Desmopressin

[MaggieTheCat]

So this is about a sick kitty...that still qualifies for sick bay, right?

My husband and I are looking at adopting a cat with Diabetes Insipidus, which is not at all related to blood sugar diabetes. DI basically means that a cat (or human, since people can get the same disease) can't concentrate liquids and as such, they end up urinating everything they drink and having to drink tons and tons of water to prevent from getting dehydrated. Basically if we get this cat, he'll have to have lots of water and litter. No problem.

Here's the problem. He's on a medication called Desmopressin which helps control the disease. He does not have to take this medication, it's not like insulin in a regular diabetic cat. But without the Desmopressin, he will be drinking and peeing constantly. The problem is that it seems to be really expensive. Diabetes Insipidus is very rare and Desmopressin is the only medication that helps but it's not sold often since the disease is so rare, so the prices are all over the board. Just to give you some examples, here are the prices I've been quoted at various pharmacies for 5ml of a .01% solution: $164, $263, $315.

Now, the shelter that has him says they get it from an online pharmacy for $68, which is awesome, we can actually afford that. My vet is going to get together with them and make sure it's the correct dosage that he'd recommend, etc.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if anyone else here has any experience with this disease or this medication or knows of a pharmacy that carries a .01% nasal drop for a reasonable price. We'd really like to get this kitty, but if he's going to cost $150-$300+ a month, we just can't afford it.

[JambaBamba]

FYI I got a quote from my dad (he's a vet in California) and he said 5ml would be 195.84, so the online pharmacy sounds like an awesome deal.

[MaggieTheCat]

Thank you for checking with your father, that was really nice of you to do. I am still waiting to hear back from my vet about what strength and size the online pharmacy sells for that low price.

[Sapphire Silk]

I've never had a cat with a chronic illness before, so I can't say I have much to add.

DI in humans is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

I guess it comes down to a matter of what you can live with. If you can keep up with this disease and provide the medication, go for it! If not, don't.

[BlaqueKatt]

Just to give you some examples, here are the prices I've been quoted at various pharmacies for 5ml of a .01% solution: $164, $263, $315.

Now, the shelter that has him says they get it from an online pharmacy for $68, which is awesome, we can actually afford that. My vet is going to get together with them and make sure it's the correct dosage that he'd recommend, etc.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if anyone else here has any experience with this disease or this medication or knows of a pharmacy that carries a .01% nasal drop for a reasonable price.

Crittercure is a canadian pharmacy(found via google search) that dispenses pet medication by mail order WITH a veterinary Rx(meaning you get the Rx from your vet), they sell in 90 day supplies so 15ml of the nasal drops is $250(or $83/month), but the tablet form(0.1mg) is only $98(or $32/month) for 90 tablets, I'd ask your vet about going the tablet route as it appears to be loads less expensive, if it would work. It's possible the nasal drops/spray is used because it can be easier than "pilling" a cat-but you would have to ask a vet if the tablet would be both appropriate and effective.

also: even if you don't end up getting the cat, THANK YOU for being willing to even consider adopting an "imperfect kitty", and making sure you can properly take care of him beforehand, that is just AWESOME!

[MaggieTheCat]

Isn't ordering prescription items from out of country illegal? When I first talked to my vet, he said he only looked at "legal, reputable online pharmacies, not ones that are located in Canada or Europe."

We did find a place where we can get a 10ml bottle of the nasal spray for about $80 (including shipping), which is a lot more reasonable than the first few quotes our vet gave us.

And trust me, we are quite accustom to dealing with "imperfect cats." We have 4 right now, and 3 of them have some kind of health issue. Yume has kidney failure, Pluto is prone to bladder crystals, and Ash gets indigestion really bad and tends to throw up a lot. Sick kitties need love too, and if we were to get another one, even if it's not the kitty with DI, we'd probably look at one who has a low chance of being adopted, either due to health issues or age.

[Seshat]

Our white cat (Big Boy, who we were having problems with) we chose partly because he was white and the shelter said they would need to adopt him to people willing to keep him as indoors-only.

Our dog has shallow patellar grooves, and may need surgery at some point. We've been watching for her to show any signs of knee problems - so far so good.

Oh: we've been able to get Big Boy to stop 'playing' with Elderly Cat so much. We've discovered a toy he loves even better than Elderly Cat: scrunched up paper!
So as soon as we find him in a playful mood, we get a piece of scrap paper and toss it to him.

Far better to be picking up paper than for him to be stressing Elderly.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

yaaaay~ glad that's been resolved, Seshat!
more on topic... that poor cat... >_> I poked at the internet, and it said controlled substances are the issue... but you might want to ask your state pharmacy board!

[BlaqueKatt]

Isn't ordering prescription items from out of country illegal? When I first talked to my vet, he said he only looked at "legal, reputable online pharmacies, not ones that are located in Canada or Europe."

it's a legal grey area, currently my state's(Wisconsin), government actually imports medication from canada, the state set up "stores" to order from.

Personally I prefer "older" kitties, it's too much of a crapshoot with kittens as to what their eventual final personality will be. That and kittens get into EVERYTHING, which I do not find cute. My Avi is Athena, who protects me from the dreaded long leggedy basement spiders I so despise(she pounces on them and eats them, fitting since Athena is the Goddess that turned Arachne into a spider )