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Several years ago I had a tortie girl that i wasn't able to help and I lost her. Now I have another cat diagnosed and i've forgotten everything i knew before. Michael is 14 and he had been fighting a URI so I was very slow to realize he had another problem.

My vet said he showed 'off-the-scale' on his readings. He is on Novolin 1 unit twice a day. Don't have any $$ until this Wednesday when I hopefully will have enough to go get a meter and strips and a different insulin. I'm very nervous about this as it really hurt to lose Rusti and I tried so hard with her.

 

Welcome welcome welcome!!!! I'm very new to this...so I can just offer moral support! The people in this group are AMAZING!

 

The insulins that work best for cats are long acting. ProZinc and BCP PZI are pet insulins. You will order these through your vet's office. Your vet can also order your first vial of BCP PZI for free. There is a discount coupon on their website. http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/products_bovine.htm

The other two insulins we recomment are Levemir and Lantus. Both of these are human insulins that work well in cats. If your vet prescribes either of these, ask for a prescription for the pens instead of vial. It will last longer. With a vial, the insulin becomes ineffective long before you can use it all and you end up throwing a lot of it away. With the pens, because they are packaged in smaller containers, you will be able to use almost every drop. Depending on your dose, one pack of pens could last 9 months or longer. Also, if you live in the US, ordering the insulin from Canadian pharmacy can also save you a lot of money.

 

I lost my girl in April--she was OTJ but sadly had a lot of other health issues. I have a ReliOn Confirm meter and an unopened package of 50 test strips (from Walmart) that I would be happy to send to you. If you want them please PM me with your name & address and I'll send them out right away. If Cootie's supplies could help another sugar kitty it would ease some of the pain from losing her.

 

How would I go about ordering from Canada? I'm on a limited income and saving money sounds great about now.

 

To order from Canada, you need the prescription faxed up there. Mark's Marine is one place that has worked well for folks here.

Is your vet familiar with how to use Lantus effectively in cats? If not, you will need to provide him with the protocol you'd like to follow: listed below:
Tight Regulation
Start Low, Go Slow

While waiting on that, here is the Humulin/Novolin primer to help you use the N optimally. It is very important to test, feed, wait 30 minutes, then shoot the insulin.

 

Thank you, I wasn't aware that novolin and humulin were 'one-and-the-same'. Come Wednesday I guess I will be heading to Walmart to get a glucose kit. I've been checking out the different kits and i'm thinking about the ReliOn Prime. It seems to have a good rating and the strips are not expensive. Am I on the right track?

 

Unless you're really strapped financially, I would go with the Confirm or Confirm Micro as it takes a smaller blood drop and is only slightly more expensive.

 

Not to butt in...but I just started testing on Sat and have the Confirm...takes a teeny tiny spot of blood! So much easier!

 

Not really true. Novolin is a family of insulins made by Novo Nordisk. The family includes N (suitable for cats but not recommended), R, very fast action, and combinations of N and R like
http://www.rxlist.com/novolin-70-30-innolet-drug.htm
Humulin is also a family of insulin similar to Novolin but manufactured by Eli Lilly. http://www.lilly.com/products/human/Pages/Our-Current-Products.aspx

 

I have updated my avatar to Michael now, so he can let everyone see (Michael: "just what a hansum kit I iz").

 

Larry, thank you for the info, this is all soo overwheming.

 

Thank you Kate an Kloever - all input is greatly appreciated