Opinions - using human needle exchanges for FD supplies?

[Helene & Cleo]

I'm interested to know people's opinions on something...

At various points since Cleo was diagnosed with FD, my desire to provide her with the best care possible has come head to head with my financial limitations. This is undoubtedly something that many (if not most) other caregivers will have come up against. The vet bill for the first month after Cleo was diagnosed was around £2,000, all things included.

Now in hindsight I know that my mistake was to purchase everything from that vet, and not to shop around for supplies, fill prescriptions online, insist on plotting glucose curves myself at home etc. If I had done so I honestly believe that the vet bill could have been halved at least, and that one month post-diagnosis I would have been in a much better position financially than I actually found myself in.

One of the things that really shocked me was the price the vet was charging for the syringes, and more specifically the sharps containers. For one small sharps bin I was charged £16. This was 'justified' by the vets with an explanation that the £16 covered the costs of disposal and incineration of the used sharps. I paid up initially, but a few weeks later, when my tiny little sharps container was full to the brim (which happens very quickly when using two syringes a day) and the time came to get a new one, I just wasn't in a position to fork out another £16. Truth be told, at this point I was completely broke; I'm not in a high paid job at all, I don't have rich family (although they did help out as much as they could) and having had to pay such a huge vet bill left us all with no cash to spare.

Yet still, I really did not want to dispose of all these needles improperly. So (and now I'm finally getting to the point!) I started started thinking about the needle exchange services provided in chemists such as Boots for the benefit of injecting drug users. Would they take my syringes for disposal, I wondered. So in I trotted with my full sharps bin, explained to the lady at the pharmacy that I had a diabetic cat and wanted to safely dispose of the used needles. Now, I'm sure the staff in needle exchanges have heard all sorts before (although why any drug addict would feel the need to lie to needle exchange staff is beyond me), but the pharmacy assistant didn't even bat an eyelid. Not only did they take my syringes for disposal, but they provided me with a full pack of new 1ml 30 gauge syringes. All for free.

So here's the question - how do people feel about this, morally? Obviously (in the UK at least) tax payers' funds are allocated to syringe exchange programs, and the concept of utilisation by feline diabetes pet owners certainly wouldn't have been factored into the budgeting. Without starting too heated a discussion about the relative worth of heroin addicts vs diabetic kitties - although in terms of innocence and deservedness, we all know our kitties would win - what do people think about this? About the fact that since then, when I couldn't afford to purchase supplies, I have on a semi-regular basis relied upon human needle exchanges to acquire syringes for use on my little diabetic CleoCat?

Has anyone else done something similar? All thoughts are welcome, even if decrying me as an inconsiderate abuser of tax payer's money, condemning me as someone who has gratuitously misappropriated the product of public funds for the unintended benefit of my furry feline friend!

I look forward to your replies.

H

 

[Dyana]

I think a lot of us have gotten free glucometers by saying they were for us, and other free supplies by saying they were for us. We do what we can to get by. That's my 2 cents. I hope things are more finacially workable for you, now.
I used to get free sharps containers from a website I found that sent them to you. I guess I didn't read the fine print because I didn't even know I was supposed to be on the drug Embrel until they started calling me and asking about me if I had insurance and how long I had been using the drug.
Now, I just put them in an empty laundry soap hard plastic container and throw them in the garbage. I wish the hospitals here would take them and dispose of them properly, like they do human syringes, but here in New Jersey, they tell you to just throw them away.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

The needle exchange programs are not just for the benefit of drug users. They are for the safety of maintenance workers that could be stuck by them! My county has a frees sharps container program, available at any drugstore. Take the filled container in and get a new one. No asking who used them. They want to keep the sharps out of harms way! That is why many such programs are instituted. Don't feel guilty for being responsible. :thumbup

An alternative on many supply sites is a needle clipper like this one. It cuts off and stores the needle, the syringe can then be tossed in the trash (or recycled as plastic waste.) all doctors offices have sharps disposal.

 

[Hope + (((Baby)))GA]

No guilt.....we do what we have to and if it was a problem, they wouldn't have given you more syringes because you told them it was from a cat. Those needle clippers are great.....have always used them over the years. Needed a new one and only place, pharmacy, that carries them is Walmart. The pharmacist didn't even know they had them there ;-) Walgreens, CVS, Costco didn't even carry a Sharps container. Walmart had 2 so I got both....am now set for years because they hold so many clipped off needles. Hocks might still offer them also.

 

[knolet]

Personally, I don't think you did anything wrong. You wanted to safely dispose of the used needles, you told the truth, the lady at the pharmacy didn't blink an eye. No harm done.

By the way, I do the same with Zeus' used needles - heavy duty laundry plastic container. I do write Sharps - Not for Recycle on the side, and tape the cap closed, but then it goes in the regular trash. I called around everywhere and no one wanted to take them, so I called our local landfill and that is what they said to do.

 

[hmjohnston]

You already told them it was for your cat, right? She didn't bat an eye and took your container and gave you something in return? I would continue to do it. That was one thing I did bring up to my vet and he said to bring them there when full. My first container was a salsa jug.

Saving money is difficult at best with a FD cat so if this is a chance I say take it.

 

[squeem3]

Some cities and towns have special hazardous waste collection days or medical waste collection days. You can check with your city or town to see if one is offered. A local police station here recently had a medical waste collection day where you could bring in old prescriptions and used needles in a proper Sharps container for disposal. Some vets may let clients bring back full Sharps cotainers for disposal, sometimes for a small fee.

In the US, you can check this web site to see what your local laws on used needle disposal are: http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/

A needle clipper, like the BD clipper works well and it can be thrown into the regular trash when full.

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

I think it's great that Boots has this service and not only did they take your syringes, they gave you new ones to use as well. Yeah Boots! (I've shopped in that store in Thailand and France).

Don't feel guilty, because you are disposing of it in a way that will ensure it's taken care of and you don't have unnecessary added expenses.

I know people who put them in soda, water, etc. bottles and dispose that way.

 

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

Go for it! though 1ml is kind of big for kitties -- I use 3/10ml syringes

I am also a believer in the needle clipper -- we snip off the needle and dispose of the plastic pieces in the trash. We do use a Sharps container for the Used Lancets.

My local drugstore used to take full sharps containers - but now they do not sell them and do not stock them and will not accept full ones. The advice of the cashier who works there, and is diabetic herself -- put them in hard plastic container and tape shut / throw away in normal trash.

 

[Squeaky and KT (GA)]

My state requirements for sharps is to NOT put them in a Sharps container, instead put them in a NON-clear plastic bottle such as a laundry detergent, bleach, cleaners, etc with a SCREW ON TOP and put them in the regular trash. We are not to use coffee cans or other things with pop-off lids. If I put them in a bio-hazard container, I must dispose of them at a bio-hazard center. I use an old bleach bottle until it gets full then just toss....

I don't think you did anything wrong!

 

[vampfaye]

I give myself an injection of Enbrel for my rheumatoid arthrits every week. Both my used syringes and Magic's go into the same disposal container and my doctor will take and dispose of them with no cost. Regardless of whether it's used for human or animal, a needle is a needle and can be abused by the wrong people. I don't think you did anything wrong! We might have an exchange like that here but since I'm still new to the area, I have no idea. You've given me something to check on though!

 

[Martica and Fred]

I personally believe that kitties and humans are equal, or rather, animals are superior since humans have so many unpleasant traits (greed, narcissism, selfishness, cruelty, delight in the pain of others, etc.) So in terms of you using up something that's meant for humans, I don't have a problem with that at all. We should do more for animals than we do for some humans because animals are, in fact, more helpless and vulnerable than even the youngest of humans..and they can't speak for themselves nor defend themselves.

And whether we cruelly torture and confine and murder cows, chickens, turkeys and pigs in slaughterhouse/factory farming, or whether we torture them into submissions for our entertainment (rodeos, circuses, etc.) or use them in medical testing or just dispose of them as if they don't matter at kill shelters...well its' about time we starting giving more to animals.

As far as taxpayer money, we are paying to murder them at city shelters. So it's far better to use our money to save them instead.

So go for it, no guilt!