Newly diagnosed Gus

B

badams

Member
I'm a returning member. Samson, my first kitty with diabetes went into remission after about 8 weeks on Prozinc and never needed any injection after. Lived 6 more years to the ripe old age of 19.

I have a newly diagnosed baby, Gus. My Gus is very overweight. He is nearly 10. I took over his care 2 years ago and have been unable to get his weight under control. No surprise to me that he is now diabetic, of course, but I hope to get control of his disease with proper treatment, and would appreciate advice from you guys. I probably don't know any of you on here now, but I trust your advice. Especially since my vet seems bewildered by some of the questions I ask him. Sigh.

I gave Gus his first shot the evening of 7/10. I'm able to get good tests now and again (Gus hasn't been well trained yet to just cooperate), and it seems his numbers are not going down very much. My vet's blood test results for Gus showed his BG at 410. My vet started him with 2 units Prozinc twice a day. Gus weighs 20 lbs. After giving him 6 shots, and getting some tests finally, I think he may be due a dose increase.

I've been able to get a total of 4 good tests, and the lowest was 203 and the highest was 287. This morning pre food and pre shot he was 258. 6.5 hours later, after food and shot, he is 264. Human meter testing. I am giving him Fancy Feast Classics as much as I can. At this point, he's wanting some juice with his food, and doing a lot of drinking any juice but not eating much of the food. I add water and stir it up some and he will eat a little bit of the food. He likes the flaked trout and he likes the "grills" better than the classic. He's being just pretty picky all around, but he's getting enough food apparently.

I realize that his numbers after beginning insulin are much better than his number when he was diagnosed. And, to be honest, he is feeling much better. But I would like to see it a little lower. Should I just keep on keeping on a be a little patient? He has just had 6 shots after all.

Thank you,

Bennie
 
Hi Bennie, 2u is a high starting dose, though with Gus’ size I can see why your vet started there. Since you’ve only had the 6 shots and have seen numbers improve, I’d hold the dose a couple more cycles until you can set up our spreadsheet and get a few more numbers so we can see what’s going on. Others here are much better at dosing advice than I am and I’m sure they’ll be around soon (weekends can be extra slow), but they will need to see those numbers to advise. Here are the instructions to set it up, if you need help, just holler and we’ll do it for you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
I’ll tag a few prozinc users to advise you
@Djamila @Rachel
@MrWorfMen's Mom
 
Welcome Bennie & Gus. So sorry you find yourself going on this journey again but we're happy you came back.
Gus is a big boy and the dose the vet prescribed is in accordance with the ProZinc recommendations. As Sharon suggested, getting a spreadsheet going would help us help you. So glad you are home testing and hope Gus starts co-operating at giving up a little blood for you in the very near future.
The nadir (peak action of the insulin) with ProZinc is generally between 4 and 7 hours post shot so getting random mid cycle tests in that time frame will give you a good idea of whether a dose increase is needed or not. Right now I'd hold the dose until you can get a few more mid cycle tests to see how this dose is working. It's is also helpful to get a test on the night cycle and if that can't be done in the 4 to 7 hour post shot period, grabbing a test before bed will give you an idea of where Gus is heading overnight.

Not sure if you had a spreadsheet back when for Samson but THIS document explains how to use the Spreadsheet.
 
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm having trouble getting Gus' ears to give up blood and sometimes I just let it go. I have 30 gauge lancets and I'm going to get some 28 and see if I have better luck. In the meantime, I won't make a change. I have been able to get a couple of tests in at around the mid point and pre shot, and it's always around the 250-260 mark whatever time I get it. I did have a spreadsheet for Samson and I'll get that going for Gus when I'm not having to poke him so many times to get blood, and I'll do a real curve.

Thanks again for your help. I'm sad to be back, but glad this place continues to be active for all the people who need it.
 
Follow up about poor Gus. Well, Gus was just getting worse in many ways. I called the vet's office that diagnosed the diabetes and asked them to send me a copy of his lab results, which they did. It had a flag that one of the tests indicated he could have pancreatitis and that they needed to do an add on test to determine. This result had not been mentioned to me, nor had all the other tests that had either High or Low results. I called a different vet and we went in yesterday. Now this is a fine vet. I showed him the results and he really, really listened to me about everything that was going on with Gus. The new vet took blood to do a specific pancreatitis test. Did a urinalysis and he showed a UTI. New vet called me earlier today and poor Gus does have pancreatitis. His H Spec fPL result was 13.9 and anything over 3.5 is high. Gus is now at the vet's office. 3 days in a row, Gus will spend the day at the vet's office getting IV of continuous fluids, cerenia, and convenia. My vet thinks Gus has a good chance of beating this, and he thinks it likely that if he does, he will no longer be diabetic even. So, I do have some hope, although I understand that pancreatitis is a very bad diagnosis.

If you see this, send healing vines to Gus, please.

Thanks to everyone.
 
Healing vines for Gus:bighug:
I’m glad you found a good vet and have a diagnosis. Several folks here have kitties with pancreatitis, so if you have any questions start a thread and put that in the title.
 
I am so very sorry to hear Gus is battling pancreatitis and a UTI. No wonder the poor fellow is feeling poorly. Pancreatitis, UTIs and diabetes often go hand in hand. The UTI can be dealt with easily while the pancreatitis will take a little more time and care but Gus will get better. Sending heaps of healing vines for Gus!
 
Good news for Gus. It's been a rough ride, but Gus is now doing very well. 3 days outpatient at vet getting IVs , more days of mommy torturing him with meds, syringe feeding, testing BG and insulin shots, he started eating on his own, his BG started going down and he's not needed an insulin shot in several days. He is his normsl, feisty self. I know it can come back, but right now everything is good in Gus'.world.

Thanks for good thoughts sent to my boy.

Bennie
 
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