prozinc insulin and syringes

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Nolan'sMom

Member Since 2014
hi all, I'm pretty new to the page and have been getting a lot of great advice and help which I appreciate SO much! I've been reading others' posts and have been learning a lot, but one thing I picked up on in another post was that certain types of insulin require certain types of syringes? Did I understand that correctly? I currently have my cat on prozinc insulin and I am using the ReliOn 29 gauge U-100 insulin syringes that my veterinarian prescribed. Is that okay?
 
ProZinc is a U40 insulin and uses U40 syringes, unless you use the conversion chart and then use U100 syringes. BCP PZI comes in both U40 and U100 strengths. If you are using BCP, you should be able to see on the vial which strength it is. If it is U100, then U100 syringes are the right ones.

How is Nolan this morning? Did you get a test in?
 
WOW! Sue thank you so much for chiming in, I feel like a big jerk lol. When I seen this post I ran and checked the syringes I have and sure enough they're 100's but I forgot before Hidey went OTJ I switched because I had to reduce his dosage. I apologize for the mishap.
 
No problem. PZI/ProZinc are strange that way and the only ones who are different. Unless you have used them or talked to someone who has, you wouldn't know. And now you do, for next time. :mrgreen:
 
well I was just looking at my insulin bottle, and on the side written in red is say U-40, but the vet has me using U-100 syringes. up until just yesterday, I had not been testing at home, and instead dosing what she told me to based on his most previous vet visit. So if I am using U100 syringes does that mean that each unit is greater or less? Also how does that affect the dosing? I called my vet this morning and told her that I had been worried about the *unit dosing and that I picked up a tester just to double check at home. She said that the human testers are somewhat different and that if I am seeing 60 on his relion meter, then he is probably more at a 105-110. Is this true in your experience? I'm really still just trying to get all my facts straight and get Nolan on the right path so any insight is greatly appreciated. I did test his this morning and he was at 372 at 6:30, I gave him 5 units at the advice of my vet (I told her I was too worried about the diet change to continue at 8 units) at +2 he tested 364/369 (sometimes I like to double test if there is enough of a blood sample) and then at +6 I tested him and he was 226/195. So he is still high, but the vet thinks I should keep him at 5 units for a while as he adjusts to the wet food. So there is all the information I have so far, thanks in advance for your suggestions and help!
 
Thanks Sue, that is a relief that its not as high as I thought, but frusterating that I wasn't told that by my vet. I'm glad Nolan isn't being dosed excessively like I had thought, and that explains why I thought she was jumpng up a few doses at a time. So what exactly is the conversion there? The vet told me if I felt more comfortable with the 5 units, then to do that for a while. Also I've been trying to figure out what numbers I'm looking to get on the reliometer since my vet told me that a 60 on my meter is actually like a 100-120 on the cat scale. Ugh it's so frusterating, thank you so much for your help these last couple days.
 
Print off a copy of this conversion chart, if you want to continue to use the U100 needles. (They really are nice because you can easily shoot smaller amounts. Lots of PZI people here use them.)

http://www.felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions.htm

So you can see on the chart that 5 units of insulin in a U100 needle = 2 units of U40 insulin. Make sense?

Yes, the human meter reads about 30 points higher than the pet meter. But because we are looking at ranges and patterns rather than specific numbers, it works well for our purposes. The pet meter is much more expensive as are the strips, and we like the convenience of running to the drug store when we run out. So the vast majority of people here use human meters. Rather than driving yourself crazy thinking about the possible difference, just look at his general patterns. (So whether he is 320 or 350, it really doesn't matter. He is in the same range and you would shoot the same amount of insulin into either number.) It matters a little more at lower numbers, but more so if you are using the pet meter. 60 on a human meter is a time to pay a little more attention; 60 on a pet meter means a likely trip to the vet with a hypo. So the fact that they read a little high is really a nice thing.
 
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