new pzi user (new to all of this, actually)

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Charliemeow

Charliemeow

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Hi! My name is Claudia. Charlie is 9, was just diagnosed as a sugarcat. His vet started him on pzi, 2 units, 1x per day. Has anyone else started with one dose/day? The vet said she always starts pzi once a day, then often, but not always, has to increase to 2. I was planning a gradual switch from kibble to wet, but now that he's gotten a taste for the "good stuff", he is turning his nose up at the kibble. Is 2 units too high on an all-wet diet? I am going to buy a meter tonight and start hometesting hopefully tomorrow. Yikes! How soon can I expect to see some improvement in Charlie? His symptoms were excessive drinking & urination, and lethargy. He also had a ravenous appetite, but now his appetite seems to have decreased below normal since last night, maybe a new symptom of his fd? I hope he feels better soon!!!
 
I'm still pretty new to all of this, so I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon. 2 units once a day sounds high to me. 1 unit twice a day is what most cats start with. PZI usually lasts about 12 hours, so splitting the dose will give better coverage. Do you know what his glucose level started out at? 2 units could drop him down too low, especially if he has changed to the canned food. You definitely need to start home testing so you have a better idea of what his numbers are and how the insulin affects him. Missy started out at 1 unit twice a day, and then dropped to 0.5unit twice daily pretty soon after the diet change. I noticed a change in Missy pretty quickly. We've been using ProZinc for a little over a month and she is a completely different cat! She doesn't eat or drink as much. She has endless energy. She plays with toys and runs around the house like I've never seen her do before. She used to just lay around near the water bowl.

FD is a lot to take in and deal with in the beginning. But you'll get the hang of it. Especially once you start home testing and you can see the improvement in the numbers. Ask lots of questions. Everyone here (especially on this board) is fantastic and very helpful. Good luck!
 
Hi, Claudia, good to see you here.

PZI is usually a good insulin, but may be different from the UK one I used to use.

Keep to the "wet" food and you should see improvement over the next few weeks

Good luck

Mary(UK)
 
Hi Claudia!

2 units a day is right but it SHOULD be 1u twice a day getting into a habit of Brekfast and 1u shot and Dinner and 1u shot. PZI (I'm taking it's ProZinc?) usually has a 12 hour duration. Aumi just switch to PZI but that's what I've seen so far in the past couple of weeks and from what I've been told.

You should go 1u twice a day instead of 2u once a day. Since you're getting a testing kit, it'll make it easier to adjust the dose. But I would say start Charlie at 1u x twice a day and then get his BG levels down and keep him on it for a couple of weeks while his body adjusts and you'll get more steady numbers to work with.

When you get started on the schedule, he should be much much better in two or three days.
 
Welcome.

Which PZI are you using?

PZI should generally be given twice per day. Even though there is a little conflicting info out there on Insuvet, my bet is that even with Insuvet PZI it should be given twice per day. Most cats here start on 1u twice per day. Since you are in the US I would say it best that you kitty get insulin twice per day.

Good work getting over to wet food. Have you visited Janet & Binkey's list http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html . The food also needs to be low carb [less than 10% carbs as % kcal] food.

Do make sure to read the PZI sticky at the top of this forum and the other stickies around too. :smile:

Once you start testing make sure you make a spreadsheet and post it - instructions for this are in the Tech Support Forum. Also a profile is helpful too and again instructions for that are in the tech support forum.
 
Claudia great that you'll be testing asap...very important.
you may see improvement in just a few days as with diet and insulin your cat will likely feel better quite soon. however be patient with the numbers game. i'm kind of surprised to see injections just once a day...hope we can get that double checked. each day when you test (until you get your spread sheet up) give us your amps # (am pre shot #) no need to write down the time it was. then if you do any tests after that give it to us as + #
meaning hours since shot...
like this
amps 240 2U
+4 138
+6 94

make sense?

and welcome to pzi-island
Lori
and tomtom too!
 
:dizcat
Doin' the got a meter dance over here for ya! Now to learn how to do it. My suggestions - look at my sig. Also watch the videos. Do it where your kitty is comfy. There are all sorts of tips. But basically try not to stress and make it a bad "energy" experience for kitty.
 
have you tested yet...i'm gonna link you to my favorite u tube link on testing. brb.
 
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