insulin in needle a while before injecting?

LindanHuey

LindanHuey

Member Since 2018
Another question: Is it safe to put insulin in the needle about 1 hour before injecting? Maximum 1.5 hours. I have a neighbour who said she will inject Huey if we need to go out before his usual time. This would not be very often.
Can I put the insulin in the needle and leave it in the fridge?
She would most likely be OK to learn how to draw it up at the time, but curious if any experience on this.
The blood test, we could show her how to do that too...or we could do it the hour before hand. If Kitty was showing weird numbers or distress, we would re-consider the outing. Thanks.

previously:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-fluctuating-numbers.209385/
 
It's probably OK to pre-draw a syringe for a brief time. It's not recommended for a long period. Having insulin outside of it's container increases the potential for contamination. In addition, syringes have a lubricant that can begin to degrade if a medication is left in the syringe for a long period.

Page 3 of this document contains information on pre-drawing insulin.
 
Hi Linda, just another suggestion to help your current thread get more eyes... if you could set it up so that it has today's date on it - your pets name - like this:
1/14 Huey AMPS (number of your morning preshot)... Question about preparing insulin in syringe ahead of time??? More people would know that it is current and more would eyes will notice it...however you already have an excellent response - so that's taken care of for today - but perhaps for tomorrow if you have a question or just posting his numbers for the morning. Most of us post daily - like that - with date, name, AMPS - just so that everyone can see how you and Huey are doing.

Have a wonderful day :)
 
Sounds like you plan on refrigerating the insulin for the 1-1.5 hours, which is good. My vet did say it was important to do this because as it warms to room temperature, the volume could change and so you are no longer injecting the amount you had drawn out.

I agree, Huey is a beautiful kitty :)
 
Rosie & Bailey said:
My vet did say it was important to do this because as it warms to room temperature, the volume could change and so you are no longer injecting the amount you had drawn out.
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Uhm. No. The volume may I guess change very, very slightly due to temperature. But the number of units remains the same - they don't multiply in the syringe just because of temperature. And since we're dosing by units, not directly by volume (although the volume drawn determines the number of units), it wouldn't make a scrap of difference to the dose you're giving.
 
manxcat419 said:
Uhm. No. The volume may I guess change very, very slightly due to temperature. But the number of units remains the same - they don't multiply in the syringe just because of temperature. And since we're dosing by units, not directly by volume (although the volume drawn determines the number of units), it wouldn't make a scrap of difference to the dose you're giving.
Click to expand...
I have no idea, just sharing what the vet said in case it helps. Thanks for the info :)
 
Rosie & Bailey said:
I have no idea, just sharing what the vet said in case it helps. Thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Your vet probably really just doesn't know. I worked with one vet who genuinely didn't understand how units worked, or how they related to mls. I had to sit him down and explain it to him - and I'm honestly not joking. Kind of concerning when you realize they really don't know what you're talking about and it really does need an explanation!
 
It happens, sadly. Often, unless they've chosen to do continuing education on diabetes, the actual training they've had specifically for cats is only a few hours. That's not to say that all their advice will be questionable, but especially for those of us who want to regulate our cats more tightly than is the standard for owners who simply don't want to home test, what they suggest doesn't always fit with the way we want to do things. What they're doing isn't always necessarily wrong when you think that around 75% of cats are euthanized on diagnosis - of course they're going to offer the easiest option for the owner, which is not to home test and not to regulate too tightly...just enough to keep the cat mostly healthy with minimum effort from the owner. But much of what appears as bad advice to those of us here is often simply linked to them having different long-term goals from ours. We want remission and tight regulation...their primary goal is for the cat to stay alive and healthy whether on or off insulin. So sometimes we don't see eye to eye with them.
 
manxcat419 said:
What they're doing isn't always necessarily wrong when you think that around 75% of cats are euthanized on diagnosis - of course they're going to offer the easiest option for the owner, which is not to home test and not to regulate too tightly...just enough to keep the cat mostly healthy with minimum effort from the owner. But much of what appears as bad advice to those of us here is often simply linked to them having different long-term goals from ours. We want remission and tight regulation...their primary goal is for the cat to stay alive and healthy whether on or off insulin. So sometimes we don't see eye to eye with them.
Click to expand...
The 75% number makes me sad. I didn't realize it was that high. How utterly devastating. :(
This is possibly the best explanation I have ever read about this distinction, and it is so true. It applies so well to conversations I have had with family members who either have had, or know someone who has had, a diabetic cat. My family doesn't understand why those people didn't have to run home or cancel social engagements in order to test their cats so why do I? They have been accepting of my explanations, but more to be nice to me than to truly understand. Thanks for these perfect words to explain to them the difference between what I'm doing and what the other cat owners did. :)
 
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