Chrispooky12
Member Since 2021
I'm bleeding alot may have to go in for emergency surgery tonight. We are @+11.25 AMPS right now. How much should I shoot & have my daughter shoot if I have to go in tonight? I believe he's bouncing right now.
No she doesn't know how to test. I was supposed write everything down for her on feeding & she was supposed observe feeding & injection but she hasn't yet. Didn't know that I may have an emergency.Can your daughter monitor the cycle and does she know what to do if the BGs drop low?
It always happens like this! Did you see my question about the vomit?No she doesn't know how to test. I was supposed write everything down for her on feeding & she was supposed observe feeding & injection but she hasn't yet. Didn't know that I may have an emergency.
No she doesn't know how to do anything she was supposed observe feeding & injecting before my scheduled Surgery on 12-2 but hasn't yet.I’m so sorry you’re going through this!
I’m no dosing expert by any means, but based on how 2.5 has been going, I’d feel pretty comfortable shooting that much. Can your daughter get a BG test tonight?
Spook vomited @ AMPS my other kitty. He's been fine since then though.I also notice you said he vomited the +2.75 snack this cycle. Has he been ok since?
Ok I’m confused. The SS is Panzers.is that right? Not sure why you are putting information about Spook in Panzers remarks column…Spook vomited @ AMPS my other kitty. He's been fine since then though.
Yes if I have to go in she will have to come here & feed them @+6 PMPS that's normally the only feeding they have after PMPS feeding. Then they eat again @ AMPS & again between @+2 &@+3 AMPS they have a snack.It always happens like this! Did you see my question about the vomit?
Can she be around to give him snacks?
Yes it's Panzer's but I put stuff for Spook on there so I can go back & look at it for reference. I have started writing things in my notebook that I keep as well. I can just do that if I need to.Ok I’m confused. The SS is Panzers.is that right? Not sure why you are putting information about Spook in Panzers remarks column…
I think it would be better to just put things about Panzer in his SS if you don’t mind, otherwise it is too confusing for others when looking at it. We don’t expect to see information about other kitties in an SS.Yes it's Panzer's but I put stuff for Spook on there so I can go back & look at it for reference. I have started writing things in my notebook that I keep as well. I can just do that if I need to.
Panzer looks as if he is doing well and is stable on the current dose but because your daughter can’t test and could be possibly shooting tomorrow without testing, I would reduce the dose to 2.25 units. Or if you think is would be safer for her to draw up 2 units…then go with that. Better to be safe.Yes if I have to go in she will have to come here & feed them @+6 PMPS that's normally the only feeding they have after PMPS feeding. Then they eat again @ AMPS & again between @+2 &@+3 AMPS they have a snack.




Yes that sounds good!I think it would be better to just put things about Panzer in his SS if you don’t mind, otherwise it is too confusing for others when looking at it. We don’t expect to see information about other kitties in an SS.
Panzer looks as if he is doing well and is stable on the current dose but because your daughter can’t test and could be possibly shooting tomorrow without testing, I would reduce the dose to 2.25 units. Or if you think is would be safer for her to draw up 2 units…then go with that. Better to be safe.
The first half of this PMPS cycle will be affected by the previous cycle so I would leave out an extra snack.
Are you happy with that?
I do hope all is Ok with you.![]()
I know your not supposed to with Lantus but can I prefill a couple of syringes with 2 units just incase? I'm using a pen now & not a vial.
Yes this is why we don’t recommend prefilling Lantus syringesEdit: I did just go looking up the sticky with info on prefilled syringes because I was curious. Interesting results from that study… insulin turned turbid (cloudy) after 3 or less days? Wow! Actually it makes me wonder if they use a different form of the lubricant now than they did back in 2003 when the study was done, because I can tell you the ones we pre-make at the hospital look exactly the same when we “expire” them as they do when we first draw them up. Makes the scientist in me curious now…










Thank youYikes, how stressful! Hope the pills work and you can avoid emergency surgery! Sending healing vibes![]()



She's needs to get her butt over here so she can draw it up out of the pen!Yes this is why we don’t recommend prefilling Lantus syringes
I corrected the autocorrect in my post above. Thanks for pointing out. The autocorrect drives me mad!
My daughter will be driving me or an ambulance if it becomes an emergency.The little ones in the pharmacy department that they have in the diabetic stuff section work well. Plus they’re individually wrapped so you always know that every time you enter the vial it’s clean.
I feel your pain, and I truly hope the best for you. My uterus and I parted ways back in 2017 for similar problems. Drive very carefully please. I used to get really lightheaded. If anyone else can drive you that would be best.
Thank youSorry you're going through this, hope everything goes well!![]()



Yes this is why we don’t recommend prefilling Lantus syringes![]()
I would discourage this and we never warm the syringe. In fact, cold needles actually cause less pain when the injection occurs. While this is not something necessary for treating FD, if one is giving subq fluids, it’s recommended to keep the needles in the freezer until they need to be used. I’ve done this for years when administering subq fluids.I can answer this from a pharmacy tech perspective.
If you swipe the top of the vial with alcohol before you draw up - three swipes with the pad in the same direction, not circles; you want it really clean - and then don’t touch the top while you’re working with it, AND you keep the syringes in the fridge along with the vial - the insulin can stay good for up to 96 hours, or four days, in a syringe. This is what we do in the (human) hospital.
Making sure the top and syringes stay super clean while you’re drawing it up is key to this. You don’t want any bacteria introduced.
But if you can do that, then yes, you can draw some up. I regularly draw up both of a day’s doses each AM, because half the time another family member has to shoot PM. Just warm each syringe up after pulling it from the fridge before giving it to the cat.


Thank you I will just mark an unused syringe for her or fill it will colored water.I would discourage this and we never warm the syringe. In fact, cold needles actually cause less pain when the injection occurs. While this is not something necessary for treating FD, if one is giving subq fluids, it’s recommended to keep the needles in the freezer until they need to be used. I’ve done this for years when administering subq fluids.
The reason manufacturers suggest to not prefill syringes is there is potential, especially with Levemir, for the insulin to adhere to the plastic so the cat might not get the full dose of insulin. As you stated in post 20, the insulin can get cloudy after a couple of days and the efficacy cannot be guaranteed.
There has not be any change to syringes which would preclude the issue from occurring. When members have had to be gone in the past and someone else was shooting, they would mark the syringe with tape to the correct dose.
@Chrispooky12
you do not need alcohol wipes as Skye suggested. There is a big difference between how a hospital administers insulin and how a person at home would. In other words, in a hospital, they could have a lot of different people drawing from the same vial. And I believe you are drawing from a pen so you definitely wouldn’t do it.
And, I will add that cats are not furry humans. If insulin were to stick to a syringe and the dose be less or the insulin compromised, in your situation, there would be no one to monitor that. In a hospital, they would be able to quickly assess if there was an issue. Small changes in efficacy might not affect a human as it would a cat.
I give Panzer his insulin straight out of the refrigerator & doesn’t even flinch, he's to busy eating. If only they could talk, it sure would be nice.Thank you both for your thoughtful replies. The original information about pre-filling syringes is dated and to a degree, it's surprising that the technology hasn't caught up. My hunch is that with the new(ish) insulin pens, the insulin is housed in a glass vial so there's been less impetus to do research that involves plastic syringes. The insulin pens are great for adult humans. The number of children with diabetes is far less and there's likely less incentive to look at the syringe technology for kids and cats!
I think if the situation warrants a disaster mode, you do what you need to do. You may see us be less consistent with our information if, for example, we discussing what to do when the kitty has just been released from the ICU after having been treated for DKA. Getting food and insulin into the cat is critical to keep ketones at bay. Ketones pretty much trumps everything!
I don't have an answer to your question about whether room temp or cold Lantus stings less. We will often suggest that Lantus users with a cat that has acromegaly or insulin auto-antibodies and requires a large dose of insulin switch to Levemir due to how Lantus can sting. I also wonder if this isn't also something that has come up since the pens have been in greater use. The pens are portable and do not need to be kept refrigerated once opened. However, we do suggest keeping them refrigerated since cats typically need a small fraction of the dose that humans need and humans go through a pen in a comparatively very short period of time. Storing your cat's pen in the refrigerator is likely to preserve the insulin for what could be 3 mos. or more. In addition, keeping the pen at a constant temperature preserves the mechanism for dispensing insulin. If you know anyone who is a Lantus user, I'd ask them if it stings more if at room temp or cold. Our cats refuse to give us that information.
Thank you both for your thoughtful replies. The original information about pre-filling syringes is dated and to a degree, it's surprising that the technology hasn't caught up. My hunch is that with the new(ish) insulin pens, the insulin is housed in a glass vial so there's been less impetus to do research that involves plastic syringes. The insulin pens are great for adult humans. The number of children with diabetes is far less and there's likely less incentive to look at the syringe technology for kids and cats!
I think if the situation warrants a disaster mode, you do what you need to do. You may see us be less consistent with our information if, for example, we discussing what to do when the kitty has just been released from the ICU after having been treated for DKA. Getting food and insulin into the cat is critical to keep ketones at bay. Ketones pretty much trumps everything!
I don't have an answer to your question about whether room temp or cold Lantus stings less. We will often suggest that Lantus users with a cat that has acromegaly or insulin auto-antibodies and requires a large dose of insulin switch to Levemir due to how Lantus can sting. I also wonder if this isn't also something that has come up since the pens have been in greater use. The pens are portable and do not need to be kept refrigerated once opened. However, we do suggest keeping them refrigerated since cats typically need a small fraction of the dose that humans need and humans go through a pen in a comparatively very short period of time. Storing your cat's pen in the refrigerator is likely to preserve the insulin for what could be 3 mos. or more. In addition, keeping the pen at a constant temperature preserves the mechanism for dispensing insulin. If you know anyone who is a Lantus user, I'd ask them if it stings more if at room temp or cold. Our cats refuse to give us that information.
I read several forums of human diabetics when I was trying to figure out why Biggie was reacting poorly to his injections after he had been fine for the first few weeks and a lot of people did say that cold Lantus stings. I always warm the barrel between my fingers and it seems to help.
My daughter came over & she watched me test,feed,fill the syringe to the correct line in the syringe, & give Panzer his shot. She took a video of everything as well. She said she would test him if Panzer will let her. I think he will, he got right up in his box in front of her & her boyfriends mom & let me test him. I think he liked the extra attention. She was a little confused about what line to take it to but she just came back & I had her use my practice syringe in an old vial of prozinc that I haven't disposed of yet & she pulled the right amount down 3xs I showed her where 2 units were & 2.5 units which is his dose as of right now. I told her if she's going to stick around & monitor & test him she can give his full dose otherwise she will give the reduced dose. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me now! Thank God for my daughter I don't know what I would do without her.
On another note I'm just barely spotting now, so I'm hoping what the doctor told me to do is working & I make it to December 2nd & everything goes good!
No apology necessary. You were doing what you could to offer help in an emergency and, it is true, sometimes in emergencies we have to do what we have to do and hope we can limit the a,pint of time we have to do something we normally wouldn’t.@Marje and Gracie
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
Thank you both for the detailed information. You are right that we do draw up in the hospital in a sterile hood. We do actually give it 96 hours, and it is true that I haven’t seen cloudiness in that time, but I do appreciate up to date data, especially from a medical perspective, and will admit when I may be wrong. You especially have a point about cats maybe being more sensitive to slight changes in a fill of insulin, because their doses are so much smaller. Maybe humans aren’t as potentially affected. I should have thought of that, really, I apologize. The “emergency use” protocol I was referencing for needing to draw up outside of a hood was designed for humans, and also for emergency situations. (Like disaster level, really.) Protocol does require sterile compounding procedures under normal circumstances. I think I was going into crisis mode, upon hearing the issue… in which case sometimes “best practice” gets supplanted by “what works in an emergency”. I was thinking that having insulin pre drawn was better than no insulin at all. I am glad Chris didn’t have to go for emergency surgery… being able to have the time to do what’s best is a good thing. I will never argue that!
Interesting if brief article! Given the possibility of protein aggregation, I can see that Levemir especially would have a problem. I do still personally feel safe pre-filling one Lantus syringe for my own boy for that same evening, but we’re talking only 12 hours in the fridge, and I’ve seen no difference so far.
Although I do still think alcohol wiping makes some difference in chance of bacterial contamination… I want my vial to last as long as it can. I have no idea why that wouldn’t normally be recommended as a matter of general practice, especially for human patients.
As for the warming though, I’m curious - I’ve been letting each dose get to room temperature before giving it because I was told by the vet that the acidity in Lantus stings more when cold. That’s also something I’ve read in documentation designed to give to humans. Have you seen otherwise?




Thanks Diane, yes I am very lucky to have such a caring daughter.Hi Christina just catching up, I'm glad you didn't have to have the emergency surgery. It's great that your daughter can now give insulin and test him when ever you need her help. Just looked at Panzer's SS for today (11-27). a nice start. I just noticed you increased the dose, good luck with that
Take it easy Christina and keep us updated ok
@Chrispooky12





Hi @Suzanne & Darcy I am doing okay still having some bleeding despite taking 2 birth control pills a day & the maximum amount of ibuprofen, but it's not heavy like it was. Panzer's #s are a little high which concerns me. They both have there moments of not wanting to eat. I've been trying a couple of different foods Sheba pate's & weruva that they've had before. They both seemed to like the Sheba until today, Spook refused to eat @AMPS this morning & Panzer had to have fortiflora on his Sheba @AMPS, I think he just started acting up because he saw Spook was. He also had to have fortiflora on his PMPS feeding as well. I think they are both sick of fancy feast but they both don't seem to like the same foods sometimes. Panzer really likes the fancy feast naturals, but Spook hates it. I bought a couple of cans of tiki Kat & some pouches as well. I'm waiting until after my surgery to try those though. My surgery is Friday December 2nd, I have to be there at 6am & they said I should be home by noon. The boys normally have a snack between +2 & +3 AMPS but I will still be at the hospital & my daughter will be there with me. She's going to stay with me Friday after I get home as long as I need her to. I have a client who had the same surgery & she said she was tired & a little bit of stomach cramping but other than that she was fine. I'm hoping that's how it will go for me as well.Christina. Are you okay? Let me know how you are doing. I'm very concerned. How are Panzer and Spook. I just thought I'd check in on the forum and now I see this! When are you having surgery?