Bovine insulin for cats....

[DizBelle]

Anybody using bovine insulin to manage their cat's diabetes? Experiences?

 

[si-am]

Our cat is on insulin but I'm pretty sure it's porcine.

What is the name of your insulin?

Also, there's a message board specifically for feline diabetes and those people know everything there is to know! (felinediabetes.com)

 

[DizBelle]

Our cat is on insulin but I'm pretty sure it's porcine.

What is the name of your insulin?

Also, there's a message board specifically for feline diabetes and those people know everything there is to know! (felinediabetes.com)

Our cat *was* diabetic for only 2 months and we were able to stop insulin treatment for him a year ago. Well, his blood sugar shot up again so we have to investigate this again.

Apparently the porcine insulin we used before (brand Vetsulin) has been recalled and is not available anymore (and is apparently a BAD idea anyway). I've been looking around and the options are human insulin (expensive!) or bovine insulin. Surprisingly, what I'm reading says that the amino chain for bovine insulin is closer to a cat than either the porcine or the human insulin. AND it is way, way cheaper. So, I'm trying to find out all information I can.

 

[DizBelle]

who knew - a cow is closer to a cat than a pig...

 

[DizBelle]

Anybody?

 

[si-am]

We were/are on Vetsulin too. We're stuck with it because our vet won't give us anything new til her supply is gone (don't get me started on this absurdity )

Luckily our cat is kind of on and off of it... he will be in "remission" for a month or two, then need insulin again for a month.

Anyway, many cats who were on Vetsulin are switching to PZI/Prozinc and have had success with it.

The most successful insulin for cats (as far as getting them regulated and often into remission) seems to be Lantus (for humans) but it is a bit expensive.

 

[mackeysmom]

After becoming resistant to Humulin a few years back - my Mackey has been on PZI/ProZinc ever since and it appears to be working well for him.

 

[bballmom56]

As I recall, our diabetic cat started out on human insulin (because I had to get it from a pharmacy), but that didn't bring the desired result. So the vet switched him to the bovine insulin (which I could purchase from them) and that did get the right results.