Hi, my Stewie, 11 year old neutered male, is on vetsulin. We just got a continuous glucose monitor because we're having such trouble getting him regulated. I am really really surprised at the way that vetsulin seems to be affecting him. I give him the injection in the morning. His bgl actually Rises(300-450) for another 4 hours and then it starts going down. But it goes way down, to the extent that I have to give him something with carbs in it get his bgl up to where it's supposed to be. This repeats. He goes way high for 4 hours after injection, then tanks. As I understand it this is not the way that vetsulin supposed to work?? I should add that my late husband was a diabetic so I have about 35 years of experience dealing with human diabetes and I've never seen this. Any help would be appreciated!
This won't explain your readings. I used Vetsulin on two cats for years before I came here and even realized I had options. Vetsulin is harsh on a cat's system and really won't last a 12 hour cycle, I never did get our last sugar cat regulated. Maybe a depot insulin is the way to go.
I've been wondering about Lantus. I know diabetics are sometimes hard to regulate and different insulins have different effects. Seems to me it's time to change the insulin? I'll talk to my vet on Monday about this!
If you post this in the main forum, Feline Health, you'll get more knowledgeable replies. Prozinc is another alternative.
First of all welcome to FDMB the best place you never wanted to be. Actually it sounds like what you are seeing isn't that rare. Vetsulin has a very sharp curve (not really a curve at all but rather an "V") and often doesn't last a full 12 hours. Because of this we often see bouncing sometimes very pronounced, with highs and lows in a roller coaster pattern. Some cats only get about 8 hours out of a shot which just serves to make the ups and downs more pronounced. We have a wonderful spreadsheet here into which you can enter your readings and visually see the pattern of BG. We are very data oriented here and setting up a SS would help us help you. The spreadsheet is used for all insulins so even if you decided to switch to another insulin, the spreadsheet will help you help your cat and help us help you. I know you can get graphs from the Libre but it's often difficult to see pics of those graphs online and they don't provide the same "wider" view of what's happening so we still use the spreadsheet. The instructions for the Spreadsheet are HERE and THIS document explains how to use it.
