Just diagnosed and I'm freaking out at the cost!

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ourgang

Member Since 2012
I'm stunned at the cost of treating my beloved 14 year old orange tabby. He was just diagnosed yesterday and didn't understand all of the ramifications, so didn't know whether to treat him or let him decline because of his advanced age. I left the office in a daze, telling the vet that I needed to do research and think about it. Now I understand that he would be starving to death. Beyond fatty liver disease, his other organs are healthy so I know I must start him on insulin therapy. I'm broke and severely underemployed, so I was up all night trying to figure out how to pay for insulin and supplies. Any advice would help. Thank you.
 
Good for you to start learning about this disease. Yes, not treating is equivalent to starving to death.

Tell us more. What numbers did you get at the vet in terms of Blood glucose levels? What were the symptoms? What has your cat been eating?

You can get the testing supplies from us - click on the picture at the top of the page - we pitch in to offer testing supplies to new diabetics. You can feed wet low carb food from the pet store or grocery. Friskies and Sophisticat are two of the least expensive brands. I would start with the wet food and start testing. Some cats respond to the diet change and their numbers really go down. You can do all the testing at home and not pay for vet visits - just send your numbers to the vet.

The insulin is the expensive part. Find out what kind of insulin the vet is thinking of prescribing and we may have some cost saving tips.
 
Hi and welcome to the board!

Completely understand the sticker shock. My initial costs were mostly the vet bills. Next comes the cost of insulin. Testing supplies really weren't that bad. And food, I was paying for it anyway, although I did switch Bob to a proper low-carb canned diet so it was a few cents more per day.

OK, testing supplies - if you click on the link at the top of every page that says "Home Testing Kits", you can get a starter kit with a meter, strips and other assorted goodies for just a $7 shipping cost.

Food - don't get sucked in to the "kitty needs prescription food" trap. You can feed a perfectly good diabetic appropriate menu with food you can find at the grocery store. Many of us use Friskees Pate flavors, or Fancy Feast Classic flavors. As long as they are low carb (and all the Friskees Pate and FF Classic flavors are) canned, they are the best diet for your kitty. Dry food is a no-no. Does he eat canned food now?

You mentioned fatty liver disease? Has he been diagnosed with that in addition to the diabetes diagnosis?

Insulin is the biggest expense (outside of vet bills). It would depend on which type your vet prescribes, but there are ways to save on insulin as well. Do you know which type your vet plans to prescribe?

If you home test, you won't have to worry about vet costs from bringing him into the vet every week or two for "curves". You can do all the blood glucose tests at home, and the data will be perfectly fine.

Please tell us more,
Carl
 
The cost really does go down a lot. I buy Friskies food (94 cents for a 13 oz can at Walmart) and ReliOn syringes ($12 for 100 at Walmart). I got the insulin at Costco for about $120 (bottle of Lantus) and I'm going to use it prob 6 mos (at least), so that's $20 a month for insulin.

The initial "sticker shock" is the worst. Over time it gets much better.
 
if using lantus or levimer, it is more cost effective to buy the solostar pens for lantus. not sure if they are called the same for lev or not LOL. the initial cost is high but these last a lot longer than a bottle. cats get such small amounts of insulin that a bottle usually goes bad in a month or a little longer. pens can be used down to the last drop and can get a few months out of 1 pen. some of us have used 1 pen for 4-6 months.
someone else will be along to confirm in better language than I
 
Thank you all so very much for your responses - So informative and helpful! I will order the testing kit from here and investigate all food choices (although my one little job is working for Blue Buffalo - a premium food line with low-carb choices - and I do get subsidized for Blue to the tune of $20/month, my food bill is still very high and I'm going to have explore all options now . . . ). Regarding insulin, Spank's vet is prescribing ProZinc, so that will be the big expense. If anyone knows - or knows someone who knows - where I can get ProZinc least expensively (Canada?), I'd be very grateful. His glucose level is 342 mg/dl (and re: fatty liver disease, his ALT/SGPT is 209 IU/L). At present, we are going to have initial glucose curves done at the vets and then hopefully I can take it from there.

Again, it was wonderful of all of you to respond - I feel much less panicked knowing that there are others I can turn to for advice who are so knowledgeable and caring!

All good things,

Spank's mom (ourgang)
 
One way to save money initially is to do the curve at home. Learn how to do it (we'll help with lots of tips) and send the results to your vet. We don't think that curves from the vet are of much value. Most cats are stressed there and stress raises glucose levels. When cats are dosed based on those numbers, it often can be too much insulin.
 
ourgang said:
Spank's vet is prescribing ProZinc ...
Click to expand...
Word has it that there's a shortage of ProZinc at the moment. Since you're just starting insulin, you might want to consider requesting Lantus or Levemir instead so you don't have to worry about being impacted. Just some food for thought...

Note that in the attached letter to veterinarians (see link below) the manufacturer is recommending that all newly diagnosed patients be put on an alternate insulin.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U8PAq7Xg06Q/U ... letter.jpg

(letter posted in this blog from the esteemed Dr. Mark Peterson)
http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... i.html?m=1
 
Here's the Frugal Feline Diabetes page: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/frugal.html

The initial costs for your diabetic are kind of high because of the testing, buying insulin and insulin syringes, blood glucose testing supplies (if you are doing that right away), new food if your cat was previously eating dry food or something non-diabetic friendly, etc. But costs do go down after that :smile:

Since getting ProZinc may be hard these days (or so some recent posts here on FDMB suggest), you can ask the vet for Lantus or Levemir instead. Both are Human insulins so you buy them at the Human pharmacy. There are many Canadians here who use these insulins for their diabetic cat.

There's a $25 coupon for the Lantus SoloStar pens and Levemir FlexPens in the Supply Closet: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=36964 I don't know if it is US only coupon, though.
 
ourgang said:
I'm stunned at the cost of treating my beloved 14 year old orange tabby. He was just diagnosed yesterday and didn't understand all of the ramifications, so didn't know whether to treat him or let him decline because of his advanced age. I left the office in a daze, telling the vet that I needed to do research and think about it. Now I understand that he would be starving to death. Beyond fatty liver disease, his other organs are healthy so I know I must start him on insulin therapy. I'm broke and severely underemployed, so I was up all night trying to figure out how to pay for insulin and supplies. Any advice would help. Thank you.
Click to expand...

You still can have many more years with your kitty. Many cats live 19 years or more. So don't give up yet.

There are economical ways of caring for a diabetic cat. I have cared for 2 diabetic cats at I time while unemployed, so I know that it can be done.

First, learn to hometest. You will find it easier to manage your cat's glucose levels by testing at home and it will eliminate the unnecessary trips to the vet just to have the glucose levels checked. An inexpensive glucose meter to use are the Walmart Relion meters. I recommend using either the Relion Confirm or Micro meters since they use less blood. The meter is about $9 and strips $36 for a box of 100. This should give you enough strips for over a month.

Second, ask for your insulin prescription for either Lantus or Levemir pens instead of cartridges. The initial cost is about twice the cost of a single vial. However, by using a vial, the insulin will become ineffective long before you can finish using it all. With the pens, you will be able to use almost every drop. A package of 5 pens will last almost a year depending on your dose. For syringes, you can use any brand - I personally use the Walmart Relion syringes and have been happy with them. I buy the U100 31 gauge .33 CC syringes and they have the 1/2 unit markings. Also with insulin, you want to start with a low dose - 1 unit twice a day. You will only increase by 1/2 unit at at time, but only after giving at least one week before the previous dose change. Hometesting will let you know if a dose change is needed.

Food - canned food is recommended. Many of us feed our cats either Friskies or Walmart Special Kitty to keep the costs down. Once you get your cat's glucose levels under control with diet & insulin, you will find that your cat will eat less money.

Hopefully these suggestions will help you.
 
Thanks everyone for all of your advice. Spank had his first curve done at the vet hospital yesterday and I've given him two injections of 1.2 IU ProZinc. I think the dose may be too high. Just now after his morning injection he seemed to get lethargic. I put a drop of honey on his gum and he was up in an instant. (BTW, the vet told me to get Karo syrup - does anyone know any reason why cats shouldn't get honey? Why would they advise GMO-corn based sugar instead of honey or black strap molasses, I wonder . . . ) They want him to have another curve next Saturday. I'm thinking of doing it myself and may need guidance. Thanks for being here! Love from me and Spank . . .
 
We will be urging you to start testing at home ASAP. (the vet who posts here calls shooting without testing like driving down the freeway with a bag over your head. :mrgreen: ). You just can't tell whether the dose is too high by behavior. The curve from the vet may suggest a higher dose than your numbers at home, when the cat is relaxed, not stressed out.

Please let us know how we can help you with home testing.
 
Yep, get to Wal-Mart and pick up a Relion Micro and some test strips (sold at the pharmacy counter). You can get 20 strips for about $8 or 50 for about $20.

You mentioned that you work for Blue Buffalo. Please tell your bosses that Weight Mgmt dry doesn't help lose weight, it makes the cat worse. My Cedric was on it for 3 years and became diabetic. I have a co-worker whose 3 cats have also gained weight using this dry and that's a real downer. Cedric did like the Wilderness dry, but once I took him off that he went into remission in 2 days. I did buy the canned (he used to eat canned and dry) but he wasn't crazy about them for some reason.

My advice on the food bit is to use your allowance to buy the BB Wilderness canned (assuming your cat likes them). Any other that you need to buy, try Fancy Feast classics, Frikies pate, Special Kitty (walmart) pate, etc that you see on Binkey's food list. You are ahead of the game with that allowance! I buy Welness and Friskies because I need the larger cans since I have 2 cats (they both eat the same food although only 1 is FD). I order my food from Pet Food Direct.

I agree with the advice of Lantus. Not to knoc ProZinc, but we used Lantus and went into remission in a month. Not only did I change the food Cedric was eating, I also gave him 4 small meals a day versus 2. Taking the dry food away pushed him over the edge and he's been OTJ for about 14 months now.

Home testing is important, so order your kit if you haven't done so. :smile:
 
Much gratitude for all the advice cat friends . . . _/\_

I will report back on the Blue weight control. I'm not using any dry now, only Blue Buffalo Wilderness (95% protein) wet (Spank was always on wet with Wilderness dry to supplement and now I've cut out the dry completely). Still looking for any information about honey on the gums rather than Karo syrup for post insulin injection lethargy - anyone? Thank you!
 
I don't see why honey wouldn't work - I've used vanilia ice cream before. the hairball remedy stuff (petromalt) also seems to boost robbies BG really fast (and pretty high for longer) - My first defense though is always the gravy Fancy Feast food that he used to eat - it doesn't work as fast so I wouldn't use it at 40 or something but it does last longer. Maple syrup also works.
 
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