Lantus in Philadelphia

Sarah & Sammie

Sarah & Sammie

Member Since 2017
My cat has been experiencing all kinds of health problems in the past few months and now her glucose levels are out of control. I opened a new box of pens in January though I’m not sure that is what caused the raise in BGL. I started a new pen a couple days ago but she is still testing in the 400s. I’m wondering if the pens were exposed to freezing temps during shipping. (I ordered from Mark’s Marine. My first order from them was perfect.)

Would someone be able to sell me a pen or even a pen or vial with just a few days left of insulin in it?
I’ve spent about 2k on her vet bills so far this year and I just can’t afford to buy Lantus at a US pharmacy.
 
What other health problems does your cat have? Do you have any blood sugar numbers from home testing that you can share? It’s possible it’s not the insulin that is the problem.

Don’t know what route the pens took to get to you, but most days have been above or at worst slightly below freezing at Matks. I live 25 minutes drive away. Don’t think the problem would have been at the source.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
What other health problems does your cat have? Do you have any blood sugar numbers from home testing that you can share? It’s possible it’s not the insulin that is the problem.

Don’t know what route the pens took to get to you, but most days have been above or at worst slightly below freezing at Matks. I live 25 minutes drive away. Don’t think the problem would have been at the source.
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I ordered at the end of October to get ahead of the winter. I don’t think it’s the problem but I’m trying to rule out anything.

A brief health summary over the past few months is this: (She has been to the vet repeatedly in this time, and I can’t remember when she was on what meds but I will list them all below.)

November- Diarrhea

December- diarrhea, Herpes flare up (eyes)
labs normal, urine culture- trace ketones


January-(changed vet)
-diarrhea and vomiting several times per day, lack of appetite
-increase in BLG during spot checks.
Labs normal, culture normal no ketones

Feb- diarrhea, frequent and uncontrollable urination (see post history- I created a thread on this)
Abdominal ultrasound:
IBD- inflammation of small intestine and stomach. Pancreatitis.
heart enlarged- some fluid in chest and abdomen
Started z/d and weaned off of prednisilone which she had been on long term
Increased Lantus to 3units twice daily instead of 2

Bladder is ok for 24-48 hours and then she will have a several hour stretch with frequent urination. This morning she went 36 times between 7am and 10am. It’s now 3:15 and she’s only gone 3 times since 10:00

We had a recheck on Wednesday, her bladder looked good and the vet was happy with her progress.

We are still having issues with diarrhea, but no vomiting.
BGL is consistently over 400 during spot checks. Doing a curve this weekend.


Dec 9 curve:
265
235
280
259
198
263
230

Feb 10 curve:
9:25am 421
9:40 2 units
Wouldn’t eat
11:00 408
1:00 ate 1/2 of meal
1:15 368
3:00 359
Ate remaining food
5:15 409
7:00 387
9:30 437
Meal
9:55pm 3 units

Meds:
Past: cerenia injections (multiple,) metronidazole, ondansetron, pantoprazole, sub q fluids

Current:Lantus, prazosine, buprenorphine, ompeprozole, gabapentin, amoxicillin, proviable

Beginning Prozac next week once she has finished amoxicillin
 
You don't say if insulin dose has been increased or decreased during all this. Olive went through p'titis for about 6 weeks. Caused us to increase insulin dose a lot. She is just now starting to come back down on dose but much slower rate.
 
Olive & Paula said:
You don't say if insulin dose has been increased or decreased during all this. Olive went through p'titis for about 6 weeks. Caused us to increase insulin dose a lot. She is just now starting to come back down on dose but much slower rate.
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Yes increased from 2 to 3 units twice daily two weeks ago.
 
With the amount of inflammation (IBD and pancreatitis) going on, it's very likely contributing to high numbers. It's also a likely cause of the diarrhea.

The prednisolone would also have raised BG numbers. Z/d is also high in carbs so it's another cause for high numbers.

With IBD, do you have Sammie on a diet of novel proteins? Probiotics can also be very helpful. This website, Raw Feeding for IBD Cats contains great information even if you opt to not try a raw diet.
 
It's really hard to say what might be going on. Do you have a spreadsheet with all the tests. It could be holding the dose to long, increasing to much. UTI? Is z/d high carb food? Dry food or canned food?
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
With the amount of inflammation (IBD and pancreatitis) going on, it's very likely contributing to high numbers. It's also a likely cause of the diarrhea.

The prednisolone would also have raised BG numbers. Z/d is also high in carbs so it's another cause for high numbers.

With IBD, do you have Sammie on a diet of novel proteins? Probiotics can also be very helpful. This website, Raw Feeding for IBD Cats contains great information even if you opt to not try a raw diet.
Click to expand...

She was on royal canon limited ingredient pea and rabbit, but since the ultra sound she was prescribed z/d. They wanted her on a diabetic friendly diet but it’s not possible at the moment given all of the other issues we are sorting out.
 
Olive & Paula said:
It's really hard to say what might be going on. Do you have a spreadsheet with all the tests. It could be holding the dose to long, increasing to much. UTI? Is z/d high carb food? Dry food or canned food?
Click to expand...

I don’t have any of the test results.
Z/d is dry. It was started a couple weeks ago after the ultrasound. BGL was high prior to that.
 
There are several diabetic friendly foods that have novel proteins. Some commercially available manufacturers with such products in cans are Rawz, Nature’s Variety, KOHA, Ziwipeak. If you go the raw route, there are even more options. The zd dry is very high in carbs. However, if you switch her to a diabetic friendly food, you will have to be home testing regularly as the food change can make a huge change in the amount of insulin needed.

You might want to ask your vet about budesonide. My girl could not have prednisolone due to her heart, but the budesonide was an alternative that did not increase her blood sugar numbers and heart friendly. It is a steroid, but only acts locally on the GI system. It really helped Neko’s GI inflammation.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
There are several diabetic friendly foods that have novel proteins. Some commercially available manufacturers with such products in cans are Rawz, Nature’s Variety, KOHA, Ziwipeak. If you go the raw route, there are even more options. The zd dry is very high in carbs. However, if you switch her to a diabetic friendly food, you will have to be home testing regularly as the food change can make a huge change in the amount of insulin needed.

You might want to ask your vet about budesonide. My girl could not have prednisolone due to her heart, but the budesonide was an alternative that did not increase her blood sugar numbers and heart friendly. It is a steroid, but only acts locally on the GI system. It really helped Neko’s GI inflammation.
Click to expand...

Thanks for these great suggestions!
 
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