Started Prozinc and BG's are higher

Thank you to both of you. You made me feel so much better about increasing the dose. It all made so much sense. I do leave wet food out to graze on all day. I struggle with taking the food away from him two hours before the next testing. I try to give him his insulin between 6-7 every day, which means I test him at 6-6:30 every day. I work until 5 pm. My husband usually will be home by 4:30 and will take his food away, but that is not always the case. Sometimes he won't get home until 5 pm. This then pushes his dose back further, leaving only 11 hours between doses. Those are the days that you will see no testing before the AMPS/PMPS. I read that it is best to be consistent with the testing/feeding/shooting time but this part has tripped me up some. Then there are times that I come home and Gizmo is hungry because even though we took his plate away from him at 4:30, he may not have eaten anything from it since 3pm as an example. I hope all of this is making sense.
Any advice on how to work this out with an 8-5 job schedule? I don't want to to the test/feed/shoot to late in the morning so I have time before I go to work to stall if his numbers ever get down to 200 or below.

Thanks again for all of your help.
 
Do you have an auto feeder? If you get one that moves to a new compartment (most like the petsafe 5) you can set it to auto move to an empty compartment 2 hours before shot time. You could set that for overnight and during the day so you don't have to worry about getting up early just to take food away. :) That might be easiest for you both since you can not worry about getting home/remembering to take up food.

As for the "starving kitty" routine (oh how well I know that one!) you just have to find a way to get through it sometimes. I find taking a long shower or a walk helps. If you can't hear them, you won't feel as bad! Gizmo should get used to the routine over time. It's always hard when they act like they're starved but remember that he had access to food and he will have some more soon. It's hard to listen to them cry, which is why I like removing myself from the situation if possible. :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Rachel, thank you for suggesting the auto feeder. It would be so wonderful not to have to wake up at 4 am to take his food away. I will look into one this weekend.
Gizmo is a silent beggar. He applies the sad eyes that just wants to make you cave in. He has even begun to go lay down in the spot that we check his BG and just lays there staring at me. I do my best to distract him with playtime during the last half hour. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. He doesn't always feel up to playing much.

I will be so happy when I can get his numbers lower. We are heading in the right direction. I am wondering when I should increase his dose again. He has been on 1.5 for a couple of days now.

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated.
 
Rachel, thank you for suggesting the auto feeder. It would be so wonderful not to have to wake up at 4 am to take his food away. I will look into one this weekend.
Gizmo is a silent beggar. He applies the sad eyes that just wants to make you cave in. He has even begun to go lay down in the spot that we check his BG and just lays there staring at me. I do my best to distract him with playtime during the last half hour. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. He doesn't always feel up to playing much.

I will be so happy when I can get his numbers lower. We are heading in the right direction. I am wondering when I should increase his dose again. He has been on 1.5 for a couple of days now.

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated.
I think you can try 1.75 u now. :)
 
Depending on the cat, you can increase every 3-6 cycles or so. Most folks will increase after four cycles so they can always increase either in the morning, or at night (whichever cycle they can monitor the best). When you reach a dose that starts to cause some bouncing, you'll slow down a little bit. We can help you figure that out.
 
Thank you. I will increase him to 1.75 u tomorrow evening since I am not here during the day. I do work close enough that I can come home at lunch every day which is at 12:30 pm, which is why you see the consistent testing at the +6 and not the others. I think this is his nadir, but I haven't done enough testing at the other intervals to know for sure. Can any of you determine his nadir from the testing that I have done or do you need more testing at the other intervals?
 
I think we'd need more data for nadir, Heather. You usually get a test at +6, which is great, but it's hard to be sure without some further data points. Maybe try a curve this weekend? Or just try to grab tests at different times on days when you are home?
 
Alas, Rachel is right. It's hard to say at this point. Plus, the nadir can change. In the PM cycle, my cat has an early nadir. Usually around +3. During the day he is all over the place: sometimes at +3, sometime at +6, and sometimes late in the cycle. I think grabbing some other times when you can be home (maybe on weekends?) will help, but it's dynamic and can move...because cats. ;):cat:
 
Thanks again. I thought that the data I had was not enough to determine this yet. I will try to get additional testing this weekend at the other intervals.
 
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