B12 & IBD, Cancer?, Diabetes

I'm trying to grasp some stuff about B12 and it hasn't all quite clicked. Bix has diabetes and also IBD that recently appears to have worsened. I was at the specialty vets with a civvie & I asked if his Budesonide dose (recently raised to 3mg/day and he's still showing some intermittent nausea) is a sign that his IBD may have turned to cancer.

He is doing mostly well for now so it isn't something critical like he can't keep food down or anything, it's more like he'll have a bout of barfing and a few hours of nausea once or twice a week, for about the last month. I'm still experimenting with a food change and the addition of Pepcid to the mix, so am hopeful maybe no tests will be needed for now, but trying to get my mind around everything so if he has another round of being sick I can make some decisions about how to proceed.

The specialist said he's at the Bude level where it's probably time for some tests if this dose isn't holding him. She suggested an u/s and a blood test to check for B12 deficiency (B12/Folate test, or I think she said something like Cobaline/Folate maybe?). Since I can't afford those, she suggested maybe trying a series of B12 injections, which might at least help his IBD symptoms.

So here are my questions:

1) If I got the B12/Folate blood test and it showed a deficiency, would that be a pointer to cancer, or does the diabetes interfere with B12 also, so a deficiency might just be from the diabetes?

2) If I get B12 shots for him for the IBD (not targeted for neuropathy), do I have to request a specific type of shot from my regular vet? (From what I read, IBD likes the cyano- form and neuropathy likes the methyl- form, but are there actually different types of B12 shots?)

3) If I got the B12 shots for the IBD, how soon would I expect to see results? Is it really potentially very helpful? I think she said weekly shots (?) but I'm not sure if I remember that right.

Basically I am trying to get him the best care I can for the least possible amount of money. ohmygod_smile If I could afford it I'd just go for the u/s and full blood workup & everything else, but if I do burn up the credit card, I wan't to be sure I'm doing things that are absolutely needed, and not running tests that don't really tell me a lot afterall, or getting a shot that isn't likely to be much help, etc.

Thanks much!!!!!

 

I would get the B12 shots without the tests. They really can't hurt. It is less expensive to buy a vial of the B12 (cyanocobalamin) that get the shots at the vet. The standard feline dose is 250 µg per:
http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/gilab/research/cobalamin.shtml
KV Supply has 100 ml vail of 3000 mcg/ml for $11.95 and a script is required.
http://www.kvsupply.com/KVVet/productr. ... URLCheck=1

Two of my kitties are on B12 shots and budesonide, one on 1.5 mg SID and the other 1 mg SID.