Need some advise ASAP

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Elena

Elena

Member Since 2015
Hello everyone, i haven't been on this forum since our beloved Perkins passed away in 2017. I just couldn't bring myself back here to talk about it , it was too painful for me but now i must come back because we need some advise on our cat Binky. He is 11 years old and about 17 pounds. In April he started throwing up. We took him to the vet and they did blood work and found he had a high white blood cell count of 31 thousand and his blood sugar was high at 174. He had elevated pancreas enzymes his amylase was 1295. The dr gave him fluids antibiotics and appetite pills. After a week he got better. This week he started throwing up again, we went back to the vet, they ran blood work again, and found his white blood cell count is now 42 thousand and his pancreas amylase enzymes are now 1408. Two vets told us they don't know why, one vet said he could be pre diabetic and he could have pancreatitis. They gave us the same meds for him to take. We have spent over 1000 dollars on our care credit card and are running out of credit. Binky is eating very little since Tuesday, even with the appetite pills. I am going to talk to the vet again in the morning. Binkys redblood cell count is high and his platelets are low. Any advise will be much appreciated.
 
I agree ultrasound for sure and the pancreatitis tests. There are 2 and I always forget the name. I’m curious what about anti nausea pills? If you’re cat is nauseated the apetite pills alone won’t be much help. Is he taking Cerenia or Ondansetron? Minnie was on both and the latter worked better. She had similar symptoms and her ultrasound was inconclusive but it indicated either IBD or lymphoma. The blood tests specific for pancreatitis ruled that out. This year an endoscopy finally confirmed IBD and she’s on GI tract specific steroid for it. She’s back to eating normal and not needing the antinausea anymore. My point is that if you don’t know for sure but your cat is not eating, it most likely will need antinausea meds. I’d ask your vet about one of the 2 I mentioned.
 
Probably depends on the area and whether the vet is lower-cost. My vet does a lot of at-cost pricing but the surrounding vets charge 3X more. They also may not come with all the bells and whistles and offer the bare minimum? When I checked dog dental prices I was shown $700-$900 to be average but I paid just under $250 - turns out they didn't do any x-rays.
 
Panic said:
Probably depends on the area and whether the vet is lower-cost. My vet does a lot of at-cost pricing but the surrounding vets charge 3X more. They also may not come with all the bells and whistles and offer the bare minimum? When I checked dog dental prices I was shown $700-$900 to be average but I paid just under $250 - turns out they didn't do any x-rays.
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Yes true. I was taking Minnie to a low cats cat clinic and she had a small portable ultra sound and the cost was $75 but then again it didn’t show much at the end I had to fork up for the fancy one :nailbiting:
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Not all :p MASH is by me. I do love them. If you ever feel like driving East or need a specialty they don’t have there, or want to save $100 on an ultrasound, check them out
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Too far away if I have emergencies. I keep looking for a close regular vet as I’m not sure how long before my vet will retire. Slim pickings so far. :( Sorry for hyjacking the thread.
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
One more thing Elena. Are you in the US? CareCredit saved my ass with Minnie’s hospital bills. It gives you a year to pay with no interest of paid in full. Just thought I’d mention it :)
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Yes i'm in the US and my mom has been using her carecredit but we only have so much and every time Binky gets sick the vet gets 500 out of us, so we have to find out what is causing this because we can only keep paying that much for so long.
 
I'm not good at reading labs, sorry.

A number of people on this forum have cats with chronic pancreatitis. With pancreatitis, you treat the symptoms. Some of them have a good relationship with their vet and their vet allows them to have the appropriate meds on hand.

For pancreatitis, a cat needs buprenorphine (for pain), cerenia and odanestron (vomiting and nausea), an appetite stimulant, and possibly fluids.

Start off by reading this. It will give you most of the information you need to have a decent conversation with your vet. The "prediabetic" diagnosis: You can track glucose numbers at home.
 
Elena said:
Yes i'm in the US and my mom has been using her carecredit but we only have so much and every time Binky gets sick the vet gets 500 out of us, so we have to find out what is causing this because we can only keep paying that much for so long.
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The pancreatitis tests mentioned are needed then. If they all come back negative then ultrasound and possibly endoscopy to confirm something like IBD. But start with the blood tests. Call your vet and hell him/her you want to have them done and ask if he can do them
 
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Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
I know but what is the vet doing that costs 500 each visit and not actually doing the tests the cat needs? :mad::mad::mad:
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So true, the vet did bloodwork but in house CBC and metabolic panel, shot of antibiotics, B 12 shot, appetite pills, anti nausea pills, fluid under the skin, and man that stuff adds up so quick. She did say we should do a ultra sound but that is 450, another vet said he needs a x ray. When i spoke to the vet today he said he still doesn't know what is causing Binky to get sick.... BUT he is paying so close attention to our cat that he called him a dog. I really can't stand vets, and because of all of our bad experiences with nightmare vets we will never get anymore animals unless we win the lottery.
 
Fluids you can learn how to do at home. It is so much cheaper and even cheaper if you buy the necessities to do so online rather than buy from a vet. I was once charged well over $20 (I can't remember the exact figure) for a subq fluid "kit." All I needed was the bag of fluids because I had leftover supplies from a previous cat but they only sold "kits." The "kit" was the fluid, an administration line and 10 needles in a plastic grocery store bag. I worked out that the actual cost of these items was less than $10.

Tent the back of your cat's neck. If the skin goes back quite quickly, your cat is hydrated. If the skin takes some time to go back, your cat likely needs fluids.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Fluids you can learn how to do at home. It is so much cheaper and even cheaper if you buy the necessities to do so online rather than buy from a vet. I was once charged well over $20 (I can't remember the exact figure) for a subq fluid "kit." All I needed was the bag of fluids because I had leftover supplies from a previous cat but they only sold "kits." The "kit" was the fluid, an administration line and 10 needles in a plastic grocery store bag. I worked out that the actual cost of these items was less than $10.

Tent the back of your cat's neck. If the skin goes back quite quickly, your cat is hydrated. If the skin takes some time to go back, your cat likely needs fluids.
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Yes i have done fluids at home before, and your right the vet charged 25 dollars for the iv bag
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Fluids you can learn how to do at home. It is so much cheaper and even cheaper if you buy the necessities to do so online rather than buy from a vet. I was once charged well over $20 (I can't remember the exact figure) for a subq fluid "kit." All I needed was the bag of fluids because I had leftover supplies from a previous cat but they only sold "kits." The "kit" was the fluid, an administration line and 10 needles in a plastic grocery store bag. I worked out that the actual cost of these items was less than $10.

Tent the back of your cat's neck. If the skin goes back quite quickly, your cat is hydrated. If the skin takes some time to go back, your cat likely needs fluids.
Click to expand...
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
I agree ultrasound for sure and the pancreatitis tests. There are 2 and I always forget the name. I’m curious what about anti nausea pills? If you’re cat is nauseated the apetite pills alone won’t be much help. Is he taking Cerenia or Ondansetron? Minnie was on both and the latter worked better. She had similar symptoms and her ultrasound was inconclusive but it indicated either IBD or lymphoma. The blood tests specific for pancreatitis ruled that out. This year an endoscopy finally confirmed IBD and she’s on GI tract specific steroid for it. She’s back to eating normal and not needing the antinausea anymore. My point is that if you don’t know for sure but your cat is not eating, it most likely will need antinausea meds. I’d ask your vet about one of the 2 I mentioned.
Click to expand...
can you tell me what the
cerenia dose for cats is
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
I'm not good at reading labs, sorry.

A number of people on this forum have cats with chronic pancreatitis. With pancreatitis, you treat the symptoms. Some of them have a good relationship with their vet and their vet allows them to have the appropriate meds on hand.

For pancreatitis, a cat needs buprenorphine (for pain), cerenia and odanestron (vomiting and nausea), an appetite stimulant, and possibly fluids.

Start off by reading this. It will give you most of the information you need to have a decent conversation with your vet. The "prediabetic" diagnosis: You can track glucose numbers at home.
Click to expand...
What about prednisone for the pancreatitis or IBS
 
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