ProZinc reaction/side effects

Chester’s Dad

Chester’s Dad

Member
Chester started on 1 unit of ProZinc five days ago. It’s brought his blood sugar down pretty nicely (every morning and night he is between 260 and 280 pre-shot), but the last 24 hours have been rough. Despite these good numbers, he appears noticeably weaker, more fatigued, and this morning he completely turned his nose up at food. Could this be a reaction to the ProZinc? Will it be temporary? Or is he just starting to lose his battle and it might be time to make a tough choice?
 
I think it’s really easy to get into this panicked mindset when our kitties aren’t feeling well and we don’t know why, I know I’ve been there with Sophie as well. But I think there’s probably more options you can consider first before you have to think about that just yet.

Do you measure his blood sugar during his cycle?
Does he have any other health conditions? Has he had blood work done recently?
 
Try not to panic. What dose of prozinc have you started on? What you need to do is get some mid cycle tests in to see if he is going too low. Perhaps the dose is too high. It would be best if you set up a spreadsheet for Chester so we can see how he is doing through the day @Djamila can you help with SS set up?
 
He is on 1 unit of ProZinc. He seemed to be doing really well at first, so it’s very discouraging. I haven’t had the chance to do a glucose curve yet, having been at work all week during the day. I might have to do one tonight.
 
You don't need to stay up all night doing a curve.:) Test Chester a couple of times tonight between 4 and 7 hours after his shot to see how low the insulin is taking his BG. If I am understanding correctly you are only testing pre-shot right now. While the pre-shot test tells you whether it is safe to give insulin, mid cycle tests especially during the expected peak action time for ProZinc, will tell you how low his BG is going and that is the critical data you need to determine if the dose is optimal and to ensure it's not dropping his BG too low.

You are in early days and it's possible Chester is feeling a bit off simply because his BG is jumping around more than he has become used to. Are you testing for ketones? It's a good idea to check for ketones periodically but even more important when kitty seems off. Ketostix are readily available at the pharmacy and you can test his urine with those. Anything over a trace is cause for a vet consult.
 
Thank you all for the feedback. Chester has been hospitalized with a severe UTI. The vet thinks he may have been dealing with it for a while, but the tons of drinking and urinating he was doing on Vetsulin (when his BG was uncontrolled) had ironically kept it somewhat in check. The switch to ProZinc, and with it the immediate BG control, kept him from drinking nearly as much and likely caused the UTI to flare up as it did a few days into the new insulin treatment. Prayers appreciated!
 
Sending lots & lots of healing vines (FDMB for vibes) for Chester!
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