ProZinc

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dustyboy4

dustyboy4

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Hi All,

I'm a newby to this site. My cat "Dusty" was diagnosed back in December, 2009. Because we didn't think we could afford the expense of Insulin Dusty was put on Glipizide and Purina DM canned cat food in the hopes that he was still producing some insulin. Of course the Glipizide was non-effective. 6 months later we broke down and had him put on Insulin. :smile: Our vet prescribed "ProZinc" and Dusty has been on 2u twice a day for almost 1 month. His feeding is an entire can of cat food every 12 hrs. The rule of thumb I was told was if Dusty doesn't eat he doesn't get insulin. So far there isn't a problem with this. I asked my vet about home testing. It was not suggested. I was told that I could have some strips ordered that are for the litter box but that it was believed that the amount of the injection would be sufficient until Dusty returns for his 1 month visit. So we haven't obtained litter box test strips. I was told that if it came down to it I could have her order a vet glucose meter but was told that it probably wasn't necessary. I'm seriously thinking about haveing her order one for me because I believe his levels haven't adjusted much at all. Dusty is still ravenous and eats his food like he is still starving. I have seen some change in his behavior, but not much. His tummy growls a lot and upon visiting his litter box to do #2 he wants to eat right away, and of course it's not in his 12 hour time frame so the yelling for food begins. Prior to his diagnosis, he was begging for food and that was what clued me in that something wasn't right with him. He began as a 14+ lb. cat and in the past 6 months has dropped to a steady between 8 & 9 lbs (I think this stable 8-9 lbs. is due to what insulin he is using right now). We are trying to be patient with this process, but Dusty is driving my husband and myself crazy yelling for food. I've been discussing his behavior with our vet since December and she keeps telling me to be patient especially now that he is on insulin. When I had him at the vet almost 1 month ago he raised such a fuss all day long that our vet asked me not to bring him back for an all day stay unless he started dropping more weight. She believed the insulin would help his behavior, but I have only noticed a slight change for the better on his food begging. He does use the litter box less frequetnly to urinate and has started being cuddly again but, funny, upon diagnosis he quit playing with us all at one time. Dusty goes back to the vet this weekend for a quick glucose check and a fructosamine check. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should talk about with our vet?
 
Hi & welcome!!! Some quick notes:

1) I would feed him as much as he wants, unless the problem is that he is overweight. When they are diabetic their bodies aren't processing food right, and they need all they can get!

2) You can use a human meter, most people here do, as they are much cheaper than the pet ones, the test strips are a lot cheaper, and you can buy them yourself from any store. A lot of people like the Walmart Relion Micro - it only needs a miniscule drop of blood, and is very affordable. You will find that home-testing makes everything a lot easier - it costs less than getting tests at the vet, most cats tolerate it very well and even come to like it, and it can REALLY help you get the dosing right. Many cats here go off insulin and become diet control, and in large part I think it's because their people are testing and can make immediate adjustments to the dose, rather than basing it on information from the vets that is not day-to-day, and can be misleading anyhow if the cat's BG is elevated due to stress, which is common in cats.

3) I would skip the tests at the vet this weekend. If you can get started on home-testing that will give you better data. The fructosamine is a waste of money IMO if one is hometesting. You know he's not regulated, and I think that's all the fruct is going to tell you, and wow, way too much money to confirm what you already know!!!

4) You may want to consider a lower carb food. The prescription ones are better than really HC foods, but most people find they can do better with regular foods that are lower in carbs, and often cheaper. If you haven't already, look around in the Health Links forum - there are links to nutrition info & stuff. Janet & Binky's food charts have the carb breakdown of a ton of foods.

5) For home testing, we can help you learn, both in this forum and on the Health forum. If you are up to the challenge (it takes a little while to get the hang of it, but once you get a routine working it's suprisingly easy), just ask whatever questions you have and you will get a ton of info & suggestions. I think there are some videos floating around, someone else who has the links handy :oops: will probably chime in soon with more info on stuff like that.

I'm not sure I answered all your questions - hopefully others will chime in, but definitely ask again on anything that doesn't make sense! There is a lot to learn at first, but I think you will really find it worth it to get things under control.
 
Hi and Welcome,

My Harley is on Prozinc too. He started out at 13 pounds and dropped to 9 pounds before he was diagnosed, because of the Diabetes, Dusty is literaly starving because his body can't process the food correctly. He needs to eat as much as he wants right now until you get a better handle on this. Harley is back to 12 pounds and looks and acts much better. Your vet was right about, if he doesn't eat he doesn't get insulin. The reason being that if he doesn't eat before insulin his blood sugar could go too low and he could have a hypoglycemic event and have seizures, very scarry.

Do you know what his blood glucose # was? Why was he started on 2 units, we usually start at 1 unit twice a day.

You don't need to order the animal glucometer through the clinic. Most vets don't recommend home testing because they don't think we can handle it, but obviously many of us can. You can use regular human meters, they work just fine. I went to Walmart and got the Relion Micro for $12.00, the test strips cost $20.00 for 50 strips. There are videos on you tube that show how to home test that are very helpful, also asking questions here will get you alot of helpful hints and tips too. Just ask when you're ready.

Home testing is highly recommended. First it eliminates the endless trips to the vet for bg tests and curves that you can do at home. Second it gives you the power of knowing what his bg# is before every injection so you will never give him too much insulin.

What is he eating? As with human diabetics low carb diets are the best. Switching to a low carb wet food is best, but you need to be testing his bg at home before you switch because the low carb diet will drop his bg's.

I'm sorry if I just repeated everything Joanna just said.


http://cdn.optmd.com/V2/67072/144384/in ... m/faq.html
 
Thank you Joanna and Rob for your replys to my post. I'm going to go look for the meter that was suggested "Walmart Relion Micro". I've viewed several YouTube videos about how to test a cats BG. All were done on the ears. Do you two check yours on thier ears? It doesn't look too hard, I should only have to consider getting Dusty to stay still. He already comes to me when I tell him it's time for his medicine and usually giving his insulin is very easy, so maybe testing his BG will be easy too. I'll get back with everyone soon and let you know how it's going. Somehow I've got to get someone to teach me about curves so I'll know what I'm looking to shoot for with Dusty's BG. I'm going to go ahead and take Dusty to his vet appt. this weekend and ask his vet to either right down his levels for me or let me right them down so I can have something to start with. I know when he was initially diagnosed his BG was close to 500 and his fructosamine was even higher. The first week he was given insulin which was on July 1, 2010, he was given 1u twice a day then when I took him back, after being on the insulin at that level for a week, for his 2nd day visit is when the insulin was upped to 2u twice a day, I just can't remember what the lowest BG level that was taken on the curve day was. I'll start feeding him more of his food too and see how that goes. I really want him to be happy again so I'll keep forging ahead. Thanks for the support.
 
Glad to see you're forging ahead. There is alot to learn but it will all get easier as you go along and soon become routine.

While you are at Walmart you will also want to ppick up som Ketostix to test his urine for Ketones, some Karo Syrup or Honey for your hypo kit and some 29 to 30 guage Lancets (for poking his ears).

Yes I test his ears, if you take a flashlight and put it under Dusty's ear you will see a vein running along the outside of the ear. When you poke the ear you want to aim for the area between the vein and the outer ear. We test the capilary blood. For testing you can use treats after each test or extra lovin and Dusty will associate the test and treat/lovin as something good. Alot of cats will get so used to the schedule that they will remind you to test or wait for you in your testing spot so they can get their treats.

A normal cat bg is between 50 - 120. A cat at the vet is usually very stressed and their bg's will shoot up so the bg #'s at the vet are usually not very accurate, they are much higher at the vet than they are at home where they are calm and relaxed.

You can do a curve at home instead of the vet's. A curve is when you test the bg every 2 to 3 hours for 12 hours. That will tell you how the insulin is working in Dusty's body. What his onset is, what his nadir is and how long it lasts in his system. With that knowledge you will be able to make more informed decisions about Dusty's care and know what to expect.

Once you are home testing you will want to switch to a low carb wet food diet.

On the Health board there are Faq sheets and Stickies loaded with information. That's where you will find Janet & Binkys food charts, pictures of where to aim on the ear, etc.

Keep asking questions.
 
Yes I test the ears - as far as I know almost everyone does it that way - there are a few who test paws, but they have really specific reasons I think to do so, as it's harder (I assume!).

The secret I found to getting Bix to sit still was to create a routine where he comes and sits by me on the couch, gets some pets & snuggles, then I get the kit out and put it right in front of him so he can see what I'm doing (I used to try to hide it and take the sneak attack approach, but I finally realized he's not scared of it at all, and it works better if I can be relaxed and slow getting ready, rather than all kooky and anxious & then dart out to nab that ear!).

I found running through the routine a few times without actually pricking his ear went a long way to getting a routine established that he doesn't mind. When I found he would sit still because it was our "couch time", then it became easy to just add the quick poke into the routine.

It also helps a lot to start handling his ears now & then, unrelated to the testing. They will flinch a lot at first - not b/c the test hurts (most of the time I can't tell that he even notices the test itself) - but b/c cats don't like having their ears touched! If you can massage them a little here and there so he gets used to it and learns it's no big deal when you touch his ears, that makes it easier.

You should be able to call the vets and ask to get a copy, either over the phone, or something you can pick up on paper when you are there, of all the BG tests they have on him to date. If you have taken him there already for curves, they will have it written up already (my vet had them charted on a graph). Although the #s may have been elevated from stress, it still can be useful data - it really varies by cat I think, the stress factor.

There are some articles here on curves and what BG#s are good/bad, etc. Here are a couple links to get you started:

BG #s from Petdiabetes Wiki: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_glucose_level - these are for interpreting #s when using a human meter at home

Glucose curves: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Glucose_curve

Often here we space spot tests out on different days rather than doing a complete curve. Or do maybe half of a curve one day, and the other half a different day. The data varies of course so you can't interpret it the same as you would a full curve in one day, but often you can get enough information from something less than a full curve, and it's less stressful on their ears and on the tester. :-D
 
Greetings! You will most definitely find alot of help and advice here! I was a newbie at all of this, and it is second nature now..I strongly suggest you feed your little SugarKitty as much as he wants right now, essential to build up his weight and get him back to normal ASAP...All of the above advice is right-on, good luck and let us know how your home-testing is going, it will get easier as time goes on...By the way, we test the ears, we straddle from behind and give lots of love and kisses before and after...
 
just found this website searching for info about Prozinc. My 13 year cat Buddy was diagnosed about 4 months ago. We nearly lost him before he began to respond to treatment. Truly, he's only just begining to thrive again. I've begun to become concerned that he's not responding well to the Prozinc though. We're finally gaining weight again (became alarmingly gaunt hated his food, hated the shots, would hide at mealtimes..... it was traumatic for all.) He's up to 8 units twice a day, eats 1/2 cup Hills w/d dry And 1/2 to 3/4 can wet twice daily. This was a muscular not fat 19 lb cat (neutered)before illness now down to 10 lb--has gained one back! See my alarm. Most kitties I see on the Prozinc are on only 3 or 4. Should we be considering a different insulin?
 
hi Grammy - it looks like you have already started your own thread on Health, so I'll pop over there and see if there's anything you need help with that someone else hasn't already answered... if any of your questions don't get answered, just start a new thread with them, here, or on Health, or both. Health usually has more traffic, so any urgent questions should generally be posted there.
 
Grammy50, in case you didn't see it, Robin started a new thread for you here in the PZI Forum so your questions won't get overlooked. If you don't see it, let us know - I posted some thoughts there. I'm also going to crosslink to the Health forum for you so you will get a few more eyes on your situation. Hopefully it won't be overwhelming. :-D Want to be sure you get enough input though, since traffic here can be slow. Just keep posting back with any questions you have and we will try to help!!!
 
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