Humilin or Lantus for Sampson

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mccat2

mccat2

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Hi:
I have a 17 year old cat that is a transient diabetic. He was on Humilin last year and went into hypo in November. Haven't had him on insulin since. His readings were in the low 100's after that. He has severe irritable bowel treated recently with a short acting prednisone shot and budesonide. His bg has gone up the the 200 level and tonight he was at 350 bg. However he went blind on Friday, saw a specialist today now he is on bp meds as well as bude and flagyl for the diarrhea.
What are your thoughts on the better insulin. If I recall I chose humilin due to the lower cost last. I need to start the insulin again as I believe he is getting neuropathy. He lost balance in his hind legs last night and the vet visionary specialist doesn't think it is the blindness.
My poor baby.

Thanks,
 
Humulin is a short duration insulin. It also has steep drops in the BG levels. So this means that your cat's BG levels will be high for most of the day. Lantus is a longer acting insulin. The drop in the BG levels is more gradual and it last longer in your cat's system. Other long acting insulins are PZI, Levemir and ProZinc. You want to always try to use a long acting insulin instead of a short one. Most cats respond better to the long acting insulins and have a greater chance of remission.
 
Humulin does not last long and it's harsh.
Lantus lasts the full 12hrs to the next shot time.

If you need 12gallons of gas to get to your destination, why put only 5gallons in your tank?
 
no comparison...lantus every single time.
harsh, fast acting, short lived Humulin
or Gentler, long lasting, Lantus.
no comparison.
 
mccat2 said:
Hi:
I have a 17 year old cat that is a transient diabetic. He was on Humilin last year and went into hypo in November. Haven't had him on insulin since. His readings were in the low 100's after that. He has severe irritable bowel treated recently with a short acting prednisone shot and budesonide. His bg has gone up the the 200 level and tonight he was at 350 bg. However he went blind on Friday, saw a specialist today now he is on bp meds as well as bude and flagyl for the diarrhea.
What are your thoughts on the better insulin. If I recall I chose humilin due to the lower cost last. I need to start the insulin again as I believe he is getting neuropathy. He lost balance in his hind legs last night and the vet visionary specialist doesn't think it is the blindness.
My poor baby.
Click to expand...

First off, there is more than one 'Humulin', so hopefully the one you are talking about is the one some vets still prescribe which is Humulin N, which comes under a number of different names like NPH, or Novolin (some think it is just called 'Humulin'), so it does confuse things. There is also Humulin R (Regular) which would not be a first choice at all for a newly diagnosed cat and only with someone with a lot of experience in diabetes management.

So what the others said above about Lantus (Glargine) is a good choice. You would have lots of support on this forum since so many use it.

But, are you willing to learn to hometest? That is really the only way you can understand Sampson's blood glucose levels. It goes hand in hand with giving shots and understanding how the insulin works. People who are diabetic have to do the same thing. It is not that hard, really. If you want to learn more everyone here is willing to help.
 
Thanks, I can and do home test, however he went hypo on me in November, before I learned how to home test. He went into remission after the hypo episode as he is a transient do to IBD and steriod use. We gave a short shot of prednisone in mid June along with use of budesonide (liquid) and he bg has spiked up. Last night at 350, highest it's been since last year. His other readings since the shot in June were in the mid 200s, 247, 278, 241 etc. Day before the shot he was at 108.
My question is if Lantus is long acting and if his bg drops badly how quickly can he recover? Would I be better off with the humulin?
I am trying to understand the difference and what would be best for Sampson, since he is a transient diabetic. Also as a transient diabetic, how quickly could he suddenly become normal on his own and could he have an episode right away on a small dose.
I probably won't get him to let me take the blood sugar every day, but could probably get it 2 to 3 times a week. Will that work? I would start him on a really lose dose. Would I be injecting twice a day with lantus as well? How critical is it that I administer at the same time everyday. Sometimes my work schedule throws this out of wack.


Thanks,
 
Vicki while some testing is of course better than no testing, the truth is you can NEVER regulate or protect your cat without daily testing. Before each and every shot...and maybe a few spot checks when you can.
Lori
 
When you can't get a blood gluocose, as an aid to monitoring him, you can use the urine testing strips for glucose, plus the ones for ketones. This isn't optimal, due to the lag time between blood glucose elevations or ketones showing up in urine, but better than nothing.

Lack of blood testing also means being hypervigilant to changes in his behavior which, again, will lag behind the development of blood markers for very high or very low glucose levels.

And I vote for Lantus or Levemir over Humulin N for the reasons mentioned in posts above.
 
you may want to shoot less than optimal dose if you can't test each day. he has already hypo'd once.
better to keep him in the blues if you can than play in the greens and not know what's going on. and that is easier to do with levemir as it is so slow acting, finds a number and stays with it all day. for us anyway.
 
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