from what we've heard from other friends when they dump a lot of medical treatment into their pet and they still have to be euthanized, it just sounds like prolonged agony.
So the common conservative treatment is Option 1- high doses of insulin to combat the growth hormone. But how long can that last and does it gives a cat a decent life and not feel bad? What if she continues w/ high BG#s? Do you just keep shooting more? Is there a way to possibly change to a more effective insulin?
SRT tends to give them much better quality of life for a period of time. That time really varies. When I went to CSU, they said the average length of time for cats after SRT was two years, but that also included quite a few that passed from other things. Of the 3 other cats that had SRT around the time I did, two got cancer, the other kidney disease - which was probably a bi-product of acromegaly, but delayed a few years. Neko had 4 + years. Only the last half year did things go south.
How much insulin an acrocat needs also varies all over the place. I have seen a dose of almost 100 units, though that it uncommon. The majority are less than 30 units, some single digits. It depends on the growth hormone output - which is why something like cabergoline, which limits growth hormone output, can help, and in the case of three lucky cats here, went off insulin. I know you said you aren't factoring in cost, but that's a lot of insulin. Those high doses also mean a really high output of growth hormone and the damaging side effects from that. The tumour can pulse up and down, and insulin needs can climb and drop.
As for how long with just giving insulin as needed, again hard to say. We just had one cat here who was up to 55 units go off of insulin last month, and several years after diagnosis. That is rare. Lily was very well regulated and did not suffer from time above renal threshold, which is damaging to kidneys. I think what I am saying is that it's hard to predict. We have also seen diabetic cats go into remission, then come back and be tested as acromegalic yeara later. Were they acro the first time as diabetics? Who knows, they weren't tested then. It's though the diabetes is a later stage of acromegaly, which Cleo has likely had for a while.
I too have known people who have put a lot of money into pets for very short term reward. The thing about acromegaly, it's a slower disease than most cancers. The tumour itself is not often the cause of death, but rather the side effects of excess growth hormone.
Levemir is a better insulin at higher doses - seems to have a bit better duration. But it won't be night and day better than Lantus for Cleo's numbers. Some people add a second or bolus insulin on top of the Levemir or Lantus.
We chose to have Rocket treated with SRT in August of last year (about six weeks after his diagnosis). The procedure wasn't hard on him, other than having five sessions of anesthesia of course. While not a cure, his insulin dose has decreased from around 13U at the time of treatment to approx. 3U this week (he just had what looks like a decent drop in insulin needs a few days ago which we're still adjusting to). Most importantly, he is a much happier kitty, almost completely back to his old self, and his neuropathy has improved so much!
