1-Dec Mav AMPS 308|+6.5 173|PMPS 344|+4.5 234

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Christie & Maverick

Christie & Maverick

Member Since 2017
Thursday thrills

Maverick decided he wanted a reducie last night, I kept him surfing after the 43, and he was 101 at +8, so I had hoped maybe no bounce this morning. Nope, bouncy kitty....he was quite frisky though, he sure likes to play in the bathtub and then jump out to pounce on his mousy toy! He didn't want to sit still for the pokie, he was too interested in playing. What a turkey :rolleyes:

Happy Friday :coffee::)
 
I’ve looked at Mav’s labs and here are some comments for you:

Kidneys
His BUN is a tad high. This number isn’t a stand alone test as BUN can be higher if they eat a high protein (think “raw”) diet or if they are just a bit dehydrated.
His creatinine is normal. :) (Keep in mind that Stage 1 CKD is above 140 mmol/L. That doesn’t mean that every cat that has a creatinine above that has CKD; the number can go up and down but it’s a consistent and steady trend up that we look for).
His phosphorus, potassium, and calcium are excellent.
His hematocrit (which I look at with kidneys to see if they are anemic from CKD) is excellent.
He is very nicely concentrating his urine with a urine specific gravity of 1.040.
When we don’t have an SDMA test, we often use the USG as an early indicator of potential CKD. If it’s below 1.035, I always think a little more testing is necessary (sometimes it can be lower because the cat has been drinking a lot or has had fluids given but he’s still able to concentrate his urine).

Liver
I definitely have some concerns here.
His ALT is very mildly elevated (for a vet to really get concerned, it usually has to be above 500 but I think if it’s where his is and there are other concurrent liver values off, it’s smart to check it out). The ALT indicates some “insult” to the liver which is affecting his liver cells. ALT has a short half life which means that the number can change quickly if the issue to the liver cells is brief exposure to the “insult” (e.g. like a toxin)
His GGT is high which makes me think along the line of bile duct issues although it can also be high if there is a chronic pancreatitis issue or if some liver damage has occurred.
His total bilirubin is on the very high side of normal. I note his urine was not yet spilling bilirubin so that’s good. Still, there is an indication that something is going on with his liver function.

Other Superchem Values
The elevated chloride, cholesterol (typical in FDs) don’t cause me any concern.

Complete Blood Count
There are lots of things that can cause low WBCs and neutrophils although some times neutrophils are low if the kitty has recently been fighting an infection. I think it’s best to discuss this with your vet.

Urinalysis
Looks great. He’s got a little protein in his urine but with his kidney values normal, I’m not too concerned with that.

If he were mine, I’d talk to the vet about those liver values and maybe consider having an ultrasound done. Gracie often had issues with elevated ALT, GGT, and bilirubin. It came and went but, with her, as it ended up, it appeared to be connected to her IBD.

BTW, I notice your SS has template tabs on it. I’ve been working on the SSs and found that the World/US SSs where I did templates for subsequent years have a glitch. If you can PM me, I can fix it for you.

Please let me know if you have questions. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
@Marje and Gracie , I can't thank you enough! I have had past experience with CRF, back when Tanya's support group was on Yahoo :), it's been a while, but the write-up on kidney values sounds vaguely familiar.

Oops, sorry about my SS, I was in such a rush to get it going, I'll PM you for a quick fix before you get inundated with 2018 SS help requests!

I had been doing a bit of reading on the liver values, your explanation makes perfect sense. I wish I had asked for your help with the labs earlier :(, but managing the diabetes was my focus at the time. And, while I try and learn as much as I can, I wasn't really thinking about anything else on those labs, until now. A month or so after Dx, when Mav's numbers were still running high, the vet (via the vet tech) suggested an ultrasound, because they were speculating about pancreatitis, although he has always been asymptomatic. Sounds like I need to do a follow up visit with them.

One question...can I put you in my back pocket and bring you to Mav's vet visit!?:p I bet you get that question a lot :rolleyes:

Again, thank you, Marje for your time and input, it is truly appreciated :bighug:
 
Christie & Maverick said:
@Marje and Gracie , I can't thank you enough! I have had past experience with CRF, back when Tanya's support group was on Yahoo :), it's been a while, but the write-up on kidney values sounds vaguely familiar.

Oops, sorry about my SS, I was in such a rush to get it going, I'll PM you for a quick fix before you get inundated with 2018 SS help requests!

I had been doing a bit of reading on the liver values, your explanation makes perfect sense. I wish I had asked for your help with the labs earlier :(, but managing the diabetes was my focus at the time. And, while I try and learn as much as I can, I wasn't really thinking about anything else on those labs, until now. A month or so after Dx, when Mav's numbers were still running high, the vet (via the vet tech) suggested an ultrasound, because they were speculating about pancreatitis, although he has always been asymptomatic. Sounds like I need to do a follow up visit with them.

One question...can I put you in my back pocket and bring you to Mav's vet visit!?:p I bet you get that question a lot :rolleyes:

Again, thank you, Marje for your time and input, it is truly appreciated :bighug:
Click to expand...
You’re welcome! :joyful::joyful::rolleyes: on going to the vet with you. It would have to be in summer as I don’t venture anywhere that it gets colder than 50 degrees these days :smuggrin::smuggrin::p:p I don’t know where you are in Canada but I used to live in Labrador (loved it but brrrrr) and Gracie was born in Toronto and I had to go there in late Oct to get her (brrrrrrrrrrr).

Let me know if I can help you decipher anything else. The liver can be tricky. The first two years of the annual liver value elevation, Gracie never had symptoms.....we would just find them incidentally. The third year, she started occasionally vomiting but not often enough to really seem to be something. Then her bilirubin went so high that it was in her urine. I caught it because I took a urine sample to test her ketones and her urine was orangey gold.
 
Lol, yes, Canadian winters can be chilly! Though here in Calgary, we get chinooks, so sometimes the temp warms up even higher than 50F ;) we consider that downright balmy, and while we can dip into very cold temps, it is not humid cold, which gets into your bones!

Ugh, so many things to keep an eye on, but with the info you have kindly shared, at least I'm more prepared now :). Scary that something can be wrong and the kitties don't show any symptoms, that worries me the most.
 
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