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Brandi Mcfarland

Member
Hi, my 7 year old 13.5 pound cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He started 1 unit of ProZinc every 12 hours on 7/10. The vet increased his dose to 2 units every 12hrs on 7/21 based on his glucose curve that was established at the vet. I purchased the AlphaTrak meter, but today was the first time I used it, I’m still shaking, I was so nervous! Bush was acting over aggressive to my other cat, which alarmed me. He got 2 units of Prozinc and a can of Fancy Feast at 620am. His glucose test was 94 at 1:35pm. My vet is closed now, of course. I do not know if I should give him insulin at 620pm. Any thoughts or recommendations?
 
Hi Brandi, welcome! I’m so glad you’ve started testing. I was nervous about it at first too, but soon it will be second nature. A jump from 1 unit to 2 is a big one. We usually recommend going up only .25u at a time so you don’t zoom past the best dose. If you can set up our spreadsheet, it’ll help us see what’s going on once you get a few numbers plugged in. Here are the instructions, but if you need help, just ask and we’ll do it for you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
For now, we recommend you not give any insulin if your cat tests under 225 or even 250 when using an alphatrak meter. Here is some great info on prozinc http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...prozinc-pzi-insulin-for-diabetic-cats.164995/
You can post here before shot time and ask specific advice. If you’re not getting an answer, try posting on the Main Forum. There are more eyes there.
 
Brandi Mcfarland said:
Hi, my 7 year old 13.5 pound cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He started 1 unit of ProZinc every 12 hours on 7/10. The vet increased his dose to 2 units every 12hrs on 7/21 based on his glucose curve that was established at the vet. I purchased the AlphaTrak meter, but today was the first time I used it, I’m still shaking, I was so nervous! Bush was acting over aggressive to my other cat, which alarmed me. He got 2 units of Prozinc and a can of Fancy Feast at 620am. His glucose test was 94 at 1:35pm. My vet is closed now, of course. I do not know if I should give him insulin at 620pm. Any thoughts or recommendations?
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Sharon14 said:
Hi Brandi, welcome! I’m so glad you’ve started testing. I was nervous about it at first too, but soon it will be second nature. A jump from 1 unit to 2 is a big one. We usually recommend going up only .25u at a time so you don’t zoom past the best dose. If you can set up our spreadsheet, it’ll help us see what’s going on once you get a few numbers plugged in. Here are the instructions, but if you need help, just ask and we’ll do it for you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
For now, we recommend you not give any insulin if your cat tests under 225 or even 250 when using an alphatrak meter. Here is some great info on prozinc http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...prozinc-pzi-insulin-for-diabetic-cats.164995/
You can post here before shot time and ask specific advice. If you’re not getting an answer, try posting on the Main Forum. There are more eyes there.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. This was my first glucose test, I plan on setting up the spreadsheet soon. I panicked because his glucose was over 500 when he was diagnosed, so 94 was like
 
Sharon14 said:
Great number! Have you changed foods since his diagnosis?
Let us know what the vet says
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He was free form eating what I thought was a high quality dry food (I had no idea it was bad). I switched him to Purina DM wet food. I did hours of research and found the catorg website. I looked at the food chart and decided to put him on the Fancy Feast Classics. He gets a can in the morning and a can at night. He was 116 this morning at 5:30, no insulin for 48 hours. :)
Sharon14 said:
Great number! Have you changed foods since his diagnosis?
Let us know what the vet says
Click to expand...
The vet was thrilled with his numbers, he wants me to test again tomorrow morning and also bring him in for a curve test at the vet office Wednesday.
 
Fingers crossed that the food change was enough to get him into remission! If so, remember to always keep him on the low carb wet food, no steroids and be sure to have his teeth checked regularly. We’ve had several kitties get knocked out of remission from simple tooth infections. Let us know what the vet says on Wednesday
 
I'd lower to 1.5. At least until you get the hang of testing consistently. Great job getting a test!!! Try to get one before each preshot, and again mid cycle.
 
Just to clarify, please do NOT give 1.5u. I think there must be some glitch and maybe Janet couldn't see the full thread and just saw your first entry? Regardless, you are doing the right thing to be skipping the shots right now. Bush is getting great numbers and doesn't appear to need insulin at this point. Fingers crossed that he'll keep going and never need it again!
 
Sharon14 said:
Fingers crossed that the food change was enough to get him into remission! If so, remember to always keep him on the low carb wet food, no steroids and be sure to have his teeth checked regularly. We’ve had several kitties get knocked out of remission from simple tooth infections. Let us know what the vet says on Wednesday
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I sure hope so and he will NEVER have dry food again, that is for sure! His vet checks his teeth at 6 month check-up visits, thank goodness. Thanks for all your information. He was 153 this morning. It's crept up a bit, but I'm still holding the insulin.
 
Djamila said:
Just to clarify, please do NOT give 1.5u. I think there must be some glitch and maybe Janet couldn't see the full thread and just saw your first entry? Regardless, you are doing the right thing to be skipping the shots right now. Bush is getting great numbers and doesn't appear to need insulin at this point. Fingers crossed that he'll keep going and never need it again!
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Thank you, I didn't give him any insulin. I sure hope he gets off insulin. He was 153 this morning. Higher than he has been, but still an acceptable number considerig he hasn't had an insulin shot for 3 days.
 
JanetNJ said:
I'd lower to 1.5. At least until you get the hang of testing consistently. Great job getting a test!!! Try to get one before each preshot, and again mid cycle.
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I've held the insulin since his numbers have been in an acceptable range. Home testing is scary at first, but it really makes a huge impact. I've only completed 4 tests and I still get super nervous. I'm incredibly thankful for this web board and the catinfo site. It has really help me attack Bush's diabetes.
 
Djamila said:
Just to clarify, please do NOT give 1.5u. I think there must be some glitch and maybe Janet couldn't see the full thread and just saw your first entry? Regardless, you are doing the right thing to be skipping the shots right now. Bush is getting great numbers and doesn't appear to need insulin at this point. Fingers crossed that he'll keep going and never need it again!
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I ment when the preshots are over 200 again.
 
Sharon14 said:
If he does start creeping up and need some insulin, I would not give 2u. Starting dose is no more than 1u, and that’s with a high enough Preshot number. Bush may need less than 1.
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I’m thinking that as well. I’ll be happy to get more readings from the vet tomorrow and see if he goes higher through out the day or not.
JanetNJ said:
I ment when the preshots are over 200 again.
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Hey, it was your video that taught me how to check his glucose at home. Thank you!!
 
Brandi Mcfarland said:
I’m thinking that as well. I’ll be happy to get more readings from the vet tomorrow and see if he goes higher through out the day or not.

Hey, it was your video that taught me how to check his glucose at home. Thank you!!
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I see a few more days of great numbers! Crossing fingers for you.
 
JanetNJ said:
I see a few more days of great numbers! Crossing fingers for you.
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Thank you, you are so very kind. I hate taking him to vet because he freaks out. I know his nerves/stress level can raise his glucose numbers. Do you know how significantly? I really want the vet to get accurate numbers so we can adjust his treatment.
 
There's really no need to do a curve at the vet. There is nothing they can learn there that you can't do at home, especially since you are using an AT2. And as you've noted, the numbers are likely to be higher there, so if the vet bases advice on inflated numbers, that advice, no matter how well intentioned, will not be accurate. You might talk to your vet about doing the curve at home, and then calling her/him with the numbers. The vet might try to convince you that there is some magic to doing it in office, but I promise you there isn't. :)
 
Djamila said:
There's really no need to do a curve at the vet. There is nothing they can learn there that you can't do at home, especially since you are using an AT2. And as you've noted, the numbers are likely to be higher there, so if the vet bases advice on inflated numbers, that advice, no matter how well intentioned, will not be accurate. You might talk to your vet about doing the curve at home, and then calling her/him with the numbers. The vet might try to convince you that there is some magic to doing it in office, but I promise you there isn't. :)
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I agree with you on that, but I did take him as scheduled. Mostly, because I wanted confirmation of his numbers. He had three tests. One was slightly higher at 179, but the vet did chalk that one up to stress induced. He recommended I test his BG every other day and if the numbers are within normal range, I can slowly decrease the testing. He weighed in at 13.6lbs, slightly down from where we started 2 1/2 weeks ago. Hopefully, he will be controlled on diet alone. I wish I could ban all dry food, I had no idea how crappy it is and I’m sure many people do not know. I’m forever grateful for this message board and the kind people that contribute to it. My next task is getting Bush’s little sister, “dry food addict”, off that crap and eating wet food. She is SUPER resistant! Thank you to everyone again!
 
Brandi Mcfarland said:
He was free form eating what I thought was a high quality dry food (I had no idea it was bad). I switched him to Purina DM wet food. I did hours of research and found the catorg website. I looked at the food chart and decided to put him on the Fancy Feast Classics. He gets a can in the morning and a can at night. He was 116 this morning at 5:30, no insulin for 48 hours. :)

The vet was thrilled with his numbers, he wants me to test again tomorrow morning and also bring him in for a curve test at the vet office Wednesday.
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Are the cans you are giving 3oz. Cans?
 
Politimi456 said:
Are the cans you are giving 3oz. Cans?
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Yes. I asked the vet if I could feed him more. He said I could give him 2 1/2 if the 3oz cans. Does that seem appropriate? I give him one can in the morning and one can at night and I’ll split the other 1/2 can and give him a little snack before bedtime or mid day when I’m home.
 
Politimi456 said:
Im not sure. Im trying to figure out myself fir my kitty.
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I’ve read you should feed them 20 calories per pound. If you look at the food chart you can calculate how much to feed them. I’m still figuring all this out myself. My cat is about 13 1/2 pounds so he can have about 3 cans of the 3oz Fancy Feast.
 
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