How to help with cost.

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Steph28

Member Since 2018
Hi all. I haven't posted in a long time.About a year ago I had two of my cats diagnosed with diabetes. They are much healthier and stable now. They are currently on 3 units of prozinc each twice a day. The vet wants me to come in every six months for exam and fructose test. This has been incredibly hard to manage. I do blood curves at home when asked as well I dont know how often they should be going to the vet or what's reasonable once stable. I cannot get one of the cats to eat wet food no matter what I do he wont even go near it. Could be the reason for the 3 units, I dont know but I also have other pets and this is crippling me financially. 1 bottle of expensive prozinc every 6 weeks, plus needles and the vet visits are calculating out to over $2000 a year and that's a lot for me and I dont know what to do. I'm afraid if I ask my vet to not do these 6 month visits she will not see me as something similar happened with my other vet. How often do yours see the vet? I am doing the best I can for them but I dont what corner is appropriate for me to cut with this so I can treat them and also be able to live otherwise.
 
I'm sorry you have so much to deal with. My thoughts and experiences:
  • If you're monitoring the way we do here there's no need for a fructosamine test. We do more testing than occasional curves so we have a good sense of what's going on.
  • Unless your kitties have other health issues there's no need for an every 6 month exam - annually should be enough.
  • There are dry foods that are low in carbs that would be better like Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein (about 4-5% carbs as fed). Check for it online (Chewy.com?).
  • ProZinc is very expensive and as a U40 insulin (less concentrated) doesn't go very far, especially with two kitties each getting 6 u a day. Lantus is a more concentrated U100 insulin and can be ordered for about half the USA cost from a reputable Canadian pharmacy, Marks Marine Pharmacy, in Vancouver. It also works very well in most kitties.
  • My vet trusts me to handle all of Teasel's diabetes treatment. There's NO requirement that I see her twice a year. She also leaves other prescriptions in my file for me to fill as needed (eg. Cerenia). Different vets have different approaches based on their knowledge of the client's ability, their sense of their own liability and also their particular view of the money making aspects of running a vet clinic.
 
Thank you for the tips. The prozinc seems to be effective but yes the price is high for them and I am at the "mercy" of a vet to keep authorizing the prescription. The lantis works a little differently, right? The first vet did not condone home testing at all and refused to use my numbers and wanted a fructose every 3 months. This second vet is nice and has allowed me to email her results, but said they dont like to recommend use of any other insulin at this point. She makes the prescription out up until their next 6 month visit is due and I haven't tested out if she would refuse to fill or not if I just ignored the reminder. I feel that would be unethical of a vet but I don't know. Their vets office tries to push bi annual wellness exams in general, even for completely healthy pets. I get reminders for "exam/diabetes organ function test". They also take the blood from the jugular which I know it isnt uncommon but it's just more stress on the cats. Perhaps I should put my foot down with these vets but I'm afraid the next one will be even less helpful. Anyone know anyone in the baltimore county, md area that a good vet for this? :D
 
I'm so sorry you're going through this. I hate to say this, but I believe it would be in your best interest to interview other vets. Just be completely forthright with them. Find out who will work with you and your budget and allow you to home-test and send them the test results regularly.

I agree with Kris above that the Lantus would be a much better and more affordable way for you to go. It would take a bit of work to make the switch but many others have done it quite successfully. A carefully-handled, refrigerated vial of Lantus can last up to 6 months.

I also agree with Kris that for a cat who won't eat canned food, the Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein is the way to go. My diabetic likes wet food. But I have multiple cats and one of them won't eat canned. It isn't feasible for me to separate my cats to feed, and they free-feed. So I had to find a dry that was as low in carbs as possible because my diabetic still eats some dry. I tried Young Again about a year ago before my cat was diagnosed and it made all three of my cats horribly ill. But after Hoss was diagnosed, I tried the Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. Within one week of making that switch, his BG numbers started coming down dramatically. And I test a LOT - there is very little elevation in BG after he eats this food. So I trust that it is as low in carbs (about 4.6%) as they advertise.

My vet doesn't do fructosamine testing on Hoss and she monitors him by watching my spreadsheet (from this board) in real time. She calls me to discuss dose adjustments when she feels it's necessary. She has no hard and fast rules about seeing him regularly in person. There ARE good vets out there who will work with you. You just have to find them. That can be a daunting task, I'm not going to lie. But it would be worth it to make treating your fur-kids more affordable. Good luck!!
 
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