What are common side effects of insulin in cats?

[kristen & man]

What are common side effects of insulin in cats? When my cat looks at me, his head twitches. He cant keep it still, and he is really sensitive to touch. Could that be a side effect of insulin? He is always scratching his head and shoulders area, especially when I pet him there. I used to think it might be an injection site reaction but i usually inject on his flank area. His head is shaking pretty bad and im starting to worry.

 

[BJM]

Your signature states 1 unit, once daily - is that correct? It would give better glucose control to do 0.5 units every 12 hours.

If you give too much insulin at a time, you may trigger a hypoglycemic event, where the blood sugar gets too low. That may cause seizures ... and if severe enough, death.

Please read this post on hypos and make sure you have a hypo kit ready.

It is possible, though not reported here much, for a cat to become intolerant of / allergic to an insulin, as you are injecting a foreign insulin.

 

[kristen & man]

I checked his bg at +7 and he was 67 and at +9 he is 74. Is it ok to use flea medicine on a diabetic cat? .5 a unit twice a day would make me feel more comfortable while im at work and he has his nadir. So far his numbers have been really good, 65-85. I was just wondering about the side effects because I havent really seen any mention of them outside of hypo's. I dont think its a hypo, because he has a healthy appetite and is fine except he keeps scratching his ears and head.

Im thinking it might be earmites? He is a house cat though, and my other cat seems to be fine. I dont know how he would get them, perhaps from the vet's? I dont know, but it's really sad looking.

 

[MiloMistyMax]

I was also wondering if insulin causes twitching. Milo has been twitching a lot since he started on it. Like every time I touch his left ear, his right paw twitches. When I cut his nails earlier his paws kept twitching. His head twitches too. Sometimes his whole body. He is just really twitchy confused_cat

 

[KPassa]

Michelangelo also has these twitches. It's more like his skin is rolling all along his back and sides. In fact, we were just discussing this yesterday in Mikey's daily Lantus condo. I'm starting to think that even though Mikey's only on 1.25u BID and not a high dose, it's this "stinging" that occurs throughout the day/night with him.

I usually shoot him in the sides or flanks, but today, I purposefully shot him in the scruff to see if that would make a difference. So far, I haven't seen his sides twitch once yet, although I have noticed he seems to be rubbing at his ears a bit. I'm really starting to think this is no longer a coincidence but a side-effect of the Lantus....

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Are all 3 of these 'twitchy cats' on Lantus....? That is curious..... Though the Lantus may not be the cause of course - could be something else entirely....
Might be worth doing a search of the forum and see if anyone else has had similar problems?

Yes, it is possible for a cat to become intolerant of their insulin. I've known of cats get allergic reactions, and also know of cats for whom the insulin simply ceased to work. But these incidences seem to be fairly unusual occurrences.

 

[BJM]

I checked his bg at +7 and he was 67 and at +9 he is 74. Is it ok to use flea medicine on a diabetic cat? .5 a unit twice a day would make me feel more comfortable while I'm at work and he has his nadir. So far his numbers have been really good, 65-85. ....

What are his pre-shot numbers? The nadirs do look pretty. Have you got a spreadsheet?

...I'm thinking it might be earmites? ....

He could have dirty ears, a bacterial or fungal infection, fleas, mites, etc. Try cleaning the ears with a pet ear cleaner. Saturate a cotton ball, place in canal, massage ear with cotton ball in it, remove ball, 7 wipe dampness out with another cotton ball or tissue.