Can cat go into remission on Vetsulin?

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Michelle McCormick

Michelle McCormick

Member Since 2020
Chester is my 10 year-old Maine Coon. He was diagnosed with diabetes a month ago. I've taken him off all dry. He now only eats Fancy Feast pates (6 cans a day). Thanks to the advice on this website, I also started him on Zobaline to treat his jiggly legs. His current dosage of Vetsulin is 4.5 units. His blood glucose floats between 250-400+. Have not yet gotten him into the 100's. My question is this. Has anyone's cat ever gone into remission on Vetsulin? I'm willing to spend the money for Lantus if that's his only chance at remission.
 
Michelle McCormick said:
Chester is my 10 year-old Maine Coon. He was diagnosed with diabetes a month ago. I've taken him off all dry. He now only eats Fancy Feast pates (6 cans a day). Thanks to the advice on this website, I also started him on Zobaline to treat his jiggly legs. His current dosage of Vetsulin is 4.5 units. His blood glucose floats between 250-400+. Have not yet gotten him into the 100's. My question is this. Has anyone's cat ever gone into remission on Vetsulin? I'm willing to spend the money for Lantus if that's his only chance at remission.
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My vet did say he's seen a fair amount of remission on Vetsulin, which is one of the reasons I went with it.

Overall I'm not sure Lantus ends up being any more costly? You're at a fairly high dose now, and I doubt you'd need that high of a dose once regulated if you move to Lantus.

He doesnt have any other health issues, infections, etc? Is it possible you missed the ideal dose?
 
Mine went into remission on vetsulin after four months, but came out of remission a year later. When she came out of remission she needed a higher and higher dose (she has acromegaly). Once we got to 5 units the vetsulin started to sting her, and the cat who was unphased by shots suddenly started hissing at them. I switched to ProZinc because it doesn't sting.

I tell you this because you are approaching the same number I was at when my cat reacted to the shots.
 
FrostD said:
My vet did say he's seen a fair amount of remission on Vetsulin, which is one of the reasons I went with it.

Overall I'm not sure Lantus ends up being any more costly? You're at a fairly high dose now, and I doubt you'd need that high of a dose once regulated if you move to Lantus.

He doesnt have any other health issues, infections, etc? Is it possible you missed the ideal dose?
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I'm not sure what the ideal dose is. I'm working closely with his veterinarian. We started with 2 units and now we're up to 4.5.
 
JanetNJ said:
Mine went into remission on vetsulin after four months, but came out of remission a year later. When she came out of remission she needed a higher and higher dose (she has acromegaly). Once we got to 5 units the vetsulin started to sting her, and the cat who was unphased by shots suddenly started hissing at them. I switched to ProZinc because it doesn't sting.

I tell you this because you are approaching the same number I was at when my cat reacted to the shots.
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Stinging? Hmmm...he has started nipping and batting at me when I give him his shot.
 
Michelle McCormick said:
I'm not sure what the ideal dose is. I'm working closely with his veterinarian. We started with 2 units and now we're up to 4.5.
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Gotcha. Some vets are better than others, which is why I asked. One of the vets at the practice I go to wanted to raise dose by a full unit...after a lot of reading, doing much more than 0.5 increase and you can miss the ideal dose.

He's a big boy!

FWIW, I'm about to switch off Vetsulin, I'm not really seeing any improvement and it's been 4 months of messing around. Just haven't decided ProZinc or Lantus. Leaning towards ProZinc, because Lantus seems to require tighter schedules around dosing and that just doesn't work for me right now
 
JanetNJ said:
Mine went into remission on vetsulin after four months, but came out of remission a year later. When she came out of remission she needed a higher and higher dose (she has acromegaly). Once we got to 5 units the vetsulin started to sting her, and the cat who was unphased by shots suddenly started hissing at them. I switched to ProZinc because it doesn't sting.

I tell you this because you are approaching the same number I was at when my cat reacted to the shots.
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May I ask what triggered her out of remission?
 
Michelle McCormick said:
I'm new to this site. What is the spreadsheet? Also, are you recommending I give Vetsulin more time since it's only been a month since his diagnosis? I can and do test at home. I've done one bg curve for my vet.
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http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

It's what the majority of users here use to log the at home testing, and link to in our signatures.

There's also recommendations on info to put in your signature to make things easier.

I'm new here as well, so not the best to give advice. But jumping from 1U to 4.5U in one month is pretty unusual...I believe the recommendation is to give each dose change 7-14 days with newly diagnosed cats. And usually not increasing the dose by more than 0.5-1U each time.
 
Michelle McCormick said:
I'm new to this site. What is the spreadsheet? Also, are you recommending I give Vetsulin more time since it's only been a month since his diagnosis? I can and do test at home. I've done one bg curve for my vet.
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I'm saying dose increases should be done slowly in 0.25-0.5 increments. It seams like this dose was raised really fast and maybe in whole unit increments.

Most of us have a link in our signature to a spreadsheet created in Google Sheets so others can see our numbers added in real time and advise when needed.

This is the link to the spreadsheet template. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

The other thing that would help us help you is setting up your signature. Click on your name at the top right corner and choose signature. Add info such as your pets name, date diagnosed, insulin type, food you're feeding, meter you use, and any other health concerns.

Excellent that you are testing at home!!!
 
Liang & Nathan said:
May I ask what triggered her out of remission?
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We didn't know at first. We blamed it on the eclipse. Haha. But as the dose kept rising I suspected acromegaly, and was right. Acromegaly is diabetes caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland. It makes my cat need a high dose, and she can be unpredictable. It is what it is. She was diagnosed acro a year ago, but diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago.
 
Welcome and one more link for you to enjoy so you know what to add to your sginature. It helps members see the basics about your cat without having to look at previous threads:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

I have to agree with everyone increasing my full units this fast is likely to make you miss the idea l does because your moving right past it. That’s what we suggest .25 increments
 
My cat went into remission on Vetsulin but if she ever comes out of it, I would not choose Vetsulin again. It is much harder to safely keep your kitty’s blood sugar in healing numbers using a harsh insulin like Vetsulin than it is with Lantus or Prozinc. If you are in the US, lantus is very expensive, so many members here order from Canada where it is much more affordable
 
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