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Lori18130

Member Since 2021
Hello all! My cat Dexter was diagnosed in December of 2020. He had been eating prescription Hill's c/d after having a urinary blockage 3 years ago. My vet told me not to change his food and started him on Prozinc. I was taking him to the vet every two weeks and we kept going up on his insulin. We were up to 5 units twice a day and his number at the vet was still right at 250. So, I found all this board and started trying to figure out what to do. I switched his food to Friskies pate and he gets a can in the am and a can at night. At first I did leave out his dry food because he has a non-diabetic sister who refuses to eat any wet food and also does not eat on a schedule like he does. His sugar was in the 30s, so I quickly realized how important home testing was. I got rid of the c/d and switched to Young Again Mature Zero and I started testing before each meal. The vet had me lower his dose. We settled on 1.5 Units twice a day. I took him to the vet for a curve because I really didn't want to have to do it at home, but his numbers were so much higher than they had been so I know he was too stressed for it to be accurate. My vet didn't think it would make that much of a difference and wanted me to increase to 3 units, but I said no and that I wanted to do my own curve first. She agreed to that and after I did it told me to keep him at 1.5 Units. She also told me not to give him any insulin if his sugar is less than 150. What do you think? If you can see my spreadsheet (which is awesome, by the way - thanks!!!), should I be keeping him at 1.5 Units or increase to 2 Units? How often would you do a curve? And what should be my threshold for not giving any insulin vs. should I just decrease the dose for less than 150?
Thank you all so much!
 
Welcome to the FDMB! Great job getting the spreadsheet going and home testing! It will also help if you'll go ahead and fill out your "Signature" (the information you see below all our comments and where you put your spreadsheet link). Basic information we like to have is:
Your name/cat's name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health issues or meds? and then the link to your spreadsheet.....that way we don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again.

Lori18130 said:
should I be keeping him at 1.5 Units or increase to 2 Units?
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The 1.5U dose took him to 83 (which is a nice safe number) so I'd hold there for now. Usually at first, a drop below 90 would earn him a reduction of .25 but if you're able to test more often, I think I'd stay at 1.5. Others may have differing opinions.

Lori18130 said:
How often would you do a curve?
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If you can test whenever you want to, there's no real reason you need to do an "official" curve. If you can, test several times on the AM cycle and at least a couple times on the PM cycle. If you think of your spreadsheet like it's a puzzle, each test you get is like filling in a piece of the puzzle. The more pieces you have sprinkled around, the easier it is to figure out what the puzzle picture is. Also, it's very important to be getting tests on the PM cycle too. Most cats go lower at night so it's not only important for safety, without tests on the PM cycle, you're missing half the puzzle picture!
If you can't test whenever you want, you'll want to do an official curve at least once a week. That's testing every 2 hours for 12 hours or every 3 hours for 18 hours.

Lori18130 said:
And what should be my threshold for not giving any insulin vs. should I just decrease the dose for less than 150?
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At first, if his PS is below 150 you can try stalling, don't feed and test again in 20-30 minutes to see if the number goes up. If it does that's a pretty good indication that the last shot is starting to wear off and it's OK to shoot the scheduled dose. Use that stall time to post with a clear subject line like "STALLING! NEED HELP!" to get somebody's attention (you can go back and edit the subject line after you have help).

Depending on your ability to test and experience, you may also choose to give a reduced dose or skip.

One important thing to know is that we have a tradition here. If someone encourages you to shoot a lower PS than you're used to, they agree to stay online and watch for updates (even if it means staying up all night with you). We will not tell you to shoot a lower PS and then disappear! Whoever signs on to watch you will be waiting for updates to make sure both your cat and you are doing OK.
 
please fill out your signature , it is at the end of everyones post in gray just so we don't have to ask you the same questions over again. Go all the way to the top and click on your name
Make sure your signature is up-to-date.
  • On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.
 
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