Newbie Here With My 1st Diabetic Cat

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Red46

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Hello Everyone!
My name is Laura & my cat was diagnosed with diabetes on Dec. 19th when I took him in for an abscess on his ear. He had had an hemotoma about a mth.& a half ago & rec'd stitches for that & wore a cone for 10 days. I thought he lost weight because of that. My husband & daughter thought I was imagining things when I said he had lost too much weight. From now on I'll go on my own intuition! Anyways, he has been on Pro-Zinc since Dec. 19th. I finally got it down pat to test his own blood about 2 wks. ago. He is still in the 400 range most of the time. I have switched his diet to Fancy Feast and he has no dry food at all. He has a couple of times got hold of bread (which he ate before he was sick). I'm trying to knock some sense into my husband & daughter about leaving it out. Red was 17 lbs. and is now down to 11 lbs. He started out on 1 unit of Pro Zinc twice a day and is now up to 3 units of Pro Zinc a day.

I haven't had the time yet to start a chart for him. Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated! He is my favorite cat and I have 3 others as well. Thanks for reading!
 
Hi Laura, and welcome to your kitty - what's his name? You're at the right place to get advice, that's for certain. The good folks here are a wealth of information for all things feline diabetes!

Congratulations on deciding to test kitty's blood glucose at home - that's a super important step!

I'm not too much of an advice giver about insulin, but others will surely be along quickly to help out. In the meantime, they might need a little more information, like when did you change your kitty's diet from dry food to Fancy Feast, what kind of shot cycle are you on - once a day, or twice a day (and how many hours apart)? When are you testing his blood glucose levels relative to giving insulin and how many times per day are you testing? I'm sure there are more things people will need to know but that should be a good start!
 
When did you switch to fancy feast and are you keeping a good eye on his bg since then? I ask because I switched to wet low carb food two days ago and have been juggling hypos ever since, gradually lowering Akbah's insulin levels. In our case, the wet food seems to have made a DRAMATIC difference to his insulin needs. Head-scritch to your diabetic friend.
Nat
 
Hi Laura and kitty,

Welcome to a great place to find answers to all your questions and concerns. My 10ish Maine Coon cross Charlie was diagnosed around the same time as your kitty. He had a similar weight loss which is why I first got him checked out. It's great that you have started home testing. Once Charlie was switched to a low carb diet his BG dropped fast. Unlike you, I hadn't been able to test until a week after the diet change and I wish I had started earlier! It sounds like you are doing a great job so far.
 
I was getting high numbers (400s) preshot, but discovered by chance that Akbah was getting down to the 30's mid cycle. So just keep an eye on your mid-cycle values for a bit? Ak never showed any hypo symptoms (except a bit of hunger and a bit of lethargy which is a bit normal for him). I decided to test him a few hours after a shot because I came across this:
http://catinfo.org/#Diabetes

I also meant to say, Hello! And good on you for looking after your cats with the home testing and all. It's saved me a bundle on vet's bills and helped me recognise the trouble with the low blood sugar, which of course first happened near midnight one night.

:cool:
 
He started out on 1 unit of Pro Zinc twice a day and is now up to 3 units of Pro Zinc a day.
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Just wanted to make sure....that's 3u twice a day, right, not a total of 3u?

The 400's you are getting, those are at shot time? Are you also testing between shots? The mid-point between shots, which we call +6, should be the point at which the prozinc is peaking. Important to know that number, because that will tell you how effective a given dose is. Somewhere between 5 and 7 hours after a shot should be when his BG is the lowest.

I am assuming you shoot on a 12 hour schedule. At what time of the day does he eat?

Prozinc is a good insulin. If you can get a spreadsheet set up, it's a very valuable tool in managing the disease, and it lets everyone see what kind of data you get, and helps to evaluate how the insulin is working. Here is a link that will give you directions on setting one up. Once you get it "out there", it's really easy to maintain.
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50130
Carl
 
Thanks everyone with your help with my cat "Red." Red's glucose numbers are still in the 400's. These numbers are always in the am & pm. I have not yet tested him between shots but will try to do that soon if my job schedule allows. I work differents hrs. every week. My teen daughter has helped alittle but my husband is a workaholic working 6-7 days a wk. so he's a lost cause when it comes to helping with this!

Red eats in the early morning, about a hr. later, then around noontime (my husband feeds him then since I'm at work), then between 3 & 4 pm when my daughter gets home from school & then around 6:30 and then around 7:30 pm.

As soon as I found out he had diabetes I got him off of dry food within 1 wk. Someone had told me Purina Kitten Chow was ok but then found out it was a no-no. Since then he's just been on specific types of Fancy Feast & am not giving him alot of fish. He has eaten threw 2 bags of bread (he did this before he was sick as well) so now I think my husband now finally knows to put it away! He will lick morsels left behind by my other 3 cats so now I use paper plates & throw them away after they are done.

He is get 3 units of insulin twice a day, every 12 hrs.

I will try to do the spreadsheet soon-I work 2 part-time jobs & have some health issues going on with my daughter now so doing the best that I can right now. Thanks again for everyone's responses!

p.s. I'm hoping his weight loss has finally stopped too. He was once 17 lbs. & is now 11 lbs. But the good news is that he still has energy & is still very friendly. He's hit one female in the house a couple of times lately but he has had this problem in the past & is the Alpha cat in our house. He also goes out (he's 9 1/2) but urinates & comes back in right away. I know alot of people think he probably should stay inside but I'm trying to do things gradual with him to keep him happy. He's my favorite cat and I love him to death!
 
Welcome & great that you found this forum! There are wonderful, intelligent and kind folks here to help you through this~ I can't tell you how much I've been relieved to connect with others on this site! My kitty Louie was diagnosed last October~ so I'm still a newbie to this!
I wish you and Red the very best! so glad you are home testing!
warmly,
Tracy & Louie
 
Just wanted to give you some info on ProZinc. (just to be clear is he on PZI BCP or ProZinc?)

This document is too large but has great info, to digest in small segments.



http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799

When you are able to get some mid cycle numbers, we may be able to help more. (some people set the alarm at night for 6 hours after the shot. Wake up, test, record and go back to sleep.). We need to know if the insulin is taking him low mid cycle or if he is flat during the cycle or has a nice smile shaped curve.
 
Welcome and good for you. Your kitty is very blessed to have you as his momma.
My kitty also lost a lot of weight when diagnosed. she went from 7 pounds to 4. It was very scary. Yet even when her numbers stayed high in the beginning, with giving her insulin her weight did start coming back up. She's now at 6 hurray! So if you are concerned about weight you can weight them with a infant/baby scale, or some people will stand on their scale holding the cat, take the number and then stand on it without holding the cat and minus that number to get how much the cat weighs.
She's also a scavenger so we put the garbage can in the laundry room where we can close the door, make sure everything else is put away all the time and that the pantry stays closed. Once we did that and changed her diet her bg lvls slowly started to come down.
 
Hello everyone!
I had Red's first glucose curve done at the vet today & these were the results:

First, he's on Pro-Zinc insulin & gets it twice a day, 4 units as of now but after this curve vet wants him to go to 5 units. Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks so much!

Here's Reds curve results for today:
9 am 575
10 am 520
11 am 468
12 pm 405
1 pm 372
2 pm 396
3:20 376
4 pm 421
5 pm 425
6 pm 257
6:45 421

He had 3 or 4 500 numbers last wk. as well. Thanksfor reading!
 
It is really hard to make any conclusions on vet curves. It is hard to know how stress enters the picture. Lots of cats are completely stressed out there with all the strange noises, smells and other animals. People here have reported their cat testing over 100 points less as soon as they get home and relax.

We really like to base our doses on curves done at home because we feel the numbers are much more accurate.

One of the real dangers is that if the dose is based on inflated numbers and the cat's numbers go down once they get home, the dose can be too high.

Are you testing at home? Could you do a curve at home to compare with the vet's numbers before the dose is changed? It would be interesting to see what numbers you get.
 
Red46 said:
Hello everyone!
I had Red's first glucose curve done at the vet today & these were the results:

First, he's on Pro-Zinc insulin & gets it twice a day, 4 units as of now but after this curve vet wants him to go to 5 units. Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks so much!

Here's Reds curve results for today:
9 am 575
10 am 520
11 am 468
12 pm 405
1 pm 372
2 pm 396
3:20 376
4 pm 421
5 pm 425
6 pm 257
6:45 421

He had 3 or 4 500 numbers last wk. as well. Thanksfor reading!
Click to expand...

Those numbers from a curve at the vet are quite high, so it would be wise to have testing done by you at home and you can see his real numbers.

I say this because some cats are very stressed at the vet office so vet numbers are not the greatest on which to base your dosing. One of my cats tests higher at the vet office, but the other tests lower.

It will be simple to help you start home testing, not to mention safer because you are getting to some high dosing and you need to be able to watch how his numbers change to the increases.

I don't know about the type of insulin you are using, but wonder if it's been increased to quickly or not. Maybe a change to a longer lasting insulin like Lantus or Levemir would help with better numbers?
 
Hello everyone!

I am sorry I haven't been on her for ages. My cat Red is still not regulated. He was diagnosed with diabetes this past Dec. 19th. One question I want to ask everyone is this: I noticed when I start a new bottle of insulin it seems it is more stronger then the last bottle I used. Red twice almost went into hypo when I started his last bottle. I ended up calling the vet twice & they had me forgo his next shot & then see how he was doing in the morning.

Anyways, the good news is that he's put on 1 and 1/2 lbs.! Other notes & the vet couldn't elaborate on this: he has little bumps thruout his body. Not sure what these are. Vet said he would have to biopsy one so I said I would pass on it as I've had just too many vet bills lately (have 3 other OLDER cats then Red) and Red is now 10. So I'm doing the best that I can.

Red will be getting a new bottle of insulin this week (he's on Pro-Zinc) so now I'm concerned again about him going hypo. He is currently on 4 units twice a day, every 12 hrs.

I work so I rarely get to do mid-day glucose testing though today I will be doing that. He is bouncing between 350 & 450 in the am when I test him & about the same in the evening as well.

He is still eating just Fancy Feast Classic food & some occasional Flaked Fancy Feast. Once in a blue moon he gets 9-Lives tuna.

Any other tips or advice would be most appreciated! Thank you everyone!
 
Wow just found out my vet is not going to be selling Pro-Zinc anymore! What does everyone now think if I have to switch him to another type of insulin? They were suggesting a type that human's use. Opinions needed! Thanks again!
 
alot of us here use Lantus(glargine) or Levemir - they are both long lasting gentle insulins.

I put my Annie on Lantus about a month ago or a bit more and she's done much better on it.

I'm sure someone will come along that can give you more info about these 2 different human insulins.

I know everyone still has a life to live outside their diabetic cat, but you really do need someone to get mid-cycle tests. It only takes a couple minutes and could save your kitties life.
 
My Sneakers went to Levemir from PZI about two months ago and we are happy- she showed improvement right away. She's also turning out to be a high dose kitty so we are going to check on other issues that might be effecting her- acromelegy and IAA.

Some people say their cat is more mellow on Lev than Lantus as it is gentler- although both are longer lasting insulins that PZI. I would suggest getting the pens rather than the vials, you don't have to mix them like PZI (no rolling needed :-D ) and so each pull is consistently the same amount of insulin each time. And the pens are smaller so if it becomes contaminated you have wasted less. They do cost more up front, but last a whole lot longer than the vials do.

Good luck on either.
 
Red46 said:
Wow just found out my vet is not going to be selling Pro-Zinc anymore! What does everyone now think if I have to switch him to another type of insulin? They were suggesting a type that human's use. Opinions needed! Thanks again!
Click to expand...

You can buy ProZinc from online pet pharmacies with a prescription from your vet. Here's one web site: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=9790

If you do want to switch to a Human insulin, ask for Lantus or Levemir. Both work well for cats.
 
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