Source for PZI

OK, I'll start by saying I'm brand new here and I followed the board protocol of posting questions in the main forum first, but I never really got a useful answer to my question, so that's why I turned up here.

Without going in to all the details, suffice it to say we have a diabetic kitty who is on PZI twice daily, presently @ 3.5 units.

The initial 10 ml vial we got from our vet at a cost of $150, and at the rate we are going that is going to last less than 2 months.

I would greatly appreciate suggestions on where to purchase brand name ProZinc PZI at the lowest possible cost from a reputable online source.

My wife and I are not hurting financially, but we aren't rich by any means, and this is going to be a long term commitment as kitty is only 6 years old.

Any and all information is sincerely appreciated, god bless you all.

 

Not helpful, but I thought I'd get the ball rolling: I get mine from the vet, and it's usually about $100 (varies a bit, but no more than $125). 3.5u seems to be very large dose--are you testing to make sure (s)he isn't going too low? At a lower dose, I can get a bottle to last 6 months.

I have heard of people getting Prozinc at Sam's or Costco (can use pharmacy w/o membership). No personal experience, though. You may also try Dr. Fosters & Smith and/or ADW.

 

Thanks for the reply. She's only been on PZI for about 1 month, initially 1 unit twice daily, but we weren't making much progress, her BC was still high.

I'm not presently home testing, and weekly visits were showing fluctuating numbers, last week we had another BC and a Fructosamine test done, her BC was down to about 200, which seemed better, or at least headed in the right direction, as it had never been under 270 since initial diagnosis @ 350, but the Fructosamine test was not as encouraging, it showed only "fair" regulation. We go back in 3 weeks for another round of tests.

Vet says it can take some time to get things under control and stabilized, and find the right dose for long term control. I trust my vet, she's been in the business a long time, and has never steered me wrong thru 4 dogs and two cats.

The good news is my sugar baby is gaining weight, she had lost nearly 4 lbs. and she was a petite little girl to begin with at a little over 11 pounds before she got sick. She has since gained about half of that back, she's drinking way less water, and peeing less, and seems more like her old self now, as she had gotten quite sickly and lethargic. I'm more confident that we are going to get things back on track eventually, but it's clear she's going to be insulin dependent for probably the rest of her life, and she's only 6 years old now. Even if we can save just $20 a month on insulin costs, it will help a lot.

The cheapest online source for ProZinc I can find online is about $130 for 10 ml, and that includes refrigerated overnight shipping thru a vendor called Allivet. The cost for the insulin itself is fairly reasonable @ about $94, but the shipping runs up the tab considerably, by more than a third of the cost of the insulin by itself.

Given that the insulin cost seems to be the major cost in treating your kitty, I'm surprised there isn't a dedicated thread, discussion group, or whatever for the cheapest sources for whatever type of insulin you're using.

Thanks again.

 

I have not followed the board in a long time, but logged in today for some reason and saw your post. You might have already covered this somewhere, but what are you feeding Kitty?

 

I am also wondering what your kitty is eating. Wet low carb food really helps bring down the blood glucose levels. (a vet explains why here: www.catinfo.org). When we switched our Oliver from dry food to wet, low carb, he went down 100 points overnight. It is only safe to switch the food when you are testing. If we had given the usual ahot that next morning, Oliver would have hypoed.

We would encourage you to home test. Many cats are stressed at the vet and stress raises bg levels, so vet numbers may be quite inflated compared to numbers at home. If the dose is too high based on vet numbers, it can cause a rebound effect, with the cat's body releasing sugars to combat low numbers and then bouncing back high again. We like to test our cat before each shot (to be sure it is safe to give the amount of insulin we have planned) and midcycle (to see how low the insulin takes him) We have taught many people how over the internet and would be glad to teach you.

Let us know how we can help. It may be that if you hometest and feed wet low carb, you will need much less insulin.

 

At the vets direction she was started on Hills prescription dry right after diagnosis, shortly thereafter we switched (with the vets ok) to Wellness core, which according to this list I found http://binkyspage.tripod.com/dryfood.html had the lowest amount of calories from carbs at 11 percent. Kitty likes it. I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed, I'm nervous about switching foods and home testing etc., she tolerates the needles pretty well, but I can tell she's not really happy about being poked sometimes, and I'm not at all certain she'd tolerate the at home BG testing. We go back in 3 weeks for another round of testing including the Fructosamine, and we'll see then, perhaps I'll make the switch to canned if she'll eat it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

One more question before I share my thoughts!

Does Kitty Free feed (food left out all day) or does she get fed Just at mealtime?

And, trust me, you are at the right place! This is a great group and there is a lot of experienced people here to help you! I was scared too! Of everything! But, you can do it. Slow and easy.... At your own comfort level and pace!

By the way, my cat was named Kitty also

 

She's on a strict regimen of feeding 1/4 cup of food a few minutes before the shots @ 8 am and again @ 8 PM, no more "free feeding" or grazing as before. That being said, there's usually a small amount of food left over from the morning feeding that she'll nibble on later in the day. She had lost a bunch of weight, (4 lbs in about 4 months) but is gaining it back like crazy since we started insulin treatment (almost a pound in one week alone) and drinking way less water, and far less urine output. She also seems to be a little more lively now since we started the PZI, so we're hopeful that things are moving in the right direction.

The odd thing about the diabetic cat is she had a completely normal BG level in late Jan of this year after a routine vet visit, and we only noticed the increased thirst and urine output, plus the weight loss starting in about May, so this came on very rapidly.

Our other cat, who is just a year older than sugar kitty had gotten rather tubby on the old high carb dry food, so we have switched her to Wellness Core also, she likes it, but doesn't seem to be slimming down much if any. FWIW, she's not obese or anything, we just feel she's a little on the chubby side. :lol:

I'm going to continue to hang around and learn as much as I can, and thanks for all your responses.

 

Hello,
no help on source of inexpensive ProZinc, but some sugar kitties are very sensitive to the % of carbohydrates in their wet food. Mine did much better when it was about 3 or 4% than at higher percentages, as well as, frequent small meals. My Pudge ( now 13 y/o male) was diagnosed in Dec. of 2011, went into remission in mid-2012. He was on ProZinc & went into remission at 1 unit. He was knocked out of remission about 3 months ago by a bad bout of diarrhea plus my feeding him dry kitten food (he refused to eat anything else). He went into his second remission after a brief period of Levemir (I had it available from another sugar kitty).

You could probably save yourself a bunch of $$$ by doing your own BG testing & your Kitty would be safer. I almost killed my Pudge by following my vet's advice of 4 units of ProZinc!! And without testing first... Never again. I don't want to scare you, but do you know how many diabetic cats your vet treats per year? It's not so much the overall experience your vet has, but her experience with diabetic cats that matters to your Kitty now.

Best wishes to you and Kitty,
Sophie

 

Hello and welcome!
I have priced the Prozinc and syringes everywhere that I can price them and the best price that I have found is www.drsfostersmith.com. I pay $97 for a bottle of ProZinc and $27 for 100 syringes that comes with a sharps container. I get free shipping when I spend $50 or more. I purchase a lot of my other supplies there as well. I have always been very satisfied with the service that I get from them.
Terri & Chicken Little cat_pet_icon

 

We all understand that overwhelmed feeling! And we would not encourage a food change until you are testing. So maybe consider working slowly on that and talking to your vet. Start with getting a lancet set. Take her to a place where you might test - on the bed, the couch, a blanket on the floor - make it a special spot for testing. First take her there and play with her ears and give her a low carb treat (PureBites are good but we have lots of ideas). After awhile, add a rice sack to warm her ears, then a treat and let her go. Then warming her ears, clicking the lancet, a treat and letting her go. Finally, try adding the poke (after you have gotten a good meter that takes a tiny amount and have tested it on yourself so you are confident)

We are all so insistent on testing because we know it is the way to keep Kitty safe and healthy, but we know it seems like too much at first. After awhile, believe it or not, it becomes routine.

Have you seen this?

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=33671