Newly Diagnosed Diabetes & Probable Acromegaly

Hello. Three weeks ago I took my 10.5 year old male Maine Coon (Maestro) to the vet, suspecting that he had a UTI. He was diagnosed with diabetes, and a heart murmur. My head has been spinning and my heart breaking as I watch my once healthy boy refuse food, have difficulty walking, and lose weight. We started at 2.0 units of Lantus every 12 hours and I have been home-monitoring his BG with an AlphaTrak 2, calibrated for cats. Switched him to a prescription canned food and have also offered raw fish, which he used to gobble up. He is now on 4.0 units of Lantus every 12 hours and consistently has readings in the red and black range. The doctor suspects acromegaly, (a tumor in his pituitary gland, which produces excess amounts of growth hormone, causing insulin resistance among other health problems). He will be going in for more blood tests and a possible ultra sound on Monday to determine the underlying cause. From what I have read, blood glucose levels in cats with acromegaly are extremely hard to regulate and patients are often on very high doses of insulin. It is so hard to know what to do. The only treatment options seem to be radiation or surgery to remove the pituitary gland. Unfortunately those are both very expensive options.
If you have a cat with acromegaly I would be grateful to learn about your experience. Thank you.

 

Hi - I just posted on your thread on the main health forum. Do pop over to the high dose forum too, which is probably where you want to be. I was just wondering though (didn't mention this in the other thread, doing five thingsvat once here!) - why does the vet suspect acro so soon after a FD dx? Usually a cat would be started off on a low dose of insulin, bg monitored carefully, and doses increased by small increments over a period of time before insulin resistance / acro was talked about. You're only three weeks into this.

See what they say on the acro forum,

 

Welcome!