BEST U100 Needle, I need the most accurate and precise! For Lantus

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Tiggers_Dad

Tiggers_Dad

Member Since 2015
I switched Tigger to lantus and I give him .5u every 12 hours
He is on purina dm wet, and his sugar level is great. Some days it drops to low tho and i give him some kibble to boost it. I need a very accurate needle, a u100 made for 3u max
I need a u100 needle that has .25 markings

Anyone know what u100 needle is the most accurate and precise? I've been shopping around and the only needles I can find have the half unit marks but there is a lot of dead space before the first .5 mark

Should I find a way to dilute Lantus?
I need to be very precise with a very small dose
 
I don't think that they make u100 syringes with 1/4 unit markings. Even the 1/2 unit markings are a relatively new innovation. I've seen several people recommend using digital calipers to do a precise measurement when their cats get to the "micro-dosing". I don't know where to find the link that they often put up for how to do that, but I'm sure someone will send it your way when they see this.

I'm not an expert on feline diabetes, but I can speak to diabetes and insulin in general very well, since I am a type I diabetic: Don't dilute Lantus - there's no way to know how much insulin your cat would be getting if you dilute it since it won't stay in that suspension perfectly mixed, and I don't even know what adding water or anything else to the insulin would do to it. I doubt that it would be advised.
 
As far as I know, Lantus cannot be diluted, and I've only seen references to syringes with half-unit markings on this forum.

In addition to using calipers, drop dosing is another technique for measuring small doses. The idea is to measure a 1 unit dose then practice expelling drops from the syringe until you always get a consistent number of drops (e.g. 10 drops from every unit, 0.1 units per drop). Using a practice syringe with a coloured liquid can help (e.g. water with a bit of food colouring in it). Once you get the drop technique right, you measure 1 unit of insulin in the syringe and then expel the unwanted amount (e.g. with 10 drops per unit, expelling 6 drops will leave you with a dose of 0.4 units in the syringe). Maybe @BJM might be able to explain the technique better (she explained it to me).
 
No retail syringes measure quarter units; I searched. The only syringes that do are for labs and require autoclaves.
Do not dilute Lantus.
If you need a lower concentration of insulin, ProZinc and BCP PZI are U-40, that is 40 units per mL, and using a conversion chart, may be dosed in 0.2 unit amounts.
 
Thank you all for this information :) and for your time

Thank you

I am going to mess around and see how accurate I can be with drop dosing and I live next to harbor freight so I'll pick one of those calibers up.

:))

I started giving him .5u and some kibble to keep his sugar from getting to low

I want to get him off dry 100%
I did for 2 dayss and his sugar was 175-205 for 2 full days

wet food is the way to go! ^_^
I gotta find a new one tho, I can't keep doing this Purina MD wet(made mostly of liver)
 
Hi @Tiggers_Dad

I was just wondering how things were going?

I used a metal ruler to dose remi. In the end I found the marking too variable with each syringe. So I found one syringe that seemed the most accurate and decided up the dose into mm on my metal ruler and then just used that each time. Much easier. There is also a chart that I printed off that I double checked with but this is only for the BD micro syringes so if you aren't using them it won't be of help .

http://www.diabetes-katzen.net/insulinruler.pdf

If he goes low (below 90 I think on a alphatrak ) then he earns a dose reduction of 0.25. Are you following one of the protocols? Start low go slow or tight regulation.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/lantus-levemir-start-low-go-slow-method-slgs.129446/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/lantus-levemir-tight-regulation-protocol.1581/

If you got together a spreadsheet we could offer you some advice:)
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/

Re any food changes do it very slowly, you don't want to end up with pancreatitis flair. Remi did best with a low carb but also low fat wet food.
 
phlika29 said:
Hi @Tiggers_Dad

I was just wondering how things were going?

I used a metal ruler to dose remi. In the end I found the marking too variable with each syringe. So I found one syringe that seemed the most accurate and decided up the dose into mm on my metal ruler and then just used that each time. Much easier. There is also a chart that I printed off that I double checked with but this is only for the BD micro syringes so if you aren't using them it won't be of help .

http://www.diabetes-katzen.net/insulinruler.pdf

If he goes low (below 90 I think on a alphatrak ) then he earns a dose reduction of 0.25. Are you following one of the protocols? Start low go slow or tight regulation.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/lantus-levemir-start-low-go-slow-method-slgs.129446/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/lantus-levemir-tight-regulation-protocol.1581/

If you got together a spreadsheet we could offer you some advice:)
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/

Re any food changes do it very slowly, you don't want to end up with pancreatitis flair. Remi did best with a low carb but also low fat wet food.
Click to expand...
I'll try to respond to your reply in a more complete response tomorrow hopefully, I'm way to tired. I am feeding him Friskies Classics, and some special diets and some senior diets
they are lower on the carb diet. Tigger right now is having a flare up so I am giving him a subq in a few minutes. Hes just not drinking water like he should and hes not playful, seemed his gut hurt. I called the vet to get a script of buprenex, we'll see how that goes, and a script of b12 injection. I do log every glucose reading, i'll post it asap
 
ugh :[ I just woke up from Tigger puking :[, puked up a lot of liquid
I'm going to give him 100ml of IV SubQ
Getting on the vets arse about getting a real script for ondansetron not just 4 pills
 
Guys whats your take on the high fat low fat cat food? I feed him friskies pate and switch it up twice a day what I give him.
any recommendations on food for a diabetic pancreatitis anemic kitty
 
Tigger's sugar is stayying 280-300, its a flare up I believe from the puke and the high sugar. Is that high enough for his body to create ketones?
I'm slowly increasing his Lantus to bring these numbers down. I need to give him IV fluid subq I believe now so I'm going to get with that
 
Tigger just ate some more. I am going to hold off on sub-q as he drank water after he ate and I do not want to over hydrate him.

Does anyone know of a high quality protein food? one that includes fish oil containing omega 3-6 at a 5:1 ratio
 
With regards pancreatitis my cat does better on a very low fat, low carb food and so I have decided against foods that most normal kitties on this forum would eat. I also found that giving a food that contains protein from just one source (ie chicken) the best way of upsetting his tummy and then his pancreas. I have chosen Thrive chicken food as it very low fat and low carb. Any food changes are best done very slowly as you know. I wouldn't worry about the fish oils too much as any oil can cause problems if your cat is sensitive to it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrive-Cat-Complete-Food-Chicken/dp/B005VCEJ90/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

Yes anything above normal glucose numbers and you should be checking for ketones regularly . Make sure that you keep Tigger well hydrated and try to get food into him (after having his ant nausea tablets). If he is being sick you might want to try cerenia as well as ondansetron. I personally give ondnasetron every day regardless. Don't forget pain relief, that can help pull them through a flair more quickly.

@Critter Mom can you give some more suggestions re low fat food.

Be careful altering the lantus too much or too quickly, it takes a few days to see much benefit from dose alterations and by then he might not need it. Lantus likes consistency. If you listed out your numbers members might be able to offer some advice or insight. Any dose should be changed by 0.25 as a maximum at a time and you are dosing based on nadir and not on preshot readings.
 
Thrive isn't available here in the states.

I'm going to a dentist in a few then right after a riteaid to get some of these ketone strips


Tigger just puked again, its all mucus. I'm trying to find out why that is. He threw up a hair ball earlier this morning and that started this and that is a first because he never ever had hair balls ever
 
I'm so sorry to hear that Tigger's having a flare. :(

((((((Tigger))))))

I don't have specific knowledge of foods on your side of the water. Saoirse tends to have specific irritants fat-wise (sunflower oil, salmon oil). She seems to tolerate animal fats and non-salmon fish oils relatively well. I suggest posting a new thread requesting help with finding a food available in your geographic location that meets Tigger's specific needs.

If it was Saoirse in this predicament, I'd try to identify which food seemed to disagree with her the least and just stick with that one flavour and monitor how she got on. If no improvement, I'd switch her to a very bland, easily digestible food. When she was really bad last year, our vet recommended feeding her poached chicken breast. I followed that advice and Saoirse was able to get it down OK with out exacerbating her symptoms. I poached it gently in plain water, then minced it finely in a mini processor. She did better with very tiny, very frequent meals. I also mixed the broth from the poaching 50:50 with water and gave her a couple of tablespoons of the mix with every meal and it helped her to stay properly hydrated in spite of her having very runny diarrhoea for over a week. Obviously with Tigger getting sub-q fluids that might be OTT for his needs.

Sarah's suggestion about Cerenia is a good one since Tigger's vomiting. Feeding tiny, regular meals with a little water might help reduce stomach acid build-up, too.

With regard to the Lantus, in agreement with our vet I followed a recommendation I saw in one of Jacquie Rand's published papers to respond quickly to any deterioration in BG numbers. I was rigorously home testing and I held the doses for the minimum amount of time before determining whether an increase per the published TR guidelines was merited (always based on the nadir). Again, posting a thread specifically asking about dosing advice would be a good plan (either on the Feline Health or L&L boards).

I hope you are successful getting a 'proper' ondansetron Rx. As with Sarah's Remi, ondansetron has helped Saoirse enormously and I give small maintenance doses much of the time, too.
 
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