??? Can Insulin Make a Cat Mean?

Scdal

Scdal

Member Since 2020
Phoenix has been doing great and has been on Lantus for 4 months. The last 4 days, he has been putting up a fuss when I prick his ear. After that, he eats his dinner and settles down and lets me give him his insulin with no problem.

But after, the injection, he is getting nasty. He starts hissing and growling when I walk by him. Right now, he is laying on the dining room floor and growling. I am in the living room and no where near him. He is fine before the injection except for the fuss pricking his ear.

He has always been very good about letting me prick his ear until lately. I have always used the Relion ultra thin lancets. Lately, Walmart was out of stock in my area and substituted the micro thin lancets. These were too thin and I had to prick his ear multiple times to get blood. But this is NOT the cause of the aggressive behavior. The hissing and growling starts after the injection. It has been an hour since his insulin injection and he is still carrying on. Any idea what could be going on?
 
Lantus can cause stinging. I noticed the higher dosing with Phoenix. I wonder if that is what is going on. Levemir isn't as bad.

Do you give treats after ear pricks/shots?
 
@Wendy&Neko

Tagging you for your input - Phoenix hasn't been on Lantus for 6 months and I know that usually it is given for 6 months before a change to Lev. I am not sure on the high(er) dose kitties.
 
Phoenix has been up as high as 7 units before with no aggressive signs. He started a new vial of Lantus about 10 days ago.

I talked to his vet this morning. He wants me to get a urine sample & bring it to him before he prescribes any medications. He thinks Phoenix may be starting with a urinary infection. He isn't doing any excessive peeing though. The doctor wants to rule this out first. He also wants be to get a new vial of Lantus just in case this new vial may be causing problems but he has been using this vial for 10 days. Phoenix gets very nasty and the vet and very upset so the vet doesn't want to stress him out any more than we have to.
 
We have seen cats on even less than three units complain about the Lantus sting. Like the others, I suspect a switch to Levemir will help. Lots of peeps have reported a personality change when they switched. My girl was definitely happier with Lev. Walked away from the Lantus shot, purred through the Lev shot. At the point we switched, she was on less than two units.
 
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