Syringes

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Gummers

Member Since 2013
I am frustrated. I would like to start my cat on insulin sooner rather than later to get him regulated before I leave for Canada mid-July. It is too much to ask to find a cooperative vet? Gah. I'd previously posted here about bad vet advice. The first vet was willing to start insulin almost immediately, but wanted an in office glucose curve done over 3-4 days and was all about dry food and against home monitoring. Second vet seemed awesome but admitted he hasn't treated many diabetic cats and wants to wait for the results of a fructosamine test to come back, which is going to take another 2.5 weeks at least as the blood has to be sent to the UK for testing. New vet wants to use caninsulin and has no experience with other insulin.

Well, the new vet hasn't returned my calls. I wanted to update him that I've tested Bob and in a last three days and his results have consistently been in the mid 300s.
I went out and bought some lantus 100u/ml in cartridges today because I'm considering just starting him low and slow myself. I have everything I need except I can't find any one that sells syringes with 0.5 unit markings, which I really want if I'm going to be doing this with minimal vet support. What company sells proper syringes?

The vet's office here sells 0.3ml syringes that go up in 1 unit increments with 8mm tips. I was hoping for a 6mm tip and half unit markings. I might have to try and import some.

Am I being impatient? I worry for my cat and just want to get him fixed up asap.
 
If you click the 'shop' link above, and go to ADW (link in the second line) .. just put in 6mm 1/2 unit, they have them, and if you buy from them, FDMB gets a little help as well (as long as you do it thru that 'shop' link)
 
I don't think ADW will ship to Dubai, Canada, maybe, but not another continent.

While it is usually protocol to get a vet prescription for insulin if you don't need one to purchase Lantus and you know it is a better insulin- we say your cat, your call.

Do you have access to Amazon or Ebay or a similar site in Dubai? Can you look it up specifically and purchase to ship to you? Since the ones with the half markings are for children maybe look for children's syringes?

Hope this helps.
 
No biggie- while most are in the US and Canada we do have some over the pond, so to speak.

I've learned to look at where they are located- mainly as Canadians don't have access to the Relion meters and food choices...

Also to see if any are near me.
 
Those 3/10cc syringes with 1 unit markings would work for now. You can eyeball a smaller 0.5U dose between the two lines if you need to. It's a little tricky but workable.

Usually, based on weight of your cat, most cats would start out at 1U of Lantus or any insulin.

Ideal weight (or current weight if cat is underweight) in kilos times 0.25U rounded down to the nearest unit. So as an example, 4.5 kilos times 0.25 = 1.125 rounded down = 1U as a starting dose.

We like to be conservative in our initial dosing because if you give too much, you can't take it back out and may be dealing with a hypo (hypoglycemic) episode.

I guess my question for you is, do you feel confident enough about your testing skills, injection technique, have a hypo tool kit available, know that you can ask for advice on this board to go ahead now with the insulin without waiting for the fructosamine test results? What do you think?
 
Deb & Wink said:
I guess my question for you is, do you feel confident enough about your testing skills, injection technique, have a hypo tool kit available, know that you can ask for advice on this board to go ahead now with the insulin without waiting for the fructosamine test results? What do you think?
Click to expand...

To be clear, I did get fructosamine results back from the first vet. However, the first vet can't/won't give me those results to hand to the second vet. I think the first vet believes I'm going to do what I'm planning to do now and test/medicate mostly from home. Maybe he genuinely believes I'm going to harm my cat or maybe he's unhappy that I won't be racking up fat vet bills by hospitalizing my cat for days or maybe the email with the results really has been lost in cyber space 2x or maybe he is unethical and charged me for a test he didn't perform. The second vet wants to wait for his own results to come back.

Yes, I am confident. I have given a test shot to the cat and several fake shots with the vet and that was much easier than bg tests. I have a hypo kit made up. I'm a little worried about frequency and timings of bg tests. I intend to start at 0.5 units. My cat has not lost weight, and my vet thinks this could be an indication that he is producing some insulin and mentioned he wanted to be very cautious to start off with. However, I think the weight thing is probably more related to the fact that I was giving him much more dry food than he needed to maintain his obese weight, and I was feeding him 'active cat' food when the store would run out of "indoor".

The only thing I worry about is combining weight loss with the insulin. I worry this will change his insulin requirements to have him lose 1-2% of his weight weekly, and i don't want him to go hypo. But then again I worry about starving him if he is unregulated and I reduce his calorie intake that much. I guess I will see how the small dose effects him and go from there, testing frequently.
 
We always advise someone to get a pre-shot test. Always.
Next, somewhere around the 5-7 hour range is when most cats nadir, or get their lowest BG numbers on insulin.
If you work, it may not be possible to get those 5-7 hour tests much except on your days off.

A before bed test is nice to have.
Or a test just before you leave for work, or when you get home from work.

We try to shoot on a 12/12 hour schedule or as close to that as possible.
Do not shoot under 200 BG when you are first starting out.
Take up food 2 hours before the pre-shot BG tests so those tests are not food influenced.
Any tests besides the pre-shot tests are ok to let your cat Bob have some food.

A low dose of 0.5U is a conservative low starting dose.
It's nice to start dosing on a day you will be home for the first 12 hours, to get a few more tests in and to see how Bob reacts.

So when would you be ready to start giving insulin?
 
ask the pharmacy where you bought the lantus, if they have the insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings. they may not realize they do. what you want to ask for are

U100 syringes 3/10 cc
ask if they have 30 or 31 gauge - as the higher number the thinner the needle and typically the gauge ranges from 29, 30 or 31 (31 being the thinnest - and less likely cat will feel it)

personally I would also ask for 5/16 inch needle - this means it is a shorter needle compared to the regular size which is 1/2 inch.

http://www.diabeticcatcare.com/DCCCOK/I ... source.jpg

then ask to look at the syringe to see if it has the 1/2 unit markings - it may be labeled on the box it may not and you need to look at a syringe to see.

here is a pic to compare with - the one you want is the one on the left

http://www.bddiabetes.com/resource.aspx?IDX=2210
 
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