Moe: update from vet; Cabergoline prescribed!

Just got off the phone with my vet. Moe is her first acro cat, so she’s learning along with me. There are three clinics near me that do radiation therapy. Texas A&M is not taking referrals right now due to covid-19. Waiting on a call back from a clinic in Sugarland. Gulf Coast Clinic is $6200 for three treatments plus the cost of imaging (MRI or CT), total of $7500. Unfortunately that is not a viable option for us.

She asked the oncologist at Gulf Coast about cabergoline and that person said they didn’t use it because it didn’t work. I told her we had several people on the board who had good results with it and asked if she was willing to prescribe it. She said yes!!! ( I really love my vet!) She’s going to do some research over the weekend to look into dosing and prices, and will call me back Monday.

Meanwhile, we continue with insulin and try to maintain quality of life.

 

Awesome to have a vet that will work with you! Most SRT costs I've seen lately are in the $8K plus range.

 

Agreed. It's good to have a vet willing to work with you. We hear about so many vets who have strict thoughts about diabetes - like "no testing at home". The cabergoline option is a good one. Fairly inexpensive and worth a try.

 

Just spoke to Moe’s vet again and we are getting a prescription for Cabergoline. Moe weighs a bit over 15 lbs so we are getting capsules compounded to 70 micrograms. Liquids are impossible with him. She wants to start with giving one capsule, once daily.

He’s hard to pill... has anyone had luck opening a capsule and mixing the caber with food, or is it too bitter for that?

 

Once Cleo chewed up a capsule and then vomited a few minutes later, so I'd say no. See if you can get his mouth open and stick the pill (very quickly) on the back of his tongue and the hold his mouth shut until he swallows. Then give him a food chaser.

 

I think a number of people get it compounded into a tasty liquid they put on food.

 

Vet gave me the option of a liquid but I didn’t think about adding that to food...I just thought about trying to squirt it into his mouth (horrible memories of antibiotics administration).

 

I’m so angry! The prescription was supposed to be here yesterday but never showed so I called the compounding pharmacy this morning and they haven’t even started processing the script. There was a “glitch in the system” (meaning someone didn’t do their job). Now they are trying to get approval from a manager to do a Saturday delivery. Grrrr.

 

Hi Erin-

Who are the people who had good results with cabergoline?

Thanks!

 

@Olive & Paula and @Pamela & Amethyst both had good results with cabergoline. I am seeing improvement with Moe as well in the last few weeks (he is starting his 12th week on it). He’s perked up a bit and I’ve reduced his insulin dose twice.

This post has some comments from Paula and Pamela.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/moe-dx-with-acromegaly-6-1-20.230372/

 

Thank you!