newbie with ????

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harrysmom

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My cat Harry was dxd 1 week ago and the vet told me to switch to purina dm dry and give 2units pzi 2xdaily. So i did that - since then i have been reading alot and am changing him to low carb wet only. I talked to the vet about this and asked if i should lower the dose - she said no. I gave him only canned this morning and gave the insulin and checked his bg level 6 hours after feeding and it was 160. Im concerned if i continue on the canned diet the 2units it will be to much. Any thoughts?? How do you know how much insulin to give?
 
Testing at +6 is good. Also testing before you give every shot, okay?
Others will be along to help you. I don't know that much about PZI insulin. My cat is on Levemir, which is different.
 
Hi Harrysmom,

Is your insulin Prozinc or PZI?

2 units is a pretty high starting dose. The Prozinc web site suggests a starting dose of 1 unit.

When making the switch to low carb canned food their bg's can drop 100 points overnight once the dry food carbs wear off. So lowering the dose to 1 unit when making the switch is a really good idea.

Good for you for home testing. It is the only way to know if it is safe to give the insulin. We all here test before giving any insulin to make sure that their bg is high enough to give the insulin and again mid cycle to see how low they are dropping. Knowledge is power and with every test you gain more knowledge to keep Harry safe.

Welcome to FDMB. Come back and ask any questions you might have.
 
Wanted to say WELCOME to you both!

I would be careful shooting that much if you take away the high carb food....

You would shoot by the numbers you get from the home testing. Before each shot and curve testing.

BUT SOOOO GLAD YOU ARE HOME TESTING!! :cool:

You are many steps ahead of alot of newbies, including myself when I started this dance. I have a spreadsheet in my signature that will show how dreadful it can be without testing and shooting. Our first successful test, Bean was only 27!

This is the BEST place to come to for support: mentally and with any questions you could possibly think of. Harry will be in good hands from his mommabean very quickly.
 
Thanks for the help already!!! The insulin is prozinc. I just attempted to test him now as he is due to eat and get a shot. His number came up 76 -which I know from reading is in the normal range and wouldn't require insulin right?? I had a hard time getting him to sit still and get the sample but if the meter beeps that means it took right? I guess my question is - can the meter be wrong if it beeped saying it got the sample? and assuming that 76 is correct (I don't think I will be able to do it again) do I just skip the insulin?

Thanks!!
 
You might want to lower your dose, if you're getting a pre shot bg number like that. Again, I'll let others more familiar with your insulin help you with dosing questions.
As far as I know, 1 unit is the normally recommended starting dose, at least it is with Levemir and Lantus.

Good for you for home testing. That's how you will keep your kitty safe ;-)
 
Definitely STALL and re-test in about 30 minutes.

He needs to be at or over 200 before you dose again. As you obtain more data, that number may be lowered.

If you do need to dose, please WAIT about 30 minutes after he has eaten before you dose AND LOWER THE DOSE to 1 unit or even 1/2 unit.

He needs to have the food starting to work in before you give any more insulin and his dose is currently too high because he is off the high carb.
 
If you havn't already fed him DON"T. Retest again in 20 or 30 minutes. If you feed him, the food will make his bg go up because of the food and you won't get a true bg reading.

If you have already fed him I think I would skip tonights shot of insulin.

The 76 is a nice non diabetic number but too low to give him insulin.

Now that he is eating low carb canned food I would definately lower your dose to 1 unit if his bg reading is over 200.
 
harrysmom said:
My cat Harry was dxd 1 week ago and the vet told me to switch to purina dm dry and give 2units pzi 2xdaily. So i did that - since then i have been reading alot and am changing him to low carb wet only. I talked to the vet about this and asked if i should lower the dose - she said no. I gave him only canned this morning and gave the insulin and checked his bg level 6 hours after feeding and it was 160. Im concerned if i continue on the canned diet the 2units it will be to much. Any thoughts?? How do you know how much insulin to give?
Click to expand...

The vet should have understood that Harry's BG would go down a lot by itself when you removed the dry food completely and switched to low-carb canned only. So I am very glad you have done enough reading to realize that the vet was mistaken.

If his BG was 160 six hours after the shot, and all the way down to 76 twelve hours after the shot, then that says the dose was too high. Not dangerously too high, but it lasted for longer than it would have if it had been "the right dose".

With a 76, you would skip the shot.

You can also do what Robin and BJ said, which is stall. Wait 30 minutes, see if the BG goes up, but do not give him and food in the meantime. You want your pre-shot test to be taken without food confusing the numbers. Food would make his BG rise, giving you a "false high reading", leading you to think he needs a shot when he doesn't.

At this point, since you just started out, we would advise that you not shoot any insulin unless his numbers gets to 200 or higher. Even if it does, we think you should reduce your dose to no more than 1 unit.

Please let us know how he's doing? You are doing great, by the way!
Carl
 
Also, what kind of meter are you using? If it's an AlphaTrak meter that you got from the vet then you have to do a little math to convert to what a regular human meter would read.
 
Thanks all. We had a bit of a set back last - I could not get near him to do another test last night so I decided that I would just give him the canned food with no shot but of course he had other ideas...He would not eat the canned food at all. I ended up giving him the purina dm dry and he did eat some and I only gave him 1/2 unit. I hope this was the right decision!! So as of right now we are back on the dry food with the 2 units. I thought switching him would be easy since every time he got canned he seemed to like it but I guess we will have to take it much slower.
The meter I used is a freestyle freedom, which actually belongs to my father, I was just borrowing it until I could get my own supplies.
I'm thinking I should try and find a vet that will work more with me to try and change harry's diet and lower his levels...anyone on here know any good vets in the s
 
good am to you!
What kind of wet are you feeding? I know my girls like ffeast chicken the BEST. We switch off all the time. They also like the petsmart brand of sophistaCat. I mix sophistacat and f.feast together.
good luck w/ testing... have you tried to test in a closed area? like the bathroom?
 
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