This isn't easy

My cat was diagnosed in early sept. His glucose level was 568. Started with 1 unit novolin n. Blood level went up to 605. Insulin upped to 2 units. Level went down to 358. His insulin was upped to 3 units. His appetite got really bad. Wouldn't eat much of anything. Tried to give him canned food but he wouldn't eat it. Blood sugar went down to 220 but lost 2 lbs. brought his insulin down to 2 units. Started eating dry food really well so went up to 3 units. Blood sugar went back up to 538. Now he is getting 4 units but his appetite is starting to wan again. Wouldn't eat much tonight so he only got 2 units as per vet. So frustrated because any progress soon turns into a negative. In Sept he weighted 12 lbs. he is now down to 9 lbs 4 ozs. Pulling my hair out

 

Hi......
I am not one of the experts but it is stressed that it is really good to increase in small increments .25 at a time...
insulin is very powerful so we hold a dose for 6 cycles (a cycle is 12 hours) some cats take a but longer to regulate.
I will bump this and tag a expert...
@Wendy&Neko

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about Novolin dosing. Better insulins for cats are the longer lasting Prozinc/PZI, Lantus or Levemir. And ideally you'd want him on low carb wet food, but I wouldn't drastically change his diet unless you are home testing his blood sugars to see how he's doing on a given dose.

Kitties that are unregulated and seeing higher numbers are not getting all the nutrients from their food, so will lose weight.

 

Hi, sorry you're having such trouble. Are you home testing? If so are you getting preshot tests as well as some mid cycle ones? That will help us to see what's going on. Here's some info on Novolin(Humulin is the same thing). It's important that your kitty eat, so for now give him whatever he'll eat. You can try some poached chicken with no spices, tuna, some temptation treats crushed on top of some canned food.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/humulin-n-primer.303/

 

Thanks. He is eating irregularly. He will eat most of his food in the morning. Get his insulin, then eat just enough food at night to get a half dose. We haven't done home testing but really want to start. Vet says we need to get a pet meter but a lot of people say human ones work fine so am not sure which one to get. Want to make the right choice but am seeming overwhelmed. If I give him poached chicken or some suggest beef or chicken baby food can he still get his insulin. Sorry I'm all over the place.

 

human meters are fine to use and cost effective---many people on the forum use them.
Home testing is so very important....
I have been on 3 insulins and wish I had started with lantus-it is more gentle and my boy was not miserable

 

Thank you. I will be getting a meter as soon as possible as I really feel uncomfortable having to wait for the weekly vet appt to see what his numbers are

 

I use a human meter because, as Jayla says, it's cost effective. They do read lower than pet meters though, but we know that and adjust our dosing advice accordingly. Here's some info to get you started. It's really the best way to keep your kitty safe and see how well the insulin is working.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

The benefits of a human meter are cheaper cost for both the meter and strips and availability (pet meter strips only available on line or from vet clinic).

 

How do you figure out how much lower the human one reads than the pet one?

 

You don't need to compare the two. We have dosing methods that use one set of numbers or the other.

 

So my vet should be able to dose according to the human meter?

 

Depends on the vet. My vet uses the Onetouch Ultra and only months later asked if I wanted to use the AlphaTrak. Some seem really wedded to the pet meter.

 

If all the readings you provided above were done at the vet's office there is a very good possibility that they are elevated due to stress and therefore not a true indicator of his BG levels on a general basis. Stress can elevate BG levels by 100 points or more. This in turn means that the dose of insulin being prescribed by your vet may be/likely is too high which may then be leading to even higher readings.

Too much insulin can sometimes look like too little. If I were you, I'd stick with a lower dose of no more than 1u (provided you can get him to eat before his shot) until you can get a meter to check his BG levels at home in a stress free environment. 4u of Novolin is a pretty hefty dose.