Another Question About ProZinc

How long does it take for it to settle in the cat's body and for me to see some good #'s? Please keep in mind that I've dropped her insulin to 1 unit BID a week ago last Tuesday, and she'll be increased to 1.2 units BID starting tonight, and for now. She also gets FF Classic Chicken flavor, as well as cooked/boiled chicken pieces as a treat throughout the day, and after her blood tests.

Thank you in advance for any advice that you may have. I'm still new at all of this.

 

You'll get varying opinions on that. As I understand it, generally you can see the results of a dose in a couple days, but with ProZinc you can get some variability for the first month & 1/2. But you'll still see results right away, but the response may be less predictable I guess for the first few weeks.

I would give it at least 4 cycles (shots) to judge this dose - a lot of times the data in the 1st cycle or 2 is not a good indicator of the dose (sometimes the #s will be better on the 1st cycle but then you lose that, other times they won't start getting good til cycle 3 or 4). So I would probably not worry about spot tests too much until cycle 3 (tomorrow night), and then try to get in a few spots test over a couple cycles to see where things are.

In general, you only need to get one or two spot tests in per day, and now and then get more if you want to see what's going on. You have a lot of data, which is great, but I'm guessing her ears may want a little rest!!! Don't mean to sound critical as I did the exact same thing with my cat :mrgreen: but just wanted to mention it, in case you are thinking that you have to get several spot tests in every day. I'd say maybe a curve once a week, or one, maybe two spot tests a day varying the times of the test to give you a picture, is plenty, excepting "crisis" days, which of course get as many tests as needed.

 

Unfortunately for my poor Blackie, I think I am getting in too many spot checks in each day. LOL I'll give her one 1 more at PMPS time, and then leave it until morning (like normal), but will do one about +5 or +6 tomorrow morning, and see where she's at. Thank you.

 

It looks like you are already seeing curves - just shallow ones. It usually takes 45 days for ProZinc to 'settle in'.

 

hi angela and welcome to pzi. just took a look at your ss and wow you had a zinger of a start. did'nt read your first post so i will to find out why the high dose.
i use pzi idexx, so a little different, but i'll be here on the board to help if your having questions. it looks like such a good day today so far maybe it is kicking in and you won't need to dosecrease.
lori
and tomtom

 

Angela,

It looks to me like she is ready to be increased to 1.2u, nice curve as Kelly said, but too shallow and not enough duration yet. I like small dose increases, no larger than 0.25u at a time with Prozinc. Small adjustments can give you big effects, so small is the way to go IMO. I saw that you are using the u100 syringes, that's great! :smile:

Many people here advise allowing the dose to settle 3-4 cycles, as Joanna said. If you were still in the first 45 days and ProZinc was the first insulin, I would advise longer, 5 days, because of the quirky nature of Prozinc during the first 45 days. However, you are right at the 45 day mark, and I don't see any wacky numbers, so you may be past the quirky part. :lol: I would go with the 3-4 cycles also unless you see a low nadir or an unshootable ps# (you would want to decrease slightly on the that dose) or wacky #s on the 4th cycle that make you say "what does THAT mean?" in which case I would hold the dose a little longer.

You are on the right track. Mary is doing a splendid job helping you, and you are doing a great job learning what you need to do to help Blackie!

 

Thank you, Laurie. Mary's a wonderful lady to be helping me out with this (and so are you all, too, I must add). As it was, Mary suggested earlier today to increase her to 1.2 (or 3.0 since I'm using the U-100 syringe), and I'll be doing that tonight.

Question: What does it mean when you say "3-4 cycles"? You've lost me there.

 

Sorry about that, I should have explained it more clearly! A cycle is the time from one shot to the next. Most people are on BID dosing (twice a day) so there are 2 cycles in a day. So, 3-4 cycles would be 1.5-2 days.

 

Thank you for explaining that. She's been given 1.2 units since last night, and we'll see what happens from here on. I'm backing off on testing her BG's often starting today, unless I see that she's not looking too great, or something's not right with her #'s.