Hello to FDMB members.
My beloved Taser (tuxedo cat), a 7 year old neutered male had a DKA on Dec. 6, 2012. He was with the vet for 5 days and stabilized. Likely due to Pancreatitis and an infection (based on lab results). I took him to my secondary vet who treats dogs and cats since my primary cat vet was not available. Leading up to this episode/crisis, Taser had been drinking a lot of water and sleeping by the cat bowls – but we did not appreciate the possible implications of this change in behavior. After bringing Taser home, my secondary vet did a BG once a week for two weeks. His first BG on 12/14/12 was 250 and his second BG was 300 on 12/18/12. On 12/28/12 they did a fasting BG at 9:30 am and his BG was 386 and 439 on my Relion Confirm glucometer. So Taser was prescribed Humulin N (NPH), 1 unit bid. When I asked why he selected this brand of insulin, the secondary vet mentioned that it was cheaper. When I left the office I read some of the printed materials regarding the pros of using Lantus vs.NPH, I called the secondary vet’s office and spoke to the front office suggesting that I was willing to pay more for the non-cheaper insulin. She spoke to the vet who said he was more comfortable using NPH. I have a 10 ml vial of HPN. When the vet called to see how Taser was doing the following day I mentioned to him that a majority of people seem to be using Lantus vs HPN on this website. He said that when it first came out it was the latest and greatest thing and that now there was not much difference according to the latest info from conferences. I asked him which insulin, Lantus or HPN, would give the best chance of remission in cats and his response was that “insulin is insulin”. I then asked him if he would change me over to Lantus if I chose and he said that he would.
During the time prior to Taser’s official diagnosis of diabetes, I checked the web and this site and proceeded to prepare for a Diabetes diagnosis. We now have 15 cats (all but 1 are rescues). They are free rangers. We had fed them wet friskies, mostly gravies, shredded and pates, and mostly Costcos maintenance dry cat food. My wife used to give some of the cats, whiskas pouches and meow mix as treats. We are now phasing out these treats. We stopped the dry food, kept the friskies pate, and added some fancy feast low calorie. I am trying to digest all the information about the types of insulins and the impact of different diets, but feel like I’m going crazy with all this new information. Now I feel like I’ve been “killing them (the cats) softly” for the past 12 to 20 years with the food we had been giving them.
Today is Taser’s seventh day on HPN and I have finally decided to switch him (ASAP) over to Lantus. I called my primary vet, who overall has managed our cats quite well to see if I could see her sooner than Monday’s scheduled appointment 1/7/13. I discovered that she uses PZI for her Diabetic cats. My understanding is that PZI needs to be formulated and is not readily available. At this point I am not to comfortable changing to Lantus with my secondary vet (who is great with dogs), but I will if I must. I’m comfortable with my primary vet, but am concerned about PZI formulation. I want to do what is best for Taser long term. Any suggestions or advise? Thank You!
My beloved Taser (tuxedo cat), a 7 year old neutered male had a DKA on Dec. 6, 2012. He was with the vet for 5 days and stabilized. Likely due to Pancreatitis and an infection (based on lab results). I took him to my secondary vet who treats dogs and cats since my primary cat vet was not available. Leading up to this episode/crisis, Taser had been drinking a lot of water and sleeping by the cat bowls – but we did not appreciate the possible implications of this change in behavior. After bringing Taser home, my secondary vet did a BG once a week for two weeks. His first BG on 12/14/12 was 250 and his second BG was 300 on 12/18/12. On 12/28/12 they did a fasting BG at 9:30 am and his BG was 386 and 439 on my Relion Confirm glucometer. So Taser was prescribed Humulin N (NPH), 1 unit bid. When I asked why he selected this brand of insulin, the secondary vet mentioned that it was cheaper. When I left the office I read some of the printed materials regarding the pros of using Lantus vs.NPH, I called the secondary vet’s office and spoke to the front office suggesting that I was willing to pay more for the non-cheaper insulin. She spoke to the vet who said he was more comfortable using NPH. I have a 10 ml vial of HPN. When the vet called to see how Taser was doing the following day I mentioned to him that a majority of people seem to be using Lantus vs HPN on this website. He said that when it first came out it was the latest and greatest thing and that now there was not much difference according to the latest info from conferences. I asked him which insulin, Lantus or HPN, would give the best chance of remission in cats and his response was that “insulin is insulin”. I then asked him if he would change me over to Lantus if I chose and he said that he would.
During the time prior to Taser’s official diagnosis of diabetes, I checked the web and this site and proceeded to prepare for a Diabetes diagnosis. We now have 15 cats (all but 1 are rescues). They are free rangers. We had fed them wet friskies, mostly gravies, shredded and pates, and mostly Costcos maintenance dry cat food. My wife used to give some of the cats, whiskas pouches and meow mix as treats. We are now phasing out these treats. We stopped the dry food, kept the friskies pate, and added some fancy feast low calorie. I am trying to digest all the information about the types of insulins and the impact of different diets, but feel like I’m going crazy with all this new information. Now I feel like I’ve been “killing them (the cats) softly” for the past 12 to 20 years with the food we had been giving them.
Today is Taser’s seventh day on HPN and I have finally decided to switch him (ASAP) over to Lantus. I called my primary vet, who overall has managed our cats quite well to see if I could see her sooner than Monday’s scheduled appointment 1/7/13. I discovered that she uses PZI for her Diabetic cats. My understanding is that PZI needs to be formulated and is not readily available. At this point I am not to comfortable changing to Lantus with my secondary vet (who is great with dogs), but I will if I must. I’m comfortable with my primary vet, but am concerned about PZI formulation. I want to do what is best for Taser long term. Any suggestions or advise? Thank You!
