Last post Well the increase seems to be doing its job, but I'd like him a smidge lower still. Warming the syringe seems to help with the stinging but it still seems to bother him. @Wendy&Neko I've been mulling over the IAA/acro tests. I suppose the question is - what will they tell me? Nothing to be done about IAA, correct? I know acro has several treatments, but being realistic I don't see any of them (surgery, SRT, cabergoline) being feasible for us
IAA is useful to know in regards to dosing techniques and when the IAA breaks, it can be a wild ride down dose. Meaning more aggressive with decreases. Knowing whether a cat has acromegaly is much more interesting. I'm not sure why you say cabergoline being feasible. It's a daily med at a fairly low price. If cabergoline works and lowers the dose (we've had three go OTJ on it), then there are insulin savings that probably pay for the cabergoline. And cabergoline relieves some of the side effects and gives the cat a better quality of life. Also important with acromegaly is having that knowledge and knowing to look for side effect or consequences of having acromegaly. Neko saved a canine tooth because of it. Her vet saw a red gum line and was going to extract a tooth. I went to a dental vet instead, and the dental vet realized the red gum was from soft tissue growth in the gum (from acromegaly) causing her tooth above to rub it. He shaved the tooth above and all was fine. A more common thing to keep an eye on is the heart. Organ growth is a common side effect of acromegaly, including HCM, which Neko eventually ended up with. That meant being very careful with fluids for her. Heart conditions can be treated if you know to look for them in time. I've seen too many kitties here where the caregiver finds out too late.
Ah ok that makes much more sense! As for the cabergoline I had just done a google and it said 8 pills for $260, perhaps that's humans or a higher dose. I had thought about insulin vs meds tradeoff as well. Right now he isn't showing any signs of acro (even the eyesight and other ones listed in the acro forum) but I know some may not show up til later stages. Vet said he generally doesn't test til 10U+, but I'm sure if I ask he'll do it, thankfully he's pretty flexible with whatever I want to do...he probably thinks I'm nuts and just stays out of my way lol
Neither did mine - I had to ask her to humour me to get what the clinic owner called "exotic tests". Neko topped out at 8.75 units and positive for both. @Suzanne & Darcy can give you and idea what she's paying monthly for cabergoline, but it depends how large kitty is as it's dosed on weight. I thought it was less than $150 per month.
I paid $240 for a good size bottle of compounded Cabergoline liquid. Darcy has been on Cabergoline now for six weeks, and I have lots more left in the bottle. In fact, let me run get the bottle now... It’s a 60 mL bottle which, at Darcy’s dose of .4 mL daily means that there are 150 doses in the bottle — so that would mean this bottle should last me five month. Hope this helps!
