New Prozinc kitty .....HELP!

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kse

kse

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Okay Friends, I have us a new Prozinc Cat to add to our familly. AND, no I am not talking about Barbara's stray!

This is a kind of a cool story......while trying to generate votes for our boy Asher, I sent out some emails to some/a lot of people. Yesterday, I got a very nice reply from one of the emails form a local lady. Her cat is diabetic and she is very concerned about his condition. She asked for more information about FD and we exchanged a few emails. SO........here is the story........

She has a 7 year old 15 pound male cat, names Risky, that was dx about 3 months ago (I think that is right) and he is on.....sit down.....8 Units of Prozinc bid. He is eating dry Science Diet and is continuing to have excessive unrination and excessive drinking. He has lost about 4 pounds and she says he looks "bad".....She said that she thinks he was originally started on 2 or 2.5 units of Prozinc bid and the vet has continually raised his dose. She said his bgs at the vet are higher everytime he goes to get checked. In fact he went today for a test---$65! (different vet than mine)

I told her to BREATHE!!!!!! :mrgreen:

This lady is great! I explained hometesting, diet change etc---she said the vet had never discussed any of this with her. So, today she went to get a meter, strips, lancets and ketostix. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to her house to teach her how to hometest. I know she needs to make a diet change and reduce the insulin and that it needs to be done gradually. But, I have invited her to join us, so we can help her as a group. I know we can help her and she is ready, willing, and able!

I will be assisting her (don't hold it against her when she posts!), so I am going to tell her to skip Health and come directly to PZI!

I would appreciate any advice based on what I have already provided you, so I can begin sharing it with her. My biggest concern is how to manage the diet change and insulin reduction. Obviously, if she just changes the diet and he is on 8 units.....BAD, BAD......So, how do you think we should go about the diet change and dose reduction.

Hopefully, she will join our group tomorrow night! Thanks in advance for welcoming her and Risky to our group!
 
Oh Dear!

good thing you found her!
uuummmm...where to start? 8 units! :shock:
obviously start withthe food, but how do you reduce from 8?
I honestly dont know...would you want to miss a shot or 2 (I know!)
to try to ......wwhat....ok ..
**** sorry dont know what to say on this one....

I think I wil wait to see what everyone else says....
 
You know Denise, I thought the same thing about skipping some doses...but, then I started thinking about ketones. Then, my next thought was go back to 2 units and change the diet and test like crazy.


Like you, I am interested to see what others think.
 
Good for you! I know she needs to be cautious about changing food & insulin dose but I thought that would just be in case the cat went low due to change in diet. If she's testing before she shoots why can't she go ahead & drop that dose? Wouldn't it be better to start back with 1 unit right away as long as she's testing? Also, if her no shoot # is 250 shouldn't she be pretty safe? Wouldn't the concern be if she switched to wet from dry, didn't test & kept on shooting high doses? You know me....maybe I didn't get what you were saying! :lol:

And that is DH's cat...she follows him everywhere, of course he's the one outside all the time. He's been feeding/playing with her but today he said "we're not keeping her". Now remember....he's the one that brought ALL these cats home except the last one my daughter found!
 
kse said:
You know Denise, I thought the same thing about skipping some doses...but, then I started thinking about ketones. Then, my next thought was go back to 2 units and change the diet and test like crazy.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't skip any doses & isn't the standard starting dose 1 unit?
 
Yes, 1 unit is the normal starting dose....but, would you go from 8 units to 1 unit and change the diet immediately? Or, would you do it more gradual and work your way down?
 
HAs the cat every had ketones?
maybe you should change diet, test like crazy, and reduce to one unit.....
you really dont know where this cat has been number wise.....
 
Sometimes the advice has been to cut the dose in half, start feeding 50/50wet and dry and test like mad, both bg and ketones. Then gradually reduce the insulin and increase the wet food. Some cats have done okay going back down to one unit and changing to wet, but ECID. If the cat reacts badly to the diet change by refusing food and/or vomiting, things can go South fast.

Good for you for offering to help her. Hopefully she will join the PZI family and get her kitty well.
 
God Bless Sue!
I like her idea, its a little more gradual and hopefully this cat will not react badly
 
She told me today that the cat loved wet food....so, the transition will not be a problem.

I will get her to call the vet tomorrow and get the bg readings they have in his file.

We just need to figure out a plan.

Glad to see you show up Sue.....where have you been?
 
Wasn't it Totallybeachin that was shooting 8 & 9 units when she got here? Then dropped her dose to 1 unit, switched to low carb canned and went OTJ?

Unless Risky is Acro I don't see any reason to slowely reduce the dose. Holy Crap that's alot of insulin. If she is going to start testing and switch to wet food she will be able to see how he reacts to the change and we can adjust the insulin around how well the food switch goes.

Good for you Kim :RAHCAT for finding her and bringing her into the group.
 
Okay Sue, we will let you slip a little.....but, just remember...we need you! You have been the driving force and inspiration behind so many of us. If not for you and Robin, I would NEVER have tested mid cycle.

I started to throw a candle out there this week to see if you would pop up! :lol:

Glad you are here tonight!
 
Yes, she did, Robin. And that turned out great. You know I am a Cathy Cautious. I like to play it safe with new unknown kitties, but the other approach usually works out okay. Or maybe it always does, unless the cat reacts poorly to the diet change.
 
OK then. First off, great job Kim! I keep waiting to meet a "local" with a sugarcat, but nothing yet. A vet tech who used to work here on the island is supposed to be sending me an email soon about sugars at the clinic she works at. If they are PZIers, I plan on steering them here too.

Risky is on 8u BID, been getting shots for 2.5 months. Every time he goes to the vet he's higher (how high is high?). Still drinking and peeing buckets. Sounds like an uncontrolled diabetic, no? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Science Diet - depending on which one, at least 25% carbs. There should be an immediate improvement switching to all wet, and I'd say she should go cold turkey. This cat's numbers have GOT to go down, the sooner the better. If she's giving way too high a dose, then he's the living example of "rebound". His liver has got to be wearing out.

Do you know how much Risky weighed pre-dx, or how much he's eating a day? Is he one of those cats that has a nervous breakdown during vet visits, and likely to be jumping several hundred points from the stress? Is he showing any sign of neuropathy? If he's been that high for that long, he's got to be showing other symptoms, don't you think? Any idea on ketones? Are you bringing a ketostick or two tomorrow? If you're training on testing anyway....

Couple other things... could the insulin be no good? Any dehydration evident?

My plan of attack would be an immediate switch, assuming Risky is good with that, to low-carb wet. And in order to make sure he's safe, I'd stop giving insulin completely for at least a day or two. Let the dry food clear his system, and get nothing in the tank but canned. Then see how much that drops the BG. Of course, check the BG a half dozen times a day. Fasting, full tummy, half way between meals, etc. If she sees "HIGH" on the meter, then she could call you about a shot/dose amount. After two days, start Risky on 1u BID to see what that does. Then adjust accordingly. Hopefully by that time she'll have an account set up and can discuss/ask the group for help.
Unless she sees a big increase in BG from not shooting, I mean, how much worse can it get? I'm thinking he's been over-dosed for a long time, and that the vet BG numbers that the doses have been increased upon have been wonky numbers for some reason. Or, he is just a cat who will not respond to PZI, in which case she'd have other options if need be.

It will be very interesting to read what kind of numbers you come up with when you show her how to test.
Carl
 
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