Back from trip and new vet

Hi, we're the ones who took our Tigger on a 6 week rv trip...he had a great time, by the way But now we are back and I talked to the "regular" vet at our vet office yesterday. Before the trip,when he was newly diagnosed, apparently the vet who diagnosed him is only there occasionally. She's the one who told me"you only need to test once a week, then even once a MONTH would be ok, cats have better control than dogs, so keeping him under 300 is ok", etc. So I called the office yesterday and spoke to the "new" vet. Wow, I really like her..she spent nearly 30 min with me answering all my questions and concerns!! Tigger is still running high...before shots he's in the 300-400 range (2 u of Vetsulin 2xday) but then sometimes he's in the 200's. Kind of all over the board, but never into the 500's and never below 150. New vet said she'd like to see him 150-170, but really more around 100, ideally. She wants me to test him 3x a day for a week, in the morning, at +6, and dinner. Also a couple of those days she'd like to see a +3 and a +9. Then she'll look at those numbers and probably raise him to 2 1/2 units, see how he does,then 2 weeks later do urine and fructose testing, etc. since he's still only 13 lbs and HUNGRY..give him 3 cans of his FF a day and more if needed. I liked everything she told me. Seemed a lot more knowledgeable about this,and echoed a lot of what is said on here. Does all this sound ok? I feel that now he is getting more aggressive treatment! Pretty sure she'll raise his dose, but will wait and see. By the way, he ate a lizard yesterday..he's always been a hunter but is this ok??

 

You may want to ask your vet to switch insulins. Vetsulin only lasts for a short time in the cat's body. Better insulins are Lantus, Levemir, Prozinc and PZI. All of these are long acting insulins.

Also, we recomment testing before every shot. You can also test on some days in between like your vet suggested. The reason you test before every shot is you can determine how well the insulin is working and also prevent giving insulin if his BG levels drop too low.

 

Just in case we didn't link it before, here is our Vetsulin Guide.
This vet definitely seems better informed about Vetsulin.
As the guide suggests, you might feed him 1 can about 30 minutes before the shot, then half a can at +2.5 hours post-shot for both morning and evening, then adjust food amounts to manage his weight as needed.
Testing before shots will keep him safe; we suggest 200 mg/dL as a no shot number starting out, until the mid-cycle data show if it is safe to shoot any lower. Testing at the likely nadir, and then when it generally wears off for cats will show you how the insulin is working for him.
And lizard is fine so long as it isn't anything he's allergic to!

 

For an alternative to the Vetsulin, since your vet is familiar with in and out insulins, both ProZinc and BCP PZI might work well. This may be needed if your cat is one of many that experience short duration from the Vetsulin (steep rise in numbers around +9 to +10 hours post-shot).

 

Thanks all. Yes, I'm familiar with everything that all of you suggested. It's just that being away on such a long trip hampered us from the very start. I didn't have time to do a spreadsheet, much less keep checking with the vet, etc. now that we are home, I feel like I have a little bit better control over the situation. He was started out on Vetsulin by the first vet. The "new" vet said they often do that because it is a moderately priced, intermediate insulin. She said he also could start to respond well to it, perhaps with a tweaking of his dose, we will see on that. She said Lantus is more expensive, but it also gives cats a better remission rate. I will get a better idea of where we're headed in the next 2 weeks, but I do feel better about things. He's still tending to hit the high 300's/low 400's pre-shot, and around 200 in between shots.

 

Lantus and Levemir are more expensive. If that is prescribed, we recommend asking for a prescription for the pens instead of a vial. These insulins are usually effective 3 - 5 months, but you will still end up throwing a lot of insulin away if you use the vial. Because the pens are packaged in smaller containers, most people are able to use almost every drop. There are 5 pens in a package. I usually was able to use package of pens for 9 months or more before I needed to refill the prescription.