frustrated with vetsulin

I just can't seem to win with Gordy's numbers... If I go too high, he drops too low and staying at the lower dose doesn't seem to help. (My multiple furshots don't help either.)

Last night he was in the reds, so I gave him as close to 2.25 as I could... He was at a great level at his nadir, but this morning spiked to 470! The Vetsulin clearly drops his BG and usually steadily, but the drops are either not low enough or too much of a drop.

I'm just frustratedddddd.

I made an appointment for the 2nd with a new vet to get more opinions. I think I am going to see if we can do a different insulin. (And shave him in a few spots.... for a short hair, he has a LOT of fur.)

 

It looks like he is hitting his nadir around +4 to +5 much of the time, then rising back up. This is a familiar pattern with Vetsulin. Would your schedule permit you to dose 3 times a day, ie, every 8 hours? You would sum the total day's dose, then divide by 3 to get the dose for every 8 hours. This could help smooth out the glucose levels.

Sometimes, when he rises back up, he winds up even higher, which may be some bouncing - that is, when the body is unaccustomed to going lower, it releases stored glucose to bring the levels back up and over compensates some, for up to 3 days, depending on the cat. This may resolve in time, as he becomes more used to lower levels.

If you do switch insulins, Prozinc will operate somewhat similarly to Vetsulin in that you can develop a sliding scale over time and adjust based on the pre-shot levels. If, however, you switch to Lantus or Levemir, they have a substantial carry over effect so you must maintain a very consistent schedule and dosing. There are 2 methods for using them, described in that section of the forum: Start Low, Go Slow, and Tight Regulation. You'll want to read over those, as well as the ProZinc guidelines, to see what will be best for you to try next.

 

It could definitely be bouncing. I have noticed that my accuracy of shots have gone down (wayyy too many furshots!). I was even going slow. For a shorthair cat, he has a thick coat.

Trying to do shots every 8 hours won't work for me due to work schedule. Its sometimes hard enough to do 12/12 with the two jobs. I try and be consistent, but I know if I go to a depot insulin that I may have to adjust his AM time a bit.

His numbers are looking better! (*Fingers crossed*) If this continues, I may stay on Vetsulin a little longer and try and use my vial more (I just started this one 3 weeks ago).

We still see the new vet Friday, so I am going to have them try and shave a few places on him so I can physically see the needle going in.