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 from lab results. I took him to my secondary vet who treats dogs and cats since my primary cat vet was not available. (Initially, Taser had a checkup with my primary cat vet about two weeks before this incident because he was drinking much water and sleeping by the cat bowls. My cat vet checked his bladder since he had a bladder stones about two years ago. Unfortunately, she did not do any blood work). After bringing Taser home my secondary vet did a BG (veinous) 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 I was prescribed Humulin N (NPH), 1 unit BID. When I asked why this insulin, he mentioned that it was cheaper. When I left the office I read some of the printed materials recommended by members 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 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 the large majority of people 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 asked him if he would change me over to Lantus if I chose and he said that he would.
During this two weeks prior to his diagnosis of diabetes, I checked the web and this site and proceeded to prepare for a Diabetes diagnosis. We now have 15 cats (many were rescues). They are free rangers. We had fed them friskies wet, mostly gravies, shredded and pates and mostly Costcos maintenance dry cat food. My wife always bought some of the cats, whiskas pouches and meow mix as treats. We are fazing out the treats. We stopped the dry food, kept the friskies pate, and added some fancy feast low calorie. I was hoping to read more about insulins but I’ve been going crazy with this new information regarding diet. It makes sense to me as I review our “clans” medical history. Now I feel like I’ve been “killing them softly” for the past 12 to 20 years.
Today is Taser’s seventh day on HPN and I have finally decided to switch him 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 also was the only feline approved insulin. At this point I am not to comfortable changing to Lantus with my secondary vet, but I will if I must. I’m comfortable with my primary vet, but am concerned about PZI formulation. I am thinking what is best for Taser long term? Any suggestions or advise?
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 from lab results. I took him to my secondary vet who treats dogs and cats since my primary cat vet was not available. (Initially, Taser had a checkup with my primary cat vet about two weeks before this incident because he was drinking much water and sleeping by the cat bowls. My cat vet checked his bladder since he had a bladder stones about two years ago. Unfortunately, she did not do any blood work). After bringing Taser home my secondary vet did a BG (veinous) 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 I was prescribed Humulin N (NPH), 1 unit BID. When I asked why this insulin, he mentioned that it was cheaper. When I left the office I read some of the printed materials recommended by members 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 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 the large majority of people 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 asked him if he would change me over to Lantus if I chose and he said that he would.
During this two weeks prior to his diagnosis of diabetes, I checked the web and this site and proceeded to prepare for a Diabetes diagnosis. We now have 15 cats (many were rescues). They are free rangers. We had fed them friskies wet, mostly gravies, shredded and pates and mostly Costcos maintenance dry cat food. My wife always bought some of the cats, whiskas pouches and meow mix as treats. We are fazing out the treats. We stopped the dry food, kept the friskies pate, and added some fancy feast low calorie. I was hoping to read more about insulins but I’ve been going crazy with this new information regarding diet. It makes sense to me as I review our “clans” medical history. Now I feel like I’ve been “killing them softly” for the past 12 to 20 years.
Today is Taser’s seventh day on HPN and I have finally decided to switch him 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 also was the only feline approved insulin. At this point I am not to comfortable changing to Lantus with my secondary vet, but I will if I must. I’m comfortable with my primary vet, but am concerned about PZI formulation. I am thinking what is best for Taser long term? Any suggestions or advise?
