Sneakers- new vet, new insulin

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hmjohnston

hmjohnston

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I'll make this short as I have to be somewhere in 5 minutes but I will be back later tonight.

Sneakers saw her new vet today, he managed to draw some blood so they can get a full screening- kidneys, blood work, and see if she has anything else wrong that could be effecting her bg levels- something that wasn't originally done.

Since her numbers haven't been dropping like they should on the units she is taking we are going to switch her to Levemir- $253 + tax for 5 pens :o but they should last a long time. He even said I needed to drop her down to .5u twice a day to start with and build up slowly and since I am so good at testing her :-D all he needs is access to my SS chart so he can pull it up if I have questions rather than have her come in every two weeks. If she doesn't show signs of improvement we will need to look into insulin resistant and acromelegy (sp?).

And, for being 16 with diabetes she is doing GREAT :!: . Teeth looked okay to him. She was down to 8lbs so this recent bout with kitty krack set her back some. Or, it could be that she wasn't eating well when I was gone... didn't think of that at the vets office.

I will use this bottle of PZI until Friday morning and start the Levemir on Friday night so I can watch her better over the weekend.
 
Sneakers is leaving the PZI family? :cry:
You have to do what is best for Sneakers & her health.
I hope all the blood work comes out good that there isn't any problems.

I am going to miss hearing all the funny stories about your beautiful gray girl!
 
hmjohnston said:
I'll make this short as I have to be somewhere in 5 minutes but I will be back later tonight.

Sneakers saw her new vet today, he managed to draw some blood so they can get a full screening- kidneys, blood work, and see if she has anything else wrong that could be effecting her bg levels- something that wasn't originally done.

Since her numbers haven't been dropping like they should on the units she is taking we are going to switch her to Levemir- $253 + tax for 5 pens :o but they should last a long time. He even said I needed to drop her down to .5u twice a day to start with and build up slowly and since I am so good at testing her :-D all he needs is access to my SS chart so he can pull it up if I have questions rather than have her come in every two weeks. If she doesn't show signs of improvement we will need to look into insulin resistant and acromelegy (sp?).

And, for being 16 with diabetes she is doing GREAT :!: . Teeth looked okay to him. She was down to 8lbs so this recent bout with kitty krack set her back some. Or, it could be that she wasn't eating well when I was gone... didn't think of that at the vets office.

I will use this bottle of PZI until Friday morning and start the Levemir on Friday night so I can watch her better over the weekend.
Click to expand...

Heather,
I am sure you will be pleased with the switch to Levemir and hope you quickly see some more level numbers for your girl.

If you stop over the Levemir forum, you can ask the others there for info on their switching over from PZI to Levemir and what would be a good starting dose from your current one.
 
Hi Heather!
My kitty Charlie is acromegalic. We started on Prozinc in September of '10 and switched to Levemir in February 2011 because his dose was getting so high that it was more cost-effective to use Lev. Also, we strongly suspected acro at that point since we started very low and went very slow with our increases and still saw no real, lasting improvement in his numbers. I don't know about your kitty, or if you have looked into acro since your vet mentioned it, but a few of the the red flag warning signs of it are: large kitty with a huge appetite (some kitties display pica- eating non-food items), weight gain despite the diabetes (usually once insulin is started, but sometimes even at the onset of diabetes), large paws, heart murmur, snoring/noisy breathing, and obviously high doses of insulin. I can tell you what I did with my switch: I cut his current dose of prozinc by half and started levemir at that dose. He was just under 8u of prozinc at the switch and we started levemir at 4u. I did that because I knew in my heart from all my testing that I had NOT missed his good dose, and I knew in my heart that he was acro and going back any lower would be wasting precious time in getting him regulated. I hope that you are happy with Levemir, I find it to be a very gentle insulin with a very predictable action.

Best wishes for a smooth swith!
Claudia
 
Hi Heather and Sneakers,
Glad the new vet worked out. I hope the switch to lev is smooth. I would only caution against starting at such a low dose because it looks like Sneakers has had some ketone issues in the past. I encourage you to post on lev ISG to get other recommendations on a starting dose.

Heather and Sneakers can come and visit PZI any time....heck I left PZI a year ago and I still come back. :lol:

Marcy & Klinger
 
Good luck Heather. We wish you all the best in the switch! But please come back to visit here!
 
I'll definitely keep coming back- I want to keep up with all the kitties here- how did Hershey do with the leash (I never found out)?

Marcy and Claudia-
I was wondering about the low dose mainly for the ketones. I did just post over on the lev forum so hope to get feedback soon.
Sneakers does have a big appetite (and tummy :!: ). Gayle mentioned the possibility to me for acro since the PZI wasn't lowering her numbers greatly but was at least working on them I knew the bottle was effective, insulin was effective, but just not the right kind she needed. If there isn't an improvement within the first month I'll have the two tests run by the vet- he at least knew what they were.
Sneakers has started to have some noisy breathing or a constant low purring- I thought it might have been asthma at one point. She has lost one pound since January (after gaining 3 back since November). She was never really a big kitty compared to her sister Olive (who is a hefty 15 pound all muscle kitty that spends most of her time outside away from the dogs :lol: ).
And the only thing she eats besides her food (and - used to- mine) is grass. Does that count?
 
Heather,

Sneakers reminds me of my Shadoe. She was not ever big but over time she did grow herself a nice little pot belly till she looked like a 5-pin bowling ball on short little legs. She was tiny and had none of the visual signs of acro, did not snore or breathe loudly.

Let's hope that the Lev is just the thing Sneakers needs to get some good numbers.
 
Hi Heather -

Sorry to hear the Prozinc isn't doing much for Sneakers. She's one of the kitties that seems to be in the same boat as Grayson, and a switch is definitely under consideration for him too. We've got a few more things to try first... I want to get every I dotted & T crossed before I start over elsewhere.

Anyways, I totally get where you're at. And I, too, will have the tests run for Acro & insulin resistence. Marcy sent me some links to print out & take to the vet regarding the testing protocol. Will forward via PM.

Good luck - and DO keep us tuned in to her progress. I'll be curious to see how she does w/ the Lev.

Lu-Ann
 
I took my time testing for acro, too, because I was already avoiding the super-low numbers like the plague just in case. Your vet is a step ahead of my original vet in that yours has heard of acro :lol: I think that for a ketone-prone kitty it is best not to start all the way over from scratch. You can start at 50% as long as you are testing, and you have plenty of hc food around. I don't think grass counts for the list of unusual food items :-D That's pretty normal, I think. Charlie would eat fur, plastic bags, straws :shock:
 
Charliemeow said:
I think that for a ketone-prone kitty it is best not to start all the way over from scratch. You can start at 50% as long as you are testing, and you have plenty of hc food around. I don't think grass counts for the list of unusual food items :-D That's pretty normal, I think. Charlie would eat fur, plastic bags, straws :shock:
Click to expand...

I will be starting her at 2u- that's between 50 and 75% and I am comfortable with that.

No, Sneakers has never been one to eat anything like that. Back on dry food she used to eat bugs... I'd find them in her erps (vomit) occasionally, along with the grass and fur. She used to erp at least once every time I changed to a new bag of cat food - even if it was the same brand and kind. Since I've changed her food to raw/canned she hasn't thrown up but once- and that was when she was getting out and finding some kcc at the neighbors.
 
To answer your question - I haven't found a harness that seems to fit him right...yet ;-)

Now y'all have me wondering - Hershey has always been prone to eating photographs. I think he likes the texture! But, more recently has taken to licking envelopes, glue, plastic bags - but he doesn't eat them. Oreo, on the other hand has been known to eat dryer sheets...

Take care, Heather and Sneakers, we'll miss y'all and will expect regular visits! :-D

Libby (and Hershey, too!)
 
Heather.....you better come back! I will hunt you down....& send you PM's :lol: I will need to hear Sneaker stories. They always make me laugh. I am sure they don't make you laugh at the time...

I sure am going to miss the both of you. :YMHUG:
I wish you the best!!!
 
Heather -

Wishing you both the best. PLEASE do check in an keep us apprised of Sneaker's condition. Hoping the change will be a good move for you. Good luck!

Lu-Ann
 
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