U 40 syringes and U 40 insulin solutions are used in treating diabetes in pets, both dogs and cats. Most cats require twice daily injections to manage diabetes as they have high-metabolisms and need insulin more often. Some dogs can get by with a single injection each day, but others will require the two injections a day regimen. U 40 insulin is a weaker strength insulin formulation, than is used by humans. The U stands for units of insulin and the 40 means that 40 units of insulin are available in each milliliter of insulin solution. Human insulin is typically U 100 strength or has 100 units of insulin in each milliliter of solution. So doing the math U 100 insulin has two and a half times the amount of insulin in the same volume than U 40 insulin does.

Different syringes are made to correspond to each type of insulin with U100 and U 40 insulin syringes being available. It is important to note that the physical size of the syringes will most likely be the same, but each will have markings on them to show how many units of insulin are delivered when the syringe is filled to that level. Using U 40 insulin in U 100 syringes will take some math calculation to determine the correct conversion to do to make sure you inject the dose of insulin your veterinarian prescribed.

Remember, U 40 insulin has only 40% of the insulin units that the same amount of U 100 insulin has, so filling the syringe to the markings on the U 100 syringe will result in incorrect dosing. It takes two and a half times the amount of U 40 insulin to equal the U 100 syringe markings. If this is confusing and you aren’t quite sure of how to go about it, just make sure you always buy the syringes that correspond to the insulin your veterinarian prescribed.

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