Hi Cherish,
I feel sad reading your post. Pancreatitis is the pits. Having been there myself, I really feel for you and Little B.
I found the food side of things the hardest of all.
I was starting to feed him some Blink pouches which he was really enjoying but then Tesco (the only place that sells it in my town). has stopped selling it so now we're stuck.
All I can think to suggest is to look at ordering the Blink food online. Here are just some places that you might be able to get it:
https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/merch-groups/blink-cat-food
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=blink
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blink-Roasted-Chicken-Complete-Pouch/dp/B07T84WFS6
Also, local pet shops can be really helpful about ordering in food that they don't stock themselves provided they can get it from their wholesalers. If there's an independent pet shop in your area it might be worth asking whether they can help.
I have emailed his vet again regarding buprenorphine, so hopefully I can get him some of that.
I hope you'll be successful. If you're having difficulty securing the prescription perhaps show the vet the following document:
IDEXX Pancreatitis Treatment Guidelines
IDEXX is a world authority on feline pancreatitis. The document includes information on the importance of pain relief in management of the condition. My vet would give us a couple of week's supply of pre-measured doses in syringes at a time.
We've now run out of Cerenia and I can't afford any more right now which makes me feel even more awful. He's also suffering from terrible acid reflux and I can't afford the famotidine that the vet was offering and we don't get Pepcid here in the UK.
Have you tried asking how much famotidine costs in your local pharmacies? considered asking your vet for a written prescription and getting the famotidine from a local chemist? (You'd need to ask for the 10mg tablets and split the tablets in four.)
I also just found this voucher for an online pharmacy.
https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/pepcid.html
Also, maybe check the price at Viovet (they can't list human meds on their website but can give quotes over the phone - not sure whether you'd need a vet prescription for this but you could check with them):
https://www.viovet.co.uk/human-prescription
With regard to nausea management, it might be worth asking the vet for a written prescription for generic ondansetron to help with the nausea (also mentioned in document above). Again, you can get the generic ondansetron at a human pharmacy (4mg tablets). IIRC our vet charges about £10 for the written prescription and if it's a maintenance med they're happy to include a few repeats on the Rx. Recently I paid about £7.00 for 30 4mg tablets at Morrison's. (My civvie, Lúnasa, has CKD so needs it regularly now. I give her 2mg twice a day, so 30 tablets give a month's cover. Our vet gives us an Rx for 3 months' supply at a time.)
Another thought, I wonder whether your vet might be able to include both famotidine and ondansetron on the one prescription and just charge you a single fee?
The only other suggestion I have for you at the moment would be to start a new thread on Feline Health to ask for help with Little B's pancreatitis. Some members give their cats budesonide to manage the condition. I've never used it myself but there are other members here who could tell you more about it if you ask. (Note: Budesonide is a steroid, but it acts locally in the gut and typically does not have any great impact on blood glucose levels.)
I hope some of the above may be helpful to you both.
If I had a magic wand, I'd wave it so your little fella could be pancreatitis-free. Alas, the world doesn't work that way...
(((Cherish and Little B)))
Mogs
.
