I just took Em's sugar right before I shot him, (thank goodness) and he is at a quite low 119. Should I lower his dose? I will be sleeping through his lowest point.
I am not familiar with Prozinc, so I hope someone more experienced chimes in. You can stall, without feeding, to see if he continues to go up if that fits your schedule. But given this is your lowest PS ever, my most conservative advice would be to skip the shot unless you have plenty of supplies, and can test through the night. ETA:If you skip, you can still test to gather gather data for future reference. If nobody replies saying otherwise, I recommend skipping- you can't unshoot a dose! I tend to be quite cautious.
@Bobbie And Bubba @Kris & Teasel @Rosie & Bailey Tagged you guys just in case one of you can give better advice than me here- I know you are all from L&L land, but maybe you can help! @AlysonE you can post on the main forum with a link to this thread for more eyes too
I am also not familiar with Prozinc, and I don't feel comfortable giving dosing advice. I do believe Majandra's suggestion is the most prudent course of action.
Well, I gave a Big Chicken Shot this morning, so take this with that in mind, but it looks like you have about three weeks' worth of data, and without more, the protocol is not to shoot below 200. Has Emmett come up at all during this stall? If he has come up, then perhaps a Big Chicken Shot of your own -- maybe a half dose, as a token? -- but otherwise (and again, assuming you don't have additional data?), I would hold, especially since you can't monitor him overnight.
If it were my cat, I think I would skip the shot. Cleo only ever had one hypo episode but it was one too many. That made me very cautious and I wouldn't risk it.
What we do is stall 30 minutes, retest and if he is still nowhere close to 200, stall another 30 minutes and retest. Where is he at now? You are going to have to do what you are comfortable with, but I feel some insulin -- in an insulin dependent cat -- is better than zero. We usually go with a half dose, but we set alarms in the PM and test at at least +4 to see where he is at.
Thank you all. I had to go to sleep as I had to be up early for work so I didnt get to see your replies before I decided. I did shoot, I shot 3.0 (down almost a unit) and fed with the shot. I also left fancy feast down as a back up. He has survived it, although every bit of food is gone. He was a respectable 163 at +8. I finally have a day off tomorrow, so I will get a curve and get a clearer picture of what is going on. I appreciate the help.
I'm new to home testing and decided to read through posts. I'm confused, and was wondering if someone could enlighten me. I thought numbers between 60 and 120 we're good and no insulin would be needed.
Hi. 60-120 is indeed good, but the hope is that the kitty get get there and stay there on their own. It’s different if the kitty is only getting into that range with external insulin. What’s tricky (and this is where having lots of data comes in) is how to get them in the range, if they’re only getting there with injections, without sending them too low. When just beginning, the “no shot” PS number is 200, which allows for a 50% drop (supposedly typical?) in the glucose level through nadir, and that gives kitty a nice safety cushion. Once there is sufficient data about how low kitty typically goes on a dose, you can push your individual No Shot number down.
Definitely! Please get the spreadsheet we use here up as soon as you can. There are techies here to help you with it if needed. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/ Here's the basic testing routine we follow: test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture if indicated by consistently high numbers on your spreadsheet, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do. This is useful: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
No two cats are alike. Putting that data together allows you to get to know their habits better. The spreadsheet also adds visual information which allows you to see trends easier. It's just a very helpful tool.
I'm feeling better about this already. I'm actually becoming a bit excited to take more control and figure out how to really help my cat.
