My vet says I should only give Tige insulin once a day, given his numbers in the last few days. He starts out at 300, goes down to 80 and then at 12 hours, he's still pretty good. (133). Check out my spreadsheet. Has anyone had this happen to them?
Prozinc is supposed to be dosed twice a day. It does not last 24 hours. It looks to me like he needs a lower dose but twice a day. Things need to be smoothed out.
It's wonderful to see Tige getting more time in those healing numbers! The reason he's getting into the 300's in the morning is because your vet has told you to skip the dose at night. I cannot for the life of me understand why vets make this suggestion. There is nothing in the manufacturer's recommendation nor the research to support once/day dosing. I would suggest lowering your dose to 1.75u in the morning, and see if your PM blood glucose is high enough to shoot. If that doesn't fix it, post again and we can take another look.
OK. What is the high-enough to shoot number? It's so great that there are people like you who have lots of experience with this stuff. I don't have a syringe that measures 1.75, but I guess I can eyeball it.
We generally suggest not shooting below 200 when you're still new. That way, you can learn a cat's response to insulin. Over time, you can lower that no shoot number.
One strategy is to pull up some colored water (I used tea once) into a syringe to what you think is 1.75. Then you can use that to compare with the insulin so you are getting the same amount. It's more important to be consistent than precisely accurate. @Jenna Josie has another strategy where she uses the bottom of the plunger to compare, but I'm not sure i can explain it, so hopefully she'll pop in sometime soon. High enough to shoot depends on the cat. Since you haven't had many lower PS numbers, I would say anything below 200 you should post and have someone take a look, and if no one is around, skip for now. Eventually you can shoot below 200, but since it's new territory I wouldn't do that just yet.
OK, thanks so much! Yes I do. I reduced his dose to 1.75 and he is lower than yesterday at both 4 and 8 hours post shot. He was at 88 and 76 respectively. I don't think I'll be shooting tonight.
If he's low tonight, probably not. But I'd wait and see...these cats can come up a lot at preshot time!
What was he before his shot this morning? I do not see a number in that spot. Like Rachel said, he could still come up enough for a shot tonight. If not, and if he's too low to give a shot, that just lets you know the dose needs be lowered again tomorrow. You'll get there!
It looks like there is a note that you had trouble getting a test this morning. Sometimes that happens when the kitty is a little dehydrated. You might try adding a couple extra tablespoons of water to Tige's food. It's good for their kidneys to get some extra water, and also makes getting the ear to bleed a lot easier. Hang in there. You're doing great!
Re: drawing on different parts of the plunger, see post #5 here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/should-i-or-not.200950/#post-2234633 with apologies for the poor pix qualities
