulin. It ended up with him being labeled in remission in August.

September he started drinking a lot of water at which point testing shows high BG and glucose in his urine. We started the Vetsulin again with .5 unit and have increased it up to the current 2 units over the month increasing each week.

With yesterday’s curve result the vet is going to tell me to up the dose again but I am worried he is actually rebounding/bouncing.

Sept 13 1 unit
Sept 21 1.5 unit
Sept 28 2 unit

I have been doing the curve at home with an Alphatrack 3. Yesterday’s curve was a new set of strips that control tested higher than the last set.

Due to the IBD he only eats Royal Canin Select PR (rabbit) wet food. He primarily eats off an on for about 2 hrs around the shot time and also eats midday. According to RC this food is 14%carbs.
 

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I assume you are in the US?

Vestulin isn't a great insulin for cats. It's made for dogs. In other countries, the same insulin is called Caninsulin. Have you ever discussed trying a different insulin with your vet? ProZinc and Lantus are two very good insulin choices for cats.

There's some sticky threads with info on Vetsulin here: Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH

My diabetic is also steroid induced from the steroid to treat the IBD. He's now on a different steroid (budesonide) which supposedly doesn't affect blood glucose levels like prednisolone does but every cat is different. For diet, he eats a commercial freeze dried raw food in rabbit and has novel protein canned food for snacks. 14% carbs is too much for a diabetic cat. You want 10% or less. Some IBD-friendly canned foods to try are Koha LID, Rawz, and Rayne. The few fillers, the better.

Were you testing blood glucose levels daily back in May until the remission in August?
 
Forgot to add he has been off steroids since the diagnosis in May.

We were taking him weekly for spot tests May thru June and then got our own meter. At that point we were able to see the drops to 70 during the day. We gradually reduced his dose until he received none by August.

I asked the vet about switching insulin and will be pursing that more now. They only have the Vetsulin in stock and we wanted to get him started.

It seems like his numbers keep going up with the dose increases which doesn’t make sense.

We tried Koha and it gave him horrible diarrhea.
 
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Lantus (glargine) can be bought at any pharmacy with a prescription from your vet. CVS, Walgreens, Costco, WalMart, etc.

ProZinc you might need to order from a veterinary pharmacy like the one at Chewy.com ProZinc is a U40 insulin so you need to use U40 syringes. There is a way to use U100 syringes but there's a conversion you need to do.

IBD cats and their sensitive tummies 😵‍💫 My cat will eat anything but not everything that he eats sits well with his tummy. He's got allergies to a lot of things, even random ones like goat milk. Feed whatever is low-ish in carbs that works for your cat's tummy. Do you give a probiotic as well?
 
Thank you! We were giving him FortiFlora but sometimes it made things worse.

Here’s his numbers from last week. I am not home during the day so I will test him before bed to see where he is after 3 hrs.

Mon 9/22 1.5 units am and pm
5am - 331
(shot 530)
4pm - 296
(Shot 530)
9pm - 271

Tues 9/23 1.5 unit in am , 2 unit in pm
5am - 337
(shot 530)
5pm -442
(Shot 530)
9pm - 288

Wed 9/24 2 units am and pm
5am - 369
(shot 530)
4pm -343
(Shot 530)
9pm - 291

Thurs 9.25 2 units am and pm
5am - 372
(shot 530)
4pm - 330
(Shot 530)

Fri 09/26 2 units am and pm
5am - 350
(shot 530)
4pm - 358
(Shot 530)

Sat 9/27 2 units am and pm
5am - 395
(shot 530)
12pm - 341
4pm - 402
(Shot 530)
8pm - 276

Sun 9/28 2 units am and pm
5am - 358
(shot 530)
8am - 284
11am - 395
230pm - 478
5pm - 411
(Shot 530)

Mon 9/29 2 units in am and pm
5am - 332
(shot 530)
4pm -423
(Shot 530)
 
FortiFlora isn't a very good probiotic to use. The CFU count of the one bacteria is too low. The only thing FortiFlora is good for is to get picky and inappetant cats to eat or try something new.

Visbiome is often suggested for IBD cats. Jarrow's S. boulardii with MOS is another one. Are you familiar with these two IBD web site?

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD - Healing can happen! - good section on probiotics and supplements

I'm not familiar enough with Vetsulin to advise on your cat's numbers. Maybe @Suzanne & Darcy and @Sienne and Gabby (GA) can help.
 
FortiFlora isn't a very good probiotic to use. The CFU count of the one bacteria is too low. The only thing FortiFlora is good for is to get picky and inappetant cats to eat or try something new.

Visbiome is often suggested for IBD cats. Jarrow's S. boulardii with MOS is another one. Are you familiar with these two IBD web site?

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD - Healing can happen! - good section on probiotics and supplements

I'm not familiar enough with Vetsulin to advise on your cat's numbers. Maybe @Suzanne & Darcy and @Sienne and Gabby (GA) can help.
Thank you!

I just talked to the vet and we are going to switch him to ProZinc.
 
Thank you!

I just talked to the vet and we are going to switch him to ProZinc.
Hi! I will try to catch up with your thread today. I will be happy to help you with the ProZinc. I’m not available much today as I have to travel several hours to take a cat for a consult with University Internal Medicine specialists. I may have some down/waiting time today and will catch up on your thread if I do.
 
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