Vet switched Linus from Novin N to ProZinc, need urgent help

Status
Not open for further replies.
I am very beside myself right now, the Hills science diet, any made for a diabetic cat will help them lose weight, anything with no carbs is a diet for a cat, so even the young again is for weight LOSS, I spoke with them a few minutes ago. Hills, the vet and Young again all stated the same thing, unless your cat is overweight all of these foods will aid them in losing weight. While I understand some people are interested in remission, at age 14 nearly 15 remission is something that is back seat, and all the people I spoke with today from the vet, to hills, to young again agree, it is now about putting some weight on him, treating with insulin for the numbers we get from any food that will put some weight on him. I sure wish these food companies would make things clear on their websites etc.... THIS FOOD WILL MAKE YOUR CAT LOSE WEIGHT! I am beyond frustrated at this point! Young again is calling me back to help us come up with a plan to help him gain weight. Fingers crossed I am getting somewhere.
 
It sounds like you have a right to be frustrated. I don't know how big Linus is in body size. But 7 pounds seems small for most cats. I have always felt that a small amount of fat around the belly is good for those times they are feeling lean between meals. Hey it works for me :0

The BG numbers at the top of the thread - those indicate Linus should be getting a good protein diet. Carbs can affect the blood glucose and the overall health of diabetics. Anyhow, it does seem like some extra weight would be warranted.
 
I am back, my old pc took a dive and I have a different laptop now, I tried signing in but had the password stored on the old pc so I made a new ID. If anyone has an idea as to how to attach Linus' spreadsheet to this id that would be great. He was doing better and the vet said to let him eat whatever he would eat so we did that for awhile but I tried and continue to discourage him from eating dry food, he does eat a little of it in the middle of the night. I feed him every couple hours as he is a constant grazer and never eats much at each feeding which makes it hard to get the weight on him. He had gained a pound and now he is losing weight again. I can feel his ribs and spine again, he has been eating less, and laying in places like he is trying to hide. I did find some 9 lives chicken and tuna he loved to eat, but when I realized it has less protein and calories than the turkey and giblets made by friskies I stopped giving it to him. I think he is trying to let me know he is not happy with me at all. We did the fancy feast for 3 years and he got tired of that and we tried the friskies at that point. I made him some chicken and he barely touched that. I think I am going to buy all the brands he has eaten at different times and hope he decides what he wants to eat. I hope I haven't sent him into a cat depression, I fear I have!! ARGH!!!

On a good note we are seeing many more 200 ish and a few below numbers for pres shot numbers so I think the switch from the Novolin to the ProZinc was a good call. Any idea's on the weight? I feel something is off.
 
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear your laptop took a dive. Your Spreadsheet doesn't appear to be filled out for 2017...or is it just malfunctioning on my computer?

When was the last time Linus went to the vet? If he isn't eating well and is hiding and acting in pain, I'd get him in ASAP. Do you test for ketones?
 
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

I don't see anything for 2017 either, @Rachel :bookworm:. I second Rachel's thoughts if there are other issues presenting themselves a Vet visit might be in order. Has he ever had pancreatitis?

On a second note Susie, a general formula for caloric intake for a goal weight for kitty is:
Cat's weight (or desired weight in lbs) x 13.6 + 70 = Required calories per day
So if you want kitty to weigh 10 lbs. 10 x 13.6 + 70 = 206 calories needed per day. Divide by how many meals you feed :).
 
I have my log in my tablet and will get it filled out tonight for the last few months, my tablet log before then I toss out, I only keep them for 3 month intervals. I did some research thinking that perhaps the insulin ( Pro Zinc ) was loosing it's punch, but the numbers I am getting is telling me the insulin is still good. I did some research on the relion confirm meter we use, and bought a new one to make sure as well, same brand, I get within 2 point numbers between the 2 meters, so I know they are working.

This is what I am seeing:
I took a non diabetic cats BS this morning with the same 2 meters as Linus, Frankie was my subject ( short for Frank Sinatra, white cat with blue eyes) Frankie's BS was 49, I then took Linus's BS and his was 375. I gave Linus his meal, Turkey and Giblets which he has decided he will eat again, small YAY as it will be short lived, I gave Linus 2 U at 9 55 am, I checked him 4 hours after injection and got a 116, 5 hours out now and re-checked him , he is at a 75, and plan to check at half life ( 6 hours) to see where he is.

I have a keytone test kit and his keytones are 0. He seems to be dropping too fast in my opinion, what do you think?
He has been very finicky in his eating lately, but he is a grazer and never eats a lot at one time, he was like this pre diabetes as well. We did try some hamburger 85% lean that he loves, but after he ate he dropped far too low and I am not sure hamburger will help him put any weight on at all. A couple nights ago while having the hamburger we went from pre shot number of 310, he ate about 3 small spoons of the cooked plain hamburger and about 1 small spoon of his wet 9 Lives Chicken and Tuna, which for him was a huge meal. We gave 1.5 U and at a 4 hour after check we got a reading of 62, at 5 hours a 45, we gave a little karo and food, he went up to a 58 within a half hour.

The evening before we got a 407 for his pre shot number, again fed the hamburger and wet food, this time the wet food was white fish and tuna and at the 5 hour check he was at 84 so I checked again at the 5 1/2 hour mark thinking he may get too low and he was at a 69, gave a little karo again, checked again in a half hour at 6 hour mark and was back up to a 129.

Things that have changed, we stopped using the U100 smaller and shorter needled and have been using the needles for the prozinc, they are longer and a bit bigger as well..

I tried to get him back on his Turkey and Giblets Friskies after he was eating the 9 lives wet and he was not too happy about that.

I do have an ongoing prescription for Amoxicillin from our vet which I am wondering if I should try a bit on him in case this is a small bout of pancreatitis.

I am checking him again as the 75 number is a bit low for my comfort level.
 
I just checked him again , now at the 5 1/2 hour mark and his BS is at 60, giving wet food with some karo in it, will check again at 6 hour mark ( half hour)
 
60 is ok, but lower than that is a big worry zone. Leo drops to 60 mid nadir sometimes. Easy for me to correct with a little food.
 
Hi Susiecats! It sounds like you're getting some pretty dramatic drops. At least you know the insulin is working!

One thing you might consider is that giving them karo, or anything high carb really, is pretty hard on their liver and pancreas, so you might want to save that for if there is really an emergency and they are dropping below 40. Even around 50, you can usually steer with low carb (under 10%) or medium carb food (around 14%). Giving karo or high carb will sometimes make them continue having dramatic rises and falls for a few days, when really you just want to help settle him down!

Another thing that can cause those big spikes and falls is frequent changes in dose. So if some cycles you give 2u and some you give 1.5u, that can sometimes magnify those big dramatic curves. It might be better to choose a safe dose and stick with it for a few days to see if the bouncing settles. Once you get the spreadsheet updated, we can take a look and see if there is a safe recommendation to try to settle things down a bit.

Finally, food changes can also contribute to the dramatic curves. This one can be tricky with a finicky cat that always wants something different (mine is like that too), but the steadier you can keep the food, the better while you're trying to figure out the dosing. I would recommend sticking with the 9 lives pates if he's happy with those and see if some consistent meals help.

Hope something in there is helpful! It's always a bit of a dance to figure out our mysterious kitties!
 
I know what you mean about the Karo, unless he is super low I don't give him much, I drizzle 1/4 - 1/2 a small teaspoon on his wet food and he will lick a small amount of it. I found that if I try to dam any on his gums he gets stressed, he popped up to a 129 so I don't think I gave him too much as he ate abut a small teaspoon of food. I did get the Amoxicillin ordered and will pick that up tomorrow morning. I did have a problem with dosing when he was last on the antibiotic because the liquid has some sweetener/flavoring in it, I plan to give the antibiotic with his later afternoon feeding and hopefully it won't affect his BS levels before his evening injection. He was at 331 tonight so we gave him 1U at 9 40 pm , I just checked him at the 2.5 hour mark after the shot and he is at a 264, he ate mostly hamburger but quite a bit of it and a small amount of wet food. I am going to put at least a month's results on his spreadsheet if it lets me do it.
 
It let me attach the spreadsheet, but not add anything at all. Does anyone know how I can add to it? Please note that this was his spreadsheet under my past profile that I was unable to sign into after my old pc stopped working.
 
Susiecats said:
It let me attach the spreadsheet, but not add anything at all. Does anyone know how I can add to it? Please note that this was his spreadsheet under my past profile that I was unable to sign into after my old pc stopped working.
Click to expand...

Are you able to login to Google? You'll need to login to your Google account before you can edit it. If you can't login to Google anymore, you could create a new Google account, and then copy and paste your data into a new spreadsheet. Let us know if you need help with that. There are a few people around here who might be able to help more with that.
 
Sorry, have not been online as much as usual, taking care of Linus is getting hard, I am glad to do it but just can't figure out what's happening. He has had this for about 5-6 years now and some days I think he may be going into remission. He had 2 more days of super low blood sugars +11 after injection of 1U. Now today I gave him 1.2U at 10 am as he was 381 BS, it should have landed him at a 140 ish for his lowest at the 6 to 7 hour mark, but landed him at 248! Test him at 10 pm tonight and he was at a 36!!!. Relion confirm meter) when I tested it against my vets pet meter her's reads 20 higher, still gave him a light drizzle of karo on his wet food and it took a half hour to get a reading of 50. I am starting to wonder about remission but have read so much about it usually happening within a few months up to a year. I checked him again now at 1 am and he is at a 199, too low to shoot. I notice he is drinking more water and has less urine than usual as well. Day 5 of the amoxicillin, but have been giving it +8 after injection.. What do you all make of this?
 
Susiecats said:
Sorry, have not been online as much as usual, taking care of Linus is getting hard, I am glad to do it but just can't figure out what's happening. He has had this for about 5-6 years now and some days I think he may be going into remission. He had 2 more days of super low blood sugars +11 after injection of 1U. Now today I gave him 1.2U at 10 am as he was 381 BS, it should have landed him at a 140 ish for his lowest at the 6 to 7 hour mark, but landed him at 248! Test him at 10 pm tonight and he was at a 36!!!. Relion confirm meter) when I tested it against my vets pet meter her's reads 20 higher, still gave him a light drizzle of karo on his wet food and it took a half hour to get a reading of 50. I am starting to wonder about remission but have read so much about it usually happening within a few months up to a year. I checked him again now at 1 am and he is at a 199, too low to shoot. I notice he is drinking more water and has less urine than usual as well. Day 5 of the amoxicillin, but have been giving it +8 after injection.. What do you all make of this?
Click to expand...
It'll be easier to give advice once your 2017 data shows but on the face of it he appears to be bouncing violently from the lows. It might be worth trying a consistent lower dose for a few days to see if he settles a bit. Sometimes bouncy cats get worse when you chase the numbers with dose changes. My cat can't tolerate frequent dose changes. I'm not sure what dose to suggest without seeing SS trends - maybe 0.8 u? That's based on you saying he went very low by +11 on a 1 u dose.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top