What happens when you have to miss a dose?

Hey, I'm a newbie whose cat was just Dx'd a few days ago and will start PZI 1 unit/2x day later this week. I work from home and have a flexible schedule, so overall the shots will not pose a problem, but there are some days where I simply will have to miss a shot and there's no way around it: for example, afternoons when I babysit from 3 pm to 11 pm. In that case, Samson would get his AM shot but not his PM shot. How do I approach this? Is it better to skip his PM shot altogether instead of giving it late? Do I give a smaller dose of insulin as a PM shot? Or skip it and give a larger dose the next morning? Or skip it and give his regular dose the next morning? Please help. And thanks!

 

When are his shot times in relation to the babysitting times? Meaning: how far off will it be?

 

Welcome to Prozinc! You did not manage to get away from me What time are his shots?

 

LOL @Djamila

 

Haha, hi Yong! Well I haven't started the treatment yet but I'm assuming the schedule will be something like 8:30 am/8:30 pm. So on babysitting days the dose would have to wait until at least 11:30 pm (3 hrs. off)

 

How often do you babysit? Anyone else live with you? It's not great to miss shots, so I'm just looking for any and all options.

 

Would you be able to change morning shot time to like 11:30am?

 

Oh, and also have you been able to do any BG tests at home yet?

 

nope, I don't have the testing supplies yet, getting everything this week. I have a roommate so there will times when I can get a "sub" but I don't want to overly burden her with this. Morning shot time to 11:30 would be tricky because then their (I have another cat) breakfast would have to be really late, right?

also there will inevitably be times when I have to miss, so some guidelines on how to handle that would be great. Thanks!

 

If I'm not mistaken, you can feed them breakfast at say, 8am then a few hours no food, and then test (around 10 or 11)

 

You would switch the meal times too.
For the others: SamsonsMom and I have been talking for a few days, Original intro thread: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/samson-male-cat-9-yrs-just-diagnosed.177052/

 

Stressedcatmom do you mean feed, wait, test then dose? THAT would be much more convenient.

Still - if anyone could please weigh in with general guidelines for missing a shot, since it WILL happen, I would appreciate that

 

Here's the thing: the basic guideline is a little complicated. There are a lot of if/then's involved. The most basic guideline is that you skip the dose. Depending on your cat's numbers though, that can make them feel pretty awful to run high for a cycle.

That's why we're asking so many questions first: we want to help you avoid having to miss the shot, and there are some tricks to work around it. I promise we aren't just trying to make this difficult

 

If it's the kind of situation where you'll miss like one shot every couple of months...well, then that's the way it goes. But if you babysit one night/week, that's a lot of missed doses. So any way we can help you keep consistency is what we're trying to find.

 

Totally, as a young person who lives with roommates tho it's simply a reality that there will be the (hopefully very occasional) missed dose. I'm also moving out of the country without my cat for one year :/ starting Sept. 1 so my roommate will assume TOTAL control over dosing and I'm trying to create a contingency plan for her. Thanks!

 

I had the occasional missed dose too...when that happens it is best really to just skip the dose. You have roughly 1 hour leeway with ProZinc but I wouldn't give a shot 3 hours late since then your morning dose will probably have to move too.

Since your roommate is going to take control of Samson when you move, is there any way she will be willing to learn to test and shoot? That way, once you're gone, she can continue with all that and help you out while you're here if you aren't home at shot time.

Other than that, I can say that if you just can't give a dose one night, it's probably best to skip and just dose again in the morning.