? Need help understanding labs on newly Dx kitty

[Sara and Snoopy's mom]

Hi again
I have the fructosamine results for this newly diagnosed cat (unfortunately the full blood results of her Sr Panel were not included, grrr)
as well as the results of a U/A

the fructosamine is pretty straight forward, the U/A results look somewhat foreign to me, it's not what I've been used to

Fruct. is 418


Here's the U/A results:
color pale yellow
clarity slightly cloudy
specific gravity >1.050
pH 7
PRO 30mg/dL
GLU 1000mg/dL
KET, UBG and BIL all negative
BLD 250 Ery/uL

(I'm guessing this means she's spilling sugar and protein and possibly blood? bld? in her urine. I know sugar and blood is not good but not sure on protein)

SG seems pretty decent for a 13yr old cat, not sure if the UA was done before or after she got subQ fluids however.

Then there's these numbers:

WBC 1/HPF
RBC >50/HPF

Bacteria
rods suspected presence
Cocci suspected presence
EPI
squamous 1-2/HPF
non-squamous 3-5/HPF

Casts
Hyaline none dedected
Non Hyaline suspect presence

Crystals:
unclassified 1-5/HPF
Ca Ox Du none
Amm Biurate none
Bilirubin none

struvite 1-5/HPV

crystalline debris detected
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honestly I don't know what most of that even means.
Near the bottom of the page, it says:
Significant hematuria with proteinuria (so I guess it is blood) Then lists things to consider, including infection, neoplasia urinary calculi and hemorrhage.


So there's more going on with this girl then I knew about when I offered to take her to test her. Her U/A results seem concerning to me, are they?

Short back story:
I offered to take in a friend's cat to test her BG as she is newly diagnosed with diabetes and owners don't test.
Except for some slow weight loss, she has no other signs or symptoms of diabetes, however she's been treated with what seems to be a relatively low dose of prednisolone for IBD for years.

Cat is very high strung and nervous; I have not been able to test her yet but insulin shots are going well.
She's on Vetsulin 1 unit per day. I was giving her the full dose at first but concerned that there's no clear signs of diabetes, and without the fructosamine results that I just got today, I did drop the dose to 0.5 this morning.

If I can't get the cat out of the closet (or the litter box, she sleeps in it) and can't get her tested, I will have to send her home but while she's here, I'd like to get as much data and info that I can to help her out her somewhat overwhelmed and stressed out parents


if I left anything out, please let me know
thanks



Since being with me, I've noticed this cat will hold her urine for a long time
She got here Sat afternoon and has only peed 3 times
She's only pooped once

Her appetite is good, she's eating at least 3 oz usually a bit more of canned food twice a day. Yesterday she had an additional 1.5 oz of wet.

I have not seen her drink, but that doesn't mean she hasn't. She's got a fountain and the water has really not gone down much more than you'd expect from evaporation in a warm dry heated house.

 

[Sara and Snoopy's mom]

I tried to edit the above and it wasn't working- I have to admit I am severely sleep deprived.

Just to let you know so no one has to repeat what I already know:

I know Vetsulin is not a good choice. Not my cat, I pass all info along to the owner. No clue what they are going to do.
Yes, I know shooting blind is risky, that's why I offered to take the cat.
I hope to be able to test her soon but I have to give her time to settle in and frankly right now I need some sleep or none of this will go well.
I now know that the cat is truly diabetic, probably pretty early on, but bad enough to spill sugar (unless there's another reason for that?)

The cat is scheduled for a badly needed dental near the end of next month.

Cat was started on insulin Wed night.
She has a had a total of 10 shots so far at 1unit, the most recent shot was 0.5 units

The cat is going to see the vet on Thursday for a spot check and possibly to retest urine? I don't know. It's hard to get info from the owners.


sorry this is so scattered. need a nap!

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Could be an UTI because:
Bacteria
rods suspected presence
Cocci suspected presence
WBC 1/HPF

There are also red blood cell in the urine
RBC >50/HPF
BLD 250 Ery/uL
Could be due to UTI or maybe different cause

There are also crystals in the urine
struvite 1-5/HPV
crystalline debris detected

WHat did the vet say?

 

[Sara and Snoopy's mom]

WHat did the vet say?

I have no idea, I wasn't even told that she had any other issues besides the diabetes. (this is not my cat and I have no authority to call the vet although I sure wish I could)
It's been like pulling teeth to get info from the owner, and sometimes I get one answer, sometimes another (for instance, I still have no idea why this cat needed subQ fluids at the vets; I've heard that she wasn't eating and was throwing up, I've also heard that she's been eating great except for the day after her rabies shot but hasn't thrown up in a long time. I'm more exhausted from trying to find out what is going on...the cat is easy by comparison

I am surprised that the cat wasn't given any antibiotics, it does sound like she could have an infection.

she's got very bad teeth, from what I've been told the vet has been trying to convince them to get her in for a dental for a long time. Can infected teeth give them a UTI? seems possible to me.


I've been reading up and did see that diabetes was a reason for both the blood and the protein in the urine, I did not know that.

I don't know if there's enough bacteria or crystals to be treated....?
My hope is that the vet is going to recheck her on Thursday and come up with a plan for that

I need to know if this cat can become blocked- like how many crystals does it take for that to happen?
I got a new clean litter box for her, the one she came with was um shudder...

she is def not drinking and peeing like a diabetic, and now that I see she's got urinary issues, I'm thinking I may be in over my head here and maybe should send her home.

 

[Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall]

Hi Althea ~

I remember you - think we joined the board about the same time so very long ago. You're doing a good thing here helping the kitty. Since you're not getting much helpful - and important - info from the owner, you might want to consider asking them to contact their vet and give permission to speak with you. Then you can get questions answered directly. When I take a new diabetic, even if it's temporary, I ask for the medical records and for the vet to be notified in case there are questions.

 

[Sara and Snoopy's mom]

you might want to consider asking them to contact their vet and give permission to speak with you.

Great idea, thanks.
However the owner decided to take the cat back home. They prefer to just sort of follow what the vet said to do, I guess.

They said that the vet told them that the cat was diabetic with a high fructosamine result, that except for high blood sugar, all her blood work was great. That was all. Nothing else. Gave a brief demo of shooting insulin and that was it. Sent home with a care sheet to read.

They didn't even know that the cat had a urinalysis done, let alone what the results were.
They didn't know that their cat had been given an anti nausea med. They were only vaguely aware that she got fluids but didn't ask why.
and they still have no questions or curiosity whatsoever.

I'd be upset if a vet didn't discuss what things they were planning to do in advance to get my approval (even in an emergency, unless time was of the essence and the cat would die if they waited) I can't even imagine walking out of the vet's office without being told everything that had been done and why.

I guess everyone is different.
that's all I can say.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Oh dear...you must be frustrated. Poor kitty. I hope things can be sorted out.

 

[Sara and Snoopy's mom]

Poor kitty. I hope things can be sorted out

me too.