can you reuse insulin needles?

My vet told me I can use one needle for 3-4 days, but it seems like everyone else
says to use a new one for each shot. Thanks.

 

I use the same one for the morning and the evening shot, but no more than that, everyday is a fresh needle. (But I also use a triple bevelled animal insulin needle as oppose to the single bevel human ones). If you reuse them too much they lose the coating that makes them slip in and start to hurt. If you were to look at them under a microscope you would see that they start to get rough. And as cheap as syringes are there really isn't any real reason to use them for several days and hurt your kitty.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang

 

My thought is that it would contaminate the insulin....

 

This page has a picture of a new and used needle - you can see the damage to the tip that would make each additional shot more painful.
http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Syringe

In addition to the risk of infection, you risk contaminating your expensive insulin, rendering it useless.

You can get syringes at Walmart for $12.58 per 100. That is much less expensive than the insulin.

 

We know that there is some level of contamination every time even a sterile needle enters a vial since the rubber stopper is not sterile but don't make matters worse by using a dirty needle.

Injecting contaminated medicine into any living being is not sound medical practice.

 

I reused a needle once in a pinch (ran out). But they are such a small expense in this sugar dance it doesn't make sense to risk contaminating the insulin or hurting your cat by reusing them. A box of 100 by Relion (walmart) for Lantus or Levemir (U100) is less than $13.

 

Reusing needles can cause deadly skin infections in cats. So don't.

 

I would never take the chance of reusing a needle.... Plus it's more painful for the cat. At about 12 cents a needle it's not worth the savings to me.