Is an icebox cool enough for insulin 24/7?
My cat is the diabetic in the family. I stored his insulin in a cooler for the first time, yesterday and last night, and was surprised how much warmer it was than the S&B fridge. Is it really going ...
Forum Discussion
Pharmacist here.
Insulin for human use is good at room temperature for a month. That does not mean leave it in a parked car in August, but anything up to about 78 Fahrenheit is fine.
The label on the bottle should say that, but it is in very fine print.
I imagine that the reason the Vet told you that is, pets get very small doses of insulin, so a vial of insulin can last months. If it is stored refrigerated. If it is stored at room temperature, you may be throwing away a nearly full (expensive) vial every month.
A vial of insulin has 1000 units in it. You can divide that by the number of units your pet gets a day to see how many days that vial will last if kept cold.
One other thing. We normally recommend throwing away a vial of injectable medicine after a month. That is because of potential contamination of the contents when the stopper is punctured by the needle, and subsequent bacterial growth.
Insulin for human use is good at room temperature for a month. That does not mean leave it in a parked car in August, but anything up to about 78 Fahrenheit is fine.
The label on the bottle should say that, but it is in very fine print.
I imagine that the reason the Vet told you that is, pets get very small doses of insulin, so a vial of insulin can last months. If it is stored refrigerated. If it is stored at room temperature, you may be throwing away a nearly full (expensive) vial every month.
A vial of insulin has 1000 units in it. You can divide that by the number of units your pet gets a day to see how many days that vial will last if kept cold.
One other thing. We normally recommend throwing away a vial of injectable medicine after a month. That is because of potential contamination of the contents when the stopper is punctured by the needle, and subsequent bacterial growth.
