Re: Oliver - 6/18 AMBG=66 Two Questions
i suspect the answer to your first question is that it depends on the cat. It probably also depends on where in the insulin cycle the food is eaten.
For a cat not getting insulin, we typically look at the BGs about 3 hrs after eating. If the pancreas is working, it will kick in from the stimulation of the carbs and it will bring down the BGs. So if you get a premeal test of 70, no shot, and 3 hrs later he's at 50, i'd assume that his pancreas was working and bringing down the BGs like it is supposed to!
Are you seeing signs he needs the pred? I know you said earlier you weren't certain whether or not he really needed it. How will you know?
Regarding the Lantus, it comes in 1000u vials or 300u pens, called a Solostar pen. There is a discount card that *might* allow you to get one pen for $25.
http://www.lantus.com/sign-up/offers The pens come in boxes of 5 and cost somewhere over $250 for a box - i'm not sure what the going prices are. Some pharmacies will break up a box and sell one pen at a time. There's no rhyme or reason to who will do that, although pharmacies that serve hospitals and nursing homes often will. It might be a big name chain and it might be a small local pharmacy. You have to call around. I found a small chain within a grocery store that would sell me one, and I had a Solostar coupon for $25, so the one pen cost me $18 at the time. That's been a couple of years and Lantus has gone up in price since then.
The last insulin I bought for punkin, i bought 4 or 5 boxes of pens for about $200ish maybe, off of Craigslist. A woman's diabetic dad had passed away - she had a legitimate story, the insulin had been refrigerated the whole time, and the pens worked great for me. Buying off craigslist is a iffy situation, of course, so you'd have to be careful. It was a great deal for me, though, and worked out fine.
