milfordcollector said:
Afternoon! Talked to my vet today & she said Sabrina's BGL was 349 when diagnosed 1-1/2 months ago......The vet also said if Lantus is too cost prohibitive she would give me a script for Humilin NPH. Ok, now I need to find out the pros & cons of each medication & weigh that against the cost! :sad: Again looking for an answer from people who are more experienced than I. I did order the meter through feline diabetes & hope to learn about testing as soon as I get it. The vet also said doing a glucose curve @ home gives more accurate results as Sabrina won't get stressed out. I will also be starting a journal & chart her progress....Thank You everyone for knowledge & support............Cindy & Sabrina :RAHCAT
Humulin N is NOT a good insulin for cats. Cats' metabolisms are twice as fast as people, so they need a long acting insulin like Lantus or Levemir in order for the insulin to work for a full 12 hours for each shot. Humulin N only works for 4-6 hours in cats. That means for half the day your cat is not going to have any insulin working on lowering her blood sugar. This makes the insulin ineffective, which usually leads to chronic overdosing in cats, and ultimately dangerous hypoglycemic incidents. Sure the insulin costs a lot less than Lantus, but when you consider you're paying less money for your cat to get progressively worse on an ineffective insulin, it's not cost effective at all. There are lots of ways to cut costs with feline diabetes (12-13 oz cans of food, cheaper test strips online, etc.), but insulin is NOT the place you want to do it.
There are a few ways to save money with Lantus. If you get a prescription for the solostar pens, it's a larger cost up front, but they are more economical over time. I'm not sure if insulin prices have gone up at all this year, but last time I bought insulin (Nov. 2011) it was $245 for a pack of 5 solostar pens at Walmart (and here's a coupon for $25 off, to bring it down to $219:
https://mprsetrial.mckesson.com/lantus5670/appSecLantus5670CouponReq.jsp). Each 3 ml pen in the pack (if handled properly) should last you 2-3 months, so one pack of pens is going to last you a year or more. That's only about $16-$20 a month for insulin.
But the real value in Lantus is that it has an
86% remission rate in newly diagnosed cats. That means that if you have your cat on the right food (low carb canned only), and dose it according to the recommended dosing guidelines via daily home testing, your cat will most likely no longer need insulin before you get through that box of pens. And trust me (I speak from personal experience), having a cat in remission is FAR cheaper than having a cat on insulin. You only have to test once every couple weeks or so as opposed to 3-6 times a day. And you won't have crazy high vet bills from diabetes-related conditions, because a diet-controlled cat is just as healthy as a cat without diabetes. Compare that to the remission rate of Humulin N, which is
less than 25%.
I've personally dealt with the differences between the two insulins. When Bandit was diagnosed, my vet told me Lantus was the best insulin for him, and the cheaper insulins didn't work well in cats, so we went with Lantus. He did great on it and went into remission a few years ago, without ever developing any diabetic related complications like diabetic ketoacidosis or neuropathy. My friend's cat, Sydney, was diagnosed in April of 2011, and her vet put him on Humulin N. She contacted me in November 2011 because she had heard that Bandit was doing great and was off insulin, and Sydney had gotten progressively worse--to the point were he couldn't walk or use his litter box (he peed on a puppy pad in the middle of her floor). I had her change the food and the insulin to Lantus, and he went into remission this summer.
His neuropathy has nearly completely reversed and he runs around her house like a crazy cat.
Here's the link to how to set up a spreadsheet to journal and chart Sabrina's progess--this is a great tool that you can use with your vet, and to also get dosing advice from the experienced Lantus users here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207. Very few vets dose Lantus properly, so it's important that you're double checking the recommendations. My vet was fantastic with her recommendations for Bandit (Lantus, low carb canned food, home testing), but she struck out big time with her dosing advice.
I've been nervous about the shots but he doesn't seem to notice I'm giving them. What was your cat's blood glucose at the vets?
