Cat Insulin...what kind does your kitty use?

[Muushka]

My vet has my cat on Vetsulin. They are trying to phase out this drug and the alternative is quite a bit more expensive. Now we are paying $43 a vial and he said the new insulin could be as much as $150 a vial. I am not certain which the new is, possibly PZI.

Is anyone's cat on something other than the veterinary insulins?

Thanks!

 

[DizBelle]

Been there, done that. Fortunately, Spenser's pancreatitis has resolved itself and he doesn't have to be on insulin (for the time being at least).

Anyway, he was diagnosed as diabetic in December 2008 and we used Vetsulin for the 2 months until he didn't need it anymore. It was somewhere around $35 a vial. His diabetes recurred a couple of months ago and Vetsulin was no longer available so we used the insulin for humans called Lantus which was $128 per vial (Yikes!). Fortunately, it has resolved itself again and he was only on insulin for about 5 weeks this time.

If we have to do insulin again for him, we're going to go with the bovine insulin from BCP (bcpvetpharm.com) which is a much more reasonable $40 per vial (including shipping) and from everything I read a much better match for a feline.

 

[DizBelle]

BTW - I also HIGHLY recommend you get a blood glucose monitor (the kind for humans can be used for cats) and test regularly. We use the Freestyle lite as it takes the smallest amount of blood (.3 microliters - basically if you can see the blood, you have enough). You DO NOT want to drive your cat's blood sugar too low.

 

[Muushka]

Thanks for the info. I want to be prepared when Vetsulin is no longer produced.

That is a great price from what you said. And according to the site, just 1 shot a day!!

My cat has been a diabetic for 4 years. I have the glucose monitor, and she has been very stable for the past year. She did have a little trouble last year, but all is well now.

 

[Linda in sunny SC]

I use BCP PZI for my cat. Be aware that most cats will do better with 2 shots per day. The insulin just doesn't last 24 hours with their metabolism. I also second the recommendation to test with a human glucometer. http://felinediabetes.com This site is a great place to find answers to your questions.

 

[si-am]

Our cat was also on Vetsulin (a vial cost us $55 but the shelf life was only a month). It isn't being distributed anymore-- honestly, vets shouldn't be prescribing it because of all its problems (though our cat did just fine on it).

We have switched to ProZinc (a PZI insulin). It costs $85 a via but from what we've heard, doesn't really expire, so it should save us money in the end.

 

[Muushka]

I use BCP PZI for my cat. Be aware that most cats will do better with 2 shots per day. The insulin just doesn't last 24 hours with their metabolism. I also second the recommendation to test with a human glucometer. http://felinediabetes.com This site is a great place to find answers to your questions.

She has a human glucometer, I swear! Thanks for the link

Our cat was also on Vetsulin (a vial cost us $55 but the shelf life was only a month). It isn't being distributed anymore-- honestly, vets shouldn't be prescribing it because of all its problems (though our cat did just fine on it).

We have switched to ProZinc (a PZI insulin). It costs $85 a via but from what we've heard, doesn't really expire, so it should save us money in the end.

They shortened the shelf life on the Vetsulin, but it was no where near as short as 1 month. I noticed that instead of 12 or so months it was down to 8 or so. Other than the shorter shelf life, what other problems did it have? My cat is doing great on it.

 

[si-am]

She has a human glucometer, I swear! Thanks for the link



They shortened the shelf life on the Vetsulin, but it was no where near as short as 1 month. I noticed that instead of 12 or so months it was down to 8 or so. Other than the shorter shelf life, what other problems did it have? My cat is doing great on it.

Everything I have read from other users said that it isn't as effective after one month. We noticed that our cat's blood sugar couldn't be controlled after that time too (he went from good pre-shot numbers of 150 to over 300 when the insulin needed to be replaced.)

I don't know much about the Vetsulin issues. Our boy was fine on it, honestly. But apparently the mixture was unstable. There's a lawsuit out there concerning it too.