Newbie here, trying to understand everything...

[Nuriel]

Hi. Hopefully some people can give me some pointers. My cat was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. We are still in the trying to get the insulin regulated stage. I have a couple of questions:

1. On the literature in the main page it suggests giving the shot in a different location other than the neck. That is where my vet had me give the injections. Does location make a big difference?

2. For those of you with multiple cat households, how do you keep your diabetic cat away from the other cat's food? My cat is still gaining weight, we are up to 4CCs of insulin, with so far no real change in her levels. I'm thinking she might be getting into the other cat's food.

3. For those on a can food only diet, how much can food is too much? I give Aries 1 can a day, plus 1/8th cup dry.

Thank for the help. I feel currently like I must be doing something wrong since we aren't seeing any results. The vet didn't even think she had her insulin her levels have been so high.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

Hi. Hopefully some people can give me some pointers. My cat was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. We are still in the trying to get the insulin regulated stage. I have a couple of questions:

1. On the literature in the main page it suggests giving the shot in a different location other than the neck. That is where my vet had me give the injections. Does location make a big difference?

I shot Maggie in the scruff for years without a problem. There is some difference in absorption, but you can use the scruff if you want.

2. For those of you with multiple cat households, how do you keep your diabetic cat away from the other cat's food? My cat is still gaining weight, we are up to 4CCs of insulin, with so far no real change in her levels. I'm thinking she might be getting into the other cat's food.

What insulin are you using? Did you start at 1 unit? (Insulin is measured in units not CC, BTW.) If you started with 1 units 2 weeks ago, you probably passed the correct dose because you raised the dose too quickly. You need to keep to a dose for about a week before raising it. You probably need to go back to 1 unit and start again. And you need to be patient - regulation doesn't happen overnight.

3. For those on a can food only diet, how much can food is too much? I give Aries 1 can a day, plus 1/8th cup dry.

Low carb food is best for all your cats. And you don't need the prescription food. Look for Binky's food charts (http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html) for low carb food. Most people here will tell you to dump the dry - it will make regulation much more difficult. Until Aries is better regulated, she will be very hungry. Diabetes prevents her from absorbing nutrients from her food, so she literally is starving.

 

[Nuriel]

Aries is on ProZinc. The vet started her at 2 units twice a day. After a week, she was still high so he raised it to 3 units. She was on 3 units, twice a day for about 4 days. Today she went back in and he raised it to 4 units twice a day. She goes back in tomorrow for another glucose arc test. 4 sounds like an aweful lot, I guess I am just unsure about it. She is due for her next shot in about 2 hours. I just don't know if I should do 4 units, or stick with the 3...

Thanks for the advice about the food. I saw that food list for can food. I'm getting my oil changed tonight at Walmart, so I'm going to look for some of the food on the list.

 

[Kelly & Oscar]

That is way to quick to raise the dose and way too much to raise it at one time. Many prozinc users raise the dose in 0.2 unit or 0.25 unit increments (depending on which syringes they are using). It is quite probable that the optimal dose has been passed. Have you read the sections on home testing yet? It is really important to learn to test at home since trips to the vet add stress and stress can raise glucose numbers 100 points or more. By basing dosing decisions on vet glucose readings, you are basing the dose on an artificially high number. Also hometesting allows you to fine tune the dose according to your cat, avoid unnecessary hypoglycemic episodes, and avoid expensive vet glucose curves and fructosamine tests.

Another important point that others have touched on - it is really important to take away any possibility of eating high carb dry food. If possible, it would be best to transition everyone over, or to feed the rest of the kitties in a room that can be closed off during the day. Diabetics cannot properly process their food because there isn't enough insulin to convert all the glucose into energy the cells need, so they must eat more. Until her diabetes is regulated you have to think of it like you are feeding the diabetes and not the cat.

 

[Jen and Sam]

Hi I am new too but here are some answers I got from my vet and you can compare. My cat Sam is also on Pro z but my vet is being alot slower with the raising. Started at 1 unit for two weeks then two for two weeks and his BG is still 400-600 every time I test but he is now eating etc so it must be helping. He is going to rais again this week! I have 7 furry felines and yes feeding is alot of trouble. I just started locking sam up while he eats his diet food while everyone else eats theirs in the kitchen....Mine are house cats Fat and Lazy so the twice aday stint at their dry food is plenty for them (and may actually do them all some good). My vet recommended giving shots in his side and alternating with either side....but we are also doing fluids daily in the scruff. I AM TESTING AT HOME THOUGH and it eases my mind alot especially when we up the dose.......it scares the heck out of me his bg will get too low so I test in am and pm right before he eats with a him one touch (from wal mart) I brought it into the vets to compare their readings with mine (used my monitor at same time used theirs) and the readings were within 20 pts. There are really good videos on you tube that show exactly how to prick their ear (I find much easier and pleasant than their paw or clipping their nail short as I saw suggested somewhere online) best of luck ! Jen-and Sam

 

[Nuriel]

My vet had advised me against home testing. He said that the machines gave bad readings, that weren't very accurate. So, she goes back tomorrow. So for tonight, should I go back to the 2 units or 3? 2 was our starting point, to if I went back to that, we would be back to the beginning again like others adviced.

I'll try to pick up a home tester from wal-mart tonight. I keep getting really worried every time the dose goes up, especially as quickly as it has been.

 

[Kelly & Oscar]

This should give you all the veterinary abstracts you will need to convince your vet about the merits of home testing:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2509

As far as what dose to give - imo I would recommend getting the glucose meter at walmart first and we'll see where your numbers are at and go from there

 

[Nuriel]

This should give you all the veterinary abstracts you will need to convince your vet about the merits of home testing:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2509

As far as what dose to give - imo I would recommend getting the glucose meter at walmart first and we'll see where your numbers are at and go from there

Well, I'm off to walmart now to get a hometester. I will give my vet a try with the abstracts and see if I can change his mind. Maybe I can get a read on her levels. At the vet today he said she was at 317-319 taking 3 units. Last friday she was over 400, so we might be on the right track. I think he was mostly concerned today because after having her morning shot, her levels never dropped. I wonder how much of that could be stress related though? She really hates going to the vet.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

You don't need your vets approval to home test. Without it you are shooting blind.

When you vet said the meters aren't accurate, they are the same meters humans use. They can be up to 20% off. That means that if your meter says Aries is 300, she can be anywhere from 240-360. If you get a reading of 50, she could be anywhere between 40-60. But they do tell you the blood glucose trends, and if you can tell if it's safe to give insulin. So if you test before her shot and got a 50, it's way too low to give insulin.

And readings at the vet can be way off due to stress, sometimes over 100.

 

[Nuriel]

That could explain some things. It could be spiking a lot due to the vet visit then. I had noticed before that she was urinating a lot, I was changing the litter box out completely every day. There was no need to scoop, it was so much. But, lately it has been a lot better. I've gotten now where a 20 lb. bag of litter will go a lot farther. She still urinates a lot, but her water intake is a lot less than it was.

 

[Nuriel]

I bought a unit to test at home. I was going to test her tonight, but it is harder than I thought to carry out. I chickened out and didn't do it. I will try again tomorrow, maybe I can actually get it done...