Grandpa may or may not have started Lantus today

[Beck and Philly]

I was so careful drawing up his dose from the pen. I studied the syringe, tested the plunger, and counted the lines a few times. When I tried to shoot, I could not feel the needle enter the tent at all. I looked at it again and made a new tent and tried again but the needle is so thin and short, I didn't feel anything. I should've tried a third time, but I pushed the plunger. I didn't feel the needle come out either so I don't know if he got the dose or not. Ugh!

I'l have to "practice" without the insulin before his PM shot, I guess. I only have a pack of 10 of these syringes until I can get the 1/2 unit marking ones.

What needle size do you all recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

Hi Beck,

I use the Walmart's brand, Relion syringes as they are very cheap, something like 12.88 for a box of 100.
I use the short length 8 mm. The gauge is 31 and the capacity is 3/10 ml

I always make it a habit to smell the injection site after I give the shot. Lantus is quite strong smelling, sort of like the smell of bandaids. And you can also feel the area with your hand to see if it feels wet. I have gone all the way through the tent several times despite using short needles. That is less likely to happen with the shorter needles but it can happen with poor hand placement. I use the 3 finger tent now and I haven't had it happen since. Anti Jinx.

 

[Bellasmom]

Hi Beck,

I use the Walmart's brand, Relion syringes as they are very cheap, something like 12.88 for a box of 100.
I use the short length 8 mm. The gauge is 31 and the capacity is 3/10 ml

I always make it a habit to smell the injection site after I give the shot. Lantus is quite strong smelling, sort of like the smell of bandaids. And you can also feel the area with your hand to see if it feels wet. I have gone all the way through the tent several times despite using short needles. That is less likely to happen with the shorter needles but it can happen with poor hand placement. I use the 3 finger tent now and I haven't had it happen since. Anti Jinx.

Lol I smell too and see if it’s wet

 

[Sue and Luci]

Don't feel bad...I once pushed the needle clean through to the other side...poor Luci! She didn't say a thing...but I knew when I smelled THAT Lantus smell...and felt that cool drop on her fur...I held up her skin/tented and well...it just wasn't enough...I need to take a little more time and be careful to make sure I've got a good sized amount of flesh - push the fur back a little and then I use the shortest needles - only 15/64th - plant it firmly in her flesh - press/hold for a sec squeeze plunger...remove...I'm doing better...haven't missed lately...but don't want to say that too loud...The universe might be listening and I'll miss tonight...

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The needles are so thin and sharp that it really doesn't feel like you've given a shot. For those of us that have had to give their cats fluids, it's a much different "feel" when you're using a needle that is referred to as a harpoon. With a larger gauge needle than the 30 or 31 gauge, it almost feels like a pop when you puncture the skin. With an insulin needle, it doesn't feel the same way.

If you were using Vetsulin previously, were you using a different gauge needle?

Good luck with the switch to Lantus. I hope Grandpa sees better results.

 

[Amanda and a Loudogg]

I've actually never smelled the injection site, but I do run my hand over it to see if it's wet. I use the CarePoint 31G 3/10cc syringes from ADWdiabetes.com. I like the smaller gauge size because Lou barely feels it! The syringes are located HERE.

 

[Beck and Philly]

Thanks all! I didn't know about smelling, but I did run my hand over and didn't feel wet. I thought maybe 1U was too small of an amount to feel on fur.

These are the syringes I use for Vetsulin. I can feel them go in and haven't had any trouble.

 

[Beck and Philly]

The needles are so thin and sharp that it really doesn't feel like you've given a shot. For those of us that have had to give their cats fluids, it's a much different "feel" when you're using a needle that is referred to as a harpoon. With a larger gauge needle than the 30 or 31 gauge, it almost feels like a pop when you puncture the skin. With an insulin needle, it doesn't feel the same way.

If you were using Vetsulin previously, were you using a different gauge needle?

Good luck with the switch to Lantus. I hope Grandpa sees better results.

You're right. The feel is much different than with fluids. That breaks my heart no matter how often I do it and how much it helps.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

When you have a minute put a label on your SS showing when you started Lantus. I hope it works well for the sweet old boy!

 

[Beck and Philly]

When you have a minute put a label on your SS showing when you started Lantus. I hope it works well for the sweet old boy!

Will do. We were wondering if we should start a new tab for Lantus today to keep it separated.

When i was reading the sticky posts, I saw that a human BG meter is recommended. We had started Grandpa's journey with a human meter, but the one we have needs too much blood for a reading and we replaced it with an AlphaTrak 2. I don't really want to buy a third meter at this point, so I hope we can work with pet readings?

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi to Beck and Grandpa this morning. kisses and chin scritches specially to our elder gentleman. You can keep on using the AlphaTrak if you are happy with it, the protocols are for human meter, but many use the pet meters. Just know the "take action" number with a pet meter is higher than with a human meter, 68 to 50. There's info in the stickies at the top of the Lantus forum.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I too was surprised at how much smaller the Lantus syringes seemed. The difference between 29 and 31 gauge needles was huge!

For the spreadsheet, just do a blank line after yesterday and mark it Start Lantus, or something like that. It can be useful to look back at old data, so no need to start a new tab.

Good luck with the Lantus.

 

[Beck and Philly]

When we started Grandpa on insulin back in May, he was very lethargic the first day. I didn't know about testing or anything so I took him to the vet. He tested in the 300s. We reduced his dose even though the vet thought we should hold steady. He did ok after that first day.

Today he's doing the same thing after his first Lantus dose. He is eating fine and had to be shooed out of the kitchen to keep him from jumping on a hot stove, but he has walked around crying some and is sleeping a lot on his side in strange places for him. We are checking numbers every 2 hours and he had a snack at +4 as usual. The numbers were falling but not at an alarming rate and had an uptick at +6.

Anyone else have their cat feel not so great at beginning of an insulin change?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Cats really vary in how they respond initially to Lantus or any other insulin, for that matter. Keep in mind, that with Lantus, it takes about 5 - 7 days for the depot to get established. Until the depot is formed, Grandpa isn't getting the full amount of what you're shooting -- a little bit goes to form the depot. Lantus is also much gentler than Vetsulin. Lantus doesn't "yank" down the numbers. It may take a little while for Grandpa to adjust to how his body feels on Lantus.

 

[Amanda & Shmee]

What I started to do with my Shmee after I started feeling the same way you did, was make the tent but also push the hair up the opposite way in the area you want to shoot. I hope that makes sense. That will give you an area of skin to look at instead of just hair. Then you can actually watch the needle go in. Good luck!!

 

[Sandi and Toby]

If you are still worried about making sure the insulin goes in, you or the vet can shave a small square patch on Grandpa's back (or wherever you inject). We did that with our first diabetic, about a 2 inch square, then we could really see the needle go in and also see that it wasn't coming out the other side. It was just one easy worry to take off of our plates. Eventually shaving his patch was no longer necessary, but it helped us gain valuable confidence at the beginning.

Not a great fashion statement for Grandpa because the other kids will tease him about it, but he'll survive the shame

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Here's a post on testing and shooting tips that might have something for you.

 

[Beck and Philly]

Thanks all. We survived day 1of the great Lantus switch. Grandpa is snoring beside me after his bedtime snack.

I did much better with his PM shot. I did look for an area where his hair was parted and made the tent there so i could see that the shot was in.

I gotta admit that I covered all bases when I ordered syringes from ADW today. I ordered the 31 gauge from the link kindly provided in a comment above, but I also ordered a box of 29 gauge U100s since that's what I'm used to. It was $10 peace of mind.

Goodnight all and thanks again!