I have a diabetic dog and on the diabetic pet mailing list they say cold insulin hurts. I have forgotten to get a new Levemir pen out and had to inject cold insulin. It didn’t hurt me.
Have any of you had to use cold insulin and did it hurt?
I have never experienced pain when injecting Levemir even when cold. I have read that Lantus sometimes stings when injected I guess it might be worse when cold, really can't say.
I wonder what kind of insulin your dog is given, something tells me it's not quite the same as what we inject and could be worse.
Gary
Most dogs are started on NPH. We get the Walmart brand and right now that is Humalin N. There was an animal insulin that was tried for a while, but proved unfeasable. Lantus is used some, and Levimir is used some in cats.
Probably a lot more than you really wanted to know. LOL
I inject cold insulin all of the time . Sometimes it hurts , sometimes it doesn't . I have nerve damage . It's very inconsistent . It's just something that we have to do ; whether it hurts or not.
I know that insulin for pets is not unusal but I'm curious about how a dose is calculated. Are pets on insulin on a basal insulin only? Did your vet set the basal rate for you? Do you ever have to test your pets BS.
So no it's not more than I wanted to know. LOL
Gary
It has been 2 years since he was diagnosed so I may not have it exactly correct but Rocky was about 20 pounds at the time and they started him on 6 units HPH. Very seldom are dogs put on just a basal insulin. Very seldom are dogs given just a basal insulin. NPH peaks at about 6 hours. The insulin is given twice a day, 12 hours apart.
With the help of those on the mailing list, we start at the dose the vet set and then increase if necessary according to what our tests show. We test them using either a human meter or animal meter. Their numbers are the same as a human’s. Cats are different though so I have no idea what their numbers are.
If you don’t blood test at home, then you urine test. It took me about 1 1/2 years before I ould test Rocky at home.
I better stop now before I fill several pages with information that I have learned in the last 2 years. LOL
I'll bet Rocky just loves the testing part. I have always said it's not the injections that bother me it's the testing. I wonder if Rocky feels that way.
Poor ole Rocky, I feel for ya buddy. LOL
Actually he doesn’t seem to mind it. We heat a cloth in the microwave and when he hears it beep he gets on the couch ready for his test. Then he starts looking for his treat. We don’t test him a lot though. As long as he isn’t exhibiting any signs of high BG we don’t test but one day a week. If he doesn’t want to eat, then I will test so I know how much insulin to give him. Dogs are similar to us as far as beinng able to use human insulin, but you don’t treat them the same as you would a human though. Dogs are considered type 1 while cats are considered type 2.
Yes, it can definitely burn, especially Lantus. Lantus has a higher tendency to burn anyway. If I forget to take it out a few hours ahead, (when starting a new pen), I just roll it in my hands for a while to help warm it up a bit first.
Thanks. I know most people don’t have personal experience with NPH so it’s just a guess as to whether it being cold would hurt or not. It is good to know though that some insulins will burn whether cold or warm. Thanks for all the responses.