Junior - 6 year old lab mix - Vetoryl twice daily

[Junior's Mom]

Just to clarify, I took Junior in for his last stim test because he was due. I would have taken him in Nov, but the vet's office couldn't fit me in.
I didn't seek the test because I felt there was something going wrong. I've been very lucky in that since day 3 on vetoryl, Junior has improved and hasn't had any complications.
I monitor him very carefully, and know that cortisol can drop at any time, but the results of his last stim were unexpected.
As Junior weighs 51lbs, splitting the dose of stim agent will probably not be possible for us, which will mean a much higher cost. Many of us struggle with the financials involved in this. I have 4 other dogs and 2 cats to care for as well. I have to spread the money where it will have the most benefit.

[addy]

Oh, I don't think any of us meant any critism so I hope you did not take it that way. We all know what a struggle it is with costs and my thoughts were mainly because of the concern of the rising cost of the stim agent. If money were no object for us, we could follow Dr. Peterson's advice and stop the Vetoryl for two weeks, restim and start over. The cost of doing that is very high to do if our pups end up with a post lower than 2. I didn't bring it up for that very reason.

I'm sorry if I my comments seemed hurtful, I did not mean them to be. My own dog dropped lower after I cut her dose in half, thus my concerun for Junior.

Dechra will advise that sometimes the dose will need to be lowered.

[Squirt's Mom]

I also apologize if my comment offended - it was not intended as a criticism in the least.

[Junior's Mom]

Sorry to not get back sooner.
No worries, I was not offended by any comments, I just wanted to clarify that I had not seen any negatives in Junior when I last stim tested him.

Heads up to anyone in Canada. While most of your parcels will cross the border no problem, because there are far too many for customs to inspect, there is a chance your parcel will be chosen for a further look see.
AND, it turns out that it is ILLEGAL to import any prescription drug into Canada. So Health Canada will not allow it in.
Yes, I have recently found this out the hard way. I told the health Canada guy I was talking to that things shouldn't be 3 times the price in then, if they want us to spend our money here.

So, if you don't want the hassle of an order not arriving, and having to fight to get back the money you spent on it, you are better off trying to find a decent price in Canada. Which is what I will be spending the next while trying to do. Argh!

[molly muffin]

Let me know what you find out. I've been looking into trying to get the medication cheaper here in canada too. It's tough.
One girl has recommended thepetpharmacy.ca to me as an option she uses. I've emailed them as I don't see trilostane listed on their site, but I do see vetroyl. Also checking for amolodipine as I don't see that either.

They make this so hard for us here in Canada. grrrr

[Junior's Mom]

Diamond Back, whom I have been using for about a year now, without a problem, is apparently aware of the situation. They said they are working with Health Canada to be allowed to export pet meds here.
I guess as long as it makes it to the customer, they don't care.

In my search, I have discovered VET RX Direct, on line. They are the cheapest I have found so far for the name brand vetoryl.
My vets office will be getting me quotes from a few compounding pharmacies they have used as well.

[molly muffin]

Vet RX Direct is in the US though. Would be good to be able yo use diamondback with no worries.

I have used Summit and Chiron. Both compounding pharmacies and both spendy unfortunately.

I have an email sent to the one I mentioned. Will let you know if I hear back from them.

[Junior's Mom]

Thanks for pointing that out about Vet RX. I thought I had looked closely enough at it. Ah well, back to the drawing board I guess.
Universal Pet Meds is canadian. I have used them before.

My vet has used Chiron in the past. I was not impressed with the quality from there at all.

[molly muffin]

Okay, I have a possibility here for you.

The place I mentioned thepetpharmacy.ca I contacted them and now admittedly my dosage of trilostane is less than yours, however, here are the prices they gave me.

Good afternoon,

The dispensing fee (like with people prescriptions) is per item each time it is picked up. If you pick up the medication monthly for 3 months then you will pay the fee three times for each different medication. If you pick up a three month supply all at once then you pay $4.99 once for each medication over the 90 days.

If you picked up 100 benazepril 5mg it would be $69.71+tax and 200 would be $134.44+tax.

Compounded trilostane capsules 11mgx30=$34.63+tax
14mgx30=$39.80+tax
15mgx30=$41.52+tax

Are you using the amlodipine already? What format do you give...capsules, liquid, chew tabs?

We request a minimum of 7-10 days advanced notice for initial filling of compounded medications for the first time to allow ordering of the required ingredients. Once a medication is on file for your pet a minimum of 2-3 days is requested.

Once I have more information about the amlodipine I can give you a price and/or let you know if it is something we can make for you.

So that beats the pricing I have had from any other compounding place the vets use.

Now I just have to convince a vet to give me a prescription. This place I think will do 3 months worth at once if you have the script for it.

[Junior's Mom]

I'm so sorry to see how many have passed. Heartbreaking.

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've been on here. (There was a guy)
The past year has been a bit of a roller coaster with Junior. After not being able to get his meds from the States any longer (Health Canada won't allow it), he ended up running out of meds for a while, till I found another supplier.
It didn't take long to notice the side effects of him going without the trilostane. He started losing fur again quite quickly. He was off the meds for about a month.
I ended up using Chiron, whom I haven't been impressed with in the past. Due to the price being twice as much as from Diamond Back, and the fact that Juniors clinical signs had been so well managed, I decided to try once a day dosing, rather than twice. This did not go as well as I had hoped, so I searched for a new pharmacy, found Habers, and put him back on twice a day.

From my perspective, Junior has been doing fantastic. He looks like a new dog. So much fur! Absolutely no signs of over suppression. The only thing I've noticed is his anxiety goes up as his corisol levels go down. However his tests results have been perplexing. On 50mg of trilostane, twice a day, from Diamond Back, he was pre 1.67 (46) post 1.88 (52) My vet was not comfortable with this, so we dropped him to 43mg. It was after this that I ran into problems getting the meds. As a result, it was sometime before he had another stim test.
The next stim changed everything. It was also done differently, as the vets office was no longer using the synthetic stim agent. I expected to use that test as a base to go from, after all the changes. I was not expecting strange results whatsoever.
Pre and post were under 1(<27.6) yet he was perfectly fine. I kept him off the meds for a week, and then we dropped the trilostane dose to 33mg. Due to the increased testing costs, and again, because I see absolutely no signs of over suppression in him, it was sometime before I had another stim test done at this dose. Pre and post were the exact same-under 1. I'm now completely perplexed.

I stopped giving him the trilostane just to be safe. He is having his electrolytes tested on Monday, and we will go from there I guess. His last dose was Tues morning. Here it is Saturday, and already his pee is more dilute, and he is doing a lot more of it. My feeling is there is something going wrong with the lab, since the switch from the synthetic stim agent, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I really don't want to see him backtrack, because he has been doing so well.