When not to give insulin?

[Charley]

Dear friends Charley's vet told us if his numbers are under 100 that is the only time not to give insulin. Charley's morning Bg has been 126-196 during his morning pokes this week. We have not given him his morning dose because we are afraid of hypo while we are at work. By evening his Bg is hovering 350-371 and we give him 1 unit of Prozinc. Have you heard of a kitty only needing insulin once a day? We haven't done a curve yet due to our schedule. His vet said he feels we are doing everything possible, but I just feel so lost with this.

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

It depends on what insulin you are using.

 

[harrysmom]

I beleive that most insulins work best when given 2/daily. You may want to lower the pm dose so his numbers will be more consistent and you could shoot 2/daily. Lots of times kitties don't feel well either when there numbers go all over the place. If it was me I would drop the pm dose to .5 unit so I could try and get a shootable number. I think you made the right call on not giving those shots - usually in the beginning the rule of thumb is no shot under 200. :smile:

Good Luck!

 

[BJM]

Definitely drop the dose to 0.5 units.
edited to add: and dose every 12 hours if blood glucose is 150 or higher.

If you are using the U-40 syringes for the Prozinc and don't have the ones that mark half units, an option is to use U-100 syringes and a conversion chart to get the correct dose. (Basically, whatever the U-100 syringe says * 0.4 gets you what the U-40 dose is - but the table is easier to use in a hurry.)

Alternatively, get a good ruler with very fine markings, and measure the syringe from line to line, using the same side of the line (they have some width) and determine the halfway point. Mark this on the U-40 syringe for an approximate half unit measurement.

 

[Jen & Squeak]

like the others said, he still needs insulin.

1. cut off should be more like 150-ish, not 100. Shooting at 100 is not safe at this point and likely never.
2. Try giving 0.5 units if he's over 150 and see what he's like at pm shot time, and then only give 0.5 as well. Try to get some tests between shot time even if its during hte evening, as yo ureally need to capture whats going on between shots

Good luck

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

We have a number of people mini dosing (giving insulin in small doses on an as needed basis). If you would like some guidance, come over to the PZI forum. Check out some of the spreadsheets and threads.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=24

Can we help you set up a spreadsheet? That will really help you and us decide on doses. Here are the directions. If you need help, just help.


http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207