Hello!

[Lex's mom]

I guess I will finally introduce myself as well! My cat, Lex, is an eight year old male Maine Coon who I adopted totally unaware of his diabetes. His foster mom said he had been on death row @ a county shelter for "failure to thrive". He was depressed and withdrawn but warmed up quickly and I fell in love with him the first day @ home! I have a "babysitter" whenever I have to leave town on business and she noticed Lex drinking LOTS of water so off to the vet we went. His BGL was 400 on diagnosis but he also had 2 badly abscessed teeth and needed surgery and antibiotics before I could ever hope to begin to get his BGLs down! He has been on Lantus @ 2u/day for about a month now and is doing much, much better. I was quite overwhelmed by his diagnosis but we got through the initial titrating and change in food (with much assistance from a babysitter who was eager to learn all about DM in cats and to learn how to give insulin with confidence and knew Lex well enough to monitor his behavior for s&s of hypoglycemia) We have been really fortunate in that he is getting better! Like all of you, I wish we weren't in this "club" but I was fortunate to have found you guys and have recently begun to ask more questions and search for and accept help finding insulin that won't cost $300.00/month! I can't believe what pharmacies can get away with! I am looking forward to meeting more of you.

 

[Anitafrnhamer]

You have come to the right place. But there are a few questions first.
You mentioned a food change. Are you feeding a low carb wet food?
Are you home testing BG? You can use a human meter to test. There are some rather inexpensive human meters many of us use. I use the Walmart Relion Confirm the meter was about $15 and the strips are very reasonable.
As for the insulin, we don't use it anymore we have been diet controlled for a couple of years. but-------if your vet will give you a prescription there are some suggestions here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/insulin-from-canadian-pharmacies.49608/
Also check the supply closet for members with product to sell: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/supply-closet-for-sale-or-free.15/

 

[BJM]

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[Lex's mom]

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[Lex's mom]

Argh! I replied to the wrong person! Thank you for your reply to my request. Lex's vet is a country doctor and is nearly 100 miles away. He is in a group with several vets They are the closest of the better animal practictioners. I posted our circumstances in a response to Hillary's mom inadvertently. Probaby has something to do with the fact that I work nights and haven't been able to sleep this weekend for worrying about where I will get Lexie's next vial of insulin! I sound like a junkie!!!! I hope to have more sorted out with my kitty's doc tomorrow when I take him in for his weekly labs. Are you selling insulin and how do we conduct a transaction?

 

[BJM]

Mark's Marine Pharmacy for Lantus - has Lantus and Levemir much more reasonably than the US. Purchased by the pen, you have little if any waste. Due to cold weather restrictions on shipping, you'll need to know what your current temps are. Check also in our Supply Closet section and your local Craigslist.

BCP PZI - vet mails Rx and you pay vendor

ps - you can edit your previous post to remove the duplicate quoted messages.