New member need guidance please!

Tintin was diagnosed 5/31/21, had lost a lot of weight, peeing a lot. I call him my "house-feral" cat. He's social only with me, rarely seen by anyone else. Getting him in carrier to go to vet always difficult and when there he is terrified but behaves.

He was always a free feeding dry food cat but in December started also eating low-carb food vet recommended of CKD kitty Trixie. Vet said that should be ok.

When I finally was able to get him to vet she diagnosed Feline Diabetes, recommended change to low carb food and 2U Prozinc once a day. Took a month until I could get him to cooperate with that, turning point was 6/23. No problem insulin dosing since then.

Had vet problems, no feed back on what to do next. 8/3 got him to new vet, had UTI treated with Convenia and Sub-Q. New vet changed his dose to 2U, 2x day. Fructosamine 8/20 was 401.

Got a meter and he is now no problem to test. Switched to Relion meter so that I could hopefully start to get him under better control and eventually into remission. Increased his insulin to 2.5U 12 days ago but results still don't seem to be consistent or improving. New vet is conservative but supportive.

He eats several times throughout day with often small portion left at bed time. Always no food 2hrs before insulin. Weight is 12 good now 12 lbs, top weight was 17) so will start to monitor him on that too.

Have wondered if one can ever do a reset of sorts? Stop insulin for some period, continue proper food only and then restart at a starter dose??? Keep thinking all this might have ben avoided if diet change had happened first.

 

The short answer is no.
Resetting never works, and you're increasing the risk of DKA.
You're under the 6 months mark, so if I were you I'd switch insulin. You're not seeing good numbers, except for one? blue. That's not nearly enough.
Get some lantus or levemir, learn how to dose with a depot insulin and put some serious hard work into it. The chance of remission is way bigger in the first 6 months and on a depot insulin...
I tried prozinc too. Vetsulin/caninsulin first, levemir, prozinc and back to levemir. I had no idea what I was doing the first time on Lev..... and it shows.

@Chris & China (GA)

 

401 Fructosamine is actually very good.

I'd like to see a few other PM tests too.

It's possible too that he may do better with a different insulin. Not all insulin's work well in all cats.

 

I agree with Sasha. I would definitely not do a reset. They rarely work and they increase the risk for DKA.
It looks as if you are using a spreadsheet from another group. I will ask @Bandit's Mom to have a look.

Are you giving several snacks during the cycles as well as the 2 main meals?
I will ask @JanetNJ to have a look at the dose as I do not use Prozinc. He may need an increase.

 

Thank you all. I have updated spreadsheet to yours and entered Relion Data that started 9/25. Will get previous Accurate data in ASAP'
He gets small meals 1-2 times a day with any food that's still out picked up at least 2 hours before evening shot. Pretty much get him to eat 1 can FF at shot time and then let him graze, 2nd evening can is usually gone or almost gone by 10:30 or 11. Freeze dried treats or a few pieces of Dr Eisy's are great incentive for testing, shooting.
Seeing first real drop in his numbers today since Prozinc was increased tp 2.5 on 9/23. Keeping a close tabs on him!

 

You need to change the privacy settings on your spreadsheet so we can see it! Go to the top right corner and hit "Share". A new box will open and in the bottom part you'll have the ability to change it to "anybody on the internet with the link can view".

 

Got it! thnx................should be ok now.

 

Definitly don't restart... Loving the numbers today!!!!

 

Good job!! I notice you say you're using the Start Low, Go Slow method (which is fine and what we usually recommend at first with ProZinc users) but you test more than often enough to use the Modified ProZinc Method so you might want to read through those ProZinc dosing methods again.

If you stay with the SLGS, TinTin earned a reduction today by dropping below 90, so you'd drop to 2.25.

Nice cycle today though!!

 

Have updated his Tintin's spreadsheet to include all data since i started testing.
I hesitated to change his dose as his BG went right back up at end of cycle.
Seeming to settle down now so if I want to continue with Go Slow for now should I increase his dose again if I don't start seeing consistent blues and greens in the next day or so? Kind of feel his start up was so erratic that his insulin response may finally be starting to settle down. Will do some testing at night to see what's going on there too.
Will certainly look at Modified ProZinc Method as we gain more experience. He's incredibly cooperative these days. Also wondering if it's ok to fill in with small portions of Dr Elsey's for some of his snacks-maybe a small portion for overnight. A little dry food makes him a happy cat.
Worst part of day for him no food is 2 hours before test-feed-shoot in evening-and he lets me know it!

Wondering in the long run if he might do best on Lantus.......................

 

ProZinc is a great insulin. No need to switch unless it's not working for him after giving it a go several months