Nervous & new member!

[Sugar and Spice]

I’ve been looking at countless posts and comments during the past week, and needless to say as a new member of the my-furbaby-is-diabetic community, I am overwhelmed and nervous. Off of the top of my head, I have two main questions/concerns:

My precious baby, Sugar, was diagnosed with diabetes not quite a week ago. The vet gave me some syringes and a vial of Vetsulin, with instructions to administer to my cat 4cc of insulin a day. The vet suggested twice a day feedings with twice a day shots, each shot being 2cc of insulin.

I feed both of my cats (wet food only) three times a day, and I’ve been doing so ever since the diagnosis. The vet said that I can give Sugar three insulin shots a day, each shot being 1.33cc of insulin so she still gets her 4cc. Can anyone who feeds their cat more than twice a day (scheduled times, not free-feed) tell me about your experience with feeding and shots? My girl handles her shots fine, she’s not excited by any means about them but she tolerates it very well. I’m worried that maybe I shouldn’t be giving her three shots a day, maybe I need to stick to 2 feeding times?

My second concern is glucose monitors. I was told by the vet (the same one who told me that I can reuse syringes up to 6 times… to say I was shocked would be an understatement) that it isn’t required as a part of her treatment, and that if I am ever concerned I can bring her in to be tested. I kind of brushed off the glucose monitor until I read more from the forums, and quickly realized that if I would much rather have one. It seems like everyone uses a different brand, and maybe I’m just overthinking it, but now that has overwhelmed me too. What glucose monitors are the best/most recommended and reliable ones on the market?

I love my Sugar more than anything and I want nothing but the absolute best for her.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum Sugar and Spice.
It is normal to be overwhelmed on the beginning, so don’t worry about that.
First of all, please do not give the insulin 3 times a day.
Insulin for cats is meant to be given twice a day, 12 hours apart.
And it is absolutely fine to give your kitty food more than twice a day.
We recommend giving a good meal before the dose of insulin and then give a couple of snacks (a teaspoon of two of low carb food) during the first half of all the cycles. So that is 2 good meals and at least 4 to 6 snacks during the 24 hour period. And insulin twice a day 12 hours apart.

Can you tell me more about the insulin you are giving please. Maybe take a photo and copy and paste it into here.
Petsulin…I don’t think I have heard of it. Are you sure that is the name of it.
Also insulin is measured in units not ccs. So I am wondering how much you are giving.

I would definitely recommend you look at hometesting the blood glucose. If you live in the US you can get a human meter called the ReliOn premier for $9 and 100 test strips for $17.88
You will also need a box of 100 lancets simple 26 or 28 to prick the ear and some cotton balls to hold behind the ear when you test.
Bron

 

[Sugar and Spice]

Hi and welcome to the forum Sugar and Spice.
It is normal to be overwhelmed on the beginning, so don’t worry about that.
First of all, please do not give the insulin 3 times a day.
Insulin for cats is meant to be given twice a day, 12 hours apart.
And it is absolutely fine to give your kitty food more than twice a day.
We recommend giving a good meal before the dose of insulin and then give a couple of snacks (a teaspoon of two of low carb food) during the first half of all the cycles. So that is 2 good meals and at least 4 to 6 snacks during the 24 hour period. And insulin twice a day 12 hours apart.

Can you tell me more about the insulin you are giving please. Maybe take a photo and copy and paste it into here.
Petsulin…I don’t think I have heard of it. Are you sure that is the name of it.
Also insulin is measured in units not ccs. So I am wondering how much you are giving.

I would definitely recommend you look at hometesting the blood glucose. If you live in the US you can get a human meter called the ReliOn premier for $9 and 100 test strips for $17.88
You will also need a box of 100 lancets simple 26 or 28 to prick the ear and some cotton balls to hold behind the ear when you test.
Bron

The insulin she takes is Vetsulin*! I edited my post to reflect that! The needles I use are the UltiCare VetRX U-40. I don’t really know how to describe the measurements (I see a LOT of abbreviations and other terminology used here that I have no clue what it means yet), I only know that I was giving her an amount below the 1.5 unit marking when I was giving her insulin three times a day. Now I know to just give 2 units of insulin to her twice a day, thank you very much! I will also look into the ReliOn!!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Can you take a photo of the amount you give when you give the 2 units twice a day please?
Also with vetsulin you need to feed a meal 30 minutes before you give the insulin as vetsulin hits fairly hard and he needs food aboard to counter that.
With vetsulin, I would give Sugar a snack of low carb food at +2 and +4 each cycle. That is 2 hours and 4 hours after the dose is given.
I’m going to give you a link to HELP US HELP YOU. It has lots of useful information for new members. If you could set up your signature…it only takes 5 minutes, that would be great. As it tells us all about Sugar.
And the spreadsheet once you start doing hometesting will be very useful. If you have any trouble with it, we can help you set it up.

 

[Sugar and Spice]

It says I don’t have permissions to share images, so hopefully this link works. If it does, this is the amount I give Sugar when she receives her Vetsulin (two shots twice a day!). I also just picked up the ReliOn you suggested, so thank you for that!

I will have to take a look at the spreadsheet and get that set up as well.

 

[Shelley & Jess]

Image link didn't work for me

You can also drag & drop or copy & paste an image tololololololololololololololololololololololololololololo your post - the upload function hasn't worked for awhile now.

(PS - I just had to leave all the 'keyboard walk' lolol's in - "L-O" & Welcome from Charli!!)

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Sorry the image uploading function doesn’t work. You have to copy the pic and then paste it onto the post.

please also do not reuse the syringes. It’s not safe and it can hurt your cat as the tip of the needle can get slightly bent after each shot.

not sure how familiar you are with Vetsulin, but it’s also called caninsulin because it was created for canines who have a much slower metabolism than cats. It’s a harsh and fast acting insulting that does not last the full 12 hours between the shots. Cats do much better with a gentler longer lasting insulin like Lantus or prozinc. And as Bron said, feed your cat many times a day as it’s easier on their pancreas and helps avoid big sugar spikes. What food are you feeding right now?

With a diabetic cat you need:

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

So to be more clear, as others noted, it's not a good idea to re-use syringes. If you see a very close up (micrograph) picture of a syringe that has been re-used, the metal begins to peel. The tip also begins to be blunted and twisted. In addition, you can throw the notion of the syringe being sterile out of the window. (Where did your vet go to vet school??) Insulin syringes are manufactured to be single use.

When your vet suggested giving a shot 3 times a day, did he say how to time the shots? The assumption would be that you would be giving insulin every 8 hours. If you work or go to school, there's a reasonable likelihood that you would not be able to keep to any kind of schedule if you needed to be out of the house or to sleep. That's the practical issue. I've been a member here for a long time. I have only very rarely seen giving insulin 3 times a day attempted with any degree of success. Theoretically, it could be done with Vetsulin because it may not last for 12 hours but frankly, given the pharmacology of Vetsulin, dosing three times a day could easily be dangerous.

All of the above said, Vetsulin is no longer considered a recommended insulin for the treatment of feline diabetes. Since 2018, the American Animal Hospital Association indicated that Lantus (glargine) or Prozinc are the two insulins that are recommended for the treatment of feline diabetes in their guidelines. They note that the other insulins that are available do not have adequate duration given a cat's fast metabolism and the other insulins are much harsher in their action.

We definitely recommend home testing. Most meters are fine for testing. Some members, at the urging of their vet, will opt to use a pet-specific meter. The downside of those meters is cost -- the strips are vastly more expensive than strips for a human meter. Many members use the Walmart brand Relion meter. The strips are among the least expensive around.

 

[Sugar and Spice]

I have finally gotten on my computer, here is how much insulin Sugar is now receiving twice a day:

Since I have scoured the Caninsulin/Vetsulin forum, I have read that it is not a recommended insulin and I have every intention in getting it switched to something else. I also know not to re-use needles, as I used to take care of diabetic (human) patients, and I genuinely can't imagine why someone in the veterinary practice would recommend such a thing...
I work nine hours a day five days a week, so the idea for the three shots a day would be one immediately before I leave for work (shot one), one shortly after I get home (shot two), and one shot approximately six hours before shot number three. It also takes me literally three minutes to get to and from work, so the timing of her shots was very consistent for the three days I was administering three shots per day to her. When I had this conversation with my vet about three shots, I didn't question it at all, but now I know better

Here is the metabolic breakdown of the cat food brand I have for my cats. I buy their food from CatPerson. They eat wet food 95% of the time, and occasionally some kibble from CatPerson. Ever since Sugar's diagnosis, I have already made adjustments so that the kibble is eliminated completely from their monthly box, as well as the wet food that has 10% carbs (although I am thinking about keeping one box of the higher carb wet food, in case of a hypoglycemic event?). The food they most enjoy tend to be the 5% carb ones, so I'm not too concerned about cutting out the higher carb ones immediately.

Earlier today I did go out and buy a ReliOn Premier and numerous test strips and lancets in order to begin testing Sugar's glucose levels. I'm quite nervous to begin testing her, but I was terrified to give her first insulin shot to her but now it's surprisingly easy so I'm hopeful that I will get the hang of this quickly too

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I have every confidence you will get the hang of home testing. If no one has already linked information, this is a post on home testing. It includes videos and other helpful information.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Thanks for posting the photo of the syringe.
Are you able to post a photo of the packet of syringes for us to see them please. I just don’t recognise that syringe. I’m not a vetsulin user but it doesn’t look like a 40 unit syringe to me.
@Suzanne & Darcy

 

[Sugar and Spice]

Thanks for posting the photo of the syringe.
Are you able to post a photo of the packet of syringes for us to see them please. I just don’t recognise that syringe. I’m not a vetsulin user but it doesn’t look like a 40 unit syringe to me.
@Suzanne & Darcy

Here is an Amazon listing for the syringes I use, and it has pictures of the packages. I’m in bed already (night shift) and figured that this should suffice.

UltiCare VetRx U-40 Pet Insulin Syringes, Comfortable and Accurate Dosing of Insulin for Pets, Compatible with Any U-40 Strength Insulin, Size: 3/10cc, 29G x ½’’, with Half Unit Markings, 100 ct Box
https://a.co/d/8o1lUK6