1/6 CRYSTAL Acro advice please prior to vet visit?

Status
Not open for further replies.
suki & crystal (GA)

suki & crystal (GA)

Member Since 2014
Still seeing some yellows on Crystal's current dose (12u) which is much better than her usual pinks. Have a vet appointment tomorrow morning to have the IAA test and a general check over. I also want to discuss the possibility of changing to Levemir when the Lantus runs out (2 pens to go), and also get the vet's thoughts on R insulin. She's probably going to have a fit at the current dose as she told me to reduce down to 5u so we could well have an interesting conversation. I have plenty of evidence to take with me - including a copy of Crystal's SS and also Cobb's SS (where he got up to 31u), plus a couple of articles on acro and a copy of the R&R TR protocol - anything else anyone can think of that might be useful or any relevant questions I should be asking?

I've noticed that a few of the links about acromegaly in the "New to the Group" sticky don't work, especially the Catacromegalty site, any thoughts?

Thanks in advance
Suki & Crystal

Edit

Just spoken to my vet, we have decided to postpone IAA test until next week as she has to check where it can be done etc. However, she was very interested in all my research and wants to have a look at my papers, which I will drop off tomorrow for her, and also wants to have a look at the FDMB so I hope we can continue this journey together with a common goal. Good news I hope.
 
Last edited:
Glad your vet was more receptive than you thought she would be! Isn't it nice to have someone appreciate all the research and work you've been doing?!

I hope she sees the benefit in possibly switching to Levemir. It has been a blessing for us -- both in Cobb's numbers, financially, and emotionally! There are a few different nuances to Lev, but nothing that can't be quickly learned. We switched to Lev in August of last year, so if you ended up printing off all 3 tabs, your vet can see how Cobb started heading down the dosing ladder fairly quickly after that.

The only thing I would add is that the IAA results will be helpful in knowing how aggressive you might need to be with Crystal's dosing. If she has IAA, you might increase her dose a little more frequently so the antibodies don't have a chance to settle in. I personally have a theory that R insulin is beneficial in beating back the antibodies too, but I haven't had the time to start a Think Tank discussion and organize my thoughts on my theory just yet. But...if Crystal has IAA that could be what is pushing her insulin needs higher, not necessarily the acro. Does that make sense?

I don't think the catacromegaly site works anymore. I vaguely remember trying to search for it when we were exploring acro as well. I know Julie and Wendy will certainly weigh in. Maybe Lauren will stop by as well. Tommy had acro, Lauren didn't do the SRT but kept his numbers normal on a low dose of insulin.

~Suzanne
 
Suki,

It sounds like you are well prepared. There is a small section on Acromegaly in the Roomp & Rand protocol and I would point that out the vet, along with the other items you have. It says, among other things, that most cats with acromegaly will require doses of 2u/kg or more, and it mentions using Lantus or Levemir along with regular insulin. That should help ease the vet into those conversations and should help them be more comfortable with the higher dose.

Doses are really all over the map for acro (or IAA) cats, and the fun part is that their dosing needs can change dramatically and quickly. My Jazzy didn't go terribly high. Her max dose was around 14u with some R occasionally, and she was down to 1.5 units when she died (I believe she had cancer when she died, which tends to drive insulin doses lower).

It looks like they must have let the catacromegaly site go. Nobody had been maintaining it for a while. That's too bad. I'll try to make a project this weekend to look at the stickies and see if I can update links. Some of them might just be broken from the move to this new software.
 
Thank you Suzanne for your comments and thoughts, I would certainly be interested in any think tank you might put together (not that I have enough experience to add anything but I'd like to see the results). I suppose I just need to wait for the IAA result first before making any major decisions. Am I right in assuming that you had no medical procedures for Cobb, just got him down by dosing alone? I'd like to use you as my case history example if that's okay with you?
Thanks Libby for your comments and please let me know if you manage to update any of the old links. Did you also change Jazzy to Levemir? I'm seriously considering the change as it looks like most of the acrocats do better on Lev from what I've cleaned.

I'm really pleased my vet wants to get involved, the folder I'm gathering for her is getting larger by the hour!
Suki & Crystal
 
Hey Suki,

The only thing we had done with Cobb is a dental -- which didn't do anything to change his high BGs. We had no other medical interventions. Either the IAA broke or it was insulin-specific and the change to Levemir brought him down in dose. Who knows if I had stuck with the Lantus if we would have come down. That will always be an unanswered question.

Absolutely! Feel free to show your vet anything of Cobb's. If you need any other info that I can provide, please ask!

~Suzanne
 
I did switch Jazzy to Levemir, but not necessarily because I thought she would do better on it (her cycles were pretty flat on Lantus too). I did it because I was giving a lot of dosing advice here at the time, and it seems like people give more credence to people who have used the same insulin. I had already had a Lantus cat (Lucy) so I switched Jazzy to Levemir. ;)
 
Hi Suki - sounds like a successful visit. It's great to have a vet work with you and willing to learn. One of the articles I posted to you from Dr. Niessen also talks about dose for acrocats. Of course, Neko only got up to 8.75U which is less than 1.5u per kg.

Let me know if there are particular articles you are looking for. I saved most of them. The acromegaly site seems to have been down for a good part of a year - it wasn't getting much traffic.

Here's a copy of Tommy's SS - Lauren just managed him with insulin. She used the Lantus the entire time.

@Libby and Lucy - A lot of the links in Acromegaly - interesting posts of the past are mostly broken. I've got a ton more new stuff I've been meaning to add to the Acromegaly - what do we know post.
 
Last edited:
Thank you all for your various offers of help. Wendy, thanks for the links, if it's not too much trouble can you send me the link to Dr Niessen's article again, I've lost it somewhere en route. Also, can you let me know when you post all the new stuff on acro.

In the meantime I'm looking at lots of the SS but it's so heartbreaking when they finally pass, I dread that day coming but at least I will know that I did the best in my capability for Crystal.
 
thanks Wendy, I appeciate you taking the time to find the articles for me, especially with all that you have going on at the moment with Neko, hope she's soon back on her paws.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top