PZ: If insulin is expired/bad, will blood glucose go up higher?

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WVCatMama

Member Since 2026
We’ve noticed higher blood glucose readings the last few days, however Faye’s bottle of PZ hit the 60 day mark on 14 April, thus may be going bad. We’ve ordered a new bottle but can’t pickup until tomorrow. Could this be causing the higher readings? Otherwise, Faye is acting like herself still, but has also peed a little more the last couple days too.
 
Hello! I am glad to hear Faye seems to feel pretty normal. She can definitely do better with her glucose numbers. I would recommend an increase to 1.25 units at her next shot (or at least in the morning) and to try your best to get some mid-cycle tests done and log the data into the spreadsheet. The curve you did shows me that she is definitely ready for an increase in her dose.

As for the ProZinc, many people use it for six months if it’s properly stored. Most people who replace it after a few months do not find a whole lot of difference in numbers after a day or so.
 
Oh, I was going to add that holding doses too long can often result in higher numbers as a dose goes “stale” or there’s glucose toxicity which just makes it a little harder to budge them out of higher numbers. Her yellows aren’t horrible, but she can do a lot better and be in healthier numbers.
 
Thank you Suzanne for the note. I also sent a message to the vet yesterday and asked about increasing her dose. I think it’s time…she seems to feel good though which is positive. Also glad to hear about the PZ being used for 6 months…we keep it refrigerated at all times. I’ll try to get a couple additional mid-cycle tests on weekends when I’m home during the day. I was thinking of doing a +3, +6, +9 check which would still show some good numbers and not keep her so busy showing me her ear (only use one ear because the other is black and hard to see).

What do you mean by holding doses too long? That’s new terminology to me. We prepare each needle at time the shot is given.
 
WVCatMama said:
What do you mean by holding doses too long? That’s new terminology to me. We prepare each needle at time the shot is given.
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This just means that she’s been on 1 unit way too long. Seven days is plenty of time to assess what a dose is doing for her. After 7 days, based on BG numbers and particularly nadirs, we adjust the dose.
 
Right now, Faye is spending too much time in yellow and pink numbers, which is damaging to her kidneys, that is one of my main concerns. I would like to see her spending a lot more time in blue and even green numbers, but she’s not going to get there on one unit.
 
Thank you Suzanne for your feedback, so you think 1.25 to see how that goes? We’ll try that with her new bottle insulin she’ll be getting this evening.
 
Thanks Suzanne. I’m still new and learning. How does the insulin dosage work? In time with the proper dose (once figured out), can Faye’s system start functioning normally again? That’s the part I’m currently trying to figure out…thinking bigger picture/long term. I know it happens by reading on here, but wasn’t sure if you know how that happens.
 
WVCatMama said:
Thanks Suzanne. I’m still new and learning. How does the insulin dosage work? In time with the proper dose (once figured out), can Faye’s system start functioning normally again? That’s the part I’m currently trying to figure out…thinking bigger picture/long term. I know it happens by reading on here, but wasn’t sure if you know how that happens.
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Do you mean, will she go into remission and no longer need insulin, or do you just mean that she will have a settled dose that is working well for her which is what we would call regulation. That’s going to be different for every cat, and some cats tend to have a dose that works for them and they’ll hold it for a long time before any changes are necessary and some cats need a little more tweaking of their doses on a more regular basis.
 
If we are able to get her to spend a lot of her time in the healing numbers where her pancreas may recover then it’s possible she could go into remission, but it’s not guaranteed.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
If we are able to get her to spend a lot of her time in the healing numbers where her pancreas may recover then it’s possible she could go into remission, but it’s not guaranteed.
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Thank you. That’s the question I was going for so now that we’ve got the process figured out, we’d love to see her get towards remission, especially since she’s finally playing a little bit again, and seems to be feeling well.
 
She’s feeling good…sitting way up high in the air, but her sugar is so high now. Hoping new insulin will kick in and get her regulated soon. Started new vial last evening, but also had bad storms, which she hates. IMG_0445.jpeg
 
That would be very good if you can do that!

Sorry about the storms. We had thunderstorms here thos morning and I had a couple of very scared kitties.
 
Down to 280 currently and time for snack. She hates the storms and we have a metal roof so it’s louder. Hoping it’s the cause of the higher numbers, or maybe her last bottle of insulin was going bad too.
 
It’s good that you got those tests last night. I hope she won’t be in red this morning. Let’s hold this 1.25 dose for 7 days and see how it goes. She may need an increase to 1.5 units after that. I hope your storms will stop!
 
Out of red this morning…about 40 points lower than 24 hours ago, so progress but still storms. We’ll see how she’s doing and modify up to 1.5 if needed after about a week. Thank you so much!
 
Week into the 1.25 dose and numbers still high. Think we’ll have to increase her some more this weekend when I can get some BG checks throughout the day. She seems like she feels good still but had a couple soft stools, so maybe she has a little something going on. She has caught & eaten 2 flies…are they full of carbs? 🤣
 
Yes. I would increase her dose to 1.5 units, but with the occasional blue that you have documented on her spreadsheet, I feel like we are getting closer to a better dose for her and I want you to get more testing data so we can keep her safe.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Yes. I would increase her dose to 1.5 units, but with the occasional blue that you have documented on her spreadsheet, I feel like we are getting closer to a better dose for her and I want you to get more testing data so we can keep her safe.
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Okay…we’ll adjust this weekend when I’m home to check her. She only lets me get her ear checks easily. Thank you Suzanne for your advice!
 
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