New Member - Mac

Hi,
I am a new member here. My cat was diagnosed with diabetes in July 2022. We blindly followed our vet's instructions which almost led to disaster as Mac was started off with too high of a dose. In August after a regular follow up he was reduced to 1.5 units of ProZinc, once a day in the mornings (7am). We had also switched him to a complete wet food diet (with freeze dried chicken or cooked chicken snacks). He had diabetic neuropathy which is what took us to the vet in the first place. That has completely cleared up since the end of November. He weighs about 19 lbs now. He was about 25 lbs in July.
Since learning of this website from a friend i started home testing his BG and I'm very confused by his numbers as they are all in the low range except his AMPS which is in the normal (5.8) range.
I was wondering if someone could review the spreadsheet that I loaded and help me move on from here.
I have lowered his dose from 1.5 to 1.0 units (once a day) after reading all the information on the site and FB page.
Thank you.

 

Very. very few cats do oOK on only one shot a day. For your SS it appears that Mac may not need any insulin anymore. This is because your AM preshot are not much different that the PM BG 12 hours after insulin. I would either totally stop insulin (my recommendation) or you could just reduce the dose to say ½ unit once a day\ and see what happens

 

Welcome!

it’s great that you’re home testing and feeding low carb food, but insulin is meant to be given twice a day. Each dose only lasts for 12 hours even with a great long lasting insulin like prozync. You need to give the same dose twice a day otherwise your cat is only protected for 12 hours. Having said that, I agree with Larry in that these are normal numbers. The normal range is 80-120 so he may no longer need insulin. Also every time you get a reading below 90, he earns a 1/4 unit reduction. I’d try 1/2 unit x2 day to see what numbers you get. If he’s still under 120 at preshot, you may then skip a dose to see what it does to his numbers and if they hold at under 120, you can probably stop insulin but keep checking his numbers to make sure they don’t go up. Sometimes the change in food alone will get them into remission

 

Hi,
I felt the same as both of you in regards to only the one dose. I double checked with the vet office again in November regarding only once a day when he went for a BG test and they confirmed it. I am going to reduce him again tomorrow. If his numbers stay the same for the following day then I am going to stop the insulin all together and continue the BG testing. You have confirmed everything i have been thinking since joining the FB group. The information here and there is fantastic. I am grateful to Becky for informing me of this site and just wish I had thought to look for information sooner. I have learned so much. Thank you for your quick responses.

 

I am going to tag @FrostD and @Suzanne & Darcy as they are both ProZinc users and I am not.
I’m not sure you are quite ready to go off Insulin yet, but you do need to reduce the dose and give it twice a day.
You may need to reduce under 1/2 unit if you give it twice a day but I’ll leave that to the ProZinc users to decide.
You want a strong remission so you need to be giving insulin for as long as is safely possible.
The AMPS is always the last Bg to come down,
Are you feeding snacks during the day as well as the 2 pre shot meals?
Bron

 

Hi,
I'll try the .25 in the morning and again at night for the next few days. Is it safe to drop from the 1.0 in the morning to .25? He is very content and happy. I'm afraid to mess this up.
He gets 1 full can of FF pate every morning at 7am before his shot. If he's still hungry we will give him another 1/4 can. Whatever he does not eat we keep aside for him for a snack. He usually looks for snacks at 11 and 4. We will give him the leftover wet food or freeze dried Chicken bits or both. He then gets a full can at dinner (7pm) and then 1/2 can at bedtime (11pm). He seems quite content with this most days. Some days he's extra hungry so we give him either cooked chicken or the freeze dried.

Thanks.

 

If neither @FrostD or @Suzanne & Darcy reply before the morning dose, you could try 0.25 U for both am and pm doses.
Yes it is safe to go from 1 unit once a day to 0.25 U twice a day. I would not give any insulin for the pm dose today though. I would wait until the morning to start, otherwise you are increasing the dose for that 24 hours.

 

I can see both Larry's and Bron's points.

The 1U isn't dropping him horribly low, or at least as low as I'd expect if he was ready to go completely off insulin (I'd be expecting sub-50s, possibly 20-30s and symptomatic hypos if that were the case). So, I would try the 0.25U twice a day and continue to test. You have a hypo kit, correct?

You'll want to have a look at our dosing methods - https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/

Basically by default you're following MPM given his numbers. I'm not 100% sure where he'll settle with the 0.25U twice a day. If you decide MPM doesn't feel right for you, let's see what the new dose does over the next day or two and go from there. Right now the important thing is you don't want him below 50; if that happens, that's a dose reduction and you'll need your hypo kit (start a new thread in main forum with a 911 prefix should that happen).

 

I agree that we should be cautious and reduce to .25 units twice a day and that you need to keep monitoring. But be sure to get some night time tests in. Can you test before you go to bed to make sure that you don’t need to stay awake and intervene with food, etc.? I would get a +2 for sure.

 

Hi again,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I am having some personal issues.
I could not start Mac on the 2x dose this week as I would not be able to monitor his night time BG. I lowered his dose yesterday morning to the .50. His numbers stayed in the same range as previously. I have updated his spreadsheet. I will not be able to split his dose until next week when I am back home for the evenings.
I have a hypo kit ready as instructed by my vet back in August when his dosage was too high. The vet did not do a SLGS approach . I was just told to give him 2.5u twice a day and wet food only. And within 3 weeks we were told to do the 1.5u once a day after a very low glucose and Fructosamine test.
I'm in Canada so I use the mmol/L spreadsheet.

I will keep updating the spreadsheet and do the +2, +4 tests.

Thanks

 

Hi. I am glad that you are so dedicated to keeping Mac safe. It sounds like you really had a scary incident last year!

 

Hi,
He is my baby. I found him abandoned at about 4 weeks old. I have 2 female cats as well - a 10 year old (Tiger) and a 12 year old (Momma) and my dog .

This has been quite the learning experience for me.

 

Hi all,
I just wanted to update you on Mac's status. He has been off the insulin since February 6. I have updated the spreadsheet with his BG values. The decision was made to remove him from the insulin after doing some night testing and his numbers being good without a PM shot. I believe the insulin I was using had lost its potency after reading information on this site. I was using the same bottle since he was diagnosed in July (refrigerated) so it was almost 7 months old. His numbers have not changed since removing him from the insulin. I am still testing his BG randomly and will continue to do so. I now believe that the switch to a full wet food diet and no carb treats has made a huge difference for him. I truly wish I had found this site sooner and will recommend it to anyone! The information on this site and the FB page is fantastic. It kept me up many nights reading. Thank you for all your advice and help.

 

@Suzanne & Darcy

 

Wonderful! I can't dig for the remission info at the moment, but basically be sure to test once a week for a few months. Then after that 1-2 times a month. He is still considered diabetic, so continue to feed low carb food and treats, watch any new medications (no sugar, steroids could cause a relapse), dental issues and UTIs often cause relapses as well. If he becomes ill watch his BG more closely for a little while after he gets better to ensure BG returns to normal.

 

Once he/she is through the trial successfully, you enter a new phase. Your cat is still diabetic but has now become diet-controlled. Continue feeding low carb food in the manner successful for your kitty. If you decide to change his/her feeding schedule, let your meter be your guide to the best times to feed. Avoid medications with sugar in them and steroid medications unless they are medically essential. Continue testing blood glucose weekly for the first month and then monthly forever. It's a good idea to weigh him/her monthly. Weight should remain stable. If he/she seems "off" or sick, or is showing signs of diabetes (excessive drinking, eating, urinating, weight loss), test his/her blood glucose right away. Keep the teeth and gums clean and healthy; dental issues can bring a cat out ofremission. If you see rising blood glucose numbers, it's time for a visit to the

 

Thank you for the information. I am still testing him daily until 2 weeks have passed then I will test him weekly. We will definitely be keeping him on the low carb/wet food diet

 

congratulations !!