I gave my cat Lantus and she became semi-paralyzed

This happened Friday evening,48 hours ago. Mia has been diabetic for one year and completely healthy. I have never had a problem with lantus or her diabetes. I bought a brand new bottle of Lantus u-100 and this was the first dose of the bottle.I gave her 2mls.Within minutes she lost the ability to walk and was crawling and falling. I stayed up with her thinking it was a hypo-reaction so I gave her syrup and glucose.

I took her to the vet in the am and he said it was a "bad batch" of lantus and not neuropathy. He said that neuropathy is progressive and it does not happen for the first time within minutes of an injection. xrays and labs are totally normal. My vet gave her low strength prednisone for inflammation and clavamox for a possible infection. I asked for a b12 shot just in case it might help. I'm supposed to give this treatment a chance for 3 days and then bring her back.

I want to say I see some improvement today. She can get on all fours and wobble for about 5 feet and then she topples over. I squeezed all her toes and she complained loudly. Her right hind leg is stronger and she pulls it back when I tickle her feet or squeeze her toes. Her left leg does have feeling but is less strong. She can pull it back slightly.

I spoke with Walgreens and they said Sanofi-Aventis shrugs their shoulders about this. They said it's my fault because I should not be using Lantus for my cat because it is not FDA approved for pets. Even though my vet gave me the prescription and walgreen's filled it for a year, no one mentioned this before.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Please share your advice with me. I have to work during the week and I don't know how to take care of her.

So now my cat is semi-paralyzed and I'm devastated and not sure what to do from here.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much...

 

did you really give 2 mls? or do you mean 2 units? what type of syringe did you use? what are the markings on the syringe?

 

I can tell from experience that being down on their hocks, and dragging is nueropathy . Garth had it severely to where he drug his back end. I was hysterical! I made things as comfortable as I could until I got his diabetes under control. this will go away, trust me once you get the their numbers down and out of spilling glucose in their urine. the only way you will know how they are processing their insulin is to hometest. I will scream HOMETEST. but it is your choice. please keep in mind that if they sit too high in numbers for too long it can affect their kidney function and cause CRF. I am speaking from experience only, Garth became CRF due to sitting in high numbers for a long period of time, he was resistent to human insulins, once we found the right insulin we were manged and soon off the juice and diet controlled. I managed his diabetes, and CRF for many years and can proudly say neither one of the diseases took him in Jan. it was cancer, he was 18. please take a look at my profile you can see how I did it if that helps. please hometest and a low carb diet is the key. Best of luck to you all, don't let the neuropathy freak you out it is reversible. You have to do it!

 

Even though I'm a newbie with feline diabetes I know some about the disease as it manifests in humans and I agree this does not sound like neuropathy if your cat has never had any neurological weakness previously.

Very scary if it could be a bad batch of Lantus. Otherwise I would think it could be a stroke. The fact that it happened right after the shot is very ominous.

I hope for the best for your poor kitty! Hopefully she will recover from this.

 

Mia, I'm sorry to hear your cat is having such problems.

This was seriously the only explanation he offered? Nothing about the spine, or blood clots, or strokes, or heart disease? Did he take a blood pressure? Send out bloodwork? Take x-rays? Is your cat peeing and pooping on her own?

This is awfully fishy. If you are in an area where you can get your cat to a neurologist, please do so ASAP. You can find a list of board-certified neurologists at ACVIM.org. If there are no neurologists in your area, you should at least get a second opinion, especially if your vet didn't do any of what I described above. If you post your city and state (or city and province), someone might have a local recommendation for you. But go to a neurologist if it's an option. The sooner you can get a diagnosis, the better. A "bad batch of Lantus" sounds like straw-grasping.

BTW you should call Sanofi-Aventis yourself, reporting the batch number and where you purchased it. I doubt they will do any reimbursement of expenses, but just in case this is a "bad batch" (which is not being reported by humans, who inject10-15x as much as cats do), they will have your notice on record.

Please keep us posted.

 

If you injected 2 ml instead of 2 units, that is a huge overdose which would cause hypo.

There are 100 units of Lantus per 1 ml -- so an injection of 2 ml would be 200 units of insulin.

 

i highly doubt it was a hypo reaction solely because you said the symptoms started within minutes of the injection.

where was the injection given? perhaps a nerve or something was hit with the needle?

 

Cindy, I was wondering if it was a nerve also. I had a cat hook me in the top of my hand and instantly, I could not move that hand and it hurt. Hit a nerve and even though it did eventually become flexible it still hurt the next day and took a while to become normal again. Please let us know where you gave the shot.

 

I am so sorry you and your baby are going thru this! I am very new here but If it were me I would seek a 2nd opinion.
I would be very leary to keep using this same insulin. I would also call the maker of the insulin and report it.
As others have said they may not do much but let me tell you I would make one hell of a STINK.
I hope you find answers very soon. Hugs to you!!

 

So sorry about this. Hang in there.

I had almost the same thing happen to a diabetic cat I used to have, Lucy. I gave her insulin and with minutes she was stumbling, head tilt and major problems. I tested her bg and it was high, not low and the vets thinks she may have had a stroke.

I am hoping you gave 2 units not 2ml as this could possible bring on a stroke.

From my vet tech experience this does NOT sound at all like neuropathy, that is progressive.

Where did u give the injection? I would stay away from the hind end when it comes to injections and stick with between the shoulder blades.

You could have possibly hit a never in one of the legs but unless u really pushed to entire needle tip in hard, I am doubting that, could be possible thought.

I hope you kitty recovers soon!!

you are a great mom!

Please try and see a specialist like the others mentioned above, definately a spine or neurological problem.

please keep us updated.

 

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for the comments and advice and support. I apologize for not having responded earlier. I was totally consumed with taking care of and worrying about my poor cat Mia.

I'd like to correct my earlier post and say it was definitely 2 units, not 2 mls that I gave her of that new lantus bottle.
I always give her the injection more towards her upper and mid-body and I use short needles.

As of today she has recovered at least 95%.

It's like baring witness to a miracle. The first 3 days I lifted and carried her to the kitty litter box when i thought she needed to go. She never lost control of her bladder or poop. Which was a good sign for me. Each day, I stretched her legs while she lay on her side so they wouldn't atrophy. I held her up, underneath her belly and tried to get her to walk. I mean constantly. She started to try to walk by the 3rd day. She fell over and over but she could hold her pose in the litter box briefly. It was absolutely devastating to watch this. I also held her tail up and it helped her balance and walk some. last week she jumped up to the windowsill by 2 feet for the 1st time and I just cried with pure happiness. It will be 3 weeks ago this Saturday and as of today, she's walking faster and doesn't fall over anymore.

I still have no answers though. If it was a stroke, I don't think she would recover like this. The doctor did not mention any possibility of any other diagnosis other than it was a bad batch of lantus. We dealt with this for four hours straight at the vet's office. He explained why it wasn't neuropathy or a diabetic reaction or an infection.

Her white blood cells were slightly elevated and something showed inflammation on her labs that day. Her glucose on that day, 12 hours after the bad insulin shot, with stress and the glucose and syrup I gave her, was just around 300. Which is a major improvement from a year ago when her undiagnosed diabetes was clocked at 500. The Doctor said stress could elevate labs and she was kind of stressed. He saw arthritis in her hips too. Right now, she has a UTI so I'm taking her to my regular Doctor at the same place Thursday morning (not the vet who saw her) and have a list of things I want to discuss with him. I need answers and I need that in his medical opinion the bottle of lantus was toxic.

I reported it to the FDA, Walgreens and Sanofi-Aventis. Sanofi is giving me a hard time and claiming it was used off-label therefore they don't have to reimburse me. However, the way I see it is that I'm the consumer and I bought their product and it was bad. My cat has been on that same product and dose for one year without a problem. This new bottle was manufactured in Germany, not Italy as the previous ones and it's possible it could be contaminated or not even insulin. I'm asking around to see if I can get that bottle of lantus tested.


I'm going to have to insist on a refund, the multi-billion dollar corporation that they are, I'm also sending my vets bills to their legal department and expect a fight. In the end, I will personally file a claim against them in small claims court and I'm sure they'll just settle. Animals unfortunately are considered property. Since my property was damaged, I'm confident with moving forward to recoup my money. To have just spent $100 on insulin just to watch it paralyze my cat and then a $400 vet bill within hours is too much. I used my rent money to help save her life that day. I don't have money for a neurologist or to experiment with new insulin.


Now that my head and heart are calm and clearer, I will be able to ask the vet more questions. I mean I really need answers here. But just to see her walk and jump up on her own without my assistance, brought me back my happiness and lifted my heart so high. It's just amazing.

Thank you so much for the support and loving responses too!

 

Hurrah! What wonderful news!

 

How scary!

I'm so glad to hear that she's recovering though, such a relief.
Yaay!

I do hope you find some answers though.

 

Good news!

Now, please confirm, are you hometesting? Giving insulin?

Jen

 

This is wonderful news.

I remember taking care of Smokey during those times (helping in the litter box, etc.).
Unfortunately he was at the end of his life then. I don't regret the care though;
it's worth it, isn't it.

For pursuing legal angles, you might want to contact Stefani Olsen (stefani&toonces).
See Toonces' story here:

http://thetooncesproject.com/

 

What insulin are you giving her now? Did you get a new vial of Lantus?

Great job with taking care of her. I was picturing what you were describing and I honestly can't imagine how scary and horrible it was for both of you. Thank GOD she's better!!!! You are a great Mom. Send me a PM if you would like a free Lanus solostar pen - I have some.

 

Can you tell me what lot number this Lantus was? We are supposed to start Lantus on Monday morning and after reading your thread I checked my cartridges and they are made in Germany. Now I'm really concerned.

 

Lantus is manufactured in Germany by Sanofi-Aventis. There are distributors in various other countries, but I don't think it is manufactured anywhere but in Germany. I would be curious to know what is in a "bad batch." Contaminants? Lantus that has been stored improperly could lose its potency, but that wouldn't have the effect you describe. Did it look different? Discolored? Floating particles? If it truly was a bad batch, the pharmacy should be very interested in reporting that so other vials from that batch don't get sold to other customers.

In any case, I'm glad to hear Mia is doing better.