Hi all, My sugar cat, Leo, was diagnosed back in May and since then we haven't been able to get him stabilized. I insisted with my vet that I start home testing and we are but it's been a learning curve for me. He has pancreatitis and isn't eating much. My vet said regardless of his appetite we have to get his BG down. She said test his BG and if he is under 200 give him 1 unit and if he is above 200 give him 2 units regardless of if he eats. He is on ProZinc. This scares me but I understand we have to get his BG down. Here's a little background: He is negative for ketones, his kidneys are good and no UTI but he is on a ton of meds for his pancreatitis including bupenorphine, metronidazole, mirtazapine, cerenia, B12 and pepcid. Every time we've tested his BG it's been between 200-500+ and I've been bringing him in for subq fluids and injection versions of his meds when we can. I might admit him tomorrow for IV treatment and an ultrasound. Here is where we are right now. Throughout the day he has eaten maybe 3/4 a can of Hills A/D (mostly in the morning) but isn't wanting to eat tonight. This morning I only gave 1 unit of insulin because I couldn't get BG reading and I did do a +6 test and it was 314 and I did a PMPS just now and it was 305 and I went ahead and gave him 2 units of insulin per my vets recommendation and I'm just hoping he eats at some point tonight. Is this an okay dosing method or do I need to be pushing back on my vet? I could really use some guidance to help my little man pull through his pancreatitis and get his diabetes stabilized without a hypo emergency.
I'm sorry for the delayed message, this Prozinc forum is pretty quiet. Could you please repost it on the Main Health forum? I want you to get as many eyes on it as possible, please include the fact that he has pancreatitis in your title. Do you have any test numbers to show us? There is a spreadsheet you can set up and fill in the numbers, that will make everyone be able to help you asap. Most members are uncomfortable offering dosing advice without the spreadsheet set up and filled in. Aside from that, you need to dose based on how low the dose is taking him, not how high his pre-shot test is. Are you testing during the day? How low does he drop? Once we can see numbers and figure out Leo's pattern we can help you with dosing but no, switching from 1 to 2 units based on pre-shots is not how it should work. EDIT: I see you've already got a thread up about his pancreatitis, that's good. For now can you pretty please set up a spreadsheet so I can see the numbers and help you figure out how much insulin Leo should be getting? If you need help I will tag a mod for you.
It would really help his pancreatitis to do daily sub q's at home until it resolves. How low does his numbers go mid cycle? Do you have a chart of spreadsheet of his readings? It would help us advise you.
Learning to do subq fluids yourself at home is pretty simple. I've done it for several cats over the years. Here is a video from the Health Links/FAQs forum for you. How to Give Subcutaneous Fluids (Video)
