Re: Anyone here from New Zealand?
Hey Merrin
Im in NZ as well (Charlene from facebook).
Our Java was DX back in July, whilst in severe DKA. He had been diabetic for awhile. Our vet put us straight onto Caninsulin, 2U twice a day. We ended up at 4U by the time we made the change to lantus.
I too thought that Caninsulin was the only insulin available in NZ - and to a certain extent, it is the only one the vets will prescribe first up (although there is no reason they can't go straight to Lantus).
Lantus is one of two insulins prescribed to humans in NZ. Lantus (or glargine as its otherwise known), and Levemir. Access to both of these is via prescription from your vet. Take it to the pharmacy and voila! You have the good juice for your Jack. It is expensive however. If you do switch to Lantus, please make sure you get the pack of 5 "pens". These are little vials that diabetics put in their pens to administer. We don't use the pen, but use the syringes to draw insulin out of the top of the little pen vial. You can use these vials right down to the last drop as long as the insulin stays clear and bright. You do not need to dispose of them after 28 days. We can get into that a little more when/if youve changed.
You will also need a new box of syringes when you switch to lantus. You will need U-100. Please don't use the U-40 syringes you have for caninsulin. There is a mathy type conversiony thing (as you can see, im a bit light on the detail of the conversion, as I decided bugger it, im just going to use the right syringes!). You can either clip the needle into a sharps container and put the syringe in the rubbish, or dispose of the whole thing. I use a fresh and fruit 1 ltr container with a hole in the top and just bung a recapped syringe in there when done. The vet takes the containers back when i need a new box of needles. They can give you a box of 100 (ten packs of ten).
At the end of the day - the choice of insulin should be a decision you and your vet can discuss together. Take the protocol in from these boards, talk to your vet, and if they are not supportive of a change then find a vet who is. That might come across as a little harsh, but, Caninsulin is such a harsh insulin for your kitty. You want something that facilitates a more gentle rise and fall of the blood sugar.
Re food. Ziwipeak is perfect for your cat to be on 100% of the time. It was recommended by Javas vet at diagnosis. We still give him Jimbos 100% beef as a snack before we go to bed. We however do not give him any dry food whatsoever. We feed him 5 times a day, spreading his meals out to avoid big food hits. We use this little puppy from amazon. Helps us have a bit of a life outside shooting and testing
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GE ... UTF8&psc=1
Java's spreadsheet is on my signature if you want to have a quick squiz at our transition from caninsulin to lantus - we are still on a journey to regulation, but we are getting some good numbers that shows we are on the right track, all down to the lantus protocol and the wonderful people here who help me interpret. If you can pop together a spreadsheet, the members here can better help you with dosing - sometimes the protocol needs a little tweaking, and there is pretty much nothing diabeties related that stumps the wonderful community on here.
If I remember, you're about 6 days into the sugar dance (sometimes is a nice gentle waltz, and sometimes it going to be an all out mosh at the front of a rock concert, just go with it), so you're probably still a little overwhelmed by information and worries. Just take it one day at a time. Keep going with your monitoring, and pop back in here any time if you have questions.
Charlene
