Vetsulin no longer available, what now?

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marcuscameron68

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Hi all, looking for some help for my cat and found a reference to this board so here I am.

Do have I to have a certain amount of posts to search? Could not locate a search function.

My 16 year old cat Harley has been on Vetsulin now for 6-7 years, all has been going well until the recent news that Vetsulin was no longer going to be made. The vial we have currently almost depleted is our last that the vet could supply. I did some research and we decided go with Caninsulin via Canada, but I went to order yesterday only to discover they were not taking new orders as they could not keep up with demand. EEEEEK

I am now again faced with changing insulin, a scary thought for a cat his age and one who has done so well on Vetsulin. Our vet says he is more healthy than most cats his age who parent diabetic. He still walks, runs and jumps. Eating has never been a problem for him at 20 pounds. The only time he ever really lost weight was before we had diagnosed him as being diabetic.

I am waiting for the vet to call me back with his recommendations, but I always like to be informed.

The bit of research I have done all points to Novolin, but I see here on FDMB there are several other varieties of insulin and was wondering what people in similar situations as we are in have done to be successful.

Thoughts suggestions please....
 
The most popular insulins on this site are Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc. They all are milder than Vetsulin in that they have a longer curve with a nadir around +6 and a gradual rise toward the shot time 12 hours later. Each of them have a Support group page with information on the insulin at the top of the page: viewforum.php?f=5

Very few people on the site use Humulin. In most cats, its cyle causes an early onset with a steep climb several hours before the next shot. You can check out the support group for it also, but notice it has very few posts and responders.

If I were you, I would read up the stickies to see how dosing, duration etc. works and then read some of the threads to see how people are doing with it.
 
There is really nothing similar. That is good since Vetsulin is really for dogs and not cats. Typically (there are exceptions) it has too shart a duration for cats.
Cat insulins:
- Lantus and Levemir, both human insulin analogs and are relitively new. Many cats use Lantus abut less Levemir. All human insulins are U100 strength
- ProZinc, this an animal-only insulin or U40 strength. It is similar to PZI Vet but uses human recombienet insulin vice bovine insulin.
- BCP PZI, is like PZI Vet but made in small quantities. It is available in U40, U50 and U100 strengths
- N (NPH, Novoline), but usually too short a duration in cats

On per unit basis, ProZinc is the most expensive and BCP the least expensive.

It seems that a lot of cats are on Lantus and on ProZinc. ProZinc is sort of pushed to the vets by the manufacturer.

I have uses all of them except Catsulin/Vetsulin.
 
marcuscameron68 said:
Do have I to have a certain amount of posts to search? Could not locate a search function.
Click to expand...

No, any member can search the board. The search link is at the top of the page. It's kind of hard to see, though. Try this: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/search.php

ProZinc has been touted as the replacement for Vetsulin/Caninsulin. It's a U40 insulin. Many people have switched their cats to ProZinc with good results.

Others have switched to Lantus (glargine) or Levemir (determir).

You can check out the info stickies at the top of each insulin specific group here on FDMB to get an idea of how each works. http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=5
 
My name is Pat of "Pat and Bob". Bob was my diabetic cat. He died over 5 years ago from cancer. Had diabetes for over 4 years. We are from Canada. Vetsulin is available in Canada. It is called caninsulin. Bob used this type of insulin the entire time he was diabetic.

It's possible that your vet may be able to assist you get caninsulin from a Canadian pharmacy rather than switch your cat to another insulin. Just a suggestion.

Pat and Bob

P
 
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