2/13 George amps 102 +1 92 +2 72 +3 68 +8 77 pmps 81 Alls well

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Gill & George

Member Since 2015
Morning all, :coffee::coffee::coffee:
Vines, hugs and safe surfs for the weekend.

Yesterdays Condo

recap 2/12
:cool:amps 106
:D90@ +1.5 :D69@+2.75 :D79@ +4 :D78@+5 :D66@+7.5 :D74@+9.25
:D pmps 88
:D84@+1 :D78@+2 :D84@+3 :D88@4 :D90@+5.5

George continues to like this dose flat and green during the day with a barely blue ps, as time goes on in these healing numbers we continue to see improvement in George, he is a happier kitty, more playful, continues to seek out our company, moving better and his BFG attitude is back. He just keeps improving in subtle ways. :)

Going out later this morning,hopefully BFG will continue to behave:cat:

All the p's in place and then some;)

Happy Caturday

Surf Safely
 
Bfg surfed safely while we were out I loaded his food with two tsp MC @ +3 as I headed out the door because of the 68 I got, then loaded his auto feeder with MC to+4(2tsp 9% and 1 tsp14%) and +5(1tsp 4% 1tsp 9%) +6 (2tsp 4% ) +7 (1tsp 4%) more carb than I would give him if I were home (usually his mid cycle feeds would just be 4%)

That gave us a 77 @+8 so glad I decided to leave out the MC, wonder what he would have done with regular and how tonights cycle will go?? It seems to me that gradually the cycles are getting lower, wishful thinking??? I am sure he will let us know;)

Thanks for stopping by guys
 
Hi Gill and George!

George is looking great and even better is to hear he is feeling great!

I looked at his labs and the liver issues stand out to me. As I said, it is something we dealt with with Gracie for her entire life but mostly the last 3.5 years. Many diabetic cats have elevated cholesterol and George's is pretty consistent with what I see so I wouldn't worry. I did notice that once I switched Gracie from the usual foods like Wellness and Merrick which have higher fat than protein to Ziwipeak and a homecooked diet, her cholesterol levels dropped. However, my nondiabetic cats who ate Wellness and Merrick did not have elevated cholesterol. Thus I believe the diabetes also plays a role here.

When all the liver enzymes like that are elevated (and the ALT, ALP, and AST are mild elevations) then it is indicative of hepatoctye death more so than other organ issues which might also effect the liver. Anytime you have an elevation in bilirubin, you would also suspect there is a gallbladder or bile duct issue. I bet if they had run GGT, it would have also been elevated. At the time of this test, was George eating really well? I ask because these kinds of elevations can be seen with hepatic lipidosis if kitty is not eating well.

The other culprit in liver values like this is cholangiohepatitis or triaditis. Every time Gracie's liver values had a simliar mild elevation, we would have an ultrasound done. They were inconclusive. She had no symptoms of anything being wrong until this past July when she didn't want to eat and when I caught her urine to test for ketones, it was dark gold indicating bilirubin in the urine. Initially, with the first elevated liver values, the specialist thought she had a dilated bile duct but after further testing and comparisons to baseline ultrasounds I was able to track down with another radiologist, it seemed congenital.

I'm surprised your vet did not recheck labs within one month to see what his liver values looked like. He/she should have done that. I would definitely be following up on that to see if it has resolved. Cats can have quite high liver values before they actually start showing any illness or George's could have resolved after whatever "insult" to the liver was alleviated. The liver can be quite forgiving.

If George's liver values are elevated on the next set of labs, you might want to discuss with the vet the following treatments:
An antibiotic: metronidazole is usually used but some cats can't take it and Gracie was one so she took clavamox.
A bile acid esp if bilirubin and GGT are elevated: most commonly used is ursodiol (compounded with no sweeteners) but if your vet goes that route, be sure you also supplement with pure Taurine powder as ursodiol can deplete taurine.
Water soluble liquid Vitamin E : After an exhaustive search, the one linked is the only one I could find with no sugar. It really did seem to help.
Denamarin or denosyl: they both provide liver support although denamarin is more commonly used.

If values are really high, and especially if there is bilirubin in the urine, I would ask about giving subq fluids as long as George has no heart or other issues which would preclude it.

The only way to know definitively what is going on with the liver is exploratory surgery with biopsies. This was something we chose not to do and we do not regret that decision as it was not the liver issues that resulted in her crossing. Needle biopsies, even ultrasound guided, can miss the potential problem area. We just chose to treat the numbers and they would resolve....although they would later rise again but as I said, this was a lifelong issue of hers.

Please let me know if you have questions.
 
Hi Marje

At the time of this test, was George eating really well? I ask because these kinds of elevations can be seen with hepatic lipidosis if kitty is not eating well.

George was eating well, but on a diet of Hills dry Metablolic for weight loss recommended by the vet(where's the icon for me kicking myself), with 13% fat.
At FD diagnosis George had lost approx 300g, think this might have happened quite quickly and there was definite muscle wastage, Vet said liver values didn't surprise her in light of his obesity and diabetes combined and that he might have mild fatty liver (I think that is what was said, was in a bit of shock at the time of the FD diagnosis)

His food now is lower in fat his PS meals are 2% and his current midcycle meals 4% (Until a couple of weeks ago he was just getting the 2% fat, but they are 1.9% LC and I have found that his cycles have flattened out more effectively with some food that is slightly higher in carb(4%) which is also higher in fat. I hope that helps with his cholesterol, he is certainly eating a healthier diet now.

I'm surprised your vet did not recheck labs within one month to see what his liver values looked like. He/she should have done that. I would definitely be following up on that to see if it has resolved. Cats can have quite high liver values before they actually start showing any illness or George's could have resolved after whatever "insult" to the liver was alleviated. The liver can be quite forgiving.

I think from what she said that she felt the slightly elevated values were from the FD and she expected them to improve if we got regulated, but was a bit vague about the results when I questioned the fact that they were out of range, she didn't seem to feel that there was anything to worry about, it has been niggling at me, so I thought I would ask. I've been wanting to get George more stable before I took him in for another BW, he doesn't travel well at all, and its just under a hour and half round trip to the vets.

There has been no bilirubin so far in the urine, I check for that with the urine strips (DUS 10), and his urine is light coloured.

George is healthy other than the FD, and Obesity(he did get up to 9kg/20llb ideal weight 6.75kg/15lbs weight now 7.5 kg/16lbs), he has a mild heart murmur (my regular vets have never confirmed it when they have listened they can't hear it, but he was diagnosed with it at the rescue center in Battersea London some 10yrs ago he got an ultrasound there but it has given him no health problems)


Thanks for your response, that's a great help

What's GGT I feel like I should know?? but can't think now.

Poop question, would the colour of his poop be an indication of any problems?? Round about diagnosis of FD it was a bit paler and stickier consistency, now it seems darker and firmer, but not hard.

Is there anything in the BW that should be run that wasn't?


Thanks again:)
 
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