Human insulin?

Hi,

Gizmo and I are new-ish to the forum (Hello-Gizmo and I are new to the forum). She's been on prozinc for 3 months now. I was talking with my neighbor who's a diabetic nurse specialist at a local hospital. She says that several people she knows treat their cats with a slow acting human insulin which is probably less expensive than prozinc. Has anyone had experience with this?

Thanks,
WYMoreta

 

The long-acting human insulin analogs used to treat feline diabetics are Lantus/Basaglar (glargine) and Levemir (detemir). These are expensive in the US, so many members get them from Marks Marine pharmacy in Canada (needs a veterinary Rx).

Another human insulin some vets prescribe is NPH insulin (e.g. Novolin N). This is an intermediate-acting insulin but its action in cats is typically very harsh and, again very typically, does not have adequate duration. It is cheaper than the L insulins and Prozinc but it is not recommended by the AAHA for management of feline diabetes.


Mogs
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@Critter Mom

Thanks for the info. I haven't ventured into the non-Prozinc ISG, and didn't realize that Lantus/Basaglar and Levemir are human insulin analogs. I am having a rough time getting Gizmo well regulated (or, perhaps, I'm trying to fine tune too much). Do you think Lantus/Baseglar/Levemir would be better than Prozinc?

 

Response to a given insulin is very much an 'every cat is different' thing. I've not used Prozinc so I can't gauge Gizmo's response to it. I'm going to tag a couple of experienced Prozinc users to ask them to review Gizmo's spreadsheet and give you some feedback.

@Deb & Wink
@Panic
@JanetNJ


Mogs
.

 

Semglee is also a human insulin that is biosimilar to Lantus just like Basaglar is. Using GoodRx, Semglee price is about same as Lantus from Mark's Marine. Thee is no pet restriction for Semglee like there is for Lantus and Basaglar

 

Not all cats do equally well on a type of insulin. It may be worth it to try and switch to a different insulin.
But, you just started Gizmo on a new bottle of Prozinc on 1/15/21. So it hasn't been that long on the fresh bottle of insulin.