Vetsulin / Insulin $$$

Question..Vet prescribed glargine. One vial costs $298.00 which is way more than I can spend right now.

Vetsulin - anyone use this? It seems MUCH cheaper. Any tips/info on it?

 

Vetsulin is a poor insulin for cats. It was developed for dogs. It does not last long enough for twice daily dosing.
Talk to your vet abount using BCP insulin
http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/products_bovine.htm
About $100 for a 10 ml vial of U100 strength.
One reason for vetsulin being so cheap is that it is only U40 strength (40 units per ml) compared to Lantus wjhich is U100 (100 units per ml)
Your vet can order you a free 5 ml U100 sample of BCP
http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/pdf/sample.pdf
However, it can take weeks for the sample to arrive at your vet. If you purchase it they ship the same day

 

I use Vetsulin for my Petey. Larry is right in that it WAS developed for dogs - which have a slower metabolism that cats and so it runs through the cat's system faster and is harsher than some other insulins. However, every cat is different. It's not a "bad" insulin but there ARE better ( ones that last longer etc). As you saw, Vetsulin is a lot less expensive and we are trying to work on a budget, too. We simply cannot affored even $100 for a 10ml. We pay about $55-60 per 10ml vial of Vetsulin. He gets half a unit twice daily and he has mostly consistent pre-shot numbers between say; 195 and 250. Vetsulin can be successfully used and it will be better than no insulin if you simply cannot afford the more expensive insulin. Another thing that helped a lot was switching Petey to Young Again Zero Carb dry food. He was on 2 units twice a day before we switched. If your sugar cats prefers dry food - this is the one to go with.

 

Well, that's reassuring. That is the way I look at it at this point it is better than no insulin. I can not afford the lantus. its ridiculously expensive at this time for us.

 

Whatever you do, avoid both Humulin NPH and Novolin NPH which have a very harsh onset and rapidly wear off. These last roughly 6-8 hours in the cat, leaving 4-6 hours of uncontrolled glucose if you shoot only twice a day. The best control using these is to shoot every 8 hours.

I would go with the BCP PZI or ProZinc over Vetsulin/Caninsulin.

Some other cost savings can be had by feeding a low carb over the counter food such as Friskies Pates (except Mixed Grill) and by home testing the glucose rather that having curves run at the vet. This may be done with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the Target Up and Up or the WalMart Confirm or Confirm Micro. See my signature link Glucometer Notes for more details on feline specific reference ranges.

 

I used to work for Natura Pet Foods, long before the owners retired and sold to P&G, now it is owned by M&M Mars. P&G no sooner took over the company and it had a salmonella recall, original owners never ever had a recall. Anyway, EVO Cat is one of their products and it has the highest protein, good high fat for the natural energy and the very lowest carb. They make 2 flavors of the dry formula, a Turkey/Chicken and also a Herring/Salmon. This is a link to their Turkey/Chicken formula Nutrient Analysis: http://www.evopet.com/products/1441 They also make several canned formulas that are 95% meat. Here is a link to the products available page: http://www.evopet.com/products When I worked there as a CSR, I had many people call in to thank us for the product because their diabetic cats had either reduced their need for insulin and some had even reversed the diabetes and no longer required the insulin. I put my guy back on it recently. He is torn between EVO and also Instinct Grain Free Chicken with Raw Boost. I now read all the labels on the can food and also always on the lookout for new foods that have come out.

Thanks for the info on the Vetsulin. My Tater is also on that from our vet and I have a very, very low income and can at the moment only wish I can provide better for him in the future.
Tina

 

Using the term Humllin is a poor choice since Humulin is Eli Lily's trade name for a family Human insulins produced by recombinant DNA. The insulins include R, N (sometimes called NPH) and combination of N and R
http://www.humulin.com/humulin-70-30.aspx.
Novolin NPH is the correct description for Novo Nordisk's N/NPH human insulin made with recombinant DNA