? Prozince Use

How long does Prozinc stay usable.


I've been giving my cat Smokey Prozinc since Feb of this year. I keep it refrigerated although a couple of times I forgot and left it out for no more than 2 hours once. In the last 10 days he's had high numbers between 296 low and 402 this morning. He wasn't eating a few days ago but in the last 3 or 4 days he's been eating well. I feed him low carb under 10% and I (try to go for no potato or other fillers besides no grain) however, I'm currently looking for better foods for him. I'm worried that his kidneys and/or pancreas are having major issues. I have no bases for this other than his bouts of not eating and sometimes along with that He'll meow and cry during the night. As I said, he is doing well now. I just want to make sure his insulin is still up to par.


Thank you.

 

Hi Brenda, and welcome! I'm osrry to hear that Smokey is having some trouble.

To answer you first question: Prozinc really maxes out by six months, so it's definitely time for a new vial if you've been using this since February. Chewy.com has recently started selling it, so if you're in the US and in an area with expensive vets, you might look into that.

As far as the numbers you're seeing, we would love to help you get that figured out. If you could set up this spreadsheet: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/ and input even just the past couple weeks of data, that would be really helpful so we can see what's going on.

It's certainly possible that Smokey has some other health issue going on that is impacting his blood glucose. Has he seen a vet recently or had recent blood work?

As for foods, most of us around here feed Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies Pate. They are low carb and work well for our kitties without breaking the bank. In my signature, there is a link you can click on for Food List to see the carb values (and other nutritional values) for a wide range of foods. That might help you in your search.

Please let us know what questions you have. We are happy to help in any way we can!

 

Thanks a bunch for replying!

I use to feed Smokey friskies and fancy feast pate's however, I have since learned that many of them have other fillers like potato which can spike his glucose levels, I've done a lot of research on this and found better options that are a bit more expensive but for what they deliver they are reasonably priced and not as expensive as others. I was thinking that I should get new insulin for sure but right now I am not in a place financially to get some. I will do so as soon as I can. I also go to a site called Diabetic Cats in Need whom I got my first vial of insulin through. As I said, he is doing better now, but he does have the flareups I mention above in my post so the food is a start and then the new insulin. I plan on taking him to the Vet in a couple of weeks which is the soonest I can take him for a blood test. But hopefully he'll keep doing better like he is. I will post his levels as soon as I can. Thank you.

 

Make sure you're testing for ketones at home if you aren't already. You can get ketone test strips for about $15 from most human pharmacies. You have to put the strip in Smokey's urine. Most cats will let us just stick it behind them while they pee. My kitty even raises his butt a little to make it easier for me! If your kitty doesn't cooperate, let us know and we have lots of tricks to help you figure out how to get it done. I'm recommending testing for ketones first because all diabetic kitties should be tested regularly, but second because ketones can cause a kitty to stop eating. They advance quickly and are very dangerous, so testing at home helps keep your kitty safe.

Next, when you are able to go to the vet, you might ask for a pancreatitis test. That's the second big reason our kitties will stop eating. Pancreatitis can be acute and quite serious, but it can also be chronic and just exist at a low level that makes a kitty not feel well and go on and off of their food and need more insulin now and then. Based on what you're describing, that may be the case for Smokey.

It's also possible that some days he's just less hungry. Try writing down how much he eats each day between now and the vet visit. Keeping track of it will help you figure out if it's something you should be concerned about.

Finally, make sure you're testing at home during the mid-cycle times, and not just at pre-shots. You may already be doing that, but if not, please start. It's possible that his symptoms are caused by him being on the wrong dose of insulin. Getting in those extra tests will help you and us figure out if his dose needs to change. It's possible he needs more or less insulin, but we need to see some data to help get that sorted.