Lantus remission stories?

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sjewell

sjewell

Member Since 2015
I was reading some posts abt cats that were on prozinc but not lantus. I'm wondering if anyone here has had good success w lantus. My cat Salem was Diagnosed jan 1st. We started on insulin 2weeks ago. 1unit. It took us awhile to get used to doing the shots. I'm hoping Salem won't need to be on insulin forever. He was diagnosed after one shot of depp medrol for lip sore which really upset me. As I feel like I made the decision to gv that shot after the vet told me there's a 2% chance he could develop diabetes. Anyways any stories of those using lantus or who have in the past would be greatly appreciated. Also what dosage started at & ended with

Thks
Sheila
 
Lantus is a great insulin. Please check out the lantus/levemir forum and the stickies (posts stuck to the top of the forum) to learn more, that is the forum where most of the lantus users post. You will want to start home testing so you can dose appropriately but that is the same with any insulin. We followed the tight regulation protocol and had Vyktor in remission within a few months. 85% of cats who start following that protocol with lantus within 6 months of dx achieve remission so if you are able to follow that protocol that is what I would recommend. Check out Vyktor's spreadsheet (the link is in my signature at the bottom of this post, click on SS) to see how it worked for us. Don't be put off by how frequently I tested as it's not required that you test that often. The minimum tests that you need to do are the PreShot tests (to make sure it's safe to inject) and one mid-cycle test in each cycle (day and night), preferably at different times for the purpose of putting the jigsaw puzzle of the cycles together and determining dose.

Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be :)ask as many questions as you like, we all know how overwhelming and confusing everything is when you first get the diagnosis.

Question for you - what are you feeding Salem? Diabetic cats do best on a low carb diet but I note that if that's not what Salem's currently having you won't want to start changing over until you are testing him as it can make a big difference to the insulin requirements.
 
Vyktors Mum said:
Lantus is a great insulin. Please check out the lantus/levemir forum and the stickies (posts stuck to the top of the forum) to learn more, that is the forum where most of the lantus users post. You will want to start home testing so you can dose appropriately but that is the same with any insulin. We followed the tight regulation protocol and had Vyktor in remission within a few months. 85% of cats who start following that protocol with lantus within 6 months of dx achieve remission so if you are able to follow that protocol that is what I would recommend. Check out Vyktor's spreadsheet (the link is in my signature at the bottom of this post, click on SS) to see how it worked for us. Don't be put off by how frequently I tested as it's not required that you test that often. The minimum tests that you need to do are the PreShot tests (to make sure it's safe to inject) and one mid-cycle test in each cycle (day and night), preferably at different times for the purpose of putting the jigsaw puzzle of the cycles together and determining dose.

Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be :)ask as many questions as you like, we all know how overwhelming and confusing everything is when you first get the diagnosis.

Question for you - what are you feeding Salem? Diabetic cats do best on a low carb diet but I note that if that's not what Salem's currently having you won't want to start changing over until you are testing him as it can make a big difference to the insulin requirements.
Click to expand...
Salem is on ff canned & zero carb dry food.
 
Saoirse was initially prescribed Caninsulin (aka Vetsulin). In the UK vets have to prescribe this insulin first by law. When, after 2½ months, I was able to demonstrate with Saoirse's data that the Caninsulin disagreed with her and didn't keep her in regulated numbers our vet was able to prescribe Lantus. Saoirse became diet-controlled three months after starting on Lantus, in spite of having a severe pancreatitis flare when her treatment with Lantus first started. If you look at her spreadsheet from mid-August, you'll be able to see how she got on.

Same caveat applies for me re the number of BG readings I took for Saoirse: it's not necessary to test that frequently. Also, I have an anxiety disorder and, as Saoirse got closer to becoming diet-controlled, I got a lot more anxious and scared than normal folks would be. :oops:
 
I adopted Dulce as an untreated diabetic with really unknown history since the previous caretaker did not provide any valid information to the shelter. After a month of insulin he went OTJ. He was and is still eating little canned and mostly dry Evo Cat and Kitten.
I also adopted Patches II from the same shelter. Her history was unknown since she was fount in the apartment after her caretakers moved out. She was at the shelter not being treated for about three months before I adopted her. She has been on Lantus for about 2 1/2 months. I can keep her under 150 on 1 1/2 units twice daily.
 
Shadow was on lantus for 100 days. She started at 1.25 and went down from there. I caught it early - I think.
And afterwards, discovered she was in a lot of pain which can boost numbers....
After I addressed her pain, she has stayed in good numbers.
 
Wink was started on Humulin N at the shelter and then switched to Lantus. He was still unregulated since they were still feeding him the ultra high carb Hill's W/D dry food. Once I was able to switch him to a wet food diet, he went OTJ. He was dropping all the time during the food switch, and I was constantly dropping the insulin dose. You could read his profile for more info.

Wink has been officially OTJ for almost 2 years now.

There is a list of over 300 cats over in the Lantus/Levimir Insulin Support Group forum of kitties that have gone OTJ on Lantus.
 
Using Lantus, tight regulation (Queensland protocol) & low-carb canned diet had Bat-Bat OTJ inside of 8 wks in 2013. Her starting BG was 519. Started with 1.5U (weighed 9.5 lbs.), was at 2U for abt. one wk, then 1.5 very briefly. From then on, at 0.5 & gradually down to 0.25 until her #s stayed within normal-cat limits.

Stayed in remission until recently (I hope we caught it this time early enough) - new DB & UTI dx 2/25/15. (She is on ProZinc now - local vet highly recommended it - & we will see how she does; right now she's been bouncing some on the ProZinc. Must say I never had a problem with her #s bouncing when on Lantus, though. But every cat is different...)
 
Dusty was on Lantus for about a week. I switched him from dry to FF about a week before diagnosis and before starting Lantus. His numbers quickly dropped and went OTJ after a two week trial period without insulin. Still doing good after about a year and half with just FF.
 
Smokey was on Lantus for 3 months, about a month after we started home testing and getting her food switched to all wet, low carb she went into remission. Her dose topped out at 3U then. She went back on insulin about 1.5yrs later. When she had a double mastectomy they did a biopsy and looked at her pancreas and found it to have a large green mass attaching it to her intestines so it was assumed the mass is what threw her out of remission. She became a high dose kitty getting upwards of 10U b.i.d.

Cecil was started on Vetsulin at the shelter. He got very sick and very thin. He was switched to Lantus, we took him into foster a week after that and removed the last of his hard food and 3 weeks later he was in remission. He is still doing fabulous about 10 months later. The 2U we brought him home on is the highest he ever was with Lantus, I believe he got up to 5U b.i.d on the Vetsulin.

ChrisFarley was started on Vetsulin by the shelter. We got him switched over to Lantus after a short time of seeing undesirable BG activity. He went into remission in about 2 months. Still doing great about 5 months later. His highest dose of Lantus was about 1.5.

All 3 started at 1U.

I am a big proponent of Lantus. It is a great insulin for possible remission.
 
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Robin&BB said:
She is on ProZinc now - local vet highly recommended it - & we will see how she does; right now she's been bouncing some on the ProZinc. Must say I never had a problem with her #s bouncing when on Lantus, though. But every cat is different...)
Click to expand...

... and so is every insulin. :)
 
Squeaker was on Lantus for 2 months then went into remission. I wouldn't use anything but Lantus. It
seems to offer the best chance for remission.
 
G'day from overseas! I live in AUSTRALIA. We only use GLARGINE Lantus insulin here. Our University of Queensland Vet School are leading the way on studying glargine (thats what we call it here "glargine") it is the LONGEST ACTING INSULIN. The problem we have over here in Australia is that our Vets prescribe the HIGHEST CARB VET PRESCRIPTION DIET (called HILLS MD 15.7%) because no-body here is brave enough to import PURINA DM 4.5% from USA. The true is...our Vets are getting well paid to SELL, STOCK, SUPPLY only ONE product HILLS MD. The problem with this arrangement is that NOT every cat is suited to HILLS MD the HIGHEST carb vet diet and therefore we DONT see many cases of remission. The funny thing is our University studies on Feline Diabetes has used Purina DM for the past 13 years on diabetic cats ONLY inside the university which produces INSULIN FREE CATS. But Australian Cat Parents cannot replicate those studies because we cannot buy the LOWEST carb diet (Purina 4.5%) and this STINKS !
 
Peanut was on Lantus for several months before he went into remission. We had also changed his diet to Fancy Feast classics. Mai Thai has been a diabetic for several years and has never been in remission. Personally I think it's partially their genetics if the will or won't go into remission even if you are doing everything right.
 
Since 2008 - there have been almost 300 cats that went into remission using Lantus.

Maui was one of those cats. She stayed in remission for 4 years until her death, from something unrelated to diabetes.
 
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