Ozzy Pawzbourne
Member Since 2016
Hi Kitty Committee. Trouble in Ozzy Pawzbourne land again and need some help/ feedback.
Since December on, Ozzy's numbers have been hard to bring down. For those who may not remember us, Ozzy is a long term sugar kitty (going on 3+ years w DM) and he has been as stable on his usual 1 unit dose of insulin as a non-stable diabetic cat can be. Since December I noticed his numbers have been hard to bring down. We usually would test him preshot most days and a spot check here and there. Remember he is a long term diabetic and has been on same dose almost the entire time with diabetes so we haven't felt need to do daily curves and such as we did early on when we were still learning and when we were not sure how to calibrate him to the correct dose.
I know that since his numbers have been whacky i need to test him more to see what's going on so we can adjust his dosage accordingly. At his last 2 vet visits, his fructosamine levels have showed his numbers were low which the vet said could mean he is in remission or is being overdosed.
Ozzy has lost a bit of weight these last few months. Prediagnosis he was almost 19 pounds. For last 2 years he has been around 14 lbs. Vet said she liked him at this weight and didnt want him below 14lbs (he is a big cat). Today he is 12.7lbs. I am assuming it's because his numbers are out of whack. I have been testing his ketone levels with a meter and sometimes he has low levels of ketones (under 1) and recently was over 2. We have been testing more regularly and have been slowly upping his insulin dose and monitoring as much as we can while not at work and his numbers are just not falling below 200. At first we thought he was bouncing high and was on too high a dose (due to the low fructomisone levels and thinking the weight loss might mean he needs less insulin per pound of weight, and the kinda stagnant numbers) so tried to reduce his dose. But after several cycles, that didn't help his numbers and only increased his ketones so we went in opposite direction and started increasing his dose.
I know dose requirements can change, and Ozzy is getting older, but he has never done well over 1 u. He might do ok for a few days on a higher dose but then eventually crashes.
I feel like we have been at this for so long now and know what to do but also feel complacent with this and maybe I am forgetting some important things.
Our SS is up to date for last few weeks. Please take a look at let me know your thoughts. I am sorry I have not been able to update and separate out 2020 from previous years. I can't do it on my phone and cant access google drive from my laptop so this is the best its going to get.
Appreciate any feedback.
Do you think we need to increase dose again?
Is it possible for a cat to go into remission and not need insulin anymore unbeknownst to his humans who are still (over)dosing him and have his numbers be as Ozzy's are lately with low blood ketones and weight loss? I gave up hope on remisson a long time ago but my vet said it sometime back and makes me wonder. Those low fructosimine numbers I mentoned were from 2 years ago and his most recent vet visit about 6-8 months ago. He primarily eatd a raw food diet ( Darwin's) and some.fancy feast pate every once in awhile.
We got a new pen of insulin yesterday thinking maybe his insulin was going bad but it didn't change things.
Thanks for reading!
Since December on, Ozzy's numbers have been hard to bring down. For those who may not remember us, Ozzy is a long term sugar kitty (going on 3+ years w DM) and he has been as stable on his usual 1 unit dose of insulin as a non-stable diabetic cat can be. Since December I noticed his numbers have been hard to bring down. We usually would test him preshot most days and a spot check here and there. Remember he is a long term diabetic and has been on same dose almost the entire time with diabetes so we haven't felt need to do daily curves and such as we did early on when we were still learning and when we were not sure how to calibrate him to the correct dose.
I know that since his numbers have been whacky i need to test him more to see what's going on so we can adjust his dosage accordingly. At his last 2 vet visits, his fructosamine levels have showed his numbers were low which the vet said could mean he is in remission or is being overdosed.
Ozzy has lost a bit of weight these last few months. Prediagnosis he was almost 19 pounds. For last 2 years he has been around 14 lbs. Vet said she liked him at this weight and didnt want him below 14lbs (he is a big cat). Today he is 12.7lbs. I am assuming it's because his numbers are out of whack. I have been testing his ketone levels with a meter and sometimes he has low levels of ketones (under 1) and recently was over 2. We have been testing more regularly and have been slowly upping his insulin dose and monitoring as much as we can while not at work and his numbers are just not falling below 200. At first we thought he was bouncing high and was on too high a dose (due to the low fructomisone levels and thinking the weight loss might mean he needs less insulin per pound of weight, and the kinda stagnant numbers) so tried to reduce his dose. But after several cycles, that didn't help his numbers and only increased his ketones so we went in opposite direction and started increasing his dose.
I know dose requirements can change, and Ozzy is getting older, but he has never done well over 1 u. He might do ok for a few days on a higher dose but then eventually crashes.
I feel like we have been at this for so long now and know what to do but also feel complacent with this and maybe I am forgetting some important things.
Our SS is up to date for last few weeks. Please take a look at let me know your thoughts. I am sorry I have not been able to update and separate out 2020 from previous years. I can't do it on my phone and cant access google drive from my laptop so this is the best its going to get.
Appreciate any feedback.
Do you think we need to increase dose again?
Is it possible for a cat to go into remission and not need insulin anymore unbeknownst to his humans who are still (over)dosing him and have his numbers be as Ozzy's are lately with low blood ketones and weight loss? I gave up hope on remisson a long time ago but my vet said it sometime back and makes me wonder. Those low fructosimine numbers I mentoned were from 2 years ago and his most recent vet visit about 6-8 months ago. He primarily eatd a raw food diet ( Darwin's) and some.fancy feast pate every once in awhile.
We got a new pen of insulin yesterday thinking maybe his insulin was going bad but it didn't change things.
Thanks for reading!
Results from two years ago or even six months are ancient history. The presence of ketones is worrying. How is his appetite? Might be worth a vet check to make sure he has no infection or inflammation going on.
Her internal medicine vet was fine with the tech doing the blood draw,
In a cat getting too much insulin, there will be lows between the highs. Your recent testing is enough to show that is doubtful. Ozzy just looks like a cat that needs more insulin for some reason.