New to this and thoroughly confused please advise

[Sidney]

My 10 year old Sidney, was diagnosed with diabetes following a prednisone injection following his diagnosis of EPI. He's had a really rough year to say the least dropping from 15 pounds to 8 pounds. He was doing well with the enzymes, but then started losing weight again and that's when the diabetes was diagnosed. He was prescribed 1 unit prozinc twice a day. This was the first of March of this year. We have been very good about getting him on a schedule and he eats 4 times a day consuming 3.5 cans of Fancy Feast classic and he is now weighing 10.8 pounds on his way to, hopefully, 12 pounds. Took us a while to get the hang of glucose testing, but this is his chart with the AlphaTrak2 meter. My question is at what levels should we consider cutting down the dosage or skipping altogether? I read the forum stickies and now I think we should maybe not have given him his full dose this am. He seems ok, just sleeping and hanging around which is his normal MO. Thanks in advance for suggestions.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi I'm sorry I can't help you with this but so more members can see this, please copy it and post it on the Feline Health Forum ok, also if you can fill out your signature
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Can you also set up your spreadsheet so we all can see it,

 

[Sidney]

All that info was actually in the post.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi its easier for members to see it in your signature than to have to back and find your post, if you can post in the Feline Health for now I think more members will see it

 

[Panic]

Hello there! I am going to tag @Deb & Wink since she's good with Prozinc doses but I'm thinking with that 75 yesterday you'll want to decrease the dose by 0.25 units. Prozinc you don't want going under 90 ideally. Did you get any tests today?

To start we really recommend not giving insulin under 200 until we get a lot of data, so skipping today would probably have been a good idea.

Edit: Deb isn't feeling well today so she may not be online again tonight. Sidney has earned a reduction though.

 

[Deb & Wink]

@Lynienu When you are helping dozens of people, having that information at our fingertips, in your signature, can make all the difference between a quick response, and delays. It will take you about 60 seconds to set that up. Please, reconsider and help us to help you better.

Thankfully, your cat was not in a crisis mode, such as hypoglycemia.

Yes, your cat, has earned a reduction. Please reduce the dose from 1U to 0.75U dose. Not sure if you have U40 syringes with the half unit markings on the barrel. Judge the dose the best you can, "eyeballing" the amount you will give your cat.

What meter are you using to test?
What insulin are you on?
What is the dose?

We always recommend that you get a pre-shot test, before every cycle, each cycle being a 12 hour period.
Then, you need to test in the middle of the cycle, to find the nadir for YOUR cat. Dosing changes are made based on that nadir or low point in the cycle.

 

[Juls and Billy]

We help a lot of people in the forum. It's far easier and we are less likely to forget something or make any mistakes if the information we need is at our fingertips every time you post, wherever your post. Take a look at my signature. So easy for me to get advice when everything a helper needs to know is right there. Click on the link that says Billy's Spreadsheet. This is the format we are used to seeing BGL information in, which makes it easier to see patterns and give better advice.

You can see how to easily set up your own here: New? How you can help us help you!

I agree that 75 means a .25 of a unit reduction in dose, in fact, with the Alphatrak, that's quite low. Keep an eye on Sidney. Reduce again if he has any reading under 90. Until you know better how Sydney reacts to insulin, skip the dose if he's under 200.

Watch his readings, drop dose when needed. He's doing well on the Fancy Feast, and fingers crossed he will head for remission.