Help regarding whether or not to give my cat insulin

Hi all!

This is my first time posting on the forum but I have read advice on here in the past.

My cat Monty was diagnosed with diabetes and put on prozinc insulin in May. Since then we had a tough time regulating him but since switching to a fancy feast pate only diet things seem to be better as of late.

He is currently on 3 units of insulin twice a day at 4:30 a.m. and again at 4:30 p.m.

I have been home testing for a couple of months now and our vet advised to test halfway through his insulin cycle. Until the past week or so it has remained around 250 mg/dL but this past couple of weeks I noticed his water consumption has gone way down in a good way.

Anyways I just tested him before feeding and his level was 178.2 mg/dL and I'm wondering if I should still give him his dose of insulin?

I ask this because I tested him before feeding last weekend and his level was 111.6 mg/dL before feeding so I skipped his dose in fear of him going into hypo. But 4 hours later he was drinking water like crazy and when I tested him is levels were at 468 mg/dL and I don't want his BG to spike like that again.

What should I do? Is it better to skip or give him less insulin. He is a maine coon tabby cross that weighs 14 lbs if that helps.

 

Hi Kevin welcome the best thing to do first is fill out your signature
Can you fill out your signature please so members won't have to keep asking you
the same questions over and over again I'm glad you are home testing



Go all the way up top to you name tap on it and a drop box will appear , you will see the word signature, tap that and just add all your information about Nani and hit save.

Take a look at my signature all about Tyler all signatures are at the end of everyone's posts in gray

Add info we need to help you:

• Caregiver & kitty's name
• DX: Date
• Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
• Name of your meter
• Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
• Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
• DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
• Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
• Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.

 

We also have a spreadsheet that we enter our cats BG on to see how the insulin is working for Month and how low he's dropping
I'll give you the link which also explains how it works
If you have trouble setting it up we have some members who will help you
You can enter all the tests you have done so far since you said you have been testing for a couple of months now

Are you only testing at pre shots?
We test our cats multiple times during each 12 hour cycle
Was Month started on 3 units

Do you have the syringes with half unit markings
We increase or decrease by 0.25 units at a time so having these syringes makes it easier

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

 

Here is the prozinc sticky
Good job switching to Fancy Feast Pates
Withhold food 2 hours before testing you don't want his BG to be food influenced

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/

 

I can tag a few members for you
@JanetNJ

@Panic

@Chris & China (GA)

@Wendy&Neko

@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

Oh wow thank you so much for all the information, I will get a signature made shortly and figure out the whole spreadsheet to make a curve.

I test Monty preshot and sometimes midway through his cycle when prozinc is supposed to peak to see how low he's going.

He was started on .5 units twice a day and was gradually bumped up to 3 units over the course of 6 weeks. I currently use U40 syringes with half unit markings.

Last night I was torn between missing his dose and worrying it would cause another spike so I dropped him down to 2 units for his night time dose.

I just retested him now and he was at 167.4 so I gave him 1.75 units after eating a whole can of fancy feast. He is naturally a big cat so he eats more than most.

 

Welcome, Kevan.

Most of the experienced members are reticent to provide dosing suggestions without being able to see a spreadsheet (SS). The sooner you can get the SS up and running, the sooner we can be helpful. No one wants to give you a suggestion that could harm your cat and we tend to be very numbers driven.

I'm tagging @Bandit's Mom in case you need a hand with the SS.

If you've not done so, it may be helpful to do a curve (i.e., testing ever 2 hours over a 12-hour cycle or every 3 hours for 18-hours). The reason for this is that not every cat has a nadir at the mid-point of the cycle. If you're testing only at pre-shot times and at where you assume the nadir may be, you may be missing the low point (nadir) in the cycle. Some cats have early or late nadirs and the nadirs can move around. The curve will also inform you not just about the nadir but also when insulin onset occurs as well as what kind of duration you're getting from Prozinc.