From Prozinc to Lantus - what to expect?

Clarycat

Clarycat

Member Since 2023
Hello everyone

Tonight is Tigger’s first night on Lantus. He’s on slightly less than on Prozinc (4 as opposed to 4.5).

Can anyone please tell me what to expect in the initial days? Should his BG stay the same as it was initially, or do things change immediately from the Prozinc? If anyone can tell me their experiences I’d be really grateful!
 
Hello and welcomed. I'll let others pop in with their experiences. I made the change from Caninsulin, so can't speak to the differences from Prozinc.

As for what to expect, it's a little hard to predict. We are dealing with cats after all! Lantus is a depot style insulin. I highly recommend reading the yellow starred Sticky Notes at the top of this forum, including the one describing the depot. It does mean that it can take several days for the depot to build and see how he's doing on his initial starting dose. If you read our dosing methods Sticky Note, you'll see that they both say holding the dose either 5-7 or 7 days - depending on the dosing method. You could start seeing better numbers sooner than that. I presume you are home testing his blood sugars? The odd cat has quite a dramatic reaction, in other words, goes lower than expected with the initial doses. We do suggest monitoring quite closely the first couple cycles. So getting tests every 3 hours to start.
 
Thank you! Yes, I can test his blood sugars. He did have a Freestyle Libre on from yesterday, but he chewed it off today. Poor thing looked really sore underneath, so I’m glad he got it off

I’m under a very tight rein with my vet (I’m in the UK) she has a link to his monitor readings. She has been good so far but I’m glad the monitor is off until Wednesday (when he goes for a heart scan) just to allow the depot to build - I was worried she’d be upping his dose too soon!
 
4.5 units is a pretty healthy sized dose for a cat, unless there are some other medical issues. What type of food is he eating?
 
He eats a pouch of Sheba FF wet food with each injection and Hills Diabetes Care dry food to graze on all day. I have considered a completely wet diet but I wasn’t sure how to transition, how much extra wet food he’d need other than the two pouches and then the risk of hypos if it makes too much of an impact.
 
Frizzbomb said:
and Hills Diabetes Care dry food to graze on all day.
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That explains the higher dose. The Hills food, at least in North America, was forced to be renamed Dietetic care, as it's too high in carbs to be good for a diabetic cat. I would transition his food very slowly, with a close eye on his blood sugar numbers. If he does get a Libre back on, that would be a good time to do it so you can closely watch his numbers. Note, our experience here is that the Libre often registers lower in low numbers than a hand held meter does, so it's always good to double check the lows with a blood glucose meter.

First thing to do is to figure out how many calories he's getting now. Add the total from the pouches and measure the amount of dry food he's eating. If that's a good amount of food (ie. he's maintaining a good weight), then that's the target calories for his new diet. Lots of information on the process in this post: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food
 
Thank you, that’s so helpful. Especially about the calories. Yes, I’ve already experienced the panic of low numbers on the Libre but no hypo!
 
My Cleo was on Prozinc and switched to Lantus and we're very happy. She was having a lot of swings when on Prozinc and a short duration :(. The depot nature of Lantus is much less volatile, well for her at least :rolleyes:.

Have you seen @DaveL Miho's SS. Also a former Prozinc to Lantus kitty which is amazing progress.
Also take a look at Sunny Bears SS who also switched and Sunny Bear is now in remission :cat:.

Let us know if we can help.
 
Angela & Cleo said:
My Cleo was on Prozinc and switched to Lantus and we're very happy. She was having a lot of swings when on Prozinc and a short duration :(. The depot nature of Lantus is much less volatile, well for her at least :rolleyes:.

Have you seen @DaveL Miho's SS. Also a former Prozinc to Lantus kitty which is amazing progress.
Also take a look at Sunny Bears SS who also switched and Sunny Bear is now in remission :cat:.

Let us know if we can help.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I’ll take a look!
 
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