Question About Vetsulin Dosage

Discussion in 'Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH' started by ciaoyall, Oct 21, 2020.

  1. ciaoyall

    ciaoyall New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2020
    Hi there. I hope I am using this site correctly. My 11 year old, 19 pound male cat, Joey, was diagnosed with diabetes about 18 months ago. He was losing hair and weight at that time. He was started on 1 unit Vetsulin and began to recover almost immediately, although his glucose levels were still high. In an effort to make a long story shorter, his glucose levels rarely came into a normal range, even though he appeared to be as healthy as ever. I took him to a cat specialist veterinarian and as time passed, he was eventually up to 12 units twice daily. He is on canned, low carb food except for under a quarter cup of dry a day (prescription food for diabetics). The next step the vet suggested was that I place him on a very low calorie diet, which I never could manage. He whines ALL the time for food. At 19 pounds he eats 3 small cans of low carb food a day. I dole it out into many small meals so he thinks he is being fed often. I haven't seen the vet in months. I gave up really. BUT, he has no problems walking. He can still jump onto things that are around 3 feet high. He has healthy hair. He no longer uses the litter boxes, one cat, four to five boxes throughout the house with a variety of litters. So my house is lined with large training pads that he does use. I know that I will be scolded by other members for asking this question, but is there a maximum dosage of Vetsulin that any cat should have? His glucose curve begins around 500 in the morning and goes down as low as 350 in the afternoon. That's pretty consistent. If I raise his Vetsulin to 13 units twice daily (checking his levels regularly), will I kill him??? He simply seems to be resistant to the insulin. But, except for peeing outside the litter boxes, seems quite healthy. Thank you!! Additionally, the dosage of Vetsulin went up gradually over the months.
     
  2. Panic

    Panic Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2019
    12 units?? :eek:

    Okay. Can you do me a hugeee favor and create a spreadsheet with Joey's blood sugar results since you've been testing? Here are the instructions - if you need help making it, I can ping a mod to do it for you. 12 units is a REALLY high dose, which is going to mean one of two things. 1) he is being severely overdosed or 2) he is a high dose kitty and should be tested for Acromegaly or IAA. Both conditions will cause a cat to need a lot more insulin than a typical cat. If that is the case, you want to try a new insulin called Levemir. If it's NOT the case I still recommend switching to Prozinc or Lantus. Vetsulin is a dog insulin that doesn't last the full 12 hours in cats.

    Once you get the spreadsheet set up I will tag some people with experience with those conditions and they can help tell you what to do next. Until then please don't increase the dose!
     

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