Please help, urgent.

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techyp830

Member Since 2017
My mothers cat is a maine coon, she noticed he was not acting right yesterday, he is 6 years ago. We took him to the vet and they ran tests that cost $500 (my last 500), they said he has severe diabetes and pancreatitis. We took him to the 24 hr vet as the vet we usually went to isnt open til tomorrow at 11am. They gave us this break down basically said he needs to get this treatment done right away, they really startled my mother, we brought him home. He is resting and we are just hoping to make it til morning to see if our vet can help us at all, I attached a picture of the price breakdown. We can't afford this and they want payment in full. What are my options, is there anything I can do ? This sucks !
 

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I've seen people talking about "Diabetic Cats In Need" or "DCIN"... I'll try to find the link.
 
Did they do any testing for that $500? Did they say if he had any ketones? If they haven't done a SNAP FPl test, how was his pancreatitis diagnosed? (that's usually the first test we ask that they do....then if the SNAP test is positive, they can run a more specific test to find out the exact levels)

We have lots of cats here with diabetes and pancreatitis and we can help you with both

I see quite a few charges that are probably not really necessary and we can help you learn how to home test for the diabetes as well as help with pancreatitis treatment at home too
 
Provided your cat is not throwing ketones or in DKA it is possible to home nurse a kitty with pancreatitis.

Ask your vet about prescribing the following:

- Ondansetron for nausea (ask for the generic version! Zofran is very pricey) - can be obtained from human pharmacy with written veterinary Rx.
- Cyproheptadine for appetite stimulation - can be obtained from human pharmacy with written veterinary Rx.
- buprenorphine for pain
- B12 injection (helps appetite, food absorption, and may also exert anti-inflammatory benefit - a full course is recommended).

Your vet may offer you the choice to give sub-q fluids at home. (If not, adding water to food can help maintain hydration.)

Here are the full IDEXX treatment guidelines for pancreatitis - all the meds & supplements recommended are in this document from a highly authoritative source.


Mogs
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thank you everyone, I need to get a copy of the breakdown of what was done at testing but the testing must have been done to determine he has pancreatitis. I'm going to my moms regular vet as soon as they open and will check back in here after. Hoping he can work out a payment plan with us.

Chris & China where are you located?
 
Another thing to consider is that an emergency vet may charge you far more than your mom's regular vet. When Smoky had a urinary blockage the emergency vet charged me $1200. They unblocked him, put in a catheter twice, took it out the first time to see if he would block again which he did. He was put on fluids and given pain meds while there for three days. They charged me $25 a day to board him plus another $25 a day for food, water, and a litter box! He was on fluids so didn't drink much water, a catheter so didn't use litter box much, and barely ate anything.
By comparison, he had two surgical procedures, was boarded for three days, given round the clock care, given 3 different meds including pain meds, and follow up care for three weeks after he was released from hospital. His bill for that was $1100 but that is for far more care and was at his regular vet.
Check with your moms vets about care credit, a credit card you can apply for to use for vet bills, maybe they offer it.
 
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