It's been a few months since I've been a regular on here, but maybe someone else has been in a similar situation at some point...
So we were on ProZinc, dosing 0.4u twice a day and doing really really well. I then went on vacation for a week, and the petsitter just totally messed up. I came home, and had to travel for a few days for work, and had to use the same petsitter again because of the timing. When I got back, Snowflake (my cat)'s numbers were high (300-400's) and weren't falling at all. She started to slip into DKA (lost weight, lost appetite completely, high numbers), so I took her into the vet. He ran some tests, told me to up her prozinc (we went up to 2.0u twice a day)--still, that did nothing. she had inverted curves. A few days later she was much worse so I practically demanded a prescription for humulin R (which is what they used when she was in the emergency room, to bring her back down, because I can't afford to have her hospitalized again when I know I can do the shots and I just needed the R). He saw that she was on death's doorstep and gave me the prescription. I got the R and got her numbers back in check right away. As soon as I stopped using the R and went back to just the prozinc, her numbers went right back up, so I continued to supplement with R. I went as high as 6u with just prozinc, with still nothing happening, so I slowly stopped using the prozinc and just used the R (bad, bad, I know, but it was the only thing that worked). Well, over time (that was back in early June) she has been building up a tolerance for the R and we are now at the point where it takes 20 units to make a dent. She's usually in the mid-300's.
Sometimes, I'll give her her dose at night and then when I get up she's in a nice healthy 150ish, so I skip her dose that morning but then when I get home she's 550+. I variably give the doses through IM or in the scruff, depending on how high she is and if I'll be around to give another dose in a few hours (if not, I give it in the scruff, if so, I'll give im). I don't like the idea of giving 20 units in one site for im, so I'll usually do ten on one side and ten on the other. But as time passes, she continues to become less responsive and I need to up the dose. I'm going through vials much more quickly than I would like to, and I know this is a LOT of insulin. I've tried to pull the dose back a few times, but each time I do it, she stays in the "hi" range and starts to get sluggish and weak again.
Aside from the fact that I'm giving her insane amount of insulin, she's doing great. Has put on the weight she lost, has plenty of appetite and energy and seems like a normal happy/content little kitty, but in the long run, I know this can't be maintained.
Have any of you seen or heard of a situation like this? any recommendations?
So we were on ProZinc, dosing 0.4u twice a day and doing really really well. I then went on vacation for a week, and the petsitter just totally messed up. I came home, and had to travel for a few days for work, and had to use the same petsitter again because of the timing. When I got back, Snowflake (my cat)'s numbers were high (300-400's) and weren't falling at all. She started to slip into DKA (lost weight, lost appetite completely, high numbers), so I took her into the vet. He ran some tests, told me to up her prozinc (we went up to 2.0u twice a day)--still, that did nothing. she had inverted curves. A few days later she was much worse so I practically demanded a prescription for humulin R (which is what they used when she was in the emergency room, to bring her back down, because I can't afford to have her hospitalized again when I know I can do the shots and I just needed the R). He saw that she was on death's doorstep and gave me the prescription. I got the R and got her numbers back in check right away. As soon as I stopped using the R and went back to just the prozinc, her numbers went right back up, so I continued to supplement with R. I went as high as 6u with just prozinc, with still nothing happening, so I slowly stopped using the prozinc and just used the R (bad, bad, I know, but it was the only thing that worked). Well, over time (that was back in early June) she has been building up a tolerance for the R and we are now at the point where it takes 20 units to make a dent. She's usually in the mid-300's.
Sometimes, I'll give her her dose at night and then when I get up she's in a nice healthy 150ish, so I skip her dose that morning but then when I get home she's 550+. I variably give the doses through IM or in the scruff, depending on how high she is and if I'll be around to give another dose in a few hours (if not, I give it in the scruff, if so, I'll give im). I don't like the idea of giving 20 units in one site for im, so I'll usually do ten on one side and ten on the other. But as time passes, she continues to become less responsive and I need to up the dose. I'm going through vials much more quickly than I would like to, and I know this is a LOT of insulin. I've tried to pull the dose back a few times, but each time I do it, she stays in the "hi" range and starts to get sluggish and weak again.
Aside from the fact that I'm giving her insane amount of insulin, she's doing great. Has put on the weight she lost, has plenty of appetite and energy and seems like a normal happy/content little kitty, but in the long run, I know this can't be maintained.
Have any of you seen or heard of a situation like this? any recommendations?
