Switching from Vetsulin to Lantus?

My Vet has been telling me that Vetsulin was going off of the market, however, they still had a bottle of it in April and my cat had been doing so well on it I went ahead and bought another bottle.

Now it seems, as soon as the Vetsulin wears off, 5 hours - his numbers begin spiking again. If I check him 11 hours after his last shot, he is usually already high 300's low 400's. I would check him earlier, but I am usually not home or this is when I am sleeping. I have been staying up late with him to check him 4 hours after I give insulin because sometimes he is getting dangerously low.

I wanted to get opinions from anyone who has been on Vetsulin and then switched to Lantus or just anyone who uses Lantus who can tell me more about how long it lasts and if they have liked it.

I called my vet about his numbers being all over the place and he says that we talked in April about switching him to Lantus. Well yeah, we did, but we also talked about leaving him on Vetsulin because he was doing so well and I went ahead and bought it and I am unemployed so I can't just keep buying more and more insulin. He also has a thyroid issue and I could not give the pills well so now they are putting it into a cream that I put in his ears and that is $30 per month! With this and strips and needles its wiping me out.

 

the problem you are having with the vetsulin is the very reason they are pulling it. did you see the fda warning on it? apparently there were some inconsistencies in some batches causing inconsistency in the glucose levels of those using it. at least that's the short version

as far as switching, lantus will be a humongous improvement over vetsulin. it's not as flexible as the shorter acting insulins (aka: vetsulin, humulin n) or even the pzi's but boy does it provide more stability in numbers. for the most part

i switched a few months ago from pzi to lantus and so far i'd say i like it. the schedule is a bit frustrating for someone who works like crazy but doable.

the key to making lantus last as long as possible (aka: be economical) is to get pens not vials, and make sure to handle it with care

 

If you get 3ml pens instead of 10ml vials, the monthly cost of Lantus can easily be lower than that of Vetsulin. It looks like a lot up front for 5 little pens worth, but that can easily last a year or more.

And instead of pooping out in 5 hours, Lantus tends to work for 11 to 14 hours, just what you'd like. (And yes, shooting "overlap" with the previous dose is recommended.) You will appreciate the difference and so will your cat.

 

One other thing about Lantus - there are a some people on the board who go in together to purchase five cartridges of pens,
so it is very possible that you could purchase 1 cartridge at a time with a group buy.


~M

 

Kazi is on Vetsulin and about to make the switch to Lantus, I can totally sympathize with staying up late to make sure they don't drop too low! Kazi has been at 260 at shot time and 3hrs later at 110 and she only gets a drop of insulin! From everything I have read, the Lantus is a gentler curve so the dramatic drop we get with the Vetsulin isn't the norm with the Lantus. Check the lantus forum and see if anyone on the board is in your area, I lucked out and a member is only 45 minutes or so from me and had a pen available for me to buy.

Cindy, you are not the first to say that the Lantus needs a very consistent dosing schedule. In comparison to Vetsulin for instance- is it because the vetsulin wears off so you can give it slightly early if needed but not with the lantus? I would think on the flip side, that if you had to go an hour late the lantus would be easier to deal with because the BG would still be lower? I am curious because I am switching Kazi over this week from Vetsulin to Lantus, the vet mentioned the PZI when we spoke today but I wanted to try the Lantus because of the reputation it has with everyone here!

 

Amanda

Lantus has a general minimum duration of 12 hours, can be longer where something called 'overlap' is created. This helps to keep lower more consistent numbers.
If you shoot too early (say +10 or 11 like you can with vetsulin) you create too much overlap and can send kitty's bg's way too low.

Where possible, beans try and plan ahead if they know they need to shoot 2 hours earlier in a few days time. They move the shot forward by 15-20 minutes a time. This amount of time doesn't usually cause a problem.
ECID-Every cat is different. Lucky was on Levemir which is almost identical to Lantus and after we had been using it a while and I got to know her pattern, there were occasions I could move her shot 1 hour each way-BUT!! this was because I knew my cat and how she would respond-NOT for newbies.

If you shoot later than +12 this isn't a drama, but then your next shot needs to be around 12 hours later again (so converse of working back to your old time in 15-20 mins increments).
Lantus has had excellent results-and the sooner you use it after diagnosis, the greater chance of positive results (though not guaranteed for OTJ-but an excellent chance of good regulation,if your willing to monitor and put some effort in)

There are a number of Lantus users who have hectic work schedules and manage to use Lantus effectively. They just change dose ondays when they have been home to get a curve and work from there (so your dosing scale may take longer in terms of finding the right dose, but still get the desired results).
If you go and look in Lantus isg-Dyana and JD are one such busy household.

Good luck with the change :mrgreen: