? Prozinc 1unit 2x/day -2 weeks in

Milah and Maxine said:
I'm worried about how long I can keep her using the Miralax because of her Kidneys.
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Miralax should not harm her kidneys. Many CKD cats get some Miraax daily. There ae other things you can try such as Lactulose, but I would keep giving the MiraLax for now. If it doesn’t work after a week— increasing the dose as necessary because MiraLax is what is called a “dose to effect” medication — ask your vet about Lactulose.
You can combine a little pure psyllium husk powder with MiraLax. It’s just fiber. I do wish she was getting more fluids though— to combat the dehydration that is most likely causing the constipation.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Boy are they stingy with the Cerenia! They could not even give you a box of 4! Many cats need to be on Cerenia daily- especially cats with Pancreatitis or kidney disease. Most cats do very well on it. It’s great for motion sic too - if you have a cat who vomits in their carrier in the car (although the dose is higher when used for motion sickness.). I hope Milah will turn the corner though and not need it, but don’t hesitate to give it if she starts sniffing the food and walking away or if she licks a couple of times and walks away. Cerenia is extremely bitter and should be put into a number 4 size gelatin capsules so she won’t taste it. If she tastes it, she may start foaming at the mouth or drooling badly.
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I did not know there were gelatin capsules! I will get some of those . It’s very hard giving Milah pills. She will find every way to spit it out no matter what I wrap it in .
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Miralax should not harm her kidneys. Many CKD cats get some Miraax daily. There ae other things you can try such as Lactulose, but I would keep giving the MiraLax for now. If it doesn’t work after a week— increasing the dose as necessary because MiraLax is what is called a “dose to effect” medication — ask your vet about Lactulose.
You can combine a little pure psyllium husk powder with MiraLax. It’s just fiber. I do wish she was getting more fluids though— to combat the dehydration that is most likely causing the constipation.
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Yes. My girl is so dehydrated. They gave her some fluids on IV for a bit but I’m sure she needs more. Also everyday with her food im kind of making soup. She eats it all that way. When I don’t add water she won’t finish the bowl
Also zobaline is coming today !
 
Milah and Maxine said:
Yes. My girl is so dehydrated. They gave her some fluids on IV for a bit but I’m sure she needs more. Also everyday with her food im kind of making soup. She eats it all that way. When I don’t add water she won’t finish the bowl
Also zobaline is coming today !
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I’m so glad you are doing this. They won’t let you give sub-q fluids at home? It seems like she needs them daily.
 
You can order all sizes of gelatin capsules from Amazon. I mentioned specifically size 4 for Cerenia because it is the size that fits the tablets. I have many different sizes here at home from size 2 (largest) to size 5 smallest — for different meds. Size 5 is too narrow to hold a Cerenia tablet.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I’m so glad you are doing this. They won’t let you give sub-q fluids at home? It seems like she needs them daily.
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I can ask the vet about the fluids at home. Milah seems a little better. there is more life in her pretty eyes again. she's asking for food and caring the bowl. although it has been a little harder to get glucose readings and give meds now that she is stronger.
 
Milah was up asking for some food around 4:30 am. I checked her BS reading and it was 212. I gave her 1/4 can of FF and I went back to bed until 7:45a so I can check her readings before I give her the AM shot. I just checked and it read 170. that's the lowest its been in the last few days. I just fed her the rest of the can. do I skip the AM shot or do I test again after she eats? @Suzanne & Darcy
should I give .5 instead of 1 unit or skip completely. I know the doctor mentioned 250 being the number I shouldn't shoot below. what do you think
 
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Oh no. I am sorry I didn’t see this post this morning. I would not have skipped the shot but probably would have advised a half dose as long as you could monitor. She probably will go quite high without the insulin.
 
Be sure to still get tests today as you can. Hopefully you did test her. The best scenario would have been to shoot .5 and to get some tests to see how that worked with a preshot of 170. Then next time you have a same or similar preshot number you can use the data gathered to help you decide how much to shoot. If .5 wasn’t enough then next time you give a little more insulin and test to see how the cycle goes. Our goal is to be able to shoot lower numbers gradually and safely as we gather test data on her spreadsheet.
 
If your message had been on the ProZinc forum, I would have gotten an email about it and would have had a better chance of seeing it. You can also post over there to let me know you had posted a question on your thread.
 
Milah and Maxine said:
I can ask the vet about the fluids at home. Milah seems a little better. there is more life in her pretty eyes again. she's asking for food and caring the bowl. although it has been a little harder to get glucose readings and give meds now that she is stronger.
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This is good news about her feeling better. Be sure to give her low carb treats every time you get a test (whether it goes well or not.)
 
So, back to this morning’s blue preshot. This is actually great mews! But one thing you can do is to not give her any food and to wait 30 minutes and test again to see if her BG is rising on its own (without food.) If it is, you are probably safe to shoot the full dose or at least a little more than a half dose - depending upon her number. If you can wait an hour that’s fine too — just no food. This would depend a lot on if she can wait for food, if you must stay on schedule or can work back to her normal schedule, and if she will let you get those tests.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
So, back to this morning’s blue preshot. This is actually great mews! But one thing you can do is to not give her any food and to wait 30 minutes and test again to see if her BG is rising on its own (without food.) If it is, you are probably safe to shoot the full dose or at least a little more than a half dose - depending upon her number. If you can wait an hour that’s fine too — just no food. This would depend a lot on if she can wait for food, if you must stay on schedule or can work back to her normal schedule, and if she will let you get those tests.
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I had to leave for work and I was too afraid to give a dose and not be able to watch I hope everything will be okay when I get home
 
Milah and Maxine said:
I had to leave for work and I was too afraid to give a dose and not be able to watch I hope everything will be okay when I get home
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I understand. If there was nobody available to get a few tests and make sure Milah was safe, you did the right thing because we don’t have any data on her with that preshot value. How do you handle her mid-cycle snacks while you’re away? Do you have an automatic feeder set up to give her LC wet food at the important times in the cycle?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I understand. If there was nobody available to get a few tests and make sure Milah was safe, you did the right thing because we don’t have any data on her with that preshot value. How do you handle her mid-cycle snacks while you’re away? Do you have an automatic feeder set up to give her LC wet food at the important times in the cycle?
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No that’s the next thing on my list of things to buy. It’s been hard to purchase everything in one shot with all the vet bills in between. We got wiped out these last month . I was so afraid I was losing my girl.
We only have a dry food feeder. I’ll have to get a wet one. I usually leave out a 1/4 can with water mixed and she’ll eat around 1/2 I watch her on the ring camera at work. I like to see her moving around every few hours
 
Please make a note that you skipped the shot because you were not going to be home all day. Right now, we have almost no idea how she’s doing on the 1 unit dose. We need data. So hopefully tonight you can get a couple of tests at say +2 and +4 and if she wakes you up for food in the night. Tomorrow try to get tests as well. We don’t know how low the dose is taking her, but possibly lower than 170 since that was her AMPS.
 
Milah and Maxine said:
No that’s the next thing on my list of things to buy. It’s been hard to purchase everything in one shot with all the vet bills in between. We got wiped out these last month . I was so afraid I was losing my girl.
We only have a dry food feeder. I’ll have to get a wet one. I usually leave out a 1/4 can with water mixed and she’ll eat around 1/2 I watch her on the ring camera at work. I like to see her moving around every few hours
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Oh boy do I understand vet bills! Good job leaving out the wet food for her and keeping an eye on her. :)
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Please make a note that you skipped the shot because you were not going to be home all day. Right now, we have almost no idea how she’s doing on the 1 unit dose. We need data. So hopefully tonight you can get a couple of tests at say +2 and +4 and if she wakes you up for food in the night. Tomorrow try to get tests as well. We don’t know how low the dose is taking her, but possibly lower than 170 since that was her AMPS.
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I’ll make those notes and I will get some data tonight and tomorrow also. And Thank you again for all your help !
 
I want to ask when testing through the night is it still okay to give her snacks after her PM shot? it's almost +2 now & I will test then give her a snack. she's sitting at the bowl waiting. haha Then it'll be okay to test at +4 again even though she will have a snack in-between. won't this effect the numbers?
 
She should have a snack of LC wet food at +2 and again at +4. Giving these snacks throughout the early portion of the cycle helps smooth the cycle and prevent steep drops.
 
If you give LC wet food for the mini-meals/snacks, it will have minimal impact on the BG numbers when the insulin is most active. ProZinc usually onsets (begins to lower BG) at about +2 so that’s the reason for the first snack being given at +2. After that, +4 is a general recommendation. I usually don’t recommend feeding much after nadir as I think I have mentioned before— because it can caise a premature rose in BG numbers or what we call “loss of duration”. However, as I also believe I said before— in Milah’s case for the time being when she’s had such a lack of appetite— I believe it is more important for her to eat as last it’s low carb wet food.

Now, of course, when we are using food to steer the numbers in a cycle if the cat is lower than we want her to be — we use more carbs: higher end low carb like 8/9 percent or medium carb of around 12-14 percent or — if the BG number drops below 50 then high carb food over 15 percent.
 
Some cats do okay with a +6 snack also and some cats will start to rose too much. We have to kind of test it out and see. The main plan is to figure out how many calories your cat needs to eat throughout the day and to split it up between the various meals — we try to front load most of the food prior to nadir. Makes sense?

As I already said though, I do think that he small meal around +9 is okay for now.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Some cats do okay with a +6 snack also and some cats will start to rose too much. We have to kind of test it out and see. The main plan is to figure out how many calories your cat needs to eat throughout the day and to split it up between the various meals — we try to front load most of the food prior to nadir. Makes sense?

As I already said though, I do think that he small meal around +9 is okay for now.
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I was able to get some readings today but my girl is not happy with me. I think her ears need a break. its been difficult getting enough blood out. we use the lancer on the longest setting I massage the ear and use a rice sock. she is fighting back more and more. =( I feel so bad
 
Milah and Maxine said:
I was able to get some readings today but my girl is not happy with me. I think her ears need a break. its been difficult getting enough blood out. we use the lancer on the longest setting I massage the ear and use a rice sock. she is fighting back more and more. =( I feel so bad
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Oh that really does hurt your heart, doesn’t it. I am sorry. Are you using the lancing device to hold the lancet? Most of is like to just do it “free hand” because it gives us more control. Just be sure to hold the lancet at a 45 degree angle when you poke.
 
You are doing absolutely great! Thank you for those tests! She is doing really well for a new diabetic on insulin. You have seen some nice blue numbers on this one unit dose. We will hold this dose for now (unless she drops below 90, which looks unlikely.) You are really seeing some progress! How is she eating and feeling? Acting okay? Normal behaviors and activity level? I’m happy she’s been having normal BM. You may want to just keep an eye on it. If anything seems too hard, start back with just a 1/8 tsp. of MiraLax. I have actually had cats who needed only a “pinch” (I have a pinch measuring spoon) per day. It’s not unusual to have to adjust the dose of MiraLax as needed.
 
Oh man is that good to hear. She has her appetite back that’s for sure. She wakes me up at 4/5am for some food then anytime I’m in the kitchen she is right behind me like what do you have for me mom.
I’m waiting to see how the first stool would be with out the Miralax l.
 
I’m also at work all day today so when I get home for the pm shot I’ll get more tests. She is not making this easy for me. She tried biting me yesterday while trying to test ‍♀️
 
Hi. I couldn’t find a new thread yet. We do try to limit threads to 50 and then link the previous thread in the first post of the new thread. What did you shoot tonight? If you want to start a new thread and reply to that question there, it’s fine. Tag me in the new thread or put the new thread over on the ProZinc forum.
 
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