Skipping shots

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Megan Kochvar

Megan Kochvar

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Hi! My kitty is currently on 2.5 units of Prozinc twice a day. We have something going on from Saturday-Sunday this weekend that would allow me to give her her insulin Saturday morning, but then have to skip it Saturday evening. We will be home relatively early Sunday morning. I just had her at the vet to get her BG tested and everything was great. I decreased to 2.5 units (from 3) and will bring her back in 8 weeks, unless something changes. I am testing sporadically at home and her levels stay relatively low (under 300). I have skipped doses before if I have tested her before she should get her shot and her levels were under 200.
I guess my question is what are your thoughts on skipping it for the evening Saturday and part of the morning Sunday? My son will be home to feed her, but he doesn't know how to give her insulin and I don't want to pay to board her for one night and add that extra stress.
Any advice would be helpful!!
Thanks,
Megan
 
It's certainly not ideal to skip a dose, but we all have to do it on occasion because of life.

I'm a curious about the numbers on your spreadsheet. It looks like she's bouncing a fair amount which can indicate she's getting too much insulin. I would really encourage you to start getting some tests in the middle of the cycle on days when you aren't working to get a better sense of what's going on with her.
 
I have been really bad about updating it! Plus I am down to my last couple test strips so I really need to order some more. However, I did take her in on Tuesday to get her levels tested at the vet and she was 309, which is significantly lower than she typically is when I take her there (where she runs in the mid-400s). This was mid-cycle, but she was really stressed out, as she always is when I take her to the vet!
I tested her at 4 p.m. that same day (about 2 hours before she was due to get her insulin) and she was 168. She really has been all over the place. I have switched her over to 1 can of FF classic and 1 can of Glycobalance 2 times a day so she is getting all wet food. I have also been pretty strict with only giving her low carb treats and not letting her have any table foods anymore. I have lowered her insulin from 3 units to 2.5 units because I was seeing some things that made me suspect she was getting too much insulin (slight head tremors) and there have been times when I have skipped her dose altogether because her numbers were low before testing. She still will have some high numbers pop up on occasion... does this still mean that she may be getting too much insulin? She's been very active and playful lately and really seems to be feeling good. I have been slowly putting off her insulin little by little and I figure I will give it to her Saturday morning around 11 a.m. and then give her another dose when I get back into town sunday morning (probably before 11 a.m.). My 19-year old will be home to feed her, but he isn't comfortable giving her shots and I really think she will be ok. I am going to update her spreadsheet though with the additional information I have gotten.
Thanks for the insight! I am also going to order more test strips tomorrow (payday!). I work from home on Tuesdays so I should be able to get a lot of good readings on her next Tuesday throughout the day. How will I know when/if she might be going into remission? Is it consistent low BG readings?
 
You might consider switching to a human meter if you're out of strips anyway. They are soooooo much cheaper than using the AT2. And our protocols are written for a human meter anyway.

It's not ideal to skip shots. If you're needing to skip, either (A) you don't really need to, or (B) Kami is getting too much insulin. There isn't enough data for me to know which one at this point. When you get back from the weekend, I would very much recommend that you get a test before each and every shot. And as much as you can, get tests in the middle of the cycle. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on with Kami and see if we can't get her into a better place.

How long ago did you get her on all wet food? The Glycobalance is 14% carbs, and we recommend keeping a diabetic cat under 10%. It's really too high in carbs to be a good food for our sugar cats. If she's happy on Fancy Feast, I'd suggest getting her off of the glycobalance to give her a chance to get into remission. But please don't change her food until you're monitoring her more because pulling those carbs out of her diet will likely make her numbers better - which will lower her insulin need as well.
 
It wasn't too long ago when I switched her to an all wet diet. Maybe a month? And honestly the only reason I did was from reading these message boards! I didn't realize how high in carbs glycobalance was since that was what was recommended to me when I got her from the emergency vet back in September. I ordered the Freestyle lite test strips and I am hoping those will work with my alphatrak 2 meter. They should be here by Wednesday. I plan on doing a lot more testing when I get those! I did skip last night and she acted fine when we got back this morning. She has really been acting great lately! She is 8 years old, but has been acting like a kitten with a lot of energy. I think the all wet diet has been helping, along with the healthy treats I ordered her!
Thanks for your tips and recommendations. I really appreciate it a lot. I am going to do a lot more testing and I will update her spreadsheet so I can track it closer.
 
I received my Freestyle lite test strips this afternoon. I have tested Kami twice so far... at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. She received her morning shot at 6 a.m. Her 1 p.m. testing was 346 and her 3 p.m. testing was 248. I will obviously test her again before she would get her insulin this evening, but it is going in the wrong direction so I am really confused! We did miss her testing on Saturday night when we were out of town and she has seemed fine since. I updated her spreadsheet and see what the rest of the evening brings!!
 
In those light blue columns that are titled, "U", could you put the dose in? Click on one of our spreadsheets to see an example. Seeing the dose in connection with the numbers will help us figure out next steps.
 
Just tested again and it is up a little bit to 283. I typically give her insulin around 6 p.m. but I will be going to a choir concert tonight. I think I am going to hold off and check her when I get back around 7:30 p.m. and then feed her and give her insulin then, if her numbers stay in the 300s or higher.
 
Interesting...not sure why it's lower later in the afternoon. Any chance she got some contraband or anything? Either way, those numbers aren't bad. I would still give insulin as long as she is above 200, which I'm thinking she will be.
 
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