Stuck with vetsuin for now

My new vet wanted to try smoky out on Lantus. I can't afford the high price for this insulin: $282 for one vial of it. He has inflammation in his liver, pancreas, and bowels which his vet thinks will go away by using Lantus.

My problem is that I can barely afford the vetsulin for him and that is only $40 a bottle at the vets office. So I guess I am stuck with the vetsulin for now. Any ideas where to get Lantus at a lower price?

 

www.rxCanada4less.com
aka Mark's Marine Pharmacy
With your schedule, you may prefer the flexibility of a non-depot insulin as you are using, which allows you to adjust the dose based on the pre-shot test once you have enough data showing how much he typically drops per unit. ProZinc is another non-depot insulin which might work for him, too.

427 - 79 = 348 in 4 hours; that's a pretty big drop (about 87 mg/dL per hour!) and may have triggered some bouncing - the body reacts 'as if' it was going hypo by releasing stored glucose and bumping the glucose back up and over where it started. This can take up to 3 days to clear, depending on the cat.

Check my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments to help you evaluate Smokey. There's a link to a chart that can be used to track any of those you want to track or you can note those on the spreadsheet. He is more than just a glucose number, so notes about appetite, thirst, elimination, and behavior are good for providing the context in which any test numbers are interpreted.

 

I had such high hopes for smokys new vet. She is telling me she doesn't feel comfortable changing his dose unless I use a pet meter. I need to find a vet who doesn't have an issue with me using a human meter. I have a few other vets in my area to talk to yet.

 

Try showing your vet the published study attached below. One of the authors is Dr Jacqui Rand, a world authority on feline diabetes. It is a peer reviewed publication and it contains full details of the Roomp-Rand dose adjustment guidelines based on BG readings obtained using a human meter for cats following the Tight Regulation Protocol. Given that the document is a formal academic publication it may be helpful to you and your vet to use as a basis for discussion (especially if you do manage to switch Smoky to Lantus).


Mogs
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If your vet insists on a pet meter, you can get an inexpensive pet meter from Amazon called Advocate. The starter kit cost me $21.99 and the strips costs about the same. The reviews say it is very accurate. I ran side by side tests,using the same drop of blood and I was quite impressed. There is no testing and it runs on AAA batteries. No hunting for expensive hard to find button batteries. I bought it because I wanted a spare meter. I think the AlphaTrack is going to be the spare meter.

 

I used BJM's Vet Interview Topics along with a few questions of my own to interview vets over the phone before committing the time and $$ (and the trauma to my cat) to an in-office visit. I found my wonderful vet almost immediately! Just make sure you tell any prospective vet what you are doing or would like to do (like using the human meter vs the pet meter), rather than just asking what they would do. I am a very "hands-on" pet mom, doing curves at home, dose adjustments, etc, and my new vet wasn't used to this, but he was okay with it as long as Squallie's care and health wasn't compromised in any way. He also had never had a client use a human meter but he's really making an effort to wrap his head around the numbers, lol. These are some of the things we discussed before I decided to give him a try.

 

Thank you so much. I hope my vet is open to a discussion like this. She uses the alpha track meter at her practice but don't know is she meant I cld use any pet meter.

 

Vet Interview Topics
In case you need them.

 

my vet said they have always used human meters.... especially before pet meters were available

I still use AT but thinking about switching to human....

 

Vetsulin is not a bad insulin to use, but I'm not convinced you've gotten the dose tweaked just right yet.

 

My old vet had smoky on 2.5 units of vetsulin. His new vet wants to put him on Lantus but I am looking into ways I can buy this. The old vet was raising his dose one unit every week which I think is too much, too fast. My new vet said to decrease it back to 1 and raise it 0.5U after 7-10 days depending on BG readings.

For now I am still using the vetsulin as its all I can afford for the time being. The new vet said she was OK with this for now. Smoky has had the same vial of insulin for almost 7 weeks. How long does vetsulin stay good? The bottle I have is only 60% gone.

 

as long as it is not cloudy or has particles it is fine---it you find it is not effective of course it is time for a new one.

There are lantus pens for sale in the supply closet for 35$

A pen last a pretty long time .... especially on a low dose.
( Dre did not do well on vetsulin but he is a early diver and not a "eat on demand" cat....) Lantus and Lev give some time for them to eat before taking effect.

 

Smoky tends to hit his nadir early on in a cycle, +4 or +5 on vetsulin. Thanks for the tip, will check out the supply closet.

 

4 or 5 is when my cat was lowest on vetsulin too... Can you get a reading then? It's hard to know how to tweak the dose without a preshot and nadair.

 

My new vet says she has to research any other pet meters I may want to use. She uses alpha track meter at her practice. It kind-of sounds like I have to use the same one she does or she won't treat smokey.
I'm somewhat irritated by this and am still in the process of interviewing vets in my area. The only other option she gave me was to bring smoky in there once a week to check his BG on her meter and adjust the dose. Her opinion is that human meters can't be used as they are unreliable since human and animal blood are different.

 

The Alphatrak really is a good meter... User friendly, accurate, and takes a small amount of blood.

The strips are $48 on adwdiabetes.com after a $5 discount code.

Some people use freestyle lite strips in The meter to save cost.

 

The FreeStyle Light strips are a lot less expensive and because it's made by the same company, it is identical. Because of the difference in cost, I can take more tests for my $. I buy them from Amazon. I also found a pet meter on Amazon called Advocate. It cost $21.99 for the starter kit and $21.99 for 50 strips. It is highly recommended. I bought one to use as a spare and ran side by side tests with the Alpha Track using the same drop of blood. I couldn't tell the difference. The numbers were really close. I haven't decided which meter is the spare. I like that the Advocate has no coding and uses AAA batteries. The AlphaTrack fits my small hand better, but I'm getting used to using the Advocate. I really like that my numbers match my vet.

 

So the new vet I'm trying out for smoky may not work out after all. She wants me to bring smoky in for a blood glucose curve at the clinic. Her reason for this is to compare the Advocate pet meter I want to use against her alpha track meter. She said if there is more than a 15% variance I can't use the advocate meter to home test smoky. It sounds to me like I have to use the same meter she has or she won't treat my cat. Does this seem odd to anyone else?
I had to go to work really early and got home late. My roommate fed smoky for me and gave him his shot for me. I increased his dose from 1.75 units to 2 units tonight. I didn't a chance to test him today yet. Should I do a test before bedtime, it would be a +2.5 after pm shot

 

The more tests you get get in the better.

 

Your vet may want to sell you the pet meter.

Also, all over the counter meters sold in the USA are allowed to read +/- 20% from what a lab would get. See my signature link on human glucometer and veterinary lab reference numbers and notes.

We use feline specific reference numbers with the human meters and also have recommended levels for those using the pet meters. These vary somewhat with insulin type.

 

Unlike Lantus, Vetsulin once rolled is cloudy by nature.


Mogs
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