Belly-awaiting confirmation of diagnosis, want to prepare for what may be next

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hellolily

hellolily

Member Since 2020
Hi everyone!

My name is Lily, I am located in Los Angeles, CA, and i have an 11 year old female cat named Belly.
We spent last Wednesday at the emergency vet due to a UTI, when i eventually received the lab results, the vet informed me her glucose was very high, 318. They informed me that this could've been due to her being stressed (after spending the entire day at the vet I could see this being the case), but i am planning on returning to the vet this week for more results.
I want to be prepared in case I get the results indicating she does indeed have diabetes. Given that i am a very poor grad student, I unfortunately have to be very careful with my budget, so I'd like to ask for some money saving tips just to understand what i may be in for.
I saw in another thread that i should buy the ReliOn monitor, test strips and lancets, totaling about $40. i believe i can manage that, but what i'd like to know is how much is the insulin on average? and how often do i have to stock up on the strips and lancets? What i really need to know is how much does it cost to treat a diabetic cat per month on average?
I really appreciate all the information on this board!

thanks in advance!
Lily
 
hellolily said:
i'd like to know is how much is the insulin on average? a
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It depends up the insulin your vet prescribed and where you purchase it. A very good insulin is Lantus and many caretakers here get it from Canada (Mark's Marine Pharmacy). If purchased in USA price is about $400 for 1500 units while from Canada about 1/4 that cost. Another good insulin is ProZinc which costs about $100-120 for 400 units. I wouod not use either Vetsulin or the human insulin N. The standard starting dose is one unit twice daily.

Most here test the BG before each shot and periodically between shots. For a newly diagnosed cat more testing is required between shots. A walmart Relion Prime or Premier ar current good meters.
 
Also a low carb diet is needed to help control glucose levels. We recommend a canned food diet instead of dry. The majority of dry foods are high in carbs. Friskies canned food, pate flavors, are a good choice.

If your cat has a UTI, the infection may have also caused the higher glucose levels. Your vet should run a fructosomine test to confirm the diabetes diagnosis.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
It depends up the insulin your vet prescribed and where you purchase it. A very good insulin is Lantus and many caretakers here get it from Canada (Mark's Marine Pharmacy). If purchased in USA price is about $400 for 1500 units while from Canada about 1/4 that cost. Another good insulin is ProZinc which costs about $100-120 for 400 units. I wouod not use either Vetsulin or the human insulin N. The standard starting dose is one unit twice daily.

Most here test the BG before each shot and periodically between shots. For a newly diagnosed cat more testing is required between shots. A walmart Relion Prime or Premier ar current good meters.
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thanks for the information. do i get to decide what type of insulin to use, or does the vet decide? i ask because if theres a cheaper option, i'd prefer to do that of course!
Can i order insulin online from canada?
 
Lisa and Witn (GA) said:
Also a low carb diet is needed to help control glucose levels. We recommend a canned food diet instead of dry. The majority of dry foods are high in carbs. Friskies canned food, pate flavors, are a good choice.

If your cat has a UTI, the infection may have also caused the higher glucose levels. Your vet should run a fructosomine test to confirm the diabetes diagnosis.
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hi, thanks for your reply!
I was hoping to take her this week, shes currently on day 5 out of 10 on antibiotics, will that make a difference in lab results?
 
hellolily said:
do i get to decide what type of insulin to use, or does the vet decide?
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The vet usually decides but a vet can sometimes be talked into using a different insulin if you can give justification.
hellolily said:
i ask because if there's a cheaper option, i'd prefer to do that of course!
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Vetsulin, a pet insulin and N, a human insulin are the lest expensive but they only last 8-10 hours and have a large drop and rise in BG and thus are not the best for cats.
hellolily said:
Can i order insulin online from canada?
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Yes. You will need to get a script from you vet and get it to the Canadian pharmacy. Your vet can't do that.
hellolily said:
I was hoping to take her this week, shes currently on day 5 out of 10 on antibiotics, will that make a difference in lab results?
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The only test that wouod be affected is doing a culture and sensitivity test of urine. For that one needs to have stopped antibiotics for 7 days or so.
 
Of your vet prescribes either Lantus or Levemir, ask for a prescription for the pens instead of a vial. You will use the pen as a minature vial. The advantage is you will be able to use almost every drop. With a vial the insulin becomes ineffective long before you can use all of it and you end up wasting a lot of money.

Both of these you can order from Canada and save money.
 
hellolily said:
... money saving tips just to understand what i may be in for....how much does it cost to treat a diabetic cat per month on average? ....
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Lola was diagnosed in September and placed on Prozinc. I ran the numbers as applied to Lola in response to an earlier query and came up with a daily cost of $1.63 if I bought my insulin and syringes from the vet (and paid their markup). If bought them online the daily cost would be $0.93. My [long-winded] analysis is post #14 here.

You'll save a ton of money by doing your own testing (detailed in the above-referenced post) using a Walmart ReLion meter (initial purchase & supplies are affordable and readily available). You'll get more frequent, more accurate, up-to-the-instant readings, and Belly will no doubt appreciate not being hauled off to the vet's on a regular basis.

The guidelines and guidance on this forum are invaluable. Shortly after Lola was diagnosed my vet left for 6 weeks medical leave. By the time she returned Lola was in diet-controlled remission with the help of the members and guidelines here. (I can't conceive how this might have been achieved if I had not started the home testing and consulting FDMB -- given that Lola was so stressed at the vet's her numbers were far higher there than they ever were at home, so she was on a dose that turned out to be too high for her. Regular testing at the vet's without home testing would only have perpetuated that cycle.)

Welcome to the forum!

Enid
 
I'm glad you are going for a recheck. That is a high number but vet stress and infection can raise it. If you are feeding dry food or gravy food, switch to a low carb pate such as fancy feast classic or Friskies pate.
 
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