New Member : Transition from Caninsulin to Detemir

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lia’s human dad

Lia’s human dad

Member Since 2023
Hi everyone,

I stumbled upon the group and thread today and have to say what a wonderful community and resource here for cat parents dealing with feline diabetes.

Our cat, Lia - 13yrs/2.5kg, has been diagnosed diabetic and we’ve been on a Caninsulin protocol for nearly a month and a half. We have seen spotty successes and retrenchment.

Similar to others that have mentioned - we are seeing big swings from Pre-shot to nadir to following Pre-shot levels and have been advocated to transition to Levemir (easier to access in Bulgaria, where we are currently based).

We were wondering if others have made this transition and if there are recommendations on dosing approach?
  • Should we strive for equivalent unit dosage (rationalizing for the 40 u/ml vs 100 u/ml difference)
  • Or should we approach this similar to the forum suggests and begin with a dose close to 0.5 or 1 unit
Appreciate any help or guidance that folks could share given their experiences.

best,
 
Welcome here! What's your name? I'll call you Lia's dad for now :) You are in the right place, this forum helped a lot of cat parents.
Other members will help you with getting started with Lantus and help with dosage.
You should start by creating a spreadsheet so we can follow Lia's progress: look at those stickies:
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-basics-new-to-the-group-start-here.18139/
You also want to go back and edit your title so you will get more answers: the prefix you used, GA, means that your cat is "gone away", died. Go back to your title by clicking "thread tools" at the top right of your first message, then click "edit title", and then change the prefix for "?"
I'll tag people who can help you here:
@Bandit's Mom
@tiffmaxee
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Angela & Cleo
 
Welcome to FDMB!!

One very quick thought -- Detemir is being discontinued in the US. You may want to check with a local pharmacist to make sure this isn't the case in Bulgaria. If this is the case, glargine (Lantus) has been very effective in treating feline diabetes.

Many of our members have transitioned from Caninsulin to a longer-acting insulin. I'm not sure why but the majority of people who make a change, switch to Lantus. It's likely that they choose Lantus since there is more research using Lantus with cats. The transition can be unit to unit. You do not need to adjust for the U40 to U100. These numbers refer to the concentration of the insulin. You will need to get U100 syringes -- we do not suggest using the pen to dispense insulin. We recommend U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings are the best to use for drawing Lantus, Levemir, or the Biosimilars from vials, cartridges, and pens. I don't know if syringes with half. unit increments are available in Bulgaria. Since the syringes match the concentration of the insulin, you can make a direct switch. In other works, if your dose is 0.5u of Caninsulin, your starting dose of detemir would be 0.5u.

That said, some members prefer to reduce the dose slightly. Some cats have a marked response to a change in insulin for the first few injections.

You may want to take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus/Levemir/Biosimlar board. Dosing with detemir is very different than with Caninsulin.
 
Welcome Lia and Lia's dad :). We usually ask new members to make an initial post in the Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum). There you will get a ton of information on how to get started and to give information regarding syringes, food and hypo kit to name a few.
Another experienced member who can help with the starting dose of Levemir is @Wendy&Neko
In order to give you Levemir starting dose advice, members will need to see some of Lia's blood glucose data on Caninsulin, ie the big swings you mentioned and how low is her nadir over the last week or so. The link Cecile gave to creating the spreadsheet is what is needed.
If you need help to set up the spreadsheet, we can help you with that too.
Let us know how we can help:cat:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top