? 05/02 Chico AMPS 477 +3 248 Switching from caninsulin to lantus

Marina & Chico

Marina & Chico

Member Since 2021
Chico has been diagnosed in the beginning of january 2021, we were prescribed 2UI caninsulin 2 times a day. We were already very close in switching to lantus when a sudden change in Chico’s BG happened yesterday. It is still not clear what does that change mean for Chico’s insulin needs hence our question: when should we consider safe to transit from caninsulin to lantus? Should we have a few days of stabilized caninsulin dose before the change? What should be the dose for Lantus?

Our vet says since he is in the 400BG we need to give him 0.5UI/kg, which means a total dose of 2.5UI - but this was before yesterday.

thank you all for all your help
 
We already purchased Lantus ampules and syringes. For caninsulin we used a pen so this seems much scarier. Can you please advise how to set the syringe? if for example we want to inject 1 UI. Is it really a single line from the bottom? it doesn't seem to contain anything.

What happens if we want to change the dose by 0.5 (im not even talking about 0.25 - that's impossible on this syringe)? Are there maybe other syringes that we can use for this?

Thank you for your help in advance
 

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Hi Marina,
Glad you came over.
Marina & Chico said:
Our vet says since he is in the 400BG we need to give him 0.5UI/kg, which means a total dose of 2.5UI - but this was before yesterday.
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Since he is already on insulin we would use this as a guide for a starting dose. Especially as he is seeing some blues in this range.
With a kitty that hasn't started insulin the starting dose is calculated
Starting dose for glargine or detemir when following the Tight Regulation Protocol:
  • the formula is 0.25 unit per kg of the cat's ideal weight
  • if kitty is underweight, the formula frequently used is 0.25 unit per kg of kitty's actual weight
  • if the cat was previously on another insulin, the starting dose should be increased or decreased by taking prior data into consideration
This gives you the dose you shoot, twice a day.
From the way you described the vet's recommendation I think it amounts to the same thing, so if Chico is a healthy 5kg, our calculation gives you 1.25u (BID), you would shoot 1.25u in the morning and 1.25u at night (total of 2.5u daily split between two shots.).

Really the important factor here is that he has been on insulin already

Marina & Chico said:
What happens if we want to change the dose by 0.5 (im not even talking about 0.25 - that's impossible on this syringe)? Are there maybe other syringes that we can use for this?
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There are better syringes, you need
BD microfine demi they are available in europe I had to get my local pharmacy to get them
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BD_Micro-Fine_Demi_0.3ml_Syringe_0.3mm_%2830G%29_x_8mm%281%29__69587_zoom.jpg

They are smaller, only 0.3ml instead 1ml and have half unit markings, you would not be able to dose 1u easily with that.
They also do a BD microfine + (this is not the one you want)
It must be the BD microfine+ demi (this one has half unit markings so you can relatively easily do a 0.25u dose)
 
The Bd microfine + demi 0.3ml only has a max dose of 30U Those syringes have 1ml of liquid and therefore 100u, consequently the markings are a lot closer together and with a typical dose for a cat impossible to draw a small dose like 1u accurately. Ask your pharmacy.
 
Gill & George said:
The Bd microfine + demi 0.3ml only has a max dose of 30U Those syringes have 1ml of liquid and therefore 100u, consequently the markings are a lot closer together and with a typical dose for a cat impossible to draw a small dose like 1u accurately. Ask your pharmacy.
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i found these syringes online, thanks for the information.

Have you ever uses these ampules without the pen? in the instructions here in the forum i saw it being used with the pen only
 
Marina & Chico said:
Thanks, i just saw the bottles with the push thingy in the back on a picture, thanks:)
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The video Julie did is very helpful, explains how to draw the insulin, get rid of air bubbles.
Just ask if you have any more questions.

Just saw he is back to pink after the yellow. :rolleyes:
 
Gill & George said:
no probs, how long do you think they will be?
I would wait till they arrive rather than shooting with the others.
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yeah, for sure, the big ones are impossible to use. I expect them by the beginning of next week. at least until then we have time to understand if this is a bounce or we really need to increase the dose of back
 
Marina & Chico said:
i knooooww ... still better than in the night when he had no yellow.
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Yellow is better than pink I thought he was going to clear the bounce,
Sometimes they seem to look like they are going to clear the bounce and then they don't. Maybe tonight.

As for the dose on Lantus, we will see how he goes over the next few days, when you get the syringes, we can look at what his numbers have looked like on caninsulin and decide.
 
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