FDA Issues Alert for Vetsulin® Insulin
The FDA has released an alert for both veterinarians and people who care for diabetic pets who use Vetsulin®.
The Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health brand of insulin, Vetsulin®, is a porcine insulin zinc suspension used to manage diabetes in dogs and cats. A problem has been found in the production of this insulin, and the levels of crystalline zinc insulin vary - sometimes too much, sometimes too little.
Inconsistent levels of insulin make regulation of diabetes difficult/impossible, and could cause blood sugar levels to be too high (hyperglycema) or too low (hypoglycemia) in patients using this brand of insulin.
Common signs seen with:
HYPERglycemia (high blood sugar) include:
- Increased thirst
- Increased urination
- Increased appetite
- Weight loss
HYPOglycemia (low blood sugar) include:
- Weakness
- Disoriented behavior
- Tremors
- Seizures, with possible progression to coma and death if untreated
From the alert: "The FDA encourages veterinarians to report any adverse events with the Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health product to the company through the Technical Services Department at 1-800-224-5318." Read full FDA alert
If your diabetic dog or cat is being treated with Vetsulin®, please contact your veterinarian with questions about your pet's symptoms or to discuss alternative insulins to use for your pet.
More About Diabetes and Insulin Therapy:
- Diabetes Mellitus in Dogs
Jenna Stregowski, RVT, About.com Guide to Dogs - Feline Diabetes
Franny Syufy, About.com Guide to Cats - Vetsulin® Information
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health - Vetsulin® Alert FAQ
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health
Photo: Drawing up insulin in an insulin syringe - Getty Images / Mark Harmel
Comments
Thank you Janet for letting us know about this alert. I am a regular on the cats forum and got the information that you let Franny know about through your blog. I lost my cat Buddy back in August and he was on the vetsulin for quite some time. He also had a serious seizure about a month and a half before he died. I contacted the vets office this morning and the person that I talked to didn’t know about the FDA alert. She left a message for their manager about the alert and also left a message for Buddy’s vet to give me a call when he came in on Thursday. I can’t say that using the vetsulin caused Buddy’s death but I’m hoping that we can prevent a lot more by notifying our vets that we know about the alert. I gave Buddy’s left over vetsulin to a friend who also has a diabetic kitty using the vetsulin and notified her of the alert. She uses a different vet and has called her vet today and got an appointment for this coming Saturday for her kitty. I am surprised that none of this has hit the media yet–plan to inform our local news stations shortly– hopefuly we can get more pet owners notified about this alert.
Again, thank you so much.
My dog Merlin was diabetic and on vetsulin. He also died, suddenly on Labor Day. There were no signs that he was not healthy. Matter of fact I had just done a complete blood work on him and the vet commented on how good all his values looked. He was walking in the yard and just fell over and died. I have just recently heard of 2 other dogs (the same breed as mine) that were both diabetic and on vetsulin (different ages) that the same thing happened to. I have warned everyone I know that is using vetsulin. It breaks my heart to think that I might have been killing my dog everytime I gave him an injection, when I thought I was helping him.
I am so sorry to hear both of your stories, Sue and Cindy – thank you for posting them, this makes the alert more “personal” doesn’t it?
Hopefully people will take heed and discuss their diabetic pet care with their veterinarians.
Thanks too, Sue for getting the word out to your friends, vet, local media, etc.
My dog has been on Vetsulin for 3 years. Starting in September he had bouts of hypoglycemia & hyperglycemia. His BG was swinging so badly it was fluctuating by 400 points a day. Vet did tons of tests & he is perfectly healthy other than the diabetes. We have determined that it is clearly the Vetsulin that is causing the problems. Are starting him on a new insulin tomorrow. VERY SCARY TIMES!!
I just nearly lost my dog Cheyanne who has been on Vetsulin for nearly a year now. She became sluggish and not interested in eating, then yesterday went into seizure. We rushed her to the vet (luckily just two minutes away) and after a day of trying to control her hypoglycemia the vet found it was due to the Vetsulin. She is home now and recovering, and is on human insulin for the time being. Looking back it would seem that our attempts to set the right dosage regimen were thwarted by the problems with Vetsulin. I am very angry that this issue has not been more widely reported. It has cost considerable heartache and money to discover and remedy this problem.
Vetsulin KILLED my cat 4 days ago.
I am very angry!!
My poor cat SUFFERED LIKE HELL!!
And I did too!!
Schering Plough should be SUED!!
The amazing thing is I called my vet on Friday to warn her about the Vetsulin.
She said “she wasn’t using bad batches”.
TOTALLY CLUELESS!!