Catsitting & transitioning to wet while on ProZinc

Hello! I posted this on the main board but will repost here as suggested to get more eyes familiar with the specific insulin:

I am familiar with this board (plus the whole home-testing, spreadsheets, dose changes) from a few years back when my cat Papaya was on Lantus for four years. She passed away about a year and a half ago from cancer, and I now have two wonderful shelter cats who (of course) eat only wet food! But my experience is about to come in handy...

A friend of my mom's from the next province over contacted me recently, desperate to find someone to look after her diabetic cat Radar while she's away for a few weeks this summer. (As in desperate enough to bring the cat a seven hour drive to stay with me!) When I got a few details I was horrified to know that Radar is being fed mostly dry kibble (some Royal Canin stuff the small-town vet there sells) with a little wet once a day, and is not being tested at all while being given 6 units of ProZinc. It doesn't sound like the vet has really even done a curve, just a couple fructosamine tests over the last year.

The cat's owner really didn't know any better and is eager to learn. She is a farm girl who gives cattle shots so I'm sure she'll be fine with testing. However, we agreed since I'm more familiar with testing & dosing it would be good if I use the time I am looking after Radar to transition her to wet food. The owner says Radar loves the bit of wet food she gets and basically is a vaccuum cleaner when it comes to food, so I don't foresee too much trouble switching her over.

I don't have experience with ProZinc but from what I've read on the stickies, it seems like changing dose is a bit simpler since it doesn't have the cumulative effect of Lantus?

I would appreciate any advice on making the diet change and associated dose changes. If the cat was willing to just cold turkey switch to wet, could I just drop the dose down to a normal starting dose (is one unit reasonable?) and work back up as necessary? I am working full time so I can give the shot early enough to get an AMPS plus 3 or so but more of a curve would have to be an evening/weekend thing - which is one reason I would be more comfortable switching right to wet and going down to a lower dose, just for safety. Or do I need to back down slowly on both the kibble amount and insulin?

It remains to be seen how an introduction to my two cats is going to go - certainly Radar will be in a separate room initially, but I don't know whether that's going to be necessary for long. I don't want my two eating the kibble but as they eat mostly low-carb wet it's fine if she has access to their food (if there's any left when I'm out the door lol).

Thanks in advance for any pointers you can offer on the diet change/dosing change and any relevant differences I should be aware of between Lantus and ProZinc.

 

Here is a link to her other post: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/catsitting-transitioning-to-wet-while-on-prozinc.196504/

Amy, when you are able to clarify those items I asked about with Radar's mom, please let us know here. Is it 6 units twice a day or 3 units twice a day (for a daily total of 6u)? How long has he been on insulin? Was he started at one unit and slowly moved up to his current dose or what... how were dosing increases decided?

If you are going to stop the dry food suddenly or even reduce it greatly to transition to wet, the dose will need to be reduced, but I think answers to the above items might help with advice on what dose to reduce to. It may be a good idea to start over at 1 unit; on the other hand, if he is really on as much as 6 units twice a day, that may be too drastic.

 

Holy moly! 6 units is a LOT (I know you already know that, but I had to say it too). I hope it really is 3 units twice a day...but we'll see.

RE the food change. I agree with what FurBabiesMama said in your other post about maybe not changing it day one if she's all freaked out. ALSO check and see if Radar has a touchy stomach...some cats need a slow transition to avoid GI upset. However, I did switch mine straight from kibble to wet food with no issues (I didn't know any better) so it just kind of depends on the cat.

RE insulin, we'll be able to advise better when we have answers to the other questions. When will you be starting the catsitting? We usually check in a few times a day, but want to make sure we don't miss the beginning! My instinct isn't to drop straight to 1 unit...that's such a large drop and I worry about ketones. BUT, it could be warranted based on some other info. So basically, we'd be happy to give some advice once we know a little more.

And BLESS YOU for taking this kitty in hand! I think it's great that you'll be able to work on getting Radar regulated before the owner comes home so that hopefully it'll be a bit easier for her once she takes over.

 

Thanks Rachel! It's not for about three weeks yet - I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before she got here!

 

Thanks for posting the link! I'm still waiting on an answer...she's probably out in the field until evening. I have a bad feeling it probably is 6 units per shot though . But if the cat is just on kibble, no wonder. I recall Moriah (the owner) said the vet didn't think he could get an accurate curve on a cat that was stressed about being at the vets, so it seems maybe the current level was based on the two fructosamine tests she remembered being sent away "to the city".

Radar has been on insulin for about a year and is about 13 or 14 years old. She is drinking tons of water and always hungry so I think is very poorly managed.

I'll post definite dose info as soon as I have it. Thanks for your replies!

 

Update: yes it is definitely 6 units per dose, twice a day. Well except the last message I got from Moriah was "but I'm giving her more wet now so I dropped it to 5" Argh. I stressed again that without testing it's very risky to change food at such a high dose. But at least we know Radar is happy to have more wet food...

Waiting on history of how they got up to 6 units.

 

If she's increasing the wet food and dropping the dose, am I right in guessing that might have been from something you said to her? If she's willing to listen like that, could you get her started on testing now? Even if she just gets a little data between now and then it could help figure out if that 6u is really necessary, and if not, give an idea of where to go next.

Radar being always hungry could mean that he actually needs more insulin, or it could mean he's going hypo and trying to raise his BG. The sooner we can start to unravel the mystery, the better you'll be able to make adjustments when he's with you.

 

Hi Djamila! Yes she is quick to want to do the best for Radar and definitely got the message that dry food is not good for her. However we're in Canada where strips are really expensive, so she has just ordered a meter and strips from US Walmart and is waiting for a cousin to bring them up when they arrive, so she doesn't have supplies yet. If she gets them in hand before she brings the cat I will see if she's willing to try!

 

Wow! Well...it's good that she is so willing to listen and work towards what is best for Radar, but i do wish she'd wait to start testing before messing with food. But at least she dropped the dose and that's good. If she is willing to start testing, that would help...anything we could do to work on the dose before Radar comes to you would be good (as I'm sure you know, Radar will probably be stressed for a bit at least so that could affect things). We can definitely help you out either way, but more data is always good!

 

So the scoop is: the vet started Radar on 3 units of ProZinc per dose, and went up to 6 within the first 2 months. Moriah hasn't been back to the vet for quite a while so it's just been left there. As I mentioned above she just went down to 5 since she started feeding a bit more wet food. I strongly suggested she shouldn't mess any more with the food until testing starts though!

 

Oh, my goodness. I think this may be the worst I have heard as far as way too high of a starting dose then jumping up really fast without even having glucose monitoring data to back it up. Poor Radar. I am glad you are coming to the rescue. Good thing your friend is going out of town and asked you to keep her!