Hey, I was just curious how long most of you keep your Prozinc after its been opened. Bella doesn't go through much insulin at all and it would seem crazy to have to throw out nearly full vials every month, but I also don't want to keep anything that wont work well for her, or worse, harm her. Let me know if you guys have any experience successfully keeping insulin for longer than the normal 28 days after opening. Thanks!
You can ABSOLUTELY use ProZinc beyond 28 days! As long as you refrigerate it and handle it properly, it can last for several months. I have heard of people using a vial for 6 months+, but in my personal experience, it was more like 3 or 4.
Thanks for the quick response. Is there any way to really tell when it might be "going off" or becoming less effective? I am glad I wont have to buy new vials every month though. Vet bills are rough!
Unfortunately, the only way to know it is losing effectiveness is to see that in Bella's numbers. You really have nothing to worry about for, at a very minimum, 3 months. For me, I would start to see Mia's numbers trending a little bit higher with no other explanation, then I would open a new vial and give a couple of doses to confirm a difference. Oh, my goodness.. I just looked at Bella's spreadsheet. You are barely even having to give insulin at all. Maybe by the time you hit the three/four month point, she will be in remission.
Yea, luckily she never needed super high doses, she seems to respond rather well to just a bit of insulin. I keep hoping she will go into remission but every week or so her numbers start to trend a little bit higher. But thats alright, it could be so much worse!
Was about 3 months for me before I started to see numbers change but I’m not sure those numbers were even due to the prozinc being less effective as my girl never got regulated on it. I did use the 2 vials I had for 3 months each though.
We just hit the 4 month mark on our vial, and it looks like we have used about half of it so far. A month ago, Peacock seemed to need a bigger dose to stay regulated, and I thought it was wearing off, but then she went back down to her normal dose, and then I had to drop to an even smaller dose (0.1u). I am looking to get another bottle soon though, just in case.
I used my second vial for six months with no noticeable reduction in effectiveness. Now Sam goes through them in about 2.5-3 months (he needs a bigger dose now), and I've never had a problem with them lasting that long.
