New member, need some guidance

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Soozie B.

Member Since 2014
Just joined today at the urging of some of the members also on IBDkitties. 15 yo Duncan has been treated for the last 5 yrs for IBD. She was pretty well maintained on 1 mg budesonide 1/day until last fall when she went to 1 mg 2/day. BGs were elevated back then. I switched her to low carb wet food then after finding Dr. Piersons food chart. This spring was very unsettled as I tried multiple things in an attempt to reduce the budesonide, to no avail. Pro zinc was started in April, 1u/twice a day. IBD out of control until a few weeks ago when I began s. Boulardii, probiotics and switching pretty much to raw. She is free fed. She is still on 1 mg budesonide, 1/4 Pepcid and 1 u pro zinc twice/day. She has gained weight, up to about 8.5 lb. but still has periodic vomiting (once q3-4 days). I have the Up and Up bg meter by On Sync. Tested her BG today at +7--->245. Only tore up her ear slightly. :o Where or where do I go from here?
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

How was the IDB diagnosed?
Sometimes IBD can turn in intestinal lymphoma. If so the the Budesonide really does not do anything.
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

She had extensive blood work and US done a month ago. No change on US from 4 yrs ago, blood work/GI panel all good. She was never scoped for the IBD. Makes me wonder if the IBD is not all food related. Not sure about the budesonide encouraging diabetes. Anybody?
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

TAn US can't really tell between IBD and lymphoma. A biopsy is required.
I have treated four already-diabetic kitties with budesonide. For most of them it required increasing their insulin. I have not heard of budesonide causing diabetes. It did not with my Spot. But then again if the cat was on the edge it could push it over the edge.
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

Welcome to the FDMB extra sweet Duncan! Do we call you Soozie?

I can't help with the IBD much, but I do know you've been working with the raw group on Facebook and hopefully it'll continue helping her out!

As for the diabetes, that's something the people here can help with! ProZinc is a good insulin for cats, so it may be that you just haven't gotten to a "good dose" yet.

I know when you first start testing, it can be a challenge, but we can help with that too....Are you heating up her ear before you try poking? A small pill bottle with some warm water will both heat up her ear and give you something hard to poke against. Another popular thing a lot of people use is a small sock with a little rice in it. Microwave for 15 seconds or so and hold it against the ear to warm it up before poking. Test the temperature on whatever you use like you'd test a baby's bottle...against the inside part of your wrist.

What size lancets are you using? Most lancets that come with meters or lancet devices come with 33 gauge lancets. These are too tiny for new ears. Find some that are marked for "alternate site testing" that are 26 or 28 gauge. They make a bigger hole to start with. As her ears are poked more, they'll "learn to bleed" and it'll get a lot easier. The more they're poked, the more new capillaries her ears will grow so they'll be a better blood supply.

Here are some more good Ear testing tips to try.

Now for the insulin...again, ProZinc is a good insulin, but before we could help with the dosing, we'd need for you to start a spreadsheet so we can see how she's doing. Here's How to get a spreadsheet and link into your signature. If you have trouble with it, let us know. We have several people who can help you get it going

Let us know what else we can do to help you!
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

Do different insulins require more or less frequent testing? Duncan is almost done with her first vial of prozinc and I'm wondering if we want to change. Do I understand that with prozinc testing is suggested AMPS, PMPS and ~ +6? I live alone and testing is a challenge to say the least. She also has IBD flares so I'm guessing that's why we were started on prozinc since it's slow acting. The last few days seem to be better, having switched to mostly raw and adding s Boulardii and probiotics. I am hoping to be able to reduce the budesonide (currently 1 mg twice/day). Which insulin would be most forgiving in this transition? I'm not getting many responses so I'm guessing this is the management nightmare that I feared.
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

Testing is realy the same. You really want to take some reading at about 6 hours after shot, yjr time when BG would expected to be lower. Also, you want to less periodically do a curve, take every two hours to really determine what is going on.
 
Re: IBD and diabetes

Testing is really the same. You really want to take some reading at about 6 hours after shot, yjr time when BG would expected to be lower. Also, you want to less periodically do a curve, take every two hours to really determine what is going on.
 
I don't think one insulin is going to be any better than another in regards to the IBD

Treating the diabetes is totally different than the IBD other than finding a low carb food and being able to transition without causing more problems with the IBD

We generally suggest that if you're using one of the insulins that's good for cats (ProZinc, Lantus or Levemir) that you give them 6 months of the correct dosing protocol for that insulin. If you're still not getting the numbers you want, it might be time to try another insulin

Now again, I'm not an expert in IBD but I've learned a lot about it since being here. I just don't think that there's an answer to your question about a "better insulin" for IBD cats because they're two totally different diseases

As for testing, no matter which insulin you use, you're going to want to always get pre-shot tests. After that, we do like to see at least 2 other tests per day...One somewhere mid-cycle on the AM cycle and a "before bed" test on the PM cycle. They don't necessarily need to be at +6 every cycle and actually it's better to kind of vary them some

Of course the more tests you can get the better (we'll never say "that's too much data"!!) but we do have people who work full time jobs and still do the testing....they just do a test as they walk out the door in the morning and another one as they come in at night as well as the Pre-shot tests and "before bed" tests...whatever they can work out with their work schedule!

On weekends or days off, they test at different times than they can during the week so it starts to fill in the picture better.
 
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