Prozinc dose raised first week

[jhawki]

My cat was diagnosed 10 days ago and started 2 units of ProZinc on the 16th. He gets his insulin at 7 AM and 7 PM. My vet had me come back a week later, on the 23rd, and instructed me to skip his morning dose before the appointment. He still ate breakfast that morning. At the appointment, his glucose was 546, so the vet increased his dose from 2 units to 3 units. Is that normal?


I also recently switched him to Purina DM dry food to graze on throughout the day, and he eats Fancy Feast Classic Pâté with each dose. I’m scared to switch him to anything too low-carb too quickly. My vet has also told me that home testing is unnecessary, so I haven’t tried it yet.


Edit the next morning:


Thank you. I didn’t think this sounded right.


What raised my concern last night was that he threw up a tiny bit of hair, which he normally doesn’t do. It was maybe a dime-sized amount, but I was still concerned. I also noticed that he hadn’t urinated very much throughout the day. He peed his usual large amount shortly after his morning dose, but then only a tiny amount later. Otherwise, he was acting like himself.


I gave him his usual wet food mixed with some water, and he urinated afterward. It’s now the next morning, and he is alert, affectionate, eating normally, following me around, etc.


I panicked last night because I didn’t know what to do, and I had read that if you’re unsure, it’s safer to skip a dose than risk giving too much insulin. That’s why I wrote the original post in a panic.


I’m very interested in learning how to home test. My biggest challenge is my work schedule… I leave for work at 7:20 every morning and don’t return until around 6:40 PM. I know that isn’t ideal for testing throughout the day, but unfortunately it’s the schedule I have to work with.

 

[Nancita]

From my experience and new to this page, my cat was diagnosed June of 2021. We fed him all the wet and dry Rx foods as prescribed. At the time I was unable to home test or research due to family caregiver issues.

Fast forward to June 2026, I joined this page and learned to home test, along the way also learned the Rx foods were 20% carbs and contributed to the problem. Cats are obligate carnivores and only need mostly protein.

I switched him to the 3-low carb foods which I received as samples. Loki was on 1.25u twice daily. It’s good I was home testing because he became hypoglycemic the first meal (see August 6) and I treated him with Karo syrup and cut insulin to 0.5u and never looked back.

Walmart sells a ReliOn glucose test kit for $19 plus shipping. I bought platinum because it has an app in case I forget to mark things down.

Home testing is easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

No this is not normal. This is quite dangerous for your cat. Do not increase the dose to 3 units please. Of course the blood glucose was high at the vet! You skipped the dose because the vet told you to (if I am understanding you correctly.) Combine no insulin with the stress of being at the vet and you have a very high BG reading. You don’t even know how low he is going on two units because you are not home testing. The only way to keep your cat safe and to know how low a dose of insulin is taking your cat is to test BG at home. He may already be dropping too low on two units. We don’t know at all. It’s not unusual for a cat (particularly a newly diagnosed cat) to start at a very high number before the shot and then to dive down into a much lower number at nadir (the lowest point in the cycle) and then go back up. I have to get off the Board right now but I will be back later. I think a few people will also come along and help you with general testing tips and to help explain things.

Also, any food transitions from higher carb to lower carb food must be taken slowly as the new food it gradually added to replace the old food (better for the cat’s GI tract anyway.) Don’t do that until you are up to speed on home testing. The lower carb food will lower the BG.