ProZinc New Users Switching from Another Insulin

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We have only been on for a few days and I have had to increase Tabby's dose to almost what I was giving on Idexx. I raised his dose this morning and will see what he gives me later. I am at work and can't get any spot checks. Just hope he's lower. I may have to use his old scale and lower it a little and work into it. I have to have something to go by. I won't shoot the same dose on 450 as I would on 250. We will see. He has been more sluggish but I hope that will pass.
 
I just bumped him with 1U more at +5.5 hours...He came in at 343, down from 558 AMPS...sheesh...I might be looking at 3.5U for his PM dose...Let's see what others are saying...
 
Terry,

How much Vetsulin were you on? Were you well regulated on Vetsulin? And what BG range did you have him regulated in generally? And are you free feeding or timed feeding?

Also you seem to be making very large changes in your dosing. What are your thoughts about using U-100 syringes?

Though I give H about a 3rd of the dose you are giving I try to make most changes in "0.05u" increments. And for you the U-100's would allow you to reliably make changes in 0.2u increments and even 0.1u increments. I've found H to be fairly reactive to small dosing changes once we narrowed in on the dose he was sensitive to.

How would you describe your current dosing strategy? Have you read the info in the sticky at the top of this forum about dosing strategies? There was also some talk about the potential of using the University of Queensland Lantus guidelines for PZI... Anyway, it's just important that you have some strategy in mind that makes send with using PZI. Especially when you are in the trying to figure things out stage it is frequently recommended to let a dose settle for at least a few cycles [if possible] to see how that the kitty reacts to that new dose.

You may end up needing a dose between 2.5 and 3u. But I would work on those in between doses and let the dose settle a couple days hopefully. And that 3u dose where you had the big drop you said was a "fat" 3u so maybe even a non-fat 3u might be right. However that big drop might have also been just the "wow" as Alice put it of getting a new larger dose. But anyway, sticking with a 3u for a little to see how that works might be a way forward.

That was good work on getting that +5 today. Getting those mid-cycle numbers is going to be important to moving ahead quicker. And good work on getting those PS numbers too. You might see slightly higher numbers now that you are grabbing the PS numbers since you were not grabbing them before.

Whatever approach to regulation you take I've found that making that approach a "methodical" approach helps.
 
Terry,

I agree you may want to move in smaller increments. You've actually seen some good action on the 3u, and a moderate drop today (any bigger drop in one cycle would seem like a rebound risk to me). I would probably stay at 3u, and if were to adjust it, move in 0.2 or 0.25-ish increments. I also suspect you may find that somewhere between 2.5 and 3u works well. You can see how at times 3u has brought his #s down really nicely, but then dropping the dose back as far as 2.5 has led to losing ground (though that or even less might be plenty tonight with the extra mid-cycle shot).

I agree if you try holding the dose steady for a few days at either 2.75u or 3u (reducing by .25u if you see #s as low as 60 or so mid-cycle, or if you start getting PSs too low to shoot of course) you may get a better idea how this dose is doing. You've gotten good enough results at times on 3u that personally I would be hesistant to raise the dose without holding it there for at least 2 or 3 days steadily to be certain it isn't enough.

Just my 2c. :) disclaimer: I have no ProZinc experience.
 
(How much Vetsulin were you on? Were you well regulated on Vetsulin? And what BG range did you have him regulated in generally? And are you free feeding or timed feeding?)

You folks are just terrific! I am happy with all of your support and answers. Puttz was on a rather questionable Vetsulin dosage in the past three months due to the inconsistencies in the product. He usually did well in the 2U BID range. He was down to 1U BID at one point, honeymooned for 4 months, then started his upward climb to 2U recently. I free feed him, he is a big cat and loves to eat, no timed feeding, no dry food.

I totally agree that I should give the 3U BID time to work itself out right now, of course the anxiety on my part kicks in and I want to move faster than I should...AND I KNOW BETTER! Thank you for your input.

He is doing well, acting well, and my current strategy now is to give it three days of 3x testing, keep the dosage at 3U BID, and see what my next step is. I am using U40 syringes as I have two full boxes right now, ProZinc sells the insulin as a package deal with the box included. I will probably switch over to U100 as I see fit. Thank you all again!
 
Terry and Puttz said:
ProZinc sells the insulin as a package deal with the box included.
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I don't think it is ProZinc or Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica that sold it to you that way but the vet or pharmacy you bought it from that sold it to you that way. AFAIK, ProZinc comes as the insulin only. There are links in the Sticky at the top of the forum [including the critical conversion chart] for using U-100 syringes.
 
ProZinc does offer a "Diabetes Care Kit" that come with sharps container, syringes and insulin. But it is true, vets don't always offer clients choices.

Buddha, my cat who eats anything, anytime, anywhere, decided he didn't have much of an appetite this morning. So at amps 402 I thought it was safe to shoot his (more or less) typical 1.9u, but since his food consumption was down, his +6 was 37. At which time I convinced him to eat.

I'd like to echo everyone else who is urging caution on upping doses, especially based solely on ps's and not nadirs.
 
Donna & Buddha said:
ProZinc does offer a "Diabetes Care Kit" that come with sharps container, syringes and insulin. But it is true, vets don't always offer clients choices.

Buddha, my cat who eats anything, anytime, anywhere, decided he didn't have much of an appetite this morning. So at amps 402 I thought it was safe to shoot his (more or less) typical 1.9u, but since his food consumption was down, his +6 was 37. At which time I convinced him to eat.

I'd like to echo everyone else who is urging caution on upping doses, especially based solely on ps's and not nadirs.
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Yes, Donna, it was sold to me as the Care Kit...I just might see what Supply Closet can do for me...Anyways, thank you all for the confirmation of going slow...The Prozinc is a new learning curve, yet again, and I just have to do what I know from posts on this board, Go Slow...At this point, I will retest him in this evening and make a determination PMPS from there.
 
Donna & Buddha said:
Buddha, my cat who eats anything, anytime, anywhere, decided he didn't have much of an appetite this morning. So at amps 402 I thought it was safe to shoot his (more or less) typical 1.9u, but since his food consumption was down, his +6 was 37. At which time I convinced him to eat.
Click to expand...

Yowza Donna!!!! Well at least you know the insulin works, right? Jeeps!!! I hope he is doing ok, and I'm glad to hear he is eating.
 
Day 8 on ProZinc and starting to see a decent trend here, thanks to all of you for your support and help, AND keeping me Go Slow mentally! I like what I am seeing with numbers and behavior, and I will let the 3U BID play out for a few days, but at this point it looks like the ratio of Prozinc to Vetsulin is about 1.25::1

Using a tad more ProZinc daily.
 
I use and was using a U40 insulin but love the U100 syringe. I like making my adjustments by .2 instead of .5. Makes a huge difference to me. So I will be adjusting by the .2 incriments. And I only ordered the insulin not the kit.
 
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