PZI newby from Vetsulin...

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buddybean and Mom

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Hello and I hate to bother yall but I am so confused as to why my big Buddy still has high sugar levels even though I knew and told my vet that vetsulin was a bunch of crap for insulin. So they told me that they already knew and change to PZI. I am thinking yeah!!! I get PZI and start with 2 units. I ck Buddy's sugar often. morning sometimes .. afternoon,, sometimes before I go to work at 10PM. His sugar is always in the 300's. Now understand this.. Buddy has a bed and breakfast to himself in our living room. He is totally isolated from the other 7 cats that I have. Has been this way since last yr. He loves it there. I feed him 1/4 cup of EVO 3 times a day and 2 cans of fancy feast a day. I have done 6 hr post many times and still get a high sugar. I upped his unit 1/2 to 2 1/2.. 2 times a day .. still high. fast forward I am now at 4 units and it seems to be the magical #. I see that he is not drinking as much water and eating less food and his levels are still higher than I want them to be but he is not losing any weight. I bought a scale and he is at 21 lbs. I just bought a feeder that will spit out 1/4 cup 3 times in 24 hrs. Is that to much? I still give him 1 can of wet food 2 times a day, He is 13 yrs old this month still talkative and happy just fat. I do give him b-12 pills in his food not every day but often. What is wrong with my picture here? My vet is useless. I called at 3 units and she told me to bring him in for a 6 hr post and I was like .. um can do that here. she said OK call us with the results. Did and they never called me back. I am my own vet for free not stupid. any words of wisdom would help. my last ck of his sugar was March 9th at 2220 and it was 332. fixing to give him his shot now. I am religious about giving him shot on time.
thanks
Jan
 
Hi and welcome to our little group, I'm glad you switched to PZ, it is a good insulin and longer lasting than Vetsulin. Harley and I started on Vetsulin too before the recall.

Good for you for home testing Buddy, we usually recommend testing before every injection to make sure it is safe to give insulin. We usually recommend to not give insulin if his bg is under 200 until you have enough data to safely do so.

Food questions, an unregulated diabetic kitty is literally starving so go ahead and feed him all he wants but at 21lbs he could probably stand to lose a few. Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes.

A low carb wet canned food or a raw diet is best for our extra sweet furbabies. Check out Janet & Binky's food chart.

Also check out the Checklist in the stickies above in PZI it has alot of great resourses.
 
Is the EVO dry? Even though it is a low carb dry food, some cats are really carb sensitive. If it is dry, you can freeze the FF and put it into your automatic feeder to let him graze during the day. Have you seen this site by a vet: www.catinfo.org. She explains why wet food is best for all cats, but especially diabetics. Are your Fancy Feast flavors lo carb? We try to feed under 8-10% carbs. Check out this food chart. Janet and Binky’s chart

You should check out others' post on this page and look at their spreadsheets to get some idea of how PZI is working for them. You can set up your own spreadsheet Setting up a spreadsheet Not only is it a great tool for you, but it helps us when you need advice on doses.
 
Hi Jan and welcome! Great job that you are home testing, it is the best way to keep your cat safe. We recommend testing before every shot, and sometime in the middle of the cycle to try to establish how low he goes (nadir). We find we can be most helpful if we can follow along on a spreadsheet. You can find info on how to set it up in the tech forum. We also recommend some testing for ketones with strips you can buy at the drugstore.(urine tests).
It would probably be a good idea if you remove the 911 now that you have our attention. It will scare people into thinking there is a potentially fatal emergency.
Keep posting and asking questions. We like being able to help.
 
Hi Jan & welcome! My money would be on the dry food (assuming it is EVO dry). My cat needed over 4u when he was on the lower-carb dry foods like EVO (and still unregulated), vs. more like 1.5u once I was able to switch him to LC canned. On the LC canned I was finally able to get him regulated, and I found the whole process MUCH easier.

*If you do remove the dry food, be sure to reduce the insulin dose.*

My cat's insulin needs went down VERY rapidly once I started the food switch, from around 4u to about 1.5 in something like 3 days. If you are able to change the foods, a lot of times people go back to 1u 2x/day and sort-of do a do-over on finding the dose. If you don't do that, you should get frequent BG tests so you can reduce the dose as needed as you are going through the transition.
 
Welcome to PZI Jan and Buddy.
My cat Henry is still unregulated but slowly making progress.
Getting your kitty off dry food is important; not good for diabetic kitties. I feed Fancy Feast classic flavors and let him eat what he wants just give small amounts frequently. Getting off dry food got my cat down from high 500's pre shot to the low to mid 400's not ideal by any means but better. They tend to drop quickly when they are switched to a low carb wet diet so you should always check BG values before every shot and around +6 hours from shot to make sure hes not dropping too much.
Good luck!
 
Hello and welcome! So glad you found us. My two cents is the same as the others. My kitty Max seems to be pretty carb sensitive. I was feeding him a low carb dry food recommended by my vet as well as some low carb wet, but he was still testing in 450's on 4u PZI 2x a day and unregulated. I was getting very discouraged, but, after finding FDMB, I switched Max to only low carb wet, Fancy Feast Classic, and his insulin dose quickly dropped (like overnight...another reason home testing is so important). Every cat is different, but if you can, I would give the diet change a try.
 
Thanks everyone for the words of wisdom. I really do appreciate everyone's help.
I finally got the spread sheet downloaded and will be collecting some numbers. I work night shift so I won't be able to ck his sugar during the night time. I am giving him 1 can of FF in the am and 1 can before I go to work. He still insists on some dry food so I am only giving him a little in the Am and PM.
He is definitely not drinking near as much water as he use to so he is not peeing a lot. Still need to get his ketones cked. When I think I have enough numbers I will post them but I am sure I will need someones help on how to do that since I am NOT computer smart. :?

Thanks again for all of your help!
Jan
 
If you have trouble with the spreadsheet, just send me a pm (button with pm in lower left hand corner of my post). Maybe I can help.

You can feed more if he seems hungry. Unregulated diabetics don't process their food well, so you can feed more than usual. We free feed wet. You can freeze it and leave it out to thaw. Smaller frequent meals are best for new diabetics - it helps support the pancreas. If you can eliminate the dry, it would be best.
 
Hey Sue,

Thanks for offering to help me. Buddy was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007 so I have been struggling with this for some time now. I got advise here a few yrs ago and they were helpful and I have done extensive research online about food and diabetes and it seems that I always get conflicting stories about food and what food is better. It gets overwhelming sometimes. I have made so many changes in Buddy's life and the life of my other 7 cats (that I can't forget about) for the better I hope. I have an older group of kids living with me the youngest being 8 Buddy is 13.

As far as the wet food goes I feed him Publix answer to FF. It is a lot cheaper and has the same ingredients. but I feed him the same kind day in and day out (poultry gourmet food) some times I do feed him the Publix seafood. He doesn't seem to like any kind of food that is chunky or shredded just pate type. I feed my other cats wet Friskies along with dry. I guess I could try to see if he likes that food. I think he needs his teeth cleaned again and the vet said that it could be causing his sugar to be high. He has already lost two fang teeth from the last cleaning about 2 yrs ago. He just seems to be getting fatter and fatter and I am sure the vet thinks I don't care about him. Not all of my kids are fat, some a little chunky.

I will keep posting and getting advise because I do believe y'all have a lot of experience and can help me figure out what the heck to do and how to do it. His little ear is so sore from all the poking and I hate to keep hurting him. I have kept a written log for him since Sept. 2010. I really should sit down put it in my spreadsheet..
I think I will do that Sunday and that will give all a better idea of what his sugar has been running. Why did I not think of my log before.. geesh I am so scattered brained sometimes.
Thanks again Sue,
Jan
 
The spreadsheet would be a huge help. Once we can see how he is reacting to the insulin cycle after cycle, it will be easier to see how you might tweak the dose.

Yes, a dental can make a huge difference. Not only that there might be an infection causing higher bg levels, but if he is in pain that can raise the levels too.

Just send me a pm if the spreadsheet is a problem.
 
Hi Jan,
You would be surprised how much even a little dry good can raise BG levels. Try an experiment---stop the dry temporarily and see if it makes a difference. Also, you can try Neosporin with pain relief for battered ears.
Good job with the testing. Keep posting and asking questions, we like to help.
 
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