Help needed: syringes with half unit measurements

S

Shorshe’s Mum

Member
Hello, I am Maddie. My cat shorshe was diagnosed with diabetes 1.5 years ago. We live in India and doabetes in cats is something almost no vets have extensive experience with. I unfortunately came across this forum only now.

I live between Thailand and India and have been able to get diabetic food (dry unfortunately) for her as well as 0.5ml U100 syringes. I consulted a vet in Bangkok who said she might be having somoyagi effect and as a result now her dosage is reduved to 1.5 u twice daily. However, we don’t have access to the half unit graduated syringes.

she will be fitted with afree libre sensor for the 4th time today. We are also monitoring blood glucose using a pet blood glucose monitoring machine (using strips with drips of blood).

i will upload her values as soon as I have them. But i was writing to request if anyone can mail me a box if sytinges with 0.5 unit graduations. It’d be really realy appreciated.
 
Hi @Madhura/Maddie , I live in Mumbai and I have a few boxes of u-100 syringes with half unit marks that I can send you. Which part of India do you live in?

The only u-100 syringes I have been able to find in India are of 100 unit (1ml) capacity. I got these syringes from the US for my cat Bandit, but she passed away in March.

You also don't get any low carb dry food in India. The lowest carb I could find is Farmina N&D dry food which is 16% carbs which is also too high. You get a few options in low carb wet food - Whiskas in Jelly, Felix in Jelly, Sheba in Jelly, Farmina Matisse, Farmina N&D, Little Big Paw etc. There are also some Indian manufacturers of raw/low carb wet food. It's quite expensive though.

I can help you set up a spreadsheet to track your cat's values and we can help you with dosing.
 
Hello all,

@Bandit's Mom I live in Kolkata. I have been ordering from miscota diabetic royal canin dry food. I also take the hill’s m/d dry food from thailand. Unfortunately the diabetic wet food she refuses to eat so we tend to supplement with applaws tuna (even thoygh it contains visible grains of rice). I have been hetting tero 0.5ml 50u syringes from bangkok but they don’t have 0.5u fraduations. It woukd be really great if i can buy the syringes off you.

at one point she was receiving 3 units. The feline endeocrinologist i consultaed in Thailand said to reduce it to 2 units in the morning and 1 unit in the evening. But after almost 7 months of this new dose, she has lost a little of her initially gained weight (she was under 4kgs and v debilitated when diabetes was diagnosed in 2023 but then gained upto 5.6kgs and now shes about 5.3 and looks like losing muscle on her hind legs).
 
I will send you a PM for your address to send you the syringes.

Both those dry foods are too high in carbs. Will Shorshe eat only dry food?

With Lantus we dose the same amount AM and PM. It is a depot insulin. Take a look at this sticky with the dosing methods we follow:
Dosing Methods: Start Low, Go Slow (SLGS) & Tight Regulation (TR)

The hind leg weakness you are seeing could be diabetic neuropathy. Once her blood sugar is brought under control, the neuropathy should resolve. Some caregivers have found that giving their cats a supplement of methycobalamin B12 helps with the neuropathy.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feline-diabetic-neuropathy-weak-back-legs.178252/

This is the one I used:
https://www.flipkart.com/zenith-nutrition-methyl-cobalamin-1000mcg-lab-tested/p/itmfb77cc169e834



 
Yeah I have switched to 1.5 and 1.5 now following the instructions. She has been recieving this for the past week and her blood sugar is still in the 300s. Does that mean she should recieve 2 and 2?

i have been giving her methycobal injection (500mcg) once a week. Should she recieve daily oral methycobal supplementation the other days of the week?

she does eat wet food, but only the complementary ones with tuna which are not complete food. Can you recommend wet food available in India that is suitable for her? She is also 12+ years old
 
Last edited:
Madhura/Maddie said:
Yeah I have switched to 1.5 and 1.5 now following the instructions. She has been recieving this for the past week and her blood sugar is still in the 300s. Does that mean she should recieve 2 and 2?
Click to expand...
I can help you set up a spreadsheet for her so that we can help you with dosing. If you are getting enough tests to see how low she is going and he nadirs are consistently over 300, you can increase to 2U. But without enough tests, too much insulin can also look like too little insulin. She could be dropping low on one day and bouncing from that low the next. If you test on a bounce day when numbers are flat and high, it's easy to think that the dose is not enough whereas in fact, it is too high. If you get preshot tests and at least 1 mid-cycle test, you will get an idea of how she is actually doing on a dose.

Madhura/Maddie said:
i have been giving her methycobal injection (500mcg) once a week. Should she recieve daily oral methycobal supplementation the other days of the week?
Click to expand...
This is fine. You don't need to give her methyl B12 orally if she is getting them via shots.


Madhura/Maddie said:
Can you recommend wet food available in India that is suitable for her?
Click to expand...
There are a few I listed in my previous post: Whiskas in Jelly, Felix in Jelly, Sheba in Jelly, Farmina Matisse, Farmina N&D, Little Big Paw etc. You could also look at Indian brands like Goofy Tails, Bruno's Wild Essentials, Kennel Kitchen, BARF etc.

You could also just make your own cat food at home.
https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/
 
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