Newly Diagnosed and Nervous!

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StephanieH

StephanieH

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My cat Hula (12 years old) was diagnosed with diabetes this past Monday 8/10. His sugar at the vet at around 3pm that day was 500mg/dL. He had increased urination and drinking which was the reason I took him in. As soon as he was diagnosed, I began researching, because I need information to deal with things, but it also makes me freak out a bit! We gave him his first injection at the vet Wed, his starting dose was 2 U of ProZinc. I had already begun to make the change to wet food, low carb. He had been on Science Diet Light dry food almost his whole life. He loves wet food so the switch was easy. I got brave and was able to do home testing on him as recommended, not by my vet, but by many people on this message board and on several articles I read. We can't always get a reading, because I am still getting used to this and getting queasy when I think about what I am doing. So if blood doesn't come the first time, chances are good, I cannot get myself to try again. The readings I have been able to get show his sugar is down. I am using the reli-on micro. I have been using the lancet that came with it, but have never been able to get blood with it, so I have to hand prick with the lancet. If I had one that would penetrate his ear, I would be less queasy about it I think.

My confusion and nervousness come with his low numbers. I know his food switch probably happened too fast and that has had a huge effect on his levels, and now I don't know what to do about the insulin. I skipped his dose this morning with his reading at 166mg/dL. I am just terrified of giving him too much and him going hypoglycemic but I know getting him regulated is very important.

I do have the chart current in my signature and any encouragement or advice would be greatly appreciated!! I don't have a lot of readings because he doesn't give me a drop very easily yet, but we are getting better.

Thanks so much! It is so nice to have this as a resource!

Stephanie
 
Welcome Hula and Stephanie,

You are doing everything right so far! Great job home testing and changing his diet. I am guessing the insulin and food is starting to lower his levels. Our Oliver was on Science Diet Lite (horrid carbs in the 37% range). When we switched to wet, he dropped 100 points overnight.

I am glad you skipped this morning as 166 is too low for a new diabetic. You have very little data but what you have suggests to me that you should reduce the insulin. If 2 units gave you an unshootable pre shot, then a reduction is needed. We suggest starting with one unit and slowly increasing, as your home testing data indicates, rather than starting higher and then trying to react to a low number. Would you consider doing a restart at one unit, holding the dose for 3 cycles (unless you get a preshot under 200 or a nadir in the 50s), getting a preshot number each time and mid cycle numbers whenever you can? Then we can reevaluate and see if he needs more.

Have you seen the ProZinc protocol we put together? It is in my signature in blue.

The forum is friendly but small, busiest in the mornings and evenings. If you ever have a question that needs an immediate answer, post on Health also as there are more eyes there. This is the best place to get dosing advice as everyone here uses or has used your insulin. Be sure to check out the other threads to see what other people are doing and look at their spreadsheets. We are all in this together!
 
Thanks so much!

I would be comfortable with 1 U for the dose. As I am still fairly new to the terminology, one cycle would be the time of the shot, until the next shot?
And I will try to get some midshot values.

Thanks again!
 
I just had another quick question. The vet recommended 2 meals a day pre-shot. I have seen a lot of other recommendations for 3-4 mini meals throughout the day. What do you guys typically recommend for feeding?
 
Hi Stephanie and extra sweet Hula! Welcome to the PZI forum!

As Sue says, I think your dose may be too high. Restarting at 1 unit will help you figure out the best dose. That was what eventually helped me get my girl into lower numbers.

The testing gets easier as you do it. I was horrified by the thought, but it got to the point that I looked forward to it because I wanted the data to see how best to help my Gypsy. I always had to hand prick as well. I think that's easier on a lot of cats since they don't hear the click. Plus, you get used to doing it and hand pricking gives you more control so that you don't prick too much or too little. At first, I found it easier to do two quick pricks next to each other to ensure I got enough blood. Over time, your cat's ears will "learn to bleed" and you'll find it easier to get blood.

Don't forget to give yourself some credit! You're doing all the right things...switching to a good diet, home testing even though you are uncomfortable with it, giving insulin, researching on your own. You're doing great!
 
A cycle is 12 hours from one shot time to the next. The feeding issue depends on the cat. Some do fine with 2 meals a day. Some do better with that amount of food divided into several small meals, every 3-4 hours. With some cats, mini meals increase their numbers; with some, they are stressed and starving with meals twice daily. Something for you to try and analyze.

The important issue is not to feed for 2 hours before the test in the am/pm. Food can raise the levels and you want a test uninfluenced by food. So, it's test, feed and shoot, hopefully all within a few minutes.
 
This morning Hula read only 120mg/dL, so I did not give a shot. I only gave him 1 U at last nights dose and by that time his number was up to 333mg/dL. Is is possible I need to decrease the dose more, or maybe his duration is pretty long? I am unsure. And he is starving in the mornings so it is really hard to test him and hold out on food to test again.
 
I only gave him a small amount of wet food and I will retest in a couple of hours. That would give me time to get his doses in and it not be too late tonight.
 
This is good news, Stephanie. You were exactly right to skip the shot. Yes, I think the dose needs to be reduced. Anytime ProZinc lasts over 12 hours and gives you a number too low to shoot, the dose is too high. So, tonight, not matter how high he is (and he is likley to be in the 300s as it will have been 24 hours since his last shot) I'd lower the dose to 0.5.

He may be one of the lucky ones who only needs a change to wet food and a little bit of insulin to go into remission. If that's the case, just remember - once a diabetic, always a diabetic. He should never eat dry, high carb food again.
 
Great! Thanks. No worries there, I have learned my dry food lesson! I will never make that mistake again with Hula or any cat we may get in the future. :)
 
Hula's reading tonight before food was 196mg/dL. Is this really happening?!? I will hold off on shot tonight as well, unless I hear from you guys first.
 
So he is that low after no insulin this am? If so, that complicates things. If we had more data, you might consider giving him a drop of insulin. But, going into night, and with him requiring so little insulin, it is a little scary.

You could stall - no food and retest in 20 minutes. If he goes above 200, you might consider a drop of insulin - literally a drop. We can tell you how to do that. But you'd want to be sure you can monitor tonight
 
I fed him already. But I can retest him in a couple of hours. Would 3 be enough for the food effects to be gone? I do feel more comfortable monitoring him during the day, but if necessary I can for sure do that.

If not I can retest in the morning and stall him for food for a bit and I would be able to monitor him throughout the day tomorrow.
 
Since you've fed, I wouldn't shoot. Just to be sure he's safe throughout the night. If he is under 200 in the morning, stall without food for 20 minutes and see if he goes up. This way, you can relax tonight knowing he won't go too low, and you can restart tomorrow morning....if he's high in the AM, it's okay. Honestly, I have no idea what he'll do tomorrow! He likes to throw us for a loop!
 
Ok. sounds good. I have only the U40 syringes. Would I be able to squeak in .25 into those,?
 
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You can eyeball it. Or you can try this: pull up 0.5 and let out drops, counting how many are in the syringe. Then the next time, pull up 0.5 and let out half the drops.
 
Hello Stephanie and Hula! I am a newbie, but wanted to welcome you and lend support if nothing else. You are doing great and Hula seems to be responding well to the wet food and smaller doses! The testing is hard at first, but really does get easier, I also free hand the prick, much easier to see what you are doing and no click to scare your kitty. You are in good hands here, best of luck to you and Hula!
 
CatX4 said:
Hello Stephanie and Hula! I am a newbie, but wanted to welcome you and lend support if nothing else. You are doing great and Hula seems to be responding well to the wet food and smaller doses! The testing is hard at first, but really does get easier, I also free hand the prick, much easier to see what you are doing and no click to scare your kitty. You are in good hands here, best of luck to you and Hula!
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Thanks so much for the encouragement! I am very grateful for all the help I am getting here. I am so glad I found this site! I am pretty sure if I had followed my vets dosing, I would have run into a lot of problems!
 
Welcome Stephanie and Hula! I've been with the forum since the end of June. This is a great group of people with so much knowledge and I too am thankful that I found this group. We are all in this together and the support is amazing. You are doing great and Hula is lucky that you are his mom, so eager to learn and help him. I love his hair, HA! See you around the forum.
 
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