Please help get Finster back on track

Uh oh about the test strips. I would not give any insulin but would test maybe once mid-cycle at +6 (doesn’t have to be exactly that.). If you had strips, I would say give .5 and monitor a bit. Well done yesterday! Today then his ears get a break, right?

 

The test strip thing is another reason why most people use WalMart’s ReliOn meters. $17.88 for 100 strips and most people can run to the store for them.

 

That makes sense...also I ordered two jars of strips so I have backup. and yes his poor little ears
Thank you again for all this support. I feel infinitely more capable to handle this crazy ride than I did just a few days ago.

 

BG 108. So crazy to me that he is in the 140's and then after eating a good breakfast falls to 108 6 hours later. I know 108 is still blue but not terribly high, right?

 

You signature should be where your spreadsheet is not on your profile page where you have it where it says information

When you get a chance it would be helpful to set up your signature
To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information

• 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.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine
@Finster

You need to put the information you have which is
Gender:
Male
Lisa and Fin
AlphaTrak 2
Prozinc 1 unit twice daily
Diagnosis 27 June 2022
Fancy Feast Chicken & Tuna Flaked
Suffers with asthma
Uses Adavair inhaler twice daily

With your spreadsheet

 

You said his poor ears from testing
I have read that many members use pure coconut oil, I have copied this from one of the members posts
just make sure the only ingredient is coconut oil (mine is solid at room temp and I would take an itty bitty dab and rub on his ears)

 

Have you read the 2 dosing methods for prozinc?
They will let you know when to adjust the dose
You need to pick one and add it to your signature and spreadsheet
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/
You add Up top on your SS where it says
Dosing Method (SLGS or TR):

@Finster

You might want to ask someone if you should stay with 0.5 units like @Suzanne & Darcy
suggested on the first page so you can shoot twice a day
Please be sure to read the 2 dosing methods
You need to be getting more tests in during the PM cycle
Maybe Suzanne can suggest a no shoot number for you
I can even tag Melissa
@FrostD to take a look at you SS

@Finster

I told Lisa her signature need to be put where her SS is listed not where she has has put in in information
Here it is
Gender:
Male
Lisa and Fin
AlphaTrak 2
Prozinc 1 unit twice daily
Diagnosis 27 June 2022
Fancy Feast Chicken & Tuna Flaked
Suffers with asthma
Uses Adavair inhaler twice daily

@FrostD

@Suzanne & Darcy

 

Maybe the third times the charm?

 

BG 111 at 5:00 pm. I'm throughly confused. He has been in the 140's in the evenings.

 

Just keep doing monitoring with your few remaining strips (and tomorrow you will have more.). We will gather data. That’s good. Like I said, he may not need insulin or only a tiny dose to help him along. What I would like to know is: how is feeling and eating? How is his urination? Pooping okay? Happy? Playing? Does he seem normal?

 

He seems more content. He is normally a pretty laid back cat. He is eating better than he has in days. He hasn't pooped today, but that not unusual on the LC food. No huge drinks from the water bowl and urination is normal. He seems in a better mood, not hissing and biting like he does about an hour post shot but does not have the energy that he has on insulin.
He's awake and alert, walking around the yard, jumping up on things but not playing rough with our other cat and not running around like he does for a bit when the insulin kicks in. I hope I'm being objective...of course I'm desperate for him to be better.

 

Try not to worry too much. I do understand. You love him a lot and want him to be better. It sounds like he’s not doing badly but I really think we are on the trail of health for Finster. So gathering as much BG data as we can while he’s not receiving insulin will help decisions that will keep him safe. Hugs to you!

 

Also, put an NS in the cell for tonight and get one test a few hours after hos dinner, okay? Please if you can.

 

BG 122 at 9:00 PM. Dinner was served at 5 but he has been grazing on the last little bit of it. He still looks good. Cleaning and chewing on his nails. Looks very comfy. I will check again at 0600.

 

Purrfect

 

BG 140 at 0630. No food since 8:00 pm. This morning he pooped & peed, normal, slept all night, normal, and even seems frisky this morning. We have rain here and it's finally cool so he is zooming around in the yard. I have one strip left. I will go to walmart to see if they have a human glucometer with test strips. I'm afraid Amazon won't deliver till this evening and I don't want to wait with one strip left. Should I give insulin this morning or wait to be sure I can find another glucometer?

 

Hopefully you waited. I would recommend one of the ReliOn meters from Walmart for sure. I would not be comfortable with insulin and only one test strip. Nice to hear about zoomies!

 

Yep I waited. heading out shortly on my quest. He is doing well. Ate good and now resting. Not sleeping just lounging I think that's good.

 

You are not going to believe this BUT 12:30 BG 82. I used my last Alphatrak strip and it showed 82! He finished breakfast around 9:00 am. I'm not sure what is going on but he looks great.

 

Hi Lisa we don't use times when telling us what the BG is because we are call in different time zones , so for that 82 you would tell us 82 @+6

 

Just keep up with the monitoring!

 

How many hours since he ate was it that he got the 82? Had he been snacking at all? It's fine... I'm just wondering. Keep up the good work.

 

No food four hours prior to BG 82. I'm going to check it now as it's been 2 hours since he ate small lunch and it looks like we may lose power soon. Bad storms

 

Also I picked up relion meter but in the mean time my alpha track came. I'm going to continue to use it unless you direct otherwise. I'm just used to the alphatrak, but I can figure the other one out if need be.

 

BG 106 +10 (NS). I"m going to serve dinner and monitor every two hours till I can't keep my eyes open. Does that sound like a good plan? Or should I test every hour? On a side note I go back to work on Wednesday Data will be limited during school hours.

 

BG +12 153. That's the highest it's been in almost a week I'll take it again in an hour.

 

BG 126 Pre-shot (NS) How cool is that? within one hour it dropped 27 points. I hope that's a good sign that his pancreas is working. I'll check it again in one hour.

 

BG 103 NS +2 I hope I coded that correctly.

 

Your plan is very good

 

BG 108 at +3 last night.

 

BG pre-shot 141. I'm not sure if I should give shot or wait and take BG again.

 

Also He looks great. Zooming around the yard this morning, good appetite and he has gained back two ounces of the 5 he lost while he didn't have much of an appetite.

 

128 BG +1 NS. I'll take it again in 1 hour. Hopefully he's in the green. Do you think this is headed in right direction? I'm feeding him 1 can FF LC but he doesn't eat it all at one time. I'm just making sure no food 2 hours prior to shot time. Is there any other guidelines I should follow concerning food intake? He is highest in the morning and that's with no food.

 

+2 NS BG 130
+3 NS BG 94
Took him in the yard and he stalked a bird. Hasn't done that in months

 

He's in the green. I hope he stays there for a while.

 

Rats!
+5 NS BG 116

 

+7 NS BG 104

 

Well, when we look at the data for the last few days, it does look like maybe he needs just a little insulin support. My preference would be to start with quite a low dose and work your way up slowly. His numbers, as you know, are not bad at all. He’s off all oral steroids now and is on an all low carb diet, right? I would even start as low as .25 units and gather data. We don’t have much data on how he did on .5 units. I’m going to tag another person to look at Fin’s spreadsheet too. He never seems to get very high at all even with no shot. @FrostD when you get a chance, I would also like your opinion on Fin’s spreadsheet and dose.

 

That's correct, LC wet food and occasional freeze dried chicken breast. Tomorrow I start back at work and I would like to wait and try the .25 when I will be home to monitor. Do you think it is worse to wait until Saturday when I can do a 12 hour curve? Or should I go ahead and start ASAP?Thank you so much for your help!

 

just treats not the whole chicken breast

 

Got it! We have the magic chicken dust, too.

 

And I don’t really see a whole lot of harm in waiting until the weekend. I say this because Fin’s numbers are not horrible to begin with. I’m okay with that and you say he is eating well and is acting happy.

 

Thank you and yep pretty much back to his old self!

 

Sorry hectic week over here.

Definitely wait til the weekend!

I would actually start with something like 0.1U. Very close to non-diabetic numbers on an AlphaTrak. It's basically just a hair's width of insulin in there, depending on the syringe, the plunger might be in line with the back end of "0" mark.

0.25U is probably ok as well if you'd rather try that, just be sure you have hypo kit either way. We don't want him below 68 on your meter.

 

Yes. I agree with a very small dose. Best to start small and work up only if necessary. His numbers are so close to normal — it really scared me how the vet had prescribed 2 units.

 

No worries and thank you for your help! Tomorrow I will give the tiniest amount and monitor every hour or two. Yep I'll have hypo-kit on stand by Thanks again!

 

PMPS 118. Seems low but I'm only giving .3 Units.

 

Today’s cycle looks very good for a start. Nothing dramatic and he even hit our beloved green. I think it’s a fair start. How did you measure that amount of insulin? What do you think, Melissa @FrostD ?

 

I put the plunger in-between the .5 and the zero line. It's tricky and not exact but I'm too nervous to give the full .5 just yet. I'll try and get two more checks in tonight.

 

You are doing great. And he needs time to adjust to the dose.

 

AMPS 151. I gave almost .5 this morning. Closer to it. Hope that was okay. I will be home all day with him. He ate a full breakfast. Should I have stayed with .3? I was thinking I should take advantage of being home and testing the increased dose...but reading your post I'm worried I shouldn't have.

 

It’s all good - and that AMPS is a little higher than we would like to see. You can test him so he will be safe with your care.

 

Thank you for the reassurance! this is nerve wracking to say the least. Don't know how the medical profession handles this kind of stress on daily basis. He looks good so far.

 

Not sure if I should give the same amount for PS shot. He's at 124. I'm going to see how much he eats. He has basically slept all day. Woke up at +10 but has just laid around. He doesn't seem in distress just lethargic.

 

Why don’t you just go back to .25 or thereabouts and just keep it at that for a while while you gather data.

 

^ this lol better to hold for consistency

 

I gave the .3 like I did yesterday. in between the .5 and the .0
It seems to be working more and faster this cycle. +2 is 113. He had a good dinner though not as much as he ate for breakfast. I will keep it the same dose in the morning or as close to it as I can. I wonder if there is a syringe for this tiny dose? I will do another check before bed. Hope it levels out.

 

Should say +3 is 113 NOT +2

 

Good!

Unfortunately no smaller syringes, we all wish there were

 

Would be so much easier...I will have to eye-ball it. He ate some more dinner with chicken dust sprinkled in and seems to feel fine. +4 is 110.

 

Just wondering do you have the U-40 syringes with half unit markings
https://shoppettest.com/advocate-pettest-u-40-insulin-syringes-31g-3cc-5-16-100-box/
Even though it doesn't say half unit markings on the box if you look at the reviews the woman says
The 1/2 unit markings are great as well.

 

That’s nice and level with the last test.

 

Yes, the U40 I'm using have the half markings, but I'm trying to give in-between the half markings and my eyes are not on board with the new plan Such a tiny amount and I wish I could be a little more exact.

 

He slept well all night. AMPS 114. I'm trying to get him to eat all his breakfast before I leave for work. He is demanding the magic chicken dust with every meal

 

And he will have snacks during the day?

 

And what hour (plus what?) do you get home?

 

Do the best you can , I always eye balled the 0.25 and even the 0.1 and still got Tyler into remission since 1-24-21

 

I was able to come home at +6 and check BG and give a little treat size LC wet food with chicken dust. +6 BG 101.

 

I really hope we can achieve the same for my Fin.

 

I was home at +10, not to leave again, and BG 111. Then PMPS 121. The problem is he doesn't have as much of appetite when on the insulin. He is eating but it takes coaxing and stirring and topping with chicken dust. When he only eats partial meal he becomes agitated about an hour post shot. When he eats a full meal his mood is fine. I hope as he adjusts to this amount that his appetite increases.

 

Give it some time.

 

These are pretty much perfect cycles though! Well consider an increase after a few days at this dose, but we'll also need to talk about dosing method.

 

Never give up hope, believe it or not it took me 2 years and 4 months to get Tyler in remission with the help of everyone here. If I remember correctly one member said Tyler was the first one to go into remission after having diabetes that long. I don't want to jinx what I just said I can't let Tyler hear that

 

You are awesome, Diane!

 

So are you Suzanne

 

PMPS is 143. Not sure what happened. I gave him tbsp of LC wet food, same one he eats regularly, at +6. I did the same thing yesterday and the PMPS was 121. I changed the insulin out today and gave first shot from new bottle just now. So, maybe the old insulin that I gave this morning was going bad? I read online it's only good for 6-8 weeks. Fins is 8.5 weeks old.

 

I found this answered by a member Janet that used prozinc she said
ProZinc is good for 5-6 months after opened as long as you keep it refrigerated. If youre noticing it's not as effective I would get a new vial.

@FrostD

 

Well the difference between 121 and 143 is within the plus/minus 20 percent meter variance. If you take 121 and multiply by 1.2 you get 145.2 so it is within the meter variance. I would not blame the snacks. A lot of people use their insulin to the last drop, but I do hope the new vial may help.

 

I would just hold that dose for a bit. You should decide which PZ dosing method you are going to follow (in the sticky notes.)

 

Thank you! That is good to know as this stuff ain't cheap ...I didn't notice any change, other than the PMPS 143, but I thought I read somewhere that it's only good 6-8 weeks so I swapped it out.

 

As long as you didn't see any white floaties in the vial the old one should be good.
You can always go back and use it and see what his numbers are

 

Tonight he went from 143 PMPS to 115 +1 hour. Usually he doesn't drop that fast. He isn't eating as much as he did when he wasn't getting the insulin. He licks the food and eats some but not what he usually would. Maybe that's causing the dip? Should I give a snack twice a day? and should I just give freeze dried chicken breast instead of the LC wet food? thank you!

 

I threw

it away so I wouldn't confuse it with new one

 

Most of us feed LC food as snacks twice during each 12 hour cycle , say around +2 and +4
Like a tablespoon
Is he sniffing the food and walking away,
Other than the science diet hc foods you can pick up some of these if you ever need to bring his BG up

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

 

You threw it away crap lol , well now you know how long a vial is good for

 

I'm going to tag Melissa for you, don't know if she's awake , will ask her to look at your SS and read post #182 . I know she mentioned that she wants to discuss dosing methods with you in her post #172
@FrostD
If I remember correctly
Normal for a pet meter it's 68-150
I can try also tagging
@Shelley & Jess to take a look at your SS

 

@Finster
Lisa I think it's time to start a new thread , this one has gotten to long, they like us to keep them around 50 posts
By the way Finn is a handsome boy
For tomorrow I would suggest posting like this
Date Finster AMPS# and any other tests after that , you can put his PMPS # there also any any additional tests
To add the additional tests look to the right and you will see the word Thread Tools tap in that , then tap on Edit Thread , add the tests and tap Save
You should link this thread to tomorrow's one .
Do a new post everyday and link the previous days post to it
So tomorrow morning go back to the prozinc board

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/ and post a new thread

To link the previous days post here's the best I can do to explain it

To link this thread to the new one you will start the next time you post something , look up top where you see the pic of the cat left hand side ,above that is your previous days post in that long line , it starts with https://felinediabetes.com etc. Do you see it ? Tap on that copy and then paste it on your new thread for tomorrow where you would start to write

 

Thank you so much, diane! I hope I did it right. Fin is not feeling great this morning and I didn't give his am shot.