Newly discovered acromegaly diagnosis

ManxMama1201

ManxMama1201

Member Since 2025
Hello all,
We recieved my cats results today from our vet. The results from MSU show >1200. Our vet sent a referral to North Carolina State Veterinary School. I know we will never be able to afford the surgery for removal or the radiation treatment option. And I'm feeling all the emotions right now...... I just dont understand why everything for our fur babies is just so outrageously expensive 😕
 
Hello and welcome to this part of the forum. :bighug::bighug: So sorry to hear about the diagnosis, but about one in four diabetic cats has this condition. Besides surgery and radiation therapy, you might want to consider a daily (or every other day) medication called cabergoline. It is a much cheaper treatment and doesn't require travel or anesthesia. There are quite a few posts on this forum that talk about it. We've even had a half dozen cats go into remission. But more importantly, most need less insulin and some of the other acro side effects are reduced.

NCSU is a good place to go to, very knowledgeable about acromegaly.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome to this part of the forum. :bighug::bighug: So sorry to hear about the diagnosis, but about one in four diabetic cats has this condition. Besides surgery and radiation therapy, you might want to consider a daily (or every other day) medication called cabergoline. It is a much cheaper treatment and doesn't require travel or anesthesia. There are quite a few posts on this forum that talk about it. We've even had a half dozen cats go into remission. But more importantly, most need less insulin and some of the other acro side effects are reduced.

NCSU is a good place to go to, very knowledgeable about acromegaly.
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We did make an appointment with ncsu, but the appointment was for the end of September. We since found a specialist much closer (45 min drive vs a 4 hr drive)and got an appointment next day with him. He is starting new new on cabergoline, we have been seeing some better numbers lately so im praying that when he does start this med it doesn't drop him to low. My poor anxiety has been through the roof lately. We are waiting to receive his medication in the mail.
 
If you want help with dosing, details on how to create a spreadsheet are in this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You! It's good for us to know certain things, like type of insulin being used, diet, type of blood glucose meter.

It's great that a specialist helped you get on cabergoline. In the early days we saw a lot of resistance to it. Are you dosing every day or every other day?

I've seen widely varying responses to Cabergoline. Anything from completely off of insulin in 10 days to taking 3 months to show any reaction. You will have to keep on the testing.
 
I do have a Google spreadsheet made already. I think keeping up with many sheets would be confusing but i can share my spreadsheet whenever asked. He is on lantus solostar (8.5 units) twice a day. He eats fancy feast savory centers chicken multiple times a day and he eats Purina dm dryfood (0.35oz) twice a day. We have tried to take away dry completely and his gi isn't happy when doing that, so its easier to just give the smallest amount possible. We use the alphatrak3, we also monitor blood ketones as well.
 
If you could put some of that information in the signature (not the dose which varies), that would help.

Have you tried some of the low carb dry foods like Dr.Elsey's or freeze dried raw? The high carb food will make it harder to regulate him.
 
We have tried lower carb like young again and his gi did not agree with it at all. The higher fat content of the food has caused liquid diarrhea for weeks on end ( happened for 2 months straight even at the smallest slowest food change) for him so we had to make the hard choice of putting him back on the Purina dm.
 
Archie had persistent diarrhea when eating dry food (Purina one indoor advantage senior). The vet suggested adding pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling! Just organic pumpkin puree). We had to switch him to a canned diet to add the pumpkin, and it immediately helped. You might want to try a little pumpkin to see if it helps. One thing, apparently pumpkin is a source of carbohydrates, so I wouldn't go crazy; just a little bit.
 
A better solution than pumpkin is psyllium husk fibre, which can also be mixed into food.

How is your kitty doing on the cabergoline?
 
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