New to forum

[charlie]

Hello, my name is Arwyn and I recently found out that my cat Charlie has diabetes. I have to admit this is extremely overwhelming. The costs were unexpected and have been extremely high. I will learn tomorrow how to give him his shots and I picked up his prescription for Lantus today. I couldn't believe it when they told me it would be $145 and that it only lasts 28 days. I have been reading your message board and I keep seeing different amounts of time for Lantus stage life. Can anyone shed some light on how long you can actually use Lantus once you start the vial?

Charlie will have his first injection and first curb test tomorrow. Has anyone done these curb tests at home?

I am also looking for somewhere to order this insulin for a discount. Any suggestions?

Right now Charlie is peeing all over my house. I understand that once we get his blood sugar regulated that this will stop. But my other cat is following his scent and spraying where the first got has gone. I'm desperately trying to stop this from happening. Any suggestions are welcome.

It's been a long, stressful, tear filled 2 days. I welcome any suggestions, tips, and corners to cut costs.

Thanks.

Arwyn

 

[Just-As-Appy]

Hi and welcome. It seems overwhelming at first, but in no time you'll be an old pro!

There are 3 impostant things about treating diabetes - diet, home testing, and giving insulin.

Cats do best on a diet of wet, canned food. It does not have to be the expensive kind that the vet tries to sell you. There is no dry food that is good for a diabetic - or any cat for that matter. If you want to read more about cat nutrition, look at Dr Lisa's site at www.catinfo.org. I don't have the link to the food list handy, but generally any of the Friskies or Fancy Feast pate flavours are fine. Even Walmart's Special Kitty is ok.

We all test our cat's blood glucose at home. The numbers that you get at the vet are not reliable due to stress. This will save you loads of money. There is no need to take your cat to the vet for curves - you can do it at home and just tell the vet the numbers.

Lantus is a good, long and gentle lasting insulin. If you keep it in the fridge and treat it gently, it should last longer than 28 days. If you look in the insulin support groups at the top of the board is a lot of information in posts called 'stickies'. You will find info on treating hypos, how to handle the insulin, how it works, and lots more.

Are you in the US? If you don't yet have a glucometre, you might onsider going to Walmart and getting a Relion. The strips seem to be the least expensive and there is general agreement that the metre works well and reads consistently.

Others will be along with hints and tips. Any questions you have - ask away.

 

[Ry & Scooter]

A vial of Lantus should last you around 4 months, maybe longer if you handle it properly. The "28 days" thing is only if you keep it out at room temperature - that's OK for humans, because they use huge doses and will use it up within that time. Our kitties don't. Keep it in the fridge, not in the door. And don't ever shake it, roll it, drop it, and do NOT ever inject insulin back into the bottle once you take it out with a syringe.

Another tip is to buy the Solostar/Opticlik pen cartridges next time. Instead of 1 big vial that is easy to drop/contaminate, they are basically 5 small vials that you can use up to the last drop, and it's not so devastating if one poops out or gets broken. It's more cost effective in the long run.

99% of us do curve tests at home. Blood glucose can severely spike with stress, and most cats are extremely stressed at the vet. So the numbers you get from a curve at the vets can be falsely inflated, leading to an improperly high dose, potentially leading to a deadly hypo situation. Plus, it's MUCH cheaper to test at home.

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Hello Arwyn,
Welcome.

Here is the info on Lantus
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=151

don't shake it. It doesn't need stirring. And don't put it in the refrigerator shelf in the door. The swinging of the door
(open and shut) isn't good for it. Sometimes that door falls open and will jar the insulin.
The 28 day scenario is unrefrigerated.

It can last 6 months if you are careful with it. If you overfill a syringe, don't squirt it back into the vial.
I don't know that I would try ordering it and having it mailed since it is sensitive to too much movement.
You can call around different pharmacies and check on prices. I hear costco is good. I would think walmart would
be competitive. I haven't done this yet myself.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=150 tells you about the storage shed for
Lantus.

Nearly everyone here home tests with a glucometer. Many of us use human glucometers.
The pet glucose meter is overpriced and doesn't do any more for you than the human kind.

There will be many more posts coming on which meter . You will want to pick one with lower prices testing strips for
saving expenses.

Diabetic cats don't feel good and they do start peeing in the wrong places.
You just have to keep up with the clean up to keep the others from joining in.
Once the insulin starts helping your cat feel better, the peeing out of box will hopefully stop.
Mine did.

One of our first questions for newbies is the food.
What are you feeding?
Please read this http://www.catinfo.org/
It is well written.
You will see us referring to binky's list . http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html It has the carb % and other nutritional info listed so you can pick. there are 2 lists, the old list and new list.
Most of us feed wet canned food that is 10% or less. I am trying to do 5%.
see the list I just created.http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=76226