Samantha McNair
Member Since 2015
I just posted in the welcome forum, so now I will post more about Bangwol.
At the end of August, Bangwol had a minor leg surgery to remove a pin from his leg. (As a kitten both his legs were broken, and he was rescued by the vet and lived at this vet office for 3 years before I adopted him). The surgery went well, and although he ended up pulling out his stitches a few days later, his leg healed nicely. We were told to come back in two weeks for a check up.
On 9/12 we went back for the check up. After a blood test, we discovered his BUN was 50 and creatinine was 3.7. Based on this, the vet diagnosed him with CKD. The vet advised us to leave him to get his levels down. After a few days of IV, they got BUN down to 19 and creatinine was 2. I remember the vet saying "he is back to normal". He wasn't put on KD food, and no other changes were made besides me switching to grain free food because at the time he needed to lose weight to help his arthritis in his leg.
ON 9/22 he couldn't use the litter box, and didn't have a good appetite. Miralax isn't sold in Korea, and he was crying, so I took him in to the vet near my house (different from first vet). BUN was back up at 42, creatinine was 3.2. WBC was 18.80. By the next day after 24 hours on IV, BUN and creatinine were normal, but WBC rose to 20.50. He stayed there until 9/25 and was released with two days worth of inflammatory meds. He was also put on KD food as I was told protein should be limited. Nothing was done regarding his high WBC.
Fast forward a month, he did well after bringing him home on 9/25. He had some constipation issues, but was relatively in a good mood and played with his sister kitten. He had lost a little bit of weight, but he looked good. Everyone said he looked better than before and it was helping his leg. But on 10/21 he just wouldn't touch his food. I fed him with a syringe before work and came home at lunch to take him back to the vet by my house. He felt warm and didn't have a lot of energy. WBC was now 28.10, creatine was slightly raised from last time, but BUN was normal. He didn't give me anything, and just told me to give 100ml of subqs a day for a few days. However I could tell something was very wrong, so when I went back to work after lunch, I asked my friend (and Bangwol's old foster mom), to please take him back to his original vet (where he had leg surgery) And on 10/23 I went to visit him and saw the results of the newest U/S which were nephritis and pancreatitis, as well as diabetes.
As much as a I feel that this vet is good for Bangwol because he knows his whole history, and has basically seen him grow up...he is incredibly frustrating to talk to (however this is a common trait with Korean vets). I have to be careful not to over step my boundaries or question his authority both as a vet, and as someone older than me. This makes for a hard time when I know he should be giving or trying a different treatment, but my requests aren't listened to. For example, a week after he was admitted to the clinic, his WBC was STILL the same. He was on clavamox and cefotaxime, and didn't have an appetite, so they were force feeding. I asked to change the medicine, as it still hasn't done anything, and the clavamox might have been affecting his appetite. The vet only laughed and said he'd take care of it (meaning: no, I am the vet, I will make the decisions).
A few days later, I found out he did change the antibiotics, but not to the ones I asked. He simply added Metranidazole and Doxycycline, but kept the Cefotaxime and Clavamox! I wasn't happy. It took another few days before we saw some results. The WBC dropped slightly.
I visited the vet 10/30 expecting to bring him home. But was told he should remain until Monday at least. Good news was, his WBC was (slowly) coming down. It came down to 27.4 from 35.4 in 4 days. Its was still high, but it was improving. Glucose was stable and hovering around 118. He is getting two units of Lantus twice daily. I got to give him his evening shot for practice.
Now for the frustrating part. I asked my many questions, and got answers I can't comprehend. For food, he is eating Hills WB dry. He said he is adding water to the dry food but kitty doesn't eat it well so he is back to force feeding. I told him he doesn't like dry mixed with water, and to please give him wet WB. He told me Hills doesn't make wet WB food (of course they do, so why...?). I asked if he will need fluids at home, since he still has CKD on top of everything else going on, plus its could help pancreatitis too. He said no. I noted that giving him dry WB food doesn't give much moisture, and he did well on fluids before, and he still said no its fine, just add water to dry food (but he doesn't like it that way!!!). Also I asked what he thought about the pancreatitis and diabetes. If one caused the other or whatnot. He said he definitely has both, but didn't give a reason why he thought so. I asked about B12 injections, and he said its not necessary. He did say that Bangwol has received 2 shots of Epokine (0.5mL) already for RBC (they rose a tad after the blood test yesterday). I mentioned the 4mg ketone level in his last urinalysis last week, and he said he will do another one before he is discharged.
Also he said the ultrasound (wasn't clear if it was a new one or same as the one last week), showed his nephritis is quite bad. I noted that since the kidney is the place where the infection is, that is probably why. He agreed. But the likes of it returning back to as it was before infection is not likely.
It was a frustrating talk for the most part, and I tried to be as diplomatic (and polite) as possible while still getting what I needed...which didn't really happen!
As for my kitty, he was in good spirits! You could definitely tell he was feeling better. He had a nice area for sleeping, and even had a friend! When I went into the back to see him, they were snuggled together. Seeing him have company makes me feel SO relieved, since he is such a social cat and needs that affection. So at least he isn't lonely! He also takes walks to go see the cats that live at the vet...his old buddies! (Bangwol lived here for 3 years until I adopted him). As we were leaving, suddenly we noticed someone was following us! Bangwol had opened the heavy sliding door (glass!) Of his area, and waltzed right past us to see his old friends...and proceeded to sleep in their beds, use their litter box, and scratch on their scratcher! What a cat. It was sad to leave him, but he seemed happy and had friends, so it made be feel happy too.
That was a long, but important post! I am going to the vets tonight to hopefully bring him home, and I will post updated blood work again. I'm quite scared, because I feel like I'm not ready to handle this. I was searching for some home testing monitors, and found OneTouch Ultra mini, and AccuCheck Active. I havent ordered one yet, because I want to make sure I'm getting the right one! Also food...As i mentioned the vet was feeding him Hill's WB dry when he started the insulin. I have absolutely no intention of feeding him this high carb food. But I'm worried because I don't have a monitor yet, and when you switch to low carb food after starting insulin, I know your have to check his BG a lot. If I can get wet WB, should I use that until I slowly get him on low carb food? What if I can't find it? I want to switch him to BFF, and maybe mix it up with Evo chicken and turkey. I also need to get urine testing strips, right? I did all this research last night, but my head is a mess now =( I miss him so much!
Posted labs done up til the 30th, plus U/S results. Urinalysis done around the 25th was in Korean, so I translated it. (Remember this was over a week ago, so things should be different after urinalysis tonight):
Urobilinogen 1.2mg/dl (0.1~2.9 mg/dl)
Glycosuria 161mg/dl (0~49 mg/dl)
Biliruben 0.4mg/dl (0~0.4 mg/dl)
Ketone 4mg/dl (0~4 mg/dl)
Urine specific gravity 1.030
Occult blood 1.7RBC/ul (0~7 RBC/ul)
Urine acidity 7.1
Proteinuria 61mg/dl (0~29 mg/dl)
Nitrituria 0 (0~0.04)
Leukocytes esterase 100WBC/ul (0~17 WBC/ul)
Microalbuminuria 24mg/dl (0~30 mg/dl)
Creatinine UPC 0.37mg (0~0.5 mg/dl)
Thanks for reading!!
At the end of August, Bangwol had a minor leg surgery to remove a pin from his leg. (As a kitten both his legs were broken, and he was rescued by the vet and lived at this vet office for 3 years before I adopted him). The surgery went well, and although he ended up pulling out his stitches a few days later, his leg healed nicely. We were told to come back in two weeks for a check up.
On 9/12 we went back for the check up. After a blood test, we discovered his BUN was 50 and creatinine was 3.7. Based on this, the vet diagnosed him with CKD. The vet advised us to leave him to get his levels down. After a few days of IV, they got BUN down to 19 and creatinine was 2. I remember the vet saying "he is back to normal". He wasn't put on KD food, and no other changes were made besides me switching to grain free food because at the time he needed to lose weight to help his arthritis in his leg.
ON 9/22 he couldn't use the litter box, and didn't have a good appetite. Miralax isn't sold in Korea, and he was crying, so I took him in to the vet near my house (different from first vet). BUN was back up at 42, creatinine was 3.2. WBC was 18.80. By the next day after 24 hours on IV, BUN and creatinine were normal, but WBC rose to 20.50. He stayed there until 9/25 and was released with two days worth of inflammatory meds. He was also put on KD food as I was told protein should be limited. Nothing was done regarding his high WBC.
Fast forward a month, he did well after bringing him home on 9/25. He had some constipation issues, but was relatively in a good mood and played with his sister kitten. He had lost a little bit of weight, but he looked good. Everyone said he looked better than before and it was helping his leg. But on 10/21 he just wouldn't touch his food. I fed him with a syringe before work and came home at lunch to take him back to the vet by my house. He felt warm and didn't have a lot of energy. WBC was now 28.10, creatine was slightly raised from last time, but BUN was normal. He didn't give me anything, and just told me to give 100ml of subqs a day for a few days. However I could tell something was very wrong, so when I went back to work after lunch, I asked my friend (and Bangwol's old foster mom), to please take him back to his original vet (where he had leg surgery) And on 10/23 I went to visit him and saw the results of the newest U/S which were nephritis and pancreatitis, as well as diabetes.
As much as a I feel that this vet is good for Bangwol because he knows his whole history, and has basically seen him grow up...he is incredibly frustrating to talk to (however this is a common trait with Korean vets). I have to be careful not to over step my boundaries or question his authority both as a vet, and as someone older than me. This makes for a hard time when I know he should be giving or trying a different treatment, but my requests aren't listened to. For example, a week after he was admitted to the clinic, his WBC was STILL the same. He was on clavamox and cefotaxime, and didn't have an appetite, so they were force feeding. I asked to change the medicine, as it still hasn't done anything, and the clavamox might have been affecting his appetite. The vet only laughed and said he'd take care of it (meaning: no, I am the vet, I will make the decisions).
A few days later, I found out he did change the antibiotics, but not to the ones I asked. He simply added Metranidazole and Doxycycline, but kept the Cefotaxime and Clavamox! I wasn't happy. It took another few days before we saw some results. The WBC dropped slightly.
I visited the vet 10/30 expecting to bring him home. But was told he should remain until Monday at least. Good news was, his WBC was (slowly) coming down. It came down to 27.4 from 35.4 in 4 days. Its was still high, but it was improving. Glucose was stable and hovering around 118. He is getting two units of Lantus twice daily. I got to give him his evening shot for practice.
Now for the frustrating part. I asked my many questions, and got answers I can't comprehend. For food, he is eating Hills WB dry. He said he is adding water to the dry food but kitty doesn't eat it well so he is back to force feeding. I told him he doesn't like dry mixed with water, and to please give him wet WB. He told me Hills doesn't make wet WB food (of course they do, so why...?). I asked if he will need fluids at home, since he still has CKD on top of everything else going on, plus its could help pancreatitis too. He said no. I noted that giving him dry WB food doesn't give much moisture, and he did well on fluids before, and he still said no its fine, just add water to dry food (but he doesn't like it that way!!!). Also I asked what he thought about the pancreatitis and diabetes. If one caused the other or whatnot. He said he definitely has both, but didn't give a reason why he thought so. I asked about B12 injections, and he said its not necessary. He did say that Bangwol has received 2 shots of Epokine (0.5mL) already for RBC (they rose a tad after the blood test yesterday). I mentioned the 4mg ketone level in his last urinalysis last week, and he said he will do another one before he is discharged.
Also he said the ultrasound (wasn't clear if it was a new one or same as the one last week), showed his nephritis is quite bad. I noted that since the kidney is the place where the infection is, that is probably why. He agreed. But the likes of it returning back to as it was before infection is not likely.
It was a frustrating talk for the most part, and I tried to be as diplomatic (and polite) as possible while still getting what I needed...which didn't really happen!
As for my kitty, he was in good spirits! You could definitely tell he was feeling better. He had a nice area for sleeping, and even had a friend! When I went into the back to see him, they were snuggled together. Seeing him have company makes me feel SO relieved, since he is such a social cat and needs that affection. So at least he isn't lonely! He also takes walks to go see the cats that live at the vet...his old buddies! (Bangwol lived here for 3 years until I adopted him). As we were leaving, suddenly we noticed someone was following us! Bangwol had opened the heavy sliding door (glass!) Of his area, and waltzed right past us to see his old friends...and proceeded to sleep in their beds, use their litter box, and scratch on their scratcher! What a cat. It was sad to leave him, but he seemed happy and had friends, so it made be feel happy too.
That was a long, but important post! I am going to the vets tonight to hopefully bring him home, and I will post updated blood work again. I'm quite scared, because I feel like I'm not ready to handle this. I was searching for some home testing monitors, and found OneTouch Ultra mini, and AccuCheck Active. I havent ordered one yet, because I want to make sure I'm getting the right one! Also food...As i mentioned the vet was feeding him Hill's WB dry when he started the insulin. I have absolutely no intention of feeding him this high carb food. But I'm worried because I don't have a monitor yet, and when you switch to low carb food after starting insulin, I know your have to check his BG a lot. If I can get wet WB, should I use that until I slowly get him on low carb food? What if I can't find it? I want to switch him to BFF, and maybe mix it up with Evo chicken and turkey. I also need to get urine testing strips, right? I did all this research last night, but my head is a mess now =( I miss him so much!
Posted labs done up til the 30th, plus U/S results. Urinalysis done around the 25th was in Korean, so I translated it. (Remember this was over a week ago, so things should be different after urinalysis tonight):
Urobilinogen 1.2mg/dl (0.1~2.9 mg/dl)
Glycosuria 161mg/dl (0~49 mg/dl)
Biliruben 0.4mg/dl (0~0.4 mg/dl)
Ketone 4mg/dl (0~4 mg/dl)
Urine specific gravity 1.030
Occult blood 1.7RBC/ul (0~7 RBC/ul)
Urine acidity 7.1
Proteinuria 61mg/dl (0~29 mg/dl)
Nitrituria 0 (0~0.04)
Leukocytes esterase 100WBC/ul (0~17 WBC/ul)
Microalbuminuria 24mg/dl (0~30 mg/dl)
Creatinine UPC 0.37mg (0~0.5 mg/dl)
Thanks for reading!!
