Can insulin cause GI issues?

My 9 year old boy, Leo, was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago. Funny story, our 10 year old, Chuck, has had the betes for about 2 years and was quite easy to manage and monitor.

So, seemed like an easy job for our 2nd customer, right? Well Leo’s numbers are not regulating nearly as fast or as well as Chuck (typical since Leo has always been my problem child health-wise).

Leo started on 2 units twice a day of novolin. His next check up, the vet had me go up to 3 units twice a day; he is still losing weight and drinking/urinating a lot. Since the change on Saturday, we’ve noticed some loose poops in the box but nothing too crazy, until yesterday when I found the worst diarrhea ever in the box when I got home from work. After about 2 hours post shot, Leo showed himself as the culprit and has had at least 2 more giant diarrheas since then. He is still eating and drinking okay (probably too much drinking, but I think he is metabolizing his insulin too fast with all the GI distress) so he is not dehydrated - he passes the tent test and has been playing and acting pretty normally.

So with that giant wall of text, I have two questions. I am dropping Leo off at the vet in the morning and I suspect they want to do a curve on him.

1) Can cats have adverse reactions to particular brands of insulin? My vet is very open to suggestions and has a diabetic cat himself, so is there a particular insulin that might be less tough on Leo? There has really been no other big change to warrant the crazy diarrhea

2) Is any sort of curve performed at the vet really going to be that helpful? Leo gets super stressed there and I know his levels will probably be through the roof - plus the whole diarrhea issue isn’t going to help!

Thanks for reading!

 

Reply on your number 2) Yes, any curve, even in the vets helps. As long as the vet writes it down for you and you have the curve numbers with you home. Regardless if Leo is stressed.

You can also inform your vet about the sudden diarrhea, since it might have other causes than insulin, especially since your vet has a diabetic himself and you can troubleshoot together.

 

Novolin is a harsh, fast acting insulin that usually doesn't work well in cats. It's a good insulin for dogs though.

Better insulins for cats are Lantus, Basaglar (both are Glargine but Basaglar is cheaper) Levemir or ProZinc.

If your vet gives you a script for Glargine (either one) or Levemir, you can get it much cheaper from Canada. A 5 pack of pens is the best buy because each pen only holds 300 units versus a vial that's 1000 units. A 5 pack will last most cats at least a year and some up to 2 years (depending on dose) You still use regular insulin syringes and draw the insulin out of the pen instead of using the special pen needles.

Here's info on buying insulin from Canada