Caninsulin storage issues

Status
Not open for further replies.
Rufus McDufus

Rufus McDufus

Member
Hi - been using Caninsulin for a year or two and I've been buying the 10mL vials. To save money as a prescription only last 6 months here, I've been hoarding them somewhat and buying up more than needed simply due to the expiration date being quite long. I've got a couple of vials date 9/2014 & 12/2014 which have been in the fridge for maybe 3 months or a little more and I'm dismayed to find they both have a 'ring' of sediment around the inside neck (despite both being kept upright), and also quite a lot of sediment floating in each. According to Caninsulin's FAQ the white ring is OK but the sediment (agglomerates) are not. The thing is, I don't understand how they could both have deteriorated like this? They've not been used at all, we don't have power cuts, they're stored in a stable environment in one place in the fridge.

Has anyone else found stability issues with storage of Caninsulin? I'm aware of Vetsulin in the US being dropped by the FDA for a couple of years due to stability problems.
It's making me wonder whether I should be buying the 2.5mL vials instead. At current rates these would last 20 days so it's a bit of a faff but at least freshness would be more guaranteed.
 
Maybe they shouldn't be refrigerated until opened?

Or maybe treat like wine bottles and turn, flip, or roll them every month or week.

Most of us don't use Caninsulin. It was developed for dogs who have a slower metabolism than cats. It is a combination of 2 different insulins each peaking at a different time, and most be rolled thoroughly to mix before use. I'm thinking the 2 types are separating out.

PZI and ProZinc are the more common veterinary insulins for cats. Human insulins like Lantus and Levemir work well, too.
 
Thanks! I've seriously been considering using a different insulin as it's virtually impossible to get anything approaching a flat blood sugar levels with Caninsulin it seems. It's like a roller coaster ride. Will investigate this further. Caninsulin seem to have a stranglehold on the UK cat insulin market as far as I can see.
I spoke to my wife just now and I hadn't realised she noticed had the Caninsulin vials had quite a lot of white 'floaties' when we actually received them, so it's possible we've been sent bad ones. Will contact the supplier. They seem to work but are not so effective.
 
Thanks for the info!

Rufus McDufus is another of our (4) cats! He's a long-haired tabby.
Ulysses, the cat with diabetes, was an old stray who we managed to catch and take in about a year ago. He's happy as Larry now (and alive too, because he was in a sorry state with untreated diabetes), but he still goes wandering for food and has a patch of land covering a good square mile. We used to follow him going from house to house and couldn't keep up, he goes so fast! He's something of a local legend. All those houses & bins where he finds food doesn't make controlling his diet particularly easy ...! When he's feeling down it's usually because he's eaten a bit of discarded chicken somewhere. He eats bread too which is particularly bad of course, and if he's sick it's not unusual to find bits of plastic bag from the bin he's eaten through. Can't keep him locked in though, so it's a bit of a balancing act!
 
Maybe you need to construct a Cat-A-Tat like they have at Big Cat Rescue. Its a large area, enclosed with heavy screening to prevent both escape as well as harm from other animals.

There is a product called Cat Fence where the top foot or so angles in towards the interior of the area.

Another product is called Cat Walk and encloses a tunnel-like structure that can be as long or short as needed.
 
Hi,

Sorry to be late to this thread, but if you are in the UK and your cat isn't responding well to Caninsulin there are other insulin choices available.

Under the 'cascade system' a doctor or vet in the UK can 'cascade' to the next medicine on the list if any given medicine isn't proving effective. What that means for us with diabetic cats in the UK is that - if Caninsulin isn't effective - you can ask your vet to prescribe an alternative insulin. The alternative insulins are made for humans but also suit cats very well. They are Hypurin Bovine PZI, Lantus/glargine, and Levemir. The most likely one you will be prescribed is Hypurin Bovine PZI as many UK vets have experience of PZI insulins.

Eliz
 
Sorry for the late reply from me! (notifications from fdmb were going in my spam folder, but hopefully no longer).
Our vet (who is very good) claim that only Caninsulin is licenced and so that's the only one they can prescribe. I guess I might have to contact them again to verify.

One improvement we've made recently is to use the smaller 2.5ml vials of Caninsulin. The larger 10ml ones were probably going over their 'use by' date and became less effective. It sounds obvious but our cat's treatment on the 2.5ml vials seems a lot more stable. Treatment is actually pretty stable at the moment. We don't get great BG numbers but he seems happy and comfortable (and gaining weight too). Also seen less peaks and troughs in condition as well.
 
Rufus McDufus said:
Our vet (who is very good) claim that only Caninsulin is licenced and so that's the only one they can prescribe.
Click to expand...

Yes, Caninsulin is licensed for cats, but no, it's not the only insulin that they can prescribe...

Quite a few of us in the UK started on Caninsulin but are now using Hypurin PZI, Lantus or Levemir. (These are 'human' insulins and not licensed for cats.) Some vets are very willing to prescribe a different insulin (some vets actually suggest it). Some vets take more persuading. And some vets are very reluctant to prescribe a different insulin. There doesn't seem to be any sort of 'norm' in this regard. But under the 'cascade system' they can prescribe a different insulin.

It may be that you are the first of your vet's clients that has actually asked about a different insulin and so your vet doesn't have experience of having done this before. And it does mean the vet will have to complete a little form and send that off somewhere (to give reasons why the new insulin has been prescribed).

Short story:
I started out on Caninsulin for Bertie, but it didn't work at all well for us. At that time there was another veterinary insulin available (a PZI insulin) so we switched to that, and Bertie did much better. Sadly, the veterinary PZI insulin was discontinued. My vet told me that I would have to go back onto Caninsulin. I don't remember exactly what I said, and I'm normally a very placid person, but I do recall that the words "over my dead body..." featured somewhere.
I did some research online and found out from a vet (who'd previously been a chemist working on veterinary medicines) that Hypurin Bovine PZI (a PZI made for humans) would be a really good choice for cats and should be the obvious successor to the (now extinct) veterinary PZI. So, armed with that info I went back to my vet and he agreed to prescribe Hypurin...

In order for the vet to prescribe an alternative though it has to be shown that the Caninsulin isn't being sufficiently effective. That's where hometesting data really comes into it's own. It was clearly evident from my data that Bertie was doing badly on Caninsulin. He'd have really high flat numbers day after day after day, and then suddenly he'd have terrifying steep blood glucose drops.

Some folks here have used their data to show that Caninsulin is only controlling their cat's blood glucose for a short time during each day. Some folks have shown that their cat's blood glucose drops much too fast on Caninsulin.

However, some cats do just fine on it. And we've had cats here go into remission while on it.

I am glad your kitty is feeling better and is gaining weight. That's a good sign.
How are his BG numbers doing? (Will have a peek at his SS).

Best wishes to you,

Eliz
 
He's doing fine, thanks! He's put on a bit of weight. i moved him onto the 2.5ml vials and having fresh insulin more often seems to make quite a large improvement.

He lost a tooth the othre day - probably trying to drag something out of a bin bag I expect! He had some fairly rotten teeth but due to his age the vet wasn't that keen to operate. He came in with one of his front lower teeth sticking out, and I took him to the vet the next morning and she pulled it out with ease. He seems a bit better since then - he might have been in a little discomfort due to it.
I'm still not convinced he's as old as everyone thinks ...!
 
Dental infection generally tends to increase insulin requirements. Perhaps you might look into finding a dental specialist to do his teeth if his vet isn't comfortable doing so.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top