10/25 Ivana - Vet visit with labs, high BP :-(

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Tara & Ivana (GA)

Tara & Ivana (GA)

Member Since 2015
Last post from the weekend

I know I normally only post on Saturdays these days, but Ivana had a vet visit today that I thought I should update on. It was a check-up on her kidney values, as well as taking her blood pressure with the vet's new doppler machine (the standard machine could never get a reading from her, for some reason).

So the first thing we did was take her blood pressure. It was actually pretty cool to hear her heartbeat, and she laid perfectly still for about 10min while this was done, with four of us humans crowded around her and one even holding her back foot which she normally hates. So proud of my girl :cat: The result, however, I was not so pleased with - her systolic BP was 200-220, which is wayyyyyy too high, although given her CKD status it's not that much of a surprise I guess. I'm so glad we caught it, but gee I hope she hasn't had this for too long. There's no damage to her retinas which is good, so hopefully she hasn't been hypertensive for a long time. She'll be on medication daily to bring it down, a drug called Amlodipine which is apparently very good with little to no side-effects. It comes in tablets but I've asked the vet to check if it can be compounded into a liquid or paste so it's less stressful for her to take every day. I wish it came in an injectible form, that would be so easy ;)

Re her bloodwork, it's looking ok - some numbers up, some numbers down. Phosphorous was up a little since last test, but not as high as it was earlier this year. Calcium is about the same, and creatinine is down a bit and urea/BUN is up a bit. All in all it's not bad results, with nothing else needed at this point. All labs from today are updated in her spreadsheet.

Here we are at the vet this morning while waiting for her test results - look at those ears, she's so not impressed!
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I'm glad Ivana was a good girl at the vet. She doesn't look happy to be there. Sorry the BP is high, but at least you can treat it. I'm glad everything else is okay. Sending prayers.
 
I'm going to look online tomorrow to see if it's possible to get a cheap doppler machine to keep at home so we can check her BP ourselves. It will be more accurate, not to mention less costly, than taking her to the vet all the time. Gotta say that is one advantage that the FD has over CKD, and that is that we can monitor it ourselves. I wish there was a CKD version of home-testing!
 
Ivana is a beauty and very expressive. When I saw her vet pic I was thinking that Ivana was thinking, "duh --your BP would be high too if you had a bean you don't know holding your back foot for 10 minutes. Let's get outta here." Bless her heart...but I am sure she knows you are doing what is best for her, at least that is what I say to myself everytime I prick Woody's ear. Glad everything else is looking good on her blood work.
 
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Sorry about the BP, perhaps you will see an improvement in BW when you start treating that. Good news about her eyes.
She looks seriously unimpressed with the vet visit.:rolleyes:

Tara & Ivana said:
I'm going to look online tomorrow to see if it's possible to get a cheap doppler machine
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if you find one let me know, to see if I could source one. I haven't found a vet here that has one yet, at least not one within an hours drive:eek:, the drive alone would be bound to send BFG's BP raging.
 
I don't know if you can find a reliable doppler that doesn't cost a fortune. Is there any chance that a vet tech could make a "housecall"?

FYI: One of the side effects of amlodipine for some cats is loss of appetite. I had to switch Gabby off of it because she wasn't eating and she was a kitty who liked her food! There is good research on telmisartan for kitties and it is able to be compounded into a liquid form.
 
So sorry about the elevated BP. As Sienne said, some kitties do have issues with amlodipine, but Trix has been on it for almost 3 year without issue, and my GA civvie Mario was also on it for a couple years, too. Just keep an eye on Ivana's appy - I think you'll know pretty quickly if it's not the right med for her.

I've also heard what Sienne said about an affordable-yet-reliable doppler machine, plus I've heard it takes a fair amount of training to learn how to properly use it, too. Hopefully some day there will be a good way for us to monitor BP at home!
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Ivana looks seriously annoyed! How high can vet stress inflate the numbers? You know, like stress and BG's?
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ECID on this, but most kitties won't hit the 200s based on stress alone. But, there are always exceptions to that rule...I'm pretty sure Wendy's Neko really skyrocketed due to stress. My own vet uses 170 as her cut off for "white coat syndrome"...anything above that, she does treat.
 
Amy&TrixieCat said:
So sorry about the elevated BP. As Sienne said, some kitties do have issues with amlodipine, but Trix has been on it for almost 3 year without issue, and my GA civvie Mario was also on it for a couple years, too. Just keep an eye on Ivana's appy - I think you'll know pretty quickly if it's not the right med for her.

I've also heard what Sienne said about an affordable-yet-reliable doppler machine, plus I've heard it takes a fair amount of training to learn how to properly use it, too. Hopefully some day there will be a good way for us to monitor BP at home!


ECID on this, but most kitties won't hit the 200s based on stress alone. But, there are always exceptions to that rule...I'm pretty sure Wendy's Neko really skyrocketed due to stress. My own vet uses 170 as her cut off for "white coat syndrome"...anything above that, she does treat.
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Thanks Amy, good to know as Forrest is having his BP done is Nov.
 
Amy&TrixieCat said:
My own vet uses 170 as her cut off for "white coat syndrome"...anything above that, she does treat.
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I asked the question about stress increasing the number, my vet uses 180 as the cut-off to allow for anxiety and treats above that. Apparently the normal BP is 120ish, so Ivana was quite a bit above normal. Makes it hard that there's no signs to look for, no wonder they call hypertension the 'silent killer'.

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
One of the side effects of amlodipine for some cats is loss of appetite.
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Good to know, thanks Sienne. Ivana likes her food so it will easy to tell if the meds are killing her appetite. Fingers crossed. If it's not for her, at least we have another option.

I will report back with what I find re dopplers, or anything else of use. Not sure if housecalls are an option as it took three people (not including me) to do it - one to move the sensor around on her foot, one to do something with adjusting the dials on the machine based on the sound, and the other was an intern who was reading the numbers on another attached machine but I think he was just there to learn and wasn't particularly needed. It would be good to do at least once though, just to get a more accurate reading in a less stressful environment.
 
I sure hope Ivana responds well to the BP medicine!!! Tara Fritz and Ivana look like they are the same breed! Is she a Russian Blue? She is so pretty!!!!!
I noticed you use Slippery Elm Bark for her. I want to get some for Fritz but I am not sure which brand is the best? I am in the US and noticed your in Australia.
 
DebG said:
Tara Fritz and Ivana look like they are the same breed! Is she a Russian Blue? She is so pretty!!!!!
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Goodness, they could be siblings! Yes Ivana is a Russian Blue too, aren't they just the most stunning breed?! Fritz is so handsome :-)

DebG said:
I noticed you use Slippery Elm Bark for her. I want to get some for Fritz but I am not sure which brand is the best?
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The brand of slippery elm bark powder I use is called NutriVital. I don't think there'd be much difference between brands, when I got mine I just made sure to buy it from a health food store rather than a supermarket (may or may not have made a difference with quality), and made sure it was 100% SEB with no added fillers etc.
 
I did the Doppler machine research when Vyktor looked like he might have a problem - you're looking at thousands of dollars :(

One thing that did help him be more relaxed for his BP readings was to practice before hand. I would wrap my fingers around his little leg and squeeze tight to imitate the cuff all the while telling him 'blood pressure just checking your blood pressure' and then say the same thing at the vet while it was being done. I did it several times a day in the week leading up to a test, it seemed to help.
 
Tara, I'm so sorry about the high BP, but I'm glad you caught it before there were symptoms. Also yay for otherwise unremarkable BW.

@tiffmaxee did a lot of research on dopplers before getting one, although that was in the US. Don't know if her experience would help you or not.

You probably already thought of this, but if you're having meds compounded, be sure to ask that they not add any sugar or sweeteners. I'm sure you don't want Ivana knocked out of remission. :eek:

She definitely looks unimpressed by her situation - in fact, I suspect she's looking for the nearest exit! :joyful:
 
Tara & Ivana said:
I'm going to look online tomorrow to see if it's possible to get a cheap doppler machine to keep at home so we can check her BP ourselves. It will be more accurate, not to mention less costly, than taking her to the vet all the time. Gotta say that is one advantage that the FD has over CKD, and that is that we can monitor it ourselves. I wish there was a CKD version of home-testing!
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Sadly Max has gone ahead but Elise @tiffmaxee is very educated with the doppler:bighug:
 
Amy&TrixieCat said:
ECID on this, but most kitties won't hit the 200s based on stress alone. But, there are always exceptions to that rule...I'm pretty sure Wendy's Neko really skyrocketed due to stress. My own vet uses 170 as her cut off for "white coat syndrome"...anything above that, she does treat.
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Our first vetty visit for a BP check involved a long wait due to vetty emergency, and a crowded and noisy waiting room full of droolers, getting squeezed into a makeshift exam room, and techs who weren't that familiar with the machine, or it sure seemed that way. The result was BP in the 220's. Vetty didn't charge me for that epic failure. Next attempt was the acupuncture vetty, a much quieter office. Unfortunately a drooler puppy jumped her carrier in the waiting room, resulting in the 180's. Next up, at the dental vetty in a darkened room by herself with Feliway going, result 147. :cool: Now anytime I know she is going for a BP check I spray the carrier with Feliway and give her Rescue Remedy before hand.

Good luck with new med, we haven't had to go there yet. (Antijinx)
 
Amlodipine is the right drug for high BP. you need to get it rechecked about 7-10 days after you start it. I put all pills in gel capsules and chased them with baby food or a special food.

There is no such thing as a cheap Doppler. I bought a used one on EBay for $86 but you also need a probe, battery charger, sphygmomanometer and cuff and gel. The whole thing cost me about $400.
 
Thankyou everyone for your thoughts, much appreciated as usual.

@Vyktors Mum That's a great idea to simulate the feeling beforehand, I will do that I think. Ivana is not a fan of having her feet touched at the best of times, but luckily for us (and the vet) she turns into a floppy blob at the vet and lets them do absolutely anything to her without any fight, even stuff she'd scratch our face off for at home. But I will try to 'de-sensitise' her, just we did when we started home testing.

@Tricia Cinco(GA) & Harvey I just got home from work to a phone message from the vet to say that the compounded version of the tablets is a gel-like substance that you apply to the ear and it's absorbed through the skin that way. How cool is that?! Ivana is already used to having her ears fiddled with often, so this is just perfect I think :-)

@Wendy&Neko Goodness, Neko did not have much luck with vet visits! Since our vet has opened her own practice, we have had the waiting room all to ourselves every time - not sure if it's just luck or if she leaves more time between appointments, but Ivana hasn't had to deal with any of that thank goodness. Although there was some sort of talking bird there the other day that was quite entertaining while waiting for test results! I do like the Rescue Remedy idea too, I have some of that and will put some in her water before her next visit.

@tiffmaxee Yeah the vet has said we need to recheck after a week on the meds, so fingers crossed we'll have results with the Amlodipine. I would class a $400 doppler as cheap! At least from the small amount of research I did yesterday. I haven't found anything under $1200, although I've set up an alert for eBay and Gumtree incase one gets listed. It was worth a try, I suppose, but a doppler won't be gracing our home anytime soon I don't think.
 
So sorry Ivana has high BP. It is good she is starting medication though.
When I take Sheba to have her BP checked, I put a towel over her carrier so she can't see any of the other animals in the waiting room. Then when she goes into the consulting room I always get the vet to check her BP first up. We keep her in her carrier and just lift her front foot out to have the cuff on. She just pretends it isn't happening.:rolleyes:
Good luck finding a Doppler machine to take the BP. I looked into that but couldn't find one that didn't break the bank!
 
@tiffmaxee Yeah the vet has said we need to recheck after a week on the meds, so fingers crossed we'll have results with the Amlodipine. I would class a $400 doppler as cheap! At least from the small amount of research I did yesterday. I haven't found anything under $1200, although I've set up an alert for eBay and Gumtree incase one gets listed. It was worth a try, I suppose, but a doppler won't be gracing our home anytime soon I don't think.[/QUOTE]

The Parks 811B Doppler can be found on auction pretty often. You can buy the rest from Parks but would need to see if they will ship to you. They were out of cuffs and back ordered for months so you might then need to buy a sphygmomanometer and cuffs separately. All together it would cost about $450.

http://www.parksmed.com/
 
So the first thing we did was take her blood pressure. It was actually pretty cool to hear her heartbeat, and she laid perfectly still for about 10min while this was done, with four of us humans crowded around her and one even holding her back foot which she normally hates. So proud of my girl :cat: The result, however, I was not so pleased with - her systolic BP was 200-220, which is wayyyyyy too high, although given her CKD status it's not that much of a surprise I guess. I'm so glad we caught it, but gee I hope she hasn't had this for too long. There's no damage to her retinas which is good, so hopefully she hasn't been hypertensive for a long time. She'll be on medication daily to bring it down, a drug called Amlodipine which is apparently very good with little to no side-effects. It comes in tablets but I've asked the vet to check if it can be compounded into a liquid or paste so it's less stressful for her to take every day. I wish it came in an injectible form, that would be so easy ;)


Here we are at the vet this morning while waiting for her test results - look at those ears, she's so not impressed!
View attachment 23989[/QUOTE]

Noo, those are not happy ears.
Amlodopine is a great drug. My Colette, who had CDK, was on it for 2 years, and it controlled her BP perfectly. She retained her eyesight, too.
Hugs :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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