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Comment by Cheryl Lyons on March 5, 2011 at 4:42pm

I just came back from Walmart and the insulin was $24 and 100 needles $12.  Not as bad as I thought.  Though giving her 8 units a day out of a 1000 unit bottle that has to be tossed after 28 days, kind of kills me because alot will be left in the bottle.  Oh well.  I get my lessons Monday on how to inject her.  Will let ya know how that goes.  Of course I only wish my insurance will help, but not on my dog...don't think I can use my flex spending either! Dang

Comment by Ashley R on March 5, 2011 at 4:21pm

We get our insulin from our local pharmacy, of course, and insurance SAVES us about $10 per vial.  The last time my husband remembers looking at the cost per vial it was about $20. He's not sure what it runs now. When your life depends on it, there isn't much use in keeping up with the cost. We use novolog for the short lasting insulin and lantis for the long lasting insulin. Again, I'd like to stress that my husband has been living with this disease for over 25 years - he played soccer his entire life (all four years of college), is an avid biker, kayaker, & marathoner, AND an IRONMAN!  Check out www.triabetes.org to learn more about living with diabetes.  Be very careful of advice from people in the medical field who do not have the disease themselves.  We ran into this quite a bit when our daughter was diagnosed.  Their intentions are great but nothing beats living the experiment, so to speak. The best you can do is to educate yourself and I recommend learning from diabetics who are successfully managing their disease.  You can do this and your dog will be fine! But, if this is more than you want to handle, there are other options. I would try to just do one thing at a time right now.

Comment by Melissa and Franklin! on March 5, 2011 at 1:00pm

I'm not sure where the other commenter gets her insulin, because $10 a bottle is CHEAP. You are likely looking at more like $60-$100 per bottle. The bottles can last a few months though depending on how many units she needs. In the beginning it is going to be quite expensive, your vet will likely need weekly or bi-weekly glucose curves to test insulin levels until you are able to find the proper dosage. My vet did not have us test the blood sugar at home, rather take the dog in for periodic glucose curves. You can test at home, you just need to make sure you are doing it properly. Also the equipment to test at home is VERY expensive (think around $200+ for just the equipment). It is very important you get the insulin from your vet or a pharmacy recommended by your vet, DO NOT SHOP AROUND for cheaper insulin. Not all insulin is the same for dogs, there are different types that are different qualities. Some start to break down after less than a week and then just don't work, those you will likely find for cheap on the pet med "black market". Consider getting a medical credit card (such as carecredit) to help take care of the initial costs of a diabetic dog. Like I said before, it is very expensive. BUT on the plus side, it will be come routine to give the injections, many times you don't have to do any blood testing at home at all, AND your pup can go on to live a VERY long happy life with diabetes. At my vet we have dogs well into their teens that have been diabetic for years and years. Two VERY VERY VERY important things to remember, NEVER drop the insulin bottle and NEVER leave it out of the refrigerator over night. It is EXPENSIVE and dropping it or leaving it out means you will have to throw it away, full bottle or not. I can't tell you how many clients we have who have left a full bottle of insulin out over night, $80 down the drain. Also, make sure to keep a check off list or have just one member of the family administer the meds. A check off list is better. We also have a lot of clients who give the insulin, forget they gave it or husband/wife gives it again. But really it isn't too big of a deal once you get the dosage correct and start to figure out some sort of schedule. We have many very elderly owners and some very very busy owners who are able to keep their diabetic pets happy and healthy. Also, as the other post said, you will likely need to switch to a lower calorie diet like Hills W/D, you may be able to find something over the counter that is lower calorie, and a food change is really dependent on the pet. Good luck!

Comment by Ashley R on March 5, 2011 at 12:15pm

The insulin is about $10 a bottle, syringes come in packs and aren't too bad.  The big cost for diabetics comes from the test strips, but I'm assuming you don't check blood sugar on a dog?  My aunt had a dog diagnosed with diabetes who went on to live several years despite.  I'm wondering if you need a food lower in carbohydrates to help with this?  As an aside, my husband has Type I diabetes (for 25 years now) and my 3 1/2 year old daughter was diagnosed in October so try not to freak out!

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