My 7 year old Persian collapsed while playing, he is fine now but I'd like to hear some opinions

[treeclimber]

The problem with ordering meds is from abroad is that importers are often inconsistent here.

Maybe you can do the importing yourself if the laws of your country allow it?

CIPA-certified internet pharmacies ship prescriptions from many counties (New Zealand, India, Turkey) and I would assume some of them have an international customer base beyond just uninsured Americans.

If you try this you will need a paper prescription from your vet. The address and phone number of the prescribing clinic should appear on the prescription, and any instructions like “twice daily” should be in English or commonly-used pharmacy abbreviations. If your vet can’t write the prescription in English, you may be able to write a translation next to it in a separate sheet of paper.

To order you’ll upload a picture of the prescription and pay for it, then about 2-6 weeks later your prescription will arrive (some pharmacies may offer an expedited shipping option if you need it faster).

Do make sure whatever pharmacy you order from is CIPA-certified so you can be sure you’ll actually get what you ordered and not something counterfeit or a scam. Here is a list of CIPA-certified pharmacies.

(Side note: You may notice that many of these pharmacies say “Canada” and may have a Canadian business address and pharmacy license, but actually ship from other countries. Don’t worry if the meds actually ship from India or Turkey - a large percent of the world’s pharmaceuticals are manufactured in India, so you’re just avoiding the mark-up of having the meds make a stop in Canada on their way from India to you.)

I have been buying my cat’s asthma inhalers from CIPA-certified pharmacies for years, and have always been happy with the result.

 

[treeclimber]

I have found at least three CIPA-certified pharmacies that you may be able to use from Macedonia:

• canadadrugsonline.com (This one accepts veterinary prescriptions, and question 15 in their FAQ says they ship to “many countries”. This one of the two sites I found that specifically mentions shipping to countries other than the US in their FAQ, so they may have more experience with handling different countries’ requirements.)
• pharmstore.com (Accepts pet prescriptions, lists Macedonia in the address drop-down box during registration, and their FAQ lists several counties (not including Macedonia) that they ship to and encourages people in countries not on the list to contact them and see if they can ship to your country. Their FAQ also says if you can’t find a specific drug you’re looking for on their website you can contact them and they’ll see if they can find a source for it.)
• ycdscc.com (This is one lists Macedonia as an option when setting your shipping address during account creation. They’re one of the biggest/oldest ones and they accept veterinary prescriptions)

There are probably others too, I haven’t checked all 60+ pharmacies on the official CIPA list. (The list appears in a different order every time you reload the page, so if you’re trying to work your way down the list make a copy of it first!)

Do still check with them before you order to make sure they really can ship to Macedonia, and check your country’s laws on importation of prescription drugs for personal use to make sure you’re allowed to do this and the package won’t be stopped at customs. In many countries, laws on importation for personal use are less strict/complicated than laws on importation for resale. (And even if it turns out that you yourself are not allowed to import, your veterinarian may be able to.)

But, fingers crossed, if you can get meds from CIPA pharmacies then almost any drug that’s used in human medicine will be available for Casper.

 

[Kflowers]

Any time, for any prescription where there may be an interruption in the availability of the medicine, the first step is to determine the pet's possible reaction to the sudden lack of the medicine. I live in the US, interruptions were not supposed to happen 7 years ago, but they did. Fortunately, I had enough of the medicine to 'wean' my girl off of what we could no longer get. It was several months before the medicine was again available.

Once you know what the possible reactions are, you are in a better position to make a decision about what you should do.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

I don't think importing the meds myself is going to be possible given if it was that simple we wouldn't have had so many issues on a national scale with people being unable to get the meds they need to survive. I will look into it but I've discussed stuff like this with vets here and they just don't want to proceed with the discussion and don't want to deal with it.
Good news is, Casper is perfectly fine and acts normal for now, there are zero signs of anything being wrong so I hope it's not his heart.

 

[neely]

Good news is, Casper is perfectly fine and acts normal for now, there are zero signs of anything being wrong so I hope it's not his heart.

Wonderful news and I hope it's not his heart too!

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

Another day of Casper just being himself, we're going to the vet at 10AM tomorrow.
Please don't expect 1st world care or info, we're gong to get the best care we can get in my country but it will be a fraction of what 1st world sites usually say a vet will do, check or prescribe.
The world here is extremely different, but we're doing the best we can with the best vets we know.

Pretty much at every vet I've been to, everything I've asked I've been shut down by the vets about so don't expect much, my vets are going to do their best within the confines of their abilities, equipment and knowledge.

Around this time a stray my friend was taking care of got ill and it was very bad, I quickly pointed out it was most likely Anti Freeze poisoning. My friend knows to trust me about cats and he and his friends rushed the cat off to one of the most advanced pet clinics in the country. They instantly shut them down saying it's not Anti Freeze poisoning and whoever said it was knows nothing.....long story short the cat died and it turned out it was anti freeze poisoning, shocker.

That same friend's friend took her cat to the same clinic after some issues, they prescribed the wrong dosage of whatever meds the cat needed and the cat died....my vet's clinic may not be as highly advanced but they've literally never been this dismissive of me or done anything like this. It's just that they're limited in what they can do.

So guys, I know Casper is going to be in good hands tomorrow, these people are great but please don't expect first world standards.

 

[Kflowers]

thoughts for Casper and you.

What people here often forget is that fewer and fewer people can afford the bounty of 'first world' medicine offered by the vets. And that, in my opinion, is more terrible than not having it to offer in the first place.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

thoughts for Casper and you.

What people here often forget is that fewer and fewer people can afford the bounty of 'first world' medicine offered by the vets. And that, in my opinion, is more terrible than not having it to offer in the first place.

This is true, I've seen many people on gaming forums I often visit who had to let their pets suffer in agony due to being unable to afford proper vet care or go through difficult insurance processes to get money on time to save their pets lives in 1st world countries, mainly the US and UK. Here in Macedonia most vets are very kind, they often offer free checkups and advice is always free. It's just they're limited in what they can do but they always make sure the pet doesn't suffer.
My vets are especially warm and caring even when it comes to street cats and dogs of which we have many.

 

[iPappy]

I don't think importing the meds myself is going to be possible given if it was that simple we wouldn't have had so many issues on a national scale with people being unable to get the meds they need to survive. I will look into it but I've discussed stuff like this with vets here and they just don't want to proceed with the discussion and don't want to deal with it.
Good news is, Casper is perfectly fine and acts normal for now, there are zero signs of anything being wrong so I hope it's not his heart.

I hope not too! Please let us know what you find out af

Another day of Casper just being himself, we're going to the vet at 10AM tomorrow.
Please don't expect 1st world care or info, we're gong to get the best care we can get in my country but it will be a fraction of what 1st world sites usually say a vet will do, check or prescribe.
The world here is extremely different, but we're doing the best we can with the best vets we know.

Pretty much at every vet I've been to, everything I've asked I've been shut down by the vets about so don't expect much, my vets are going to do their best within the confines of their abilities, equipment and knowledge.

Around this time a stray my friend was taking care of got ill and it was very bad, I quickly pointed out it was most likely Anti Freeze poisoning. My friend knows to trust me about cats and he and his friends rushed the cat off to one of the most advanced pet clinics in the country. They instantly shut them down saying it's not Anti Freeze poisoning and whoever said it was knows nothing.....long story short the cat died and it turned out it was anti freeze poisoning, shocker.

That same friend's friend took her cat to the same clinic after some issues, they prescribed the wrong dosage of whatever meds the cat needed and the cat died....my vet's clinic may not be as highly advanced but they've literally never been this dismissive of me or done anything like this. It's just that they're limited in what they can do.

So guys, I know Casper is going to be in good hands tomorrow, these people are great but please don't expect first world standards.

You're doing the best you can, and so is your vet. Please let us know what they say.

 

[iPappy]

This is true, I've seen many people on gaming forums I often visit who had to let their pets suffer in agony due to being unable to afford proper vet care or go through difficult insurance processes to get money on time to save their pets lives in 1st world countries, mainly the US and UK. Here in Macedonia most vets are very kind, they often offer free checkups and advice is always free. It's just they're limited in what they can do but they always make sure the pet doesn't suffer.
My vets are especially warm and caring even when it comes to street cats and dogs of which we have many.

It's easy for people to learn new skills and new medical advancements as they arrive, but it's much harder to teach them to be warm and caring. It sounds like Casper is in good hands.

 

[Meowmee]

Another day of Casper just being himself, we're going to the vet at 10AM tomorrow.
Please don't expect 1st world care or info, we're gong to get the best care we can get in my country but it will be a fraction of what 1st world sites usually say a vet will do, check or prescribe.
The world here is extremely different, but we're doing the best we can with the best vets we know.

Pretty much at every vet I've been to, everything I've asked I've been shut down by the vets about so don't expect much, my vets are going to do their best within the confines of their abilities, equipment and knowledge.

Around this time a stray my friend was taking care of got ill and it was very bad, I quickly pointed out it was most likely Anti Freeze poisoning. My friend knows to trust me about cats and he and his friends rushed the cat off to one of the most advanced pet clinics in the country. They instantly shut them down saying it's not Anti Freeze poisoning and whoever said it was knows nothing.....long story short the cat died and it turned out it was anti freeze poisoning, shocker.

That same friend's friend took her cat to the same clinic after some issues, they prescribed the wrong dosage of whatever meds the cat needed and the cat died....my vet's clinic may not be as highly advanced but they've literally never been this dismissive of me or done anything like this. It's just that they're limited in what they can do.

So guys, I know Casper is going to be in good hands tomorrow, these people are great but please don't expect first world standards.

I hope Caspar will be ok

some of what you described has nothing to do with being in a first world or second world country. For instance Dvm that can’t make a proper diagnosis it makes no difference whether they’re in the first world or a second world country for something like figuring out if the cat has antifreeze poisoning…if a person is trained properly they should be able to do that anywhere. even in this country there are a lot of DVM who make mistakes or bad diagnosis. Also as someone else pointed out veterinary care cost is so high here that a lot of people can’t even afford even with insurance.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

Welp
it's not the best situation but at least it's not a heart disease
it's something else I've dreaded with every persian ever

Chronic Renal Failure
tho it's in such early stages that there are no visible signs of anything being wrong but his creatinine levels are high enough to suggest the issue. My cats don't have polycystic kidneys and neither did Anastasia before my current batch of persians, I lost her to CRF in 2014, she only lived for 2 years after diagnoses and showed o problems whatsoever during that time, it was all very sudden at the end. I don't understand why this keeps happening, we don't keep plants or anything that could be poisonous to cats.
The vets said it's at such an early stage with the right meds he could still live a decently long life I guess but I don't know anything anymore.

2023 is off to a bloody good start already
hope I die next

I just can't take this level of stress and pain

They prescribed some meds I don't know what they prescribed can't think now
we'll know more in a month how the disease progresses

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

I just looked at his bloodwork
his creatinine is 185, which according to the internet is Stage 2 and he should have a few more years to live.
They gave us Renal meds, problem is getting him to eat his Renal food, now Anastasia, the persian I lost to this nonsense loved her renal food A LOT so we had no problems there, but with 3 other cats in the house it might be an issue, especially for a cat like Casper who loves eating quite a bit.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

Creatinine is 182 actually
Urea is 6.5

 

[Alldara]

With the med shortages in many countries, this is not even close to possible. Even the governments in some of the countries with the most serious shortages cannot get medication to come.


We have to keep in mind the drastic privilege we have living in North America or the UK as medication to our countries are prioritized. Our shortages have been short lived, many countries have experienced this for years. Especially if there is civil unrest.

Please keep this in mind when our friends from other places are talking about medical shortages. They are not short-term, and there can be risk of violence or theft directed at the human making the order. Especially when people aren't able to get the same medications for their human family members. Veterinarians may not even prescribe the medications in these circumstances, for ethical reasons.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

I'm glad it's not a heart condition because there are is medication here for his current condition, I have experience with this so I think we'll be fine for at least 2 more years tho I'm hoping/aiming for a good 5 years given we caught it fairly early and his overall state is excellent. He doesn't show signs of increased thirst or urination yet

 

[Meowmee]

With the med shortages in many countries, this is not even close to possible. Even the governments in some of the countries with the most serious shortages cannot get medication to come.


We have to keep in mind the drastic privilege we have living in North America or the UK as medication to our countries are prioritized. Our shortages have been short lived, many countries have experienced this for years. Especially if there is civil unrest.

Please keep this in mind when our friends from other places are talking about medical shortages. They are not short-term, and there can be risk of violence or theft directed at the human making the order. Especially when people aren't able to get the same medications for their human family members. Veterinarians may not even prescribe the medications in these circumstances, for ethical reasons.

I am not sure which post of mine you are replying to here, you haven't quoted anything. Did you mean to reply to me?

I am well aware of all of this by the way

 

[Meowmee]

I'm glad it's not a heart condition because there are is medication here for his current condition, I have experience with this so I think we'll be fine for at least 2 more years tho I'm hoping/aiming for a good 5 years given we caught it fairly early and his overall state is excellent. He doesn't show signs of increased thirst or urination yet

Sorry to hear that I am glad you do have access to medication for kidney disease… what are they giving him? For my cats with kidney disease fluid was the main treatment given but you have to be very careful with it and don’t overload with too much fluid because that can cause congestive heart failure. Which happened to my Sybil.

 

[Joe_Danger1337]

They are strongly against sub q or whatever fluids for treating kidney disease in Macedonia. The vet prescribed RenalVet pills, some immune system boosters and renal food by Royal Canin which we've used before.
They said life expectancy is very good with these pills

 

[Alldara]

I am not sure which post of mine you are replying to here, you haven't quoted anything. Did you mean to reply to me?

I am well aware of all of this by the way

No my phone is just having some technical issues