? 4/12 | Lord Fuzzy Bottom | AMPS 373 - I have a few questions?

[Min and Lord Fuzzy Bottom]

Previous Condo: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/4-11-lord-fuzzy-bottom-amps-476.288662/#post-3169282

His AMPS keep going down. I don't know really what to do yall. I spoke with my husband about his doses and he told me not to touch them and follow the vet's instructions- at least for the week. Because if I tinker with them and something bad happens to Fuzzy, I would never forgive myself. But I look at it now, if something bad happens to him now, I still wouldn't forgive myself because I would be like I should've listened to the people on the message board.

Last night at midnight ( +6 after when his afternoon shot would've been) he was at 101 with my ReliOn monitor and 141 with the AlphaTrak2.

Urine Ketones are negative this morning.

I do have a separate question though- any ideas on how to get a diabetic cat to gain weight? I am asking because he is underweight for his size - 7.9lbs. He used to sit right around 11-12lbs before the DKA. I just don't know what to do to help him put some fat back on his body- which may help him feel better some.

 

[Min and Lord Fuzzy Bottom]

I think I may be wrong on the type of insulin he is on. I noticed before his pen is light blue. It just says Insulin Glargine yfgn so I thought it was generic or something.
When I first came to the boards, someone said that was lantus and I went with it. But now I am wondering is it actually the type of insulin he is on the Semglee? His pen doesn't say Semglee, but it is blue and has the little triangle just like the Semglee pens do. Like, they look identical, except his doesn't say Semglee.

Would this matter?

Another question- I just watched the information on the Semglee pen and it states it is 1x a day, whereas Lantus was saying 2x a day. Maybe this is why the vet is ok with 1x a day? and that an open in use pen should not be kept in the fridge. So, should I not keep it in the fridge? The vet was saying fridge, and the Sticky here says keep in fridge.

And then they were not showing "priming" of the pen but conducting a safety test to ensure the needle isn't clogged and that the pen is working properly.

If I take a photo of his pen could someone help me identify what type of pen it is? Like I said, it looks IDENTICAL to the Semglee pen, except his doesn't say Semglee.

 

[squeem3]

Semglee is an insulin for Human diabetics. Unless the video is all about using the insulin for cats, the information is for Human diabetics. Vets prescribe Semglee (and many other Human medicines) for pets "off label". Keep the insulin in the fridge so it lasts longer. Human diabetics typically need much much larger doses than cats so they can store a pen at room temperature safely and use up an entire pen within a month if not sooner.

Semglee is a lower cost alternative to Lantus.

A Semglee pen should look like this:

If your pen doesn't look like the above picture, can you take a picture of your pen and post it? Can you confirm with the pharmacy that what the gave you is Semglee and have them double check the pen you have?

 

[Min and Lord Fuzzy Bottom]

Here are pictures of the prescription label as well as the pen itself. I got the pen straight from the vet, not from a pharmacy. As you can see, there is no brand name on it- or at least I couldn't find one. I do see the triangle which Semglee has and the colors are the same of the pen itself. I apologize if I was confused about it being Lantus. That is what someone told me I was using on my very first post.

 

[Min and Lord Fuzzy Bottom]

I just looked up the Biocon insulin pens and found it on Amazon. https://pharmacy.amazon.com/BIOCON-...liter/dp/B0CRTYT3WN?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
It is generic for Semglee.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

They are all insulin glargines, Lantus is just the original brand name, but also a glargine. I've seen plenty of members here using glargine-yfgn. And the other generics Semglee, and Basaglar, and "seems like a new one popping up all the time". Biocon is a subsidiary of Semglee.

Is that "roll insulin between hands for 10 seconds" a label from the vet, or the pharmacy? No where on the how to use instructions for yfgn does it say to roll the insulin between hands for 10 seconds. https://www.semglee.com/semglee-pen#how_to_use Also, our Insulin Care Sticky Note says NOT to roll the insulin.

I do have a separate question though- any ideas on how to get a diabetic cat to gain weight?

It will help if he gets better regulated, then his body will be able to take in the nutrition from his food. Of course, shots twice a day will help with that, but that's the last I'll say there. I'm glad to see the negative ketones continue.

Are you weighing him at home once a week or so? Do you know if he's stopped losing weight or plateaued or gaining now? With recent DKA, he should be eating one and a half times the calories he was before he got sick, at least until you get him turned around and gaining the weight he needs. You could look at the calories (not just carbs) of the food you are feeding and try to feed him a higher fat food. Kitten foods are generally higher fat.