Newly diagnosed Acro/IAA and looking for help

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Jaysonguy

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I just got the news so please forgive me if I leave anything out.

Our foster Speedy just was diagnosed Acro/IAA and now I need to fix him. He's between the age of 10 and 12 because his former family didn't have the best record keeping but considering they also threw him away to be euthanized when he became a diabetic their flaws run pretty deep.

I know there's the SRT in Yonkers and I need to know how much that is and I also know there's medications but if I give him a medication wont his gland just keep on going crazy and destroying his body?

If you want to share anything I'm ready to hear it, horror stories included.

Thank you
 
Thanks for responding S&G, thing is we're right next to NY (for all intensive purposes if we pretend Connecticut isn't a thing) and the only other place I read about is in Colorado and then you're talking the price of air fare and hotel and all that jazz.
 
Jaysonguy said:
I know there's the SRT in Yonkers and I need to know how much that is and I also know there's medications but if I give him a medication wont his gland just keep on going crazy and destroying his body?
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Sorry for the diagnosis of Speedy. Yonkers does the Cyberknife which is more precise than SRT, they quoted me at $10-$12K. I had SRT done at Red Bank, NJ, cost was about $8K with boarding. I did try the trial drug cabergoline before the SRT, not sure if it was helping much. Marvin is doing great on it but that is not the norm. Only 1 of 6 kitties in the official trial is doing well on it. That would cost about $100/mo. Wendy is an expert in acro and I am sure she will chime in with great info.
 
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The vet tat was at Colorado State is now at North Carolina State. You're rite, there may be additional costs for airfare and hotel but you'd have to weigh that against cost. I'd also check and see if Cornell does SRT or cyberknife. Given they're the top vet school in the country, there's a good chance they offer the procedure.
 
Hello and welcome. Thank you so much for taking in Speedy and giving him a loving home.:bighug: Neko had SRT twice at Colorado State University. In some cases, the tumour can grow back after radiation, which it did with Neko, 3 years after the initial treatment.

This post listed a bunch of places that did treatment as of a couple years ago. Red Bank (New Jersey) does SRT and Yonkers does Cyberknife. Paul recently had Bronx treated with SRT at RedBank. North Carolina State U also has good expertise in treating acromegaly with SRT. Another treatment in the US is hypophysectomy. It is surgical removal of the pituitary gland. A couple years ago it was again around $10K cost, but is only done at Washington State University, that I know of, in the US. The gold standard place for treatment is the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London. Similar cost, maybe cheaper flight for you.

Medical treatments are cabergoline, but it's a new trial drug and results are mixed as described above. There is another drug, paseriotide, in two forms, Signifor and Signifor LAR (long acting). One is daily injection and the other monthly. Much better success has been achieved with these drugs, especially the LAR form. The catch? It's around $2,000 a month in the US. Cheaper in Canada, I priced it at $5,000 for the daily version for 3 months supply. :eek:And that's the daily version - my vet couldn't find a source for the long lasting one a couple years ago, when it had just been approved for use in Canada. Last I heard, it hadn't even been approved for use in the UK for humans, much less cats. Hence the ongoing research, again at RVC, for a cheaper, more easily available drug.

In the mean time, to help fight the IAA, and help him feel better, your goal should be to give him as much insulin as he needs to stay mostly under renal threshold. Some people have found that the switch from Lantus to Levemir helps break the antibodies hold. In any case, the IAA is supposed to be self limiting after about a year. But the antibodies don't have a calendar - for Neko it took 9 months and cooincided with her first SRT treatment. Higher doses of Lantus can sting some cats, another reason for a switch to Lev. But we've also had kitties with higher doses of Lantus that didn't seem to have an issue with stinging.

If you are into reading, this post has a lot of info.

Radiation therapy neuters the benign tumor cells in the pituitary, causing the tumour to reduce, and hence a reduction in the amount of growth hormone going out. It's the growth hormone that triggers the chain of events that leads to insulin resistance. There is also IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor) that is output - it is more responsible for soft tissue growth. After SRT, Neko's insulin dose dropped significantly, but she was still insulin dependant. Some smaller percentage of cats after SRT go OTJ (off the juice). More so with hypophysectomy. But SRT may not change the IGF-1 output. Neko got soft tissue growth in her mouth, and also increasing arthritis. In spite of all that, she lived 4.5 years after her acro/IAA diagnosis and what was probably at least 5 years after she got acromegaly. And most of it, until the end, was pretty good quality of life.

Whew - taking a breath and stepping away from the keyboard for a moment. Feel free to fire questions my way.
 
Hello Jason, Marvin is on his 5th week on cabergoline. He has gone from 8U of Lantus to a drop during this time. I contacted RVC directly to find out about the drug and My Vet was willing to try it. This week I contacted the researcher to provide an update on Marvin and he did mention that Marvin reacting to the drug better than the kitties on the trail. I know that they have had positive results too, just don't know exactly what the results are. The previous updated from RVC I had about results is:

I will be able to share a little more information after the ECVIM conference in Malta in September this year as I am presenting some preliminary data from the cats I have been looking after at this conference. We’ll probably also put something on the diabetic remission website around this time too.​

The reason I decided to choose this option was that I simply couldn't afford any of the other treatments, and I figured that if Marvin was going to become a high dose kitty that the cost of the cabergoline would be off set by the reduction of insulin. @Bronx's dad also provided me with his experience and information he had on one of the kitty that was responding well that was on the lower side of high doser like Marvin. So I figured I had nothing to lose and Marvin had everything to gain. @Wendy&Neko has kindly been guiding me through all of this. We are both amazed at how Marvin has reacted to the drug. I don't know what the long time effect will be, and I can't wait to also see the official results of the trail. At this point we don't know how the IGF-1 growth hormone is impacted (decreased or same). I think preliminary feedback that bronx dad had gotten earlier this year was that there did not seem to be a difference. However that should be confirmed in September. I unfortunately can't afford right now to get Marvin re-tested for that. I probably will at some point.

Take a look at Marvin's SS, you can see how the cabergoline has affected his insulin needs. There is alot to take in with this, and unfortunately it come down to what you can afford. There are many people whom chose to simply give kitty the amount a insulin they require to treat the diabetes which is also a viable option.

Speedy is lucky that you have taken him on. :bighug:

Let me know if you want more information, you have all the right people on this thread to help you out, Wendy definitely keeps up with the latest news on Acromegaly.
 
Thank you everyone for your well wishes and information.

I'm reading and rereading everyone's posts and researching what's there, I also went to our doctor today and had a meeting with her on Speedy's treatment.

I cannot thank everyone enough for the time you're giving to our family. I'll be back with many questions once I do more research because I need all the help I can get right now.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome. Thank you so much for taking in Speedy and giving him a loving home.:bighug: Neko had SRT twice at Colorado State University. In some cases, the tumour can grow back after radiation, which it did with Neko, 3 years after the initial treatment.

This post listed a bunch of places that did treatment as of a couple years ago. Red Bank (New Jersey) does SRT and Yonkers does Cyberknife. Paul recently had Bronx treated with SRT at RedBank. North Carolina State U also has good expertise in treating acromegaly with SRT. Another treatment in the US is hypophysectomy. It is surgical removal of the pituitary gland. A couple years ago it was again around $10K cost, but is only done at Washington State University, that I know of, in the US. The gold standard place for treatment is the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London. Similar cost, maybe cheaper flight for you.

Medical treatments are cabergoline, but it's a new trial drug and results are mixed as described above. There is another drug, paseriotide, in two forms, Signifor and Signifor LAR (long acting). One is daily injection and the other monthly. Much better success has been achieved with these drugs, especially the LAR form. The catch? It's around $2,000 a month in the US. Cheaper in Canada, I priced it at $5,000 for the daily version for 3 months supply. :eek:And that's the daily version - my vet couldn't find a source for the long lasting one a couple years ago, when it had just been approved for use in Canada. Last I heard, it hadn't even been approved for use in the UK for humans, much less cats. Hence the ongoing research, again at RVC, for a cheaper, more easily available drug.

In the mean time, to help fight the IAA, and help him feel better, your goal should be to give him as much insulin as he needs to stay mostly under renal threshold. Some people have found that the switch from Lantus to Levemir helps break the antibodies hold. In any case, the IAA is supposed to be self limiting after about a year. But the antibodies don't have a calendar - for Neko it took 9 months and cooincided with her first SRT treatment. Higher doses of Lantus can sting some cats, another reason for a switch to Lev. But we've also had kitties with higher doses of Lantus that didn't seem to have an issue with stinging.

If you are into reading, this post has a lot of info.

Radiation therapy neuters the benign tumor cells in the pituitary, causing the tumour to reduce, and hence a reduction in the amount of growth hormone going out. It's the growth hormone that triggers the chain of events that leads to insulin resistance. There is also IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor) that is output - it is more responsible for soft tissue growth. After SRT, Neko's insulin dose dropped significantly, but she was still insulin dependant. Some smaller percentage of cats after SRT go OTJ (off the juice). More so with hypophysectomy. But SRT may not change the IGF-1 output. Neko got soft tissue growth in her mouth, and also increasing arthritis. In spite of all that, she lived 4.5 years after her acro/IAA diagnosis and what was probably at least 5 years after she got acromegaly. And most of it, until the end, was pretty good quality of life.

Whew - taking a breath and stepping away from the keyboard for a moment. Feel free to fire questions my way.
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I'll add my 2 cents about CSU, and it won't be positive.

I contacted them to see my cat. Not about acro issues, for other reasons.

1st negative:
Manpower shortage. They will straight up tell you they can not meet demand. Staff has left and they don't have enough people. You fit their cookie cutter mold, if you don't, they move on to the next animal. There is no room for individualizing the experience to your animals needs. Non-negotiable.

2. Don't expect anything for free-ever- at all. And don't expect them to tell you about the fees either. I was asked to forward my animals records to CSU. I received a bill from them 10 dollars PER record and per image that they accepted. NEVER in my wildest dreams, was I expecting a bill from them when THEY told me to send them the records and all images and all labs and all ect....... I was never told I'd be billed for sending them my cat's records. It wasn't even a question I would have thought to ask.
Please read that again 10 dollars PER item.
I find this practice unacceptable and deceptive.

3. Don't expect to talk to a human. See notes about understaffed. You leave a message in the phone menu maze and the expectation is you will get a reply in 24-48 hours.

4. Phone calls are 10 bucks a call.

5. Email consultations are (?) memory is iffy 30 dollars and turn around time is 5 business days.

6. If you book an appointment and don't keep it, there is a cancellation fee.

7. If you arrive early and would like to sit in the waiting room, you must admit your animal to the er and are charged. To make it crystal clear, the wording was as follows: 'It costs 125 dollars as soon as you set foot through the door. I'd wait in the parking lot. Lots of people just hang out in their cars.'

I can go on and on, but hopefully that gives you an idea that CSU may no longer be the place that provides the positive experience others often speak about.

My experience summer 2017.

Questions, feel free to send me a conversation.

Best of luck to you. I wouldn't want anyone else to be surprised, like I was, with a big bill for following CSU's directions, and never once have it mentioned that contact was billable and I'd be charged for sending them my records.

Total shock when I opened the bill.

Best of luck to you. Hopefully you will find a place that is more hospitable and less about the cash.

Edit: Not sure if you find it helpful or not, it still is information.......
 
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For the record, apple had a completely different CSU experience than either time I was there. Maybe she was at a different department. My comments are specific to treatment for acromegaly. I never paid to talk to anyone on the phone. I never paid to send records to them - I just emailed them onto them. They gave me a quote up front before treatment. I developed a great relationship with the radiation oncologist that was in charge of Neko's procedure. He was even going to write up her case in a paper he was doing. We had a lot of email conversations for free, often within 24 hours. And I also consulted for free with the internal medicine vet that was in charge of Neko's time there. Even a couple years after Neko's first treatment at CSU, I still had free email consultations with staff there.

I never had to admit Neko to the ER when we arrived early. We just sat in the large waiting room with everyone else. They had free coffee for everyone waiting.

The second time there, Neko had a heart block during the anesthesia for her CT scan, so they decided they did not want to proceed with their usual SRT treatment. On their own initiative, they contacted people they knew at NCSU about doing the procedure differently. So, they decided to try something new they had never done before (after consulting with me of course). Definitely not cookie cutter. And it ended up costing quite a bit less than what they had quoted me at the start.

Hard to believe that CSU's standard of care for the last 5 years (based on experiences of others too), would change so much this year.
 
I missed this thread - which I think should be in the Acro subforum, and not here in an insulin sub-forum. Anyhow.

My experience at CSU was similar to Wendy's (who helped me extensively prior to the trip). I setup the appointment, then I drove from Austin, TX to Fort Collins. I generally was met with fairly friendly people. I knew the expense was going to be high for SRT. All the vets treated me with respect. I wrote up the history of the research thru the treatment in Leo's thread here. If you want a summary, go to the September 2016 timeframe - that is when he was treated. I received detailed answers to all my questions, and never felt rushed. There hasn't been any followup from them, and they told me there wouldn't be any...unless I paid for it.

The facilities are clean. The parking was very close, and free. The coffee was free. There was a volunteer usually in the waiting room, assisting people with coffee and stress. I interacted with other human owners - both local and remote. At the time, I was the the most remote patient (father) in the waiting room. I sure hope CSU has not gone downhill. Maybe apple just had an exceptionally bad experience with them. I sure hope that has not become the norm.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
For the record, apple had a completely different CSU experience than either time I was there. Maybe she was at a different department. My comments are specific to treatment for acromegaly. I never paid to talk to anyone on the phone. I never paid to send records to them - I just emailed them onto them. They gave me a quote up front before treatment. I developed a great relationship with the radiation oncologist that was in charge of Neko's procedure. He was even going to write up her case in a paper he was doing. We had a lot of email conversations for free, often within 24 hours. And I also consulted for free with the internal medicine vet that was in charge of Neko's time there. Even a couple years after Neko's first treatment at CSU, I still had free email consultations with staff there.

I never had to admit Neko to the ER when we arrived early. We just sat in the large waiting room with everyone else. They had free coffee for everyone waiting.

The second time there, Neko had a heart block during the anesthesia for her CT scan, so they decided they did not want to proceed with their usual SRT treatment. On their own initiative, they contacted people they knew at NCSU about doing the procedure differently. So, they decided to try something new they had never done before (after consulting with me of course). Definitely not cookie cutter. And it ended up costing quite a bit less than what they had quoted me at the start.

Hard to believe that CSU's standard of care for the last 5 years (based on experiences of others too), would change so much this year.
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Same department radiation oncology. Not acro, but same department. SRT 3 rounds.

My initial reason for making contact was Jeff's experience and then reading about yours. I thought it would be a good experience.

My glowing, non-cookie cutter experience comes from a private company. I went with pet cure. I can't say enough good things about the company.

1. My initial contact was an email send on a Saturday night. I got a call from the company the same night. The man I talked to was kind, understanding, not a sales pitch, only wanting to know how he could help.

2. Every thing was explained to me that night. The person told me who would handle the case, contact info and made all the contacts to get my records. Like clock work, if I was told I'd get a call or email, it happened. There wasn't anyone that I spoke to that wasn't well versed in my cat's needs and medical history and that was just when we were talking about would they accept him for treatment.

3. Every question was answered. I wanted the protocol changed to every other day, instead of every day. I also wanted the overlap to healthy tissue reduced to less than 1mm. With SRT the standard protocol overlap is 3mm. I didn't want that. It was agreed to. Knowing I'd have to travel far, rest time was built in for me and my cat.

4. The person writing the protocol is the best in the world. He was on a plane when I had a question. They found him flying to ??? and got the answer I needed. With my vacation coming to an end, the time to write the protocol was less than they unusually have. The staff worked over the weekend writing protocol.

5. I was given personal cell #s and told to call at anytime. And I did. I was nervous and one of the company directors offered to sit with me and stay with me. She even offered to cry with me.

6. When it was clear a different protocol, developed, used, approved in Europe would be a better way to go. Arrangements were made to fly the premier expert in from Denmark. The protocol is experimental in the US. The company wants to import the protocol and make it a standard of curative intent.

7. A personal video was made explaining the procedure, expectations, side effects and outcomes.

8. Having to travel a long distance, things were laid out for me with travel help, accommodation help and food.

9. I don't think I was given treatment any different that anyone else.

10. This was $5,000 less than CSU's estimate for radiation oncology, the same procedure if I went non-Denmark protocol. As a matter of fact, the Denmark protocol/procedure was the same cost. Plus, @ csu on top of their fees for radiation, you have all the other fees I posted about.

I found the second experience more to my liking, better fit for my animal and head and shoulders above how I was treated when dealing with CSU.

Plus, the person that does the radiation, kisses each patient and whispers sweet nothings to them. I loved the idea that someone was loving on, kissing, holding the paw of my cat.

I've offered one negative experience that I hope no human or animal will have to go through and one pleasurable experience (pet cure) that made me feel every human I encountered was engaged with my animal, invested in him and was highly knowledgeable about him before he was even accepted as a patient.
 
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I certainly would have entertained this option if I had known more about it. For me this would have been an easier drive to Phoenix.

From memory, I think the SRT machine itself is around $2Million. So there have to be enough patients pushed through the system to pay for it. I am a bit surprised there is no SRT in Texas, since Texas is effectively larger than most countries!
 
JeffJ said:
I missed this thread - which I think should be in the Acro subforum, and not here in an insulin sub-forum. Anyhow.
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@JeffJ
You are very meticulous about documenting things, and it makes finding info easy and clear. Maybe you could add a link to this thread in Leo's condo. A brief note that more srt info can be found here. Just a thought .......
 
apple said:
I was never told I'd be billed for sending them my cat's records. It wasn't even a question I would have thought to ask.
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I have to wonder when you received this bill? Is there any chance it was after you contacted PetCure?

I only bring this up because I know that if I've asked for records to be sent to me (the patient), they were free....but when I had an attorney (another entity/company) ask for them, I was charged per page (by the doctors office, not the attorney/company)......so if you received this bill after PetCure got involved, the charge may have been because CSU was sending your records to them

So if PetCure asked for your records to be sent from CSU to them, you'd get the bill from CSU
 
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I have updated Leo's SRT thread with the info about this (misplaced thread) ...okay I'll stop complaining about it.

I agree with Chris - the CSU bill could be for their records transfer to the Pet Cure. In any event, it sounds like many cats in this thread got some life-saving treatments. Modern technology is sure expensive, but I'm glad it is available for our cute kittehs.
 
Chris & China said:
I have to wonder when you received this bill? Is there any chance it was after you contacted PetCure?

I only bring this up because I know that if I've asked for records to be sent to me (the patient), they were free....but when I had an attorney (another entity/company) ask for them, I was charged per page (by the doctors office, not the attorney/company)......so if you received this bill after PetCure got involved, the charge may have been because CSU was sending your records to them

So if PetCure asked for your records to be sent from CSU to them, you'd get the bill from CSU
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Pet cure initial contact March 2017

CSU initial contact summer 2017

To be clear, CSU is not the university that I've referred to when discussing MRI/CT/ anesthesia/ICU. For clarification: I, nor any animal I have/had has ever been to CSU.

Closest I've got is a show cat that did a CFA show in Denver. That's my only animal that's been to Colorado. We flew in, finaled like nobody's business, got enough points to keep her competitive in the regionals. Flew home.

No, CSU has never sent my records anywhere on my behalf. Bill is for accepting records sent to them.

Edit: I got the CSU bill today.
 
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JeffJ said:
I have updated Leo's SRT thread with the info about this (misplaced thread) ...okay I'll stop complaining about it.

I agree with Chris - the CSU bill could be for their records transfer to the Pet Cure. In any event, it sounds like many cats in this thread got some life-saving treatments. Modern technology is sure expensive, but I'm glad it is available for our cute kittehs.
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No, CSU never sent anything to pet cure. I had my vet send things to pet cure. All charges on the bill say import xxx.

Grainy close-up added. All line items say import outside xyz (image/lab/ records/ etc.) So, the travel direction is to CSU.

Chris, I would have never thought of that idea on my own. Thanks.
It's still a charge to RECEIVE my records they requested, and never said a word about the fee to do this.

The line items in the photo were for three abdominal x rays that I had to send before I could be considered to bring my animal there. Not accepted for SRT, just accepted for an appointment. Each item sent says import outside xyz. Each item it 10 bucks. Many more items than these three. Just showing those as a sample.



20170806_011614.jpg
 
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apple said:
For clarification: I, nor any animal I have/had has ever been to CSU.
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Good to know - what you described did not sound like the place I and many others have been to and received great service.
apple said:
0. This was $5,000 less than CSU's estimate for radiation oncology,
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My total bill from CSU for Neko's last SRT was $5000.

Also good to know more options for SRT/SRT are opening up for people in North America. Just wish there were more places doing hypophysectomy for acrokitties.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good to know
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Re: CSU
I stand by every comment I said about CSU.

I doubt if I had an in-person experience it would be different from the behavior and attitudes experienced via phone /email.

First thing that was made clear, greater demand than capacity. Demand dictates market/ business behavior/ price. CSU is, above all else, a business offering services in the market place.

The "I haven't been there" statement was to help people understand three things:
1. To clarify the flow of documents. Bills are for CSU accepting my cat's records. Documents were flowing into CSU, not out of CSU to petcure.

2. Be aware you will be billed for absolutely everything, even if your animal is not accepted as a client and/or choose not to go there, and there is no up front honesty about all the bills you will receive.

3. Recent university trips were at another institution.

My experience is what I experienced.

After reading Jeff's account, then yours, I decided to contact CSU. What you and Jeff experienced, isn't what I experienced. Jeff does a fantastic job of documenting everything. Sharing my experience provides future readers with additional information to use when making animal health care decisions. I was looking for the wonderful experience you and Jeff described and it was not there.

What I experienced doesn't take away from your experience, just as your experience doesn't negate mine. It is simply what it is/was.

It felt like the employees were trained to start with cost first then move to health care. My guess is it's a function their strained capacity.....start with money first and if people can't afford it, CSU's human capital hasn't been spent explaining something to a person that won't book the service. It's a way to increase efficiency

I'll add some more:
When you talk with someone you are told the call will be x minutes. When time is up, it's up. Mid-thought or sentence, conversation ends. The person moves on to talking with the next person. No lag time seems to be built into their calling schedule.

It's economics.
They are understaffed. One way to reduce demand on resources is to change the market price of those resources. If calls were free, there would be more people calling and a greater work load for an overwhelmed staff. Make people pay and fewer people will use the resource. It's simple economic/human behavior.

The items CSU was upfront about charging for, I don't object to. I know I will be charged and make my decisions accordingly. I object to the items they DID NOT TELL ME ABOUT AND SPENT MY MONEY WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE /PERMISSION /CONSENT.

For me, money is hard to come by, and for it to be spent because I followed their directions and wasn't told there was a fees, that is a deceptive practice. Period. Doesn't matter what entity would engage in that behavior. Unacceptable.

More CSU info:
It sounded like you and Jeff were fairly confident that your cats would get SRT et al in one trip.

My experience would be drive 3 days, day 4 arrive @ CSU (not early it would cost $125) do a meet and greet. Day 5 imaging and set up. Days 6-8 Return home.
About week later return for SRT.

Enough for now. (might add more later) I only wanted to add my experience to the documentation, both CSU and PetCure.
 
JeffJ said:
I am a bit surprised there is no SRT in Texas, since Texas is effectively larger than most countries!
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I am too. You know this as a fact? I would think A&M University would with their huge vet program and hospital.

There is also a new(er) hospital in Houston that I would have guessed had it.
http://www.gcvs.com/

But, who knows, with the $2M price tag.
 
I did some research before the 2016 CSU trip. To my knowledge A&M doesn't have a facility that is open to outsiders. FYI, I got my computer science Ph.D. from A&M, and it's only 2 hours from Austin. It's really too bad they don't have an SRT lab. I do know there is a linear radiation facility in San Antone, but that is different from SRT. Also before the Sept 2016 trip, I consulted with an internist who is on a large internal network. She confirmed there was no veterinary SRT in Texas to her knowledge. And here...all this time...I thought Texas had everything, including cruddy politicians.

I looked at the content behind the www.gcvs.com link. It doesn't appear they have SRT or linear radiation. But it appears they have good diagnostic equipment. That would have been great since Houston is only 3 hours from Austin.

To summarize the CSU trip for me:
2 days driving there (Austin -> Ft Collins)
5 days (Mon-Fri) - 2 days of evaluation, prep, radiation configuration, and 3 days of SRT
2 days driving back - actually the rest of Friday, and Saturday
 
JeffJ said:
it appears they have good diagnostic equipment
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There have been a few reviews from a fishing forum that have used them and the reviews were of high regard. My MIL took her kitty with crf there and was pleased with the doctors and facility though there was nothing they could do for the kitty.
 
To summarize the CSU trip for me:
2 days driving there (Austin -> Ft Collins)
5 days (Mon-Fri) - 2 days of evaluation, prep, radiation configuration, and 3 days of SRT
2 days driving back - actually the rest of Friday, and Saturday

At the time I spoke with them, they didn't do Monday appointments. No matter how I asked, there are no 5 consecutive day/(week) sessions
 
Jaysonguy said:
I just got the news so please forgive me if I leave anything out.

Our foster Speedy just was diagnosed Acro/IAA and now I need to fix him. He's between the age of 10 and 12 because his former family didn't have the best record keeping but considering they also threw him away to be euthanized when he became a diabetic their flaws run pretty deep.

I know there's the SRT in Yonkers and I need to know how much that is and I also know there's medications but if I give him a medication wont his gland just keep on going crazy and destroying his body?

If you want to share anything I'm ready to hear it, horror stories included.

Thank you
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I'm sorry to hear about Speedy's diagnosis. Out of curiosity did you or your vet suggest getting tested? Once the samples were sent to MSU how long did it take to get the results back?
I'm waiting for the mailer to come in from MSU so I can get Beenie tested. Clearly I should have done it sooner as we are already at 13 U twice a day. Bronx's Dad gave you great info about SRT in Red Bank, NJ. Yonkers is super close to me so depending on test results I would consider treatment there and eliminate a long distance to travel. Beenie gets car sick so I can't fathom a long drive or a airplane ride.
A few folks on here have mentioned checking out Cornell. I'll be keeping an eye on your posts to see where you end up. @Marvin's Mom - Nat is doing amazing on the trial drug. Check out their SS.
Best of luck of luck to Speedy :bighug::bighug:
 
Beenie said:
I'm sorry to hear about Speedy's diagnosis. Out of curiosity did you or your vet suggest getting tested? Once the samples were sent to MSU how long did it take to get the results back?
I'm waiting for the mailer to come in from MSU so I can get Beenie tested. Clearly I should have done it sooner as we are already at 13 U twice a day. Bronx's Dad gave you great info about SRT in Red Bank, NJ. Yonkers is super close to me so depending on test results I would consider treatment there and eliminate a long distance to travel. Beenie gets car sick so I can't fathom a long drive or a airplane ride.
A few folks on here have mentioned checking out Cornell. I'll be keeping an eye on your posts to see where you end up. @Marvin's Mom - Nat is doing amazing on the trial drug. Check out their SS.
Best of luck of luck to Speedy :bighug::bighug:
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I'm taking to Jimmy to a local vet to get the Bloodwork for tests. I called MSU and asked if I needed anything other than the two sheets and the payment. What mailer are they sending you?
 
Hi Beenie,

I apologize for the delay in answering your question, family medical issues currently.

I was told to have Speedy tested by Diabetic Cats in Need who we are fostering Speedy through. My vet has done testing through MSU before so we just needed the orders and she did everything else.

As far as results there was some confusion on all the info so it took us about 2 weeks. I would say the wait was about the same as it is for feline bartonella testing.
 
Susan G & Jimmy G said:
I'm taking to Jimmy to a local vet to get the Bloodwork for tests. I called MSU and asked if I needed anything other than the two sheets and the payment. What mailer are they sending you?
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See below link on mailers.
https://animalhealth.msu.edu/Forms/AD.ADM.FORM.020.pdf
Not sure it's necessarily required but my vet has ordered them before. I never called and spoke with anyone at MSU. Based on what I've read I don't think it's necessary but my vet has done it this way in the past successfully.
 
apple said:
Re: CSU
I stand by every comment I said about CSU.

I doubt if I had an in-person experience it would be different from the behavior and attitudes experienced via phone /email.

First thing that was made clear, greater demand than capacity. Demand dictates market/ business behavior/ price. CSU is, above all else, a business offering services in the market place.

The "I haven't been there" statement was to help people understand three things:
1. To clarify the flow of documents. Bills are for CSU accepting my cat's records. Documents were flowing into CSU, not out of CSU to petcure.

2. Be aware you will be billed for absolutely everything, even if your animal is not accepted as a client and/or choose not to go there, and there is no up front honesty about all the bills you will receive.

3. Recent university trips were at another institution.

My experience is what I experienced.

After reading Jeff's account, then yours, I decided to contact CSU. What you and Jeff experienced, isn't what I experienced. Jeff does a fantastic job of documenting everything. Sharing my experience provides future readers with additional information to use when making animal health care decisions. I was looking for the wonderful experience you and Jeff described and it was not there.

What I experienced doesn't take away from your experience, just as your experience doesn't negate mine. It is simply what it is/was.

It felt like the employees were trained to start with cost first then move to health care. My guess is it's a function their strained capacity.....start with money first and if people can't afford it, CSU's human capital hasn't been spent explaining something to a person that won't book the service. It's a way to increase efficiency

I'll add some more:
When you talk with someone you are told the call will be x minutes. When time is up, it's up. Mid-thought or sentence, conversation ends. The person moves on to talking with the next person. No lag time seems to be built into their calling schedule.

It's economics.
They are understaffed. One way to reduce demand on resources is to change the market price of those resources. If calls were free, there would be more people calling and a greater work load for an overwhelmed staff. Make people pay and fewer people will use the resource. It's simple economic/human behavior.

The items CSU was upfront about charging for, I don't object to. I know I will be charged and make my decisions accordingly. I object to the items they DID NOT TELL ME ABOUT AND SPENT MY MONEY WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE /PERMISSION /CONSENT.

For me, money is hard to come by, and for it to be spent because I followed their directions and wasn't told there was a fees, that is a deceptive practice. Period. Doesn't matter what entity would engage in that behavior. Unacceptable.

More CSU info:
It sounded like you and Jeff were fairly confident that your cats would get SRT et al in one trip.

My experience would be drive 3 days, day 4 arrive @ CSU (not early it would cost $125) do a meet and greet. Day 5 imaging and set up. Days 6-8 Return home.
About week later return for SRT.

Enough for now. (might add more later) I only wanted to add my experience to the documentation, both CSU and PetCure.
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IMHO, if you haven't ever been there, it's not really fair or appropriate to give such a negative review. I know of few vet clinics or even speciality clinics that will spend a lot of time and effort for someone that might never show up.....they are swamped with patients in the clinic.

It is also extremely common here in veterinary and human medical offices that if you don't show up or don't cancel 8 hours ahead, you get charged. And all the ER clinics here charge you as soon as you walk up to the desk if you decide to see the vet. It's kind of hard for the folks at CSU to charge you for sitting in the waiting room unless you've given them your credit card number. There are ways to control things like that.
 
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