Update on Nigel Bunster

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Consorte_bella

Consorte_bella

Member Since 2013
Hi everyone,

It has been a while since I posted an update on Nigel. He was diagnosed in January of this year and we had some problems with getting his blood when we first started. We also had a lot of bouncing.

Well, we are pros at getting blood now. Every once in a while we have to poke a couple of times because he has tiny veins, but we usually get a good drop in two pokes. Thanks again for everyone's prompt help in the beginning!

As far as his levels, he was doing well for a while, but we got cocky and stopped taking his levels everyday. Needless to say, he's off again. I noticed his asthma getting worse (it is affected more when he isn't as regulated) and he seemed a little off and not as playful as usual. So we took his levels and he was in the 400s! I believe my husband started to over feed him, which threw him off. We had him on 2 units and moved up .25 every few days to to 3 units to see if that brought him down. We also put some glucotest bits in the litter box and they were so dark they almost looked black. Yikes!

So now I think he might be bouncing because he was 425 this morning and 95 twelve hours later. I fed him, but did not give a shot. If I test him again and he starts to go up, should I give him a shot then?

I have the next two weeks off for the holidays, so I will update his spreadsheet and try to get a current curve. Any input would be great! Thanks!
 
Welcome back. Are you still using ProZinc? Definitely get some numbers. If he in the 90s 12 hours after the shot, he probably need a reduction, but more data would be helpful.
 
Stephanie,
Often with Prozinc, a high PS followed by one too low to shoot is due to the dose being too high. If you can get some data over the Holidays, we'd be much better able to help you make sense of it.

Is his current dose 3u?
 
Yes, still on prozinc. I went as high as 3 units because his numbers weren't dropping. His normal dosage was 2 units.

I am just trying to decide if I should test him again now and see what his level is at after eating an hour ago. If his levels are up, should I give him a lower dose maybe?

I will update his spreadsheet in a little bit.
 
With so little recent data, I wouldn't give a shot under 200. And feeding messed you up - food raises the bg levels, so the number isn't "true"
 
Sue, that's what I thought about the food. I had actually tested him 40 mins earlier and his second test was lower, so I wanted to get food into him in case he kept dropping.

My question is, if 2 units wasn't regulating and 3 is too high, shoulda I split the difference at 2.5 to try and get a curve?
 
We just took Nigel's blood (9 am) and it is 90. This is after he didn't get a pm shot because he was at 95 last night. I'm not sure what to do. My husband gave him a small amount of food at 7:30am, like a tablespoon's worth.

Help!
 
Well, this should be good news. It may mean his pancreas has started to work and is helping out with the numbers. If you can, continue to test today. You might consider a shot if he goes over 200. The disadvantage is that your schedule will off; the advantage is that if it is near midcycle, he won't continue to climb to preshot time as he would without a shot.
 
I think I'd give him breakfast and then test 30 minutes later. If his number goes down instead of up, it's another sign his pancreas is waking up.
 
Thanks for the input. I gave him 1/2 can of food and will test in 30-40 mins. I have also updated his spreadsheet with the info I have for the last month.

Update in an hour.
 
His levels are 145 about an hour after getting 1/2 can of food, so no shot.

I am thinking of continuing to take his levels every 2 hours and give a dose if he goes above 200. I wonder what dosage I should give him though? Should I start at 1 unit since I am essentially starting over? Or should I return to his normal 2 units?

I am thinking he got thrown off because we added the cowboy cookout food after only using fancy feast classic beef for so long. I guess I was just nervous about the quality of food and the high phosphorous. Its a moot point now because I found out a few days ago that Merrick changed the formula for the new cans (I was using the old cans).
 
If you are going to wait for 12 hours before the next following shot, one unit should be good. If you need to stay on schedule and want to shoot earlier than 12, maybe just a drop. (put water in a syringe - the smallest amount you can measure. Push out drops and count them. Then put insulin in the syringe to that same line and push out drops until you have one or two left - whatever you've decided on)

I think figuring this is starting over is a good idea. Think of it as gathering data - no right or wrong doses, just seeing how he is doing on a particular dose and raising or lowering.
 
He's 291 at 12:30pm, so we gave him 1/4 can of food and 1 unit of pro zinc. I will taking his levels every 2 hours from now on to get his new curves and try and find a new stable dosage over the next 2 weeks.

We've also started to phase out the cowboy cookout and will go back to just the fancy feast classic beef. I guess a little bit of extra phosphorous is better than an unregulated cat. Would some omega oils help too? We also have a cat with food and skin allergies and find that the oils help her. I just didn't want to add too much extra stuff to Nigel's diet.
 
This is weird. So I took his curve last night (see spreadsheet) and it seemed like he was at least starting to get the right shape (smile) for the pro zinc. Since he was in the 400s, I upped him to 1.5. I guess doing that messed things up because this morning he tested at 82. Now what do I do? I don't want to wait too much longer with food because he is really hungry, but I also don't want to mess up his levels if I should take another test.

I will also post this in the pzi board.
 
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