Death after Insulin in dogs

624 reports to the FDA describe death in dogs given Insulin. That is 8.5% of all reports for this medicine, compared with 5.2% across reports for all dog medicines, so it is reported unusually often with this medicine.

624Reports

78%Marked serious

0.2%Recovered

99%Died or euthanised

13 daysTypical onset

How soon it started

Same day

47 17%

1–2 days

34 12%

3–7 days

39 14%

1–4 weeks

51 18%

Over a month

111 39%

How the animals did

Recovered

1 0.2%

Died

287 46%

Euthanised

330 53%

Not known

6 1.0%

Problems reported at the same time

Didn't work as expected

245 39%

169 27%

143 23%

135 22%

98 16%

95 15%

88 14%

86 14%

Age of the animals

Under 1 year

1–3 years

4–7 years

8–11 years

297

12+ years

229

About this medicine

Insulin treats diabetes.

Questions owners ask

Can Insulin cause death in dogs?: 624 reports link the two, but a report alone does not prove the medicine was the cause: other illnesses, other medicines or coincidence can be involved. Your vet can judge it for your animal.
How soon after a dose was it reported?: In half of the reports with dates, it started within 13 days of the first dose.
What should I do?: Don't give another dose until you've spoken to your vet, and keep the packaging so you can tell them the product and dose. Your vet can also report it to the FDA (or you can, through the manufacturer or FDA form 1932a).

Death with similar medicines

Death after Trilostane (Vetoryl) 1,318 reports · 11% of its reports
Death after Phenylpropanolamine (Proin) 311 reports · 7.5% of its reports
Death after Levothyroxine 249 reports · 8.3% of its reports

All reported side effects of Insulin in dogs · Medicines most reported with death