They make feeders that will unlock with a special tag on a cat's collar. If you got one of those for Bella, then her food would be safe from Zoe and it would open up for Bella to eat when she is ready. (And by the way, if you don't already know, cats who hunt need regular deworming. They get them from eating birds and rodents).
Hi there, I am not an expert by any means, still learning myself, but saw your post and noticed the mention of Temptations treats for shots/testing and crushed treats on food for Zoe? From what I understand, even a few of those carb containing treats a day may be throwing off her BG? Maybe look into low carb treats, like the freeze dried meat? I would ask for some advice from the more knowledgable people here about Zoe, since you still are having to increase insulin after a few months and her numbers are still on high end? Again I am no expert, but might help Zoe to do a separate post for her regarding food (including she is getting some high carb treats), BG still high after several months, type of insulin and dosing amounts increasing. Maybe another insulin that might work better for her? Maybe you already reached out on another thread, not trying to tell you what to do, just concerned because I love all kitties and want to help if I can
but they have made injecting her a breeze because she will do anything if she thinks she will get some. I have tried the freeze dried treats. They are very expensive and neither cat will eat them. I have tried the freeze dried "raw" food by Stella and the frozen raw food version and they will not eat it so I have an unopened box from Chewey sitting with two bags of food and a bag of treats, and frozen food wasting in the freezer.
I think they are also saying the Freestyle Lite strips work well also in Alphatrack. I was looking at buying some of those today on Amazon. Not sure if you heard about Marks Marine pharmacy in Canada from this board? Marks will sell the 10 ml vial of Lantus for $110 Plus $25 shipping in temp controlled container, takes about a week. Call and talk to them, they are very helpful to find out options that would work for you. That vial can keep up to 6 months if refrigerated and handled properly. Marks sells the pens too ( less insulin, less money) but for me the vial is reasonable if it lasts 6 months and you have to pay the shipping with either one. I am in the US, and yes Lantus is expensive here. Most places in Illinois will only sell 10ml vial and cheapest I found here with a Rx discount card was CVS at $235USD, regular price is around $300, so you are correct. I was told Walgreens will sell the individual Lantus pens (most pharmacies here in Illinois will not), which are 3ml (300 1 unit doses) and a lot of people here draw the insulin out of the pens with a syringe vs buying the vial which is an awful lot of insulin 10ml (1,000 1 ml doses).And thanks Julie for the post on Zoe's numbers. I know the temptations are bad
As far as her insulin dose and numbers go, I was doing some more reading on the site and someone suggested giving shots in stomach instead of neck/nape, so I tried that this morning. She did not like the shot there and bolted after getting only a little insulin. I had to get her and give the remainder. I am going to try using that site and check her today to see if that makes any difference in her numbers. She willingly gets on sofa and lays down for her ear prick and insulin shot due to to getting her beloved treats. I am definitely going to start cut back to 2-3 treats only at shot time and see if I can make any difference and drop to 1, if I can. I asked the vet at the last visit about why he chose Vetsulin ($58) and have been wondering if another insulin would work better since I have had to increase up to 5.25 units from the original 3 units. He said it was the most cost effective because some can run $300. I googled Lantus yesterday since many use it and it was $300. I was floored. I can not do that monthly or even every 45 days. It is just me footing the bill for all of this. I use the Alpha Trak2 and that is $50 for 50 at the cheapest, but am going to try the Freestyle insulinix on someones suggestion. Its just that I am a RN and can't in good conscious not test before each shot or use an inaccurate strip. I still try to do mini curves on weekends to check for the nadir, so 50 strips are gone in no time. Not meaning to whine, this is actually I have written down what the costs are so I am realizing something has to give. I love my kitties and will always do the best I can for them, but I cant bankrupt myself doing it!
I checked Good Rx first and that $189 price was only for humans (if you try to print it says can’t use that coupon for animals) I called Good Rx and they emailed me one for pets but it was $276 from Good Rx for animals.