How long do you typically sit at a dose before deciding to go up? Also my cat was origanlly on .50 then .75 and his numbers would drop into the high 100s and now he’s been on 1 unit but I haven’t seen his numbers drop much at all back into the 100s since. I stopped testing as much because I honestly dont have time between work but I’m consistently now seeing the average numbers of 230-260s everytime I check him since .75. He did well on .50 dropping atleast into the 100s but never since the increase to .75 and 1.00 have I seen him do that. I waited at .75 for 3 weeks before going to 1 unit I check AMPS /PMPS and maybe 1 mid day check right now He also free feeds hard until 3 hours before pmps and fasts 6 hours before AMPS as I pick up food at bedtime I tested a lot more when he was on .50 and I don’t think he ever dipped and crashed. I didn’t log all of of his numbers as I’ve been having family issues but I know his numbers have not dropped into the 100s since going up to .75 They have been consistently in the 200s since 1 unit when I’ve checked Amps/pmps and 1 mid day test He’s only been on 1 unit for a week and maybe 2 days After how long of testing should I decide to increase? I will say he’s got a dental infection that is getting resolved soon (long wait times) He’s eating tiki cat after dark low carb half a can in the morning, half a can at pmps and he free feeds young again mature zero No treats
P.S. I am sorry you are having such a frustrating time. When will his dental procedure be performed? Is he on antibiotics now? Dental problems can really elevate cat’s blood glucose (BG). But of he really has an infected tooth that can be dangerous for a diabetic cat (to have any kind of infection really) as it can cause them to go into DKA.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xGIRa8qU0Ls9ExYYppASl1wfHhkbBnK4MadqIpbue84/edit Hopefully within the next month or two. Most vets near me either charge 1000 just for a a X-ray or low cost vets near me are not answering phone calls right now and it says it will take months to hear back and they don’t book until Nov-December and another place told me to call back in April to see if they have openings. I’m hoping one other place will be affordable for me and willing to do it next week. My original vet didn’t want to do it until his numbers were stable and looked at me like I had 5 heads when I said but he probably wont be stable until he has dental work and acted like I was stupid when I said so .. so now I’m scared to go back to them
Oh my! Where do you live? That’s outrageous! I usually pay between $300-400 nowadays for a dental cleaning and that is usually with a few tooth extractions. I did pay $500 at my last dental cleaning because I also asked that they do IV fluids before, during, and after the procedure so that added a bit more. Marcus had four teeth extracted at that time. I feel terrible about you having so much trouble finding someone to do it! We live in Georgia. You are completely correct, of course, about the dental problem making it very difficult to get him regulated. That is a common thing though— vets say that all the time — let’s wait on the dental until you get the cat better regulated. Of course, their idea of “regulated” and ours here at the FDMB are probably quite different.
Have you been on this 1 unit dose for 7 days. I’m looking at your spreadsheet and it looks like it, but the units cells are empty for quite a few days so I wanted to confirm that. I see you are having quite a flat yellow cycle today. I would not hold the dose for too long. Normally when following the Start Low Go Slow (SLGS) dosing protocol you hold the dose for 7 days and then run a curve where you test every two hours for one of the cycles and then make dosing decisions. If you hold the dose too long you may have glucose toxicity where the cat simply gets comfortable in higher numbers and it can be harder to budge them out of it. I am glad you got so many tests in today. Based on today’s data, I would increase to 1.25 units as long as you can test her and monitor the cycle. Then I would hold the dose for 7 days and then see what the data tells me (hold the dose, increase). If at any time she drops under 90 you would reduce the dose by .25 units. Having said all that, please test before every shot to make sure it’s safe to even give the insulin. Sometimes cats can surprise us with a low preshot especially if they are breaking a bounce. Then try to get at least one (more is better) mid-cycle test. We base dosing decisions a lot on the nadir (lowest point) in the cycle so we need to kind of know when Sam typically nadirs and how low he goes.
I would like to help you and check in on Sam’s progress if you don’t mind. If you keep your spreadsheet updated I will check in on how he’s doing. We can talk after a week on the new dose, too.
And if it helps, here’s the sticky note for ProZinc dosing methods. You want to read the Start Low Go Slow Method since that’s the one you need to follow for right now since he eats some dry food. Also, it would be helpful if you could get a signature set up and add some of the basic information there and link your SS in there. Usually it’s cat name, diagnosis date, type of insulin, dosing method following, type of meter being used, any other health conditions that the cat has and any other medications that the cat takes. And finally the type of food fed — either LC wet and dry or whatever the cat eats. This helps keep us from asking you the same questions over and over. For me it also helps to know what time zone you’re in and shot time (those two things can be put on the spreadsheet though.) https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/
