I left our brand new bottle of prozinc out of the frig for 11 hours. It was in the box but not refrigerated. I tried calling manufacture but it is after hours. My helpful vet said call the pharmacy. I now question why I go to this vet if they can't help me with this type of situation. Anyone else know what to do if Prozinc is left out this long. Still ok (safe) to use. Self life now that is has been left out? Our cat just got diagnosed about two months ago so I am new to all of this.
Hi Ben - Welcome! Are you home testing? The best way to tell if the insulin is still good is to compare the numbers and see if it's still working. If you're home testing you should be able to see if the impact changes. Also look at it and make sure it's still the right amount of cloudy, and there aren't white floaty bits in there. If you've only been at this for two months and are already on a new bottle of insulin, I'm a little concerned about the dose your kitty is getting, so hopefully you are home testing and know that the dose is appropriate - because going through a vial of insulin that fast sounds like a pretty high dose.
Thank all for your help. I am not home testing at this time. We have been going to the vet every 2 to 3 weeks for testing but the vet now thinks our cat is regulated at 4mg twice a day and we are not to come back till April. The vet did not tell us to check the cats levels at home but I am guessing it is not a bad thing to do and should probably start. Just hope I am able. What do all your experienced cat owners recommend (equipment, frequency). Thanks again. Nice to fine this help.
I think you mean 4 units twice a day, correct? That's actually a high dose for a recently diagnosed kitty. If you have any interest in testing BG at home we can help. It's the best way to keep your kitty safe. A lot can happen on a dose of that magnitude with only periodic checks at the vet's. Here's the basic testing routine we recommend: test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture if indicated by consistently high numbers on your spreadsheet, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do. This is useful: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/ Here's a link to the spreadsheet we use to track BG data: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/ Most of us use a human glucose meter to test because the cost of the test strips is lower. There are pet meters available but the strips are very expensive. The human and pet meters read differently (lower numbers on a human meter) but we all know here on FDMB how to interpret those. If you're in the US @Djamila can advise about meters. I'm in Canada and we don't have access to many that are popular in the US. I suggest you read over this guide to using ProZinc to learn more about what we do with it: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...prozinc-pzi-insulin-for-diabetic-cats.164995/ I hope this helps!
Really any human meter is fine. I use this one from ADWDiabetes because I like to order online: https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/8177/agamatrix-presto-blood-glucose-meter-kit-and-strips and because you can get the strips fairly inexpensively. You can also buy the same strips at any Kroger-owned store with a pharmacy under the store name. Just make sure they look the same. Lots of folks use meters from WalMart for similar reasons: convenient and inexpensive. So think about what is most convenient for you because it's super important that you don't run out of test strips. Here is a link with comparisons: http://main.diabetes.org/dforg/pdfs/2016/2016-cg-meters-chart.pdf Don't get too worked up about the blood sample size. If you look at the comparison chart at the top it will show you the differences. I've had a meter that needed 0.3, 0.5, and 0.6 and honestly never had a problem with any of those amounts, except when my kitty was super dehydrated (and in that case I couldn't get any blood, so even 0.3 would have been too much). Hope that helps. Please let us know what questions you have. We have all kinds of videos and information and tips and tricks to help you get started.
