Unusual reaction to usual dose

Hi my kitty has been on prozinc for the last year, well regulated, had two remissions (3 months/1 month but cant hold due to pancreatitis and refusal to eat low enough carb) also ckd. Usually 1 unit of prozinc drops his glucose approx 100 points. Recently having stronger response. 230 glucose (alphatrak) with 4/5 of a unit and he went to to 70 at +4. (He ate 1/4 can of low carb food and some dry food thats approx 15% carb!) Ideas? Im bewildered

 

Hi!

It's hard to say as I don't have any SS to look at so can't see how the numbers are generally. It could be his pancreas are kicking in, maybe. So hard to say as I've no data to work with and I think you will find other people will be in the same boat, we need to see a history of kitty's cycles to make any sense of what's going on now.

He will eat some low carb food, just not consistently?

 

I agree with Tara that it's difficult to say with no data to look at. On the face of it there seems to be a change in your kitty's insulin requirement. That's very common - the dose is not a "set and forget" type of thing. If he's dropping that much on relatively high carb food he might well need a significant dose reduction.

 

All I can say is that their insulin needs change with time. That's why it's so important to test. So you use a human or pet meter? If it's a human meter going down to 70 is perfectly safe unless you still have a lot of drop time. Don't over correct with Hugh carb food. A small snack of low carb is usually enough to steer.

 

I unfortunately don't have in-depth glucose logs but I do test both Am and Pm with an Alphatrak. I give small doses at anything over 175 and he skips at least a 1/3 of his shots. "High" for him is 225. He does eat approx 1/2 can of low carb food a day but is a true kibble junkie and pretty picky as a 15 year old. I am trying to mix foods to lower carbs currently. (Wont eat young again and with also having kidney disease my choices are limited).

 

I also do a sliding scale with his Prozinc based on his alphtrak reading. Its never more than a unit- usually much less. Out of the blue he is having higher numbers (225+ when 200 was as high as he went) but also responding like crazy to the insulin. Nothing is normal with him- he initially went into remission in 3 weeks still eating purina one dry cat food-35% carb.

 

Here is a link to the spreadsheet we use: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

If you'd like to set one up and run into any trouble, we have folks on here who can help with it.

If you can share whatever data you have from the past few weeks, it would really help us to help you figure it out. Unfortunately, without some data, we just can't make a reasonable guess, and we would never want to make a recommendation that could wind up putting a kitty in danger.

As others have said, a cat's insulin needs change over time. We would love to help you get this figured out!

 

Try Dr.Elsley's Clean Protein food. It's about 5% carb. They will send you a free sample if you ask.

 

Welcome Heidi and kitty (name?). Once you get the Spreadsheet up with some data you have from the AT2 meter, we can probably give more insight. Also, the Spreadsheet link will be going in your Signature. So here's instructions to set that up as well: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

 

This could work really well. If you are skipping so many shots, it's possible it's the food that's keeping his bg high and can be diet controlled.