Need help please!

Fritz was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. I started him on insulin last night per vets instructions and purchased a home monitoring kit. His diet was changed 3 days ago to Firstmate wet cat food. He is also stage to kidney disease. I tested his bg several times today as he appeared to not look well at all!! His first reading was 58, then 61 and hour later (small amount of food and a little honey given), two hours later 81, this eve before dinner 110 and after dinner (no insulin given) 128. I am sooo confused as to what is going on. I have yet to get a high reading and if anything only low. Not sure if I should skip tonights dose as I don't want him to go so low again! He looked as if he was going to die!

 

It sounds like you probably do need to skip. What type of insulin are you using? What dose are you giving?

 

How was he diagnosed? Did they do a fructosamine test or was it just based on one reading? So glad you're testing. Until you have a lot more data don't shoot at all under 200.


That must have been so scary!

 

Are you using a human meter or an Alphatrak?

 

The diagnosis was based on glucose in the urine and blood work. Two separate visits..I thought he had a uti as he was drinking a lot and started peeing on my bed. Fritz ways 20lbs and is in NO way losing weight either! It is a human meter and I am using prozinc 1 ml on a different type of syringe (longer needle, they were out of the regular one so he adjusted, prescription on bottle says 3 units morning/night.

 

Human meter

 

Wait.... You are giving 1 unit, not 1 ml, right? ProZinc should be dosed using a u40 syringe

Definitly don't give 3 units.... Way way too much for a newly diagnosed cat.

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

They were out of the U40's..he gave me a different syringe and told me he adjusted the U40 (3 unit does) TO 1ml! So yes..I he has me giving him 1ml! U40 equiv of 3 units he said. I don't know if I trust this guy! HELP I did not give him anymore!

 

1 cc that is...sorry

 

Isnt that the same as 1 ml?

 

exactly written..give 0.1ml twice daily under the skin

 

What color is the cap on the syringes?

Yes, 1ml is the same as 1cc but that's not how we measure insulin.....it's measured in Units.

1ml of a U40 insulin is 40 units!!

Can you take a picture of the syringe you're using with the plunger where he told you to go to?

 

0.1 ml is not 1 ml, it is 1/10 of 1 ml.

 

OK, so sorry everyone...in tears...I only gave him .1 ml here is a pic of exactly what I gave him. UGH..this is confusing and very sad! Using a Terumo syringe.

 

what's the highest number on the syringe? (or take a picture of the entire syringe)

That's looking more like a U100 syringe than a U40 (because it has the orange instead of red)

You can use a U100 syringe with a U40 insulin, but you have to use a conversion chart

 

Highest number 1.0ml

 

Yes, he was out of U40's..he said he did the conversion. Originally supposed to be 3 units on a U40.

 

1.0ML

 

OK....you can't use those syringes......they are designed to hold 100 units of insulin.

To give 3U of ProZinc, you'd need to give 7.5 Units using a U100 syringe

0.1 is 10 units

Can you go to WalMart and get some 3/10ml insulin syringes? They're $12.58 for a box of 100

Then you'd be more able to use the conversion chart to give the correct amount of ProZinc

 

@JanetNJ said above that she thought 3 units prozinc was too much for a newly diagnosed cat. I have never used Prozinc so can't comment on the dose

 

So my vet gave me wrong needles and did not do the conversion correctly? what the hell!! I will go out and get whatever I need to!! No wonder he has been so low all day! I am also concerned about what @JanetNJ said too. I am going to call first thing in the morning and speak to a more senior vet at the clinic. There are two others that I trust a lot.

 

There were two occasions today where I thought he was going to die. Once I gave him honey, second time I gave him sweet creamer I had as he was not fond of the honey. Both times brought it up..only once all day did he finally got up to 145 and that was about 20 minutes ago. (after his food and a little bit of creamer)

 

I also agree that a starting dose of 3U is too high

Most of us start at 1U

If you want to start at 1U of ProZinc and use U100 syringes (like the 3/10ml syringes from WalMart), you'd pull up to 2.5U on the U100 syringe.

These are the correct U100 insulin syringes at WalMart…..they have half unit markings so going to 2.5 will be pretty easy.

 

Thank You!! Thank you so much, everyone! I will not give him any tonight. Check his bg in the morning and go from there. That is if I can sleep. A cat funny for all of you!!

 

Uhm. Those are 1 ml standard syringes, not U40s - i.e. they're not insulin syringes at all, but medication syringes for things like Convenia where you have to measure very precisely. 0.1 ml would be 4 units (1/10th of 40 units). It's still too big a starting dose for any cat IMHO, but definitely not a 10 unit dose if you've been measuring to the 0.1 ml line. I would, however, buy the U100 syringes as you can't get U40s and use the conversion to dose 1 unit only as a starting dose.

 

That's hilarious!!!

 

Here is the yellow stickies.....a beginners guide to Prozinc for you to read and print off
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...prozinc-pzi-insulin-for-diabetic-cats.164995/

 

Thank you Bron, very appreciative.

 

Hello all, ok so Fritzy first reading this morning was 123. I fed him it went up to 164. I am hesitant once again to give him insulin. He had none last night and this would be none this morning. I will be calling the vet as soon as they open. These readings still seem on the low side to be giving him insulin! I am baffled.

 

T

I would not give insulin with a preshot of 123 to a newly diagnosed cat. You need to collect more data to be shooting that low.
Try testing him 3 hours after you gave him food and see if the blood sugar has gone up or down. If it has gone back down some, it means the pancreas is doing its job even if not fully working.
123 is a normal number.
Regardless what the vet says if I were you I would post on the Prozinc forum to get advice on dose and other tips on how to manage and when to give insulin....also lots of support.
Here is the link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/

 

Thank you!! I once again appreciate your feedback. Chantelle

 

One thing I would buy if you can today is some ketone testing strips called ketostix.
They can be bought from a pharmacy and possibly Walmart....I don't live in the US so I am not sure about where to get.
They are only about $10 a bottle.
You just need to collect a sample of urine from Fritz and test with the strip as per the instructions on the bottle.
Ketones can be dangerous for cats, and diabetic cats can be prone to them, especially if they are not getting insulin. So monitoring is important. Make sure he is eating plenty and drinking.
So glad you posted here and it is getting sorted out for Fritz.

 

He did not have ketones when they did his UA at the vet, just glucose. But, I agree with you. Eating is not a problem for Fritz as he is 20lbs and he is drinking less than when I had him on the dry cat food, but still more than my other two cats. PS. Been to Australia twice, beautiful country!

 

I’m glad you enjoyed Australia.
Where have you visited here?

 

Spent time in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne (drove from Melbourne to Adelaide for the Grand Prix). Took Fritz into the Vet yesterday so they could check his BG with NO insulin, it was only 200 and we had to wait in the waiting room for a good 15 minutes with dogs barking etc. So, he was stressed too. We took another UA overnight and will drop it off today so they can check if there is any glucose in it. Vet said, that is a low BG for a diabetic cat in a stressed environment. I am wondering if he has diabetes at all now. Very strange situation since he had over 3 glucose in his urine 3 days ago and his BG in his blood work (the one yesterday was a stick and meter test) was at 300.