DCIN might need help with a Cushings Cat

Status
Not open for further replies.
So long as the draw is prepared properly for shipping, your vet can call the lab and find out the exact shipping requirements as that's what my vet did. That way, the draw on Sat could arrive at the lab in plenty of time for the testing on Wednesday.
It would be horrible if they run the tests at 7am and your draw arrives at 8am, then it has to sit for a week and wait. And who knows how the wait would affect the results, but sitting for a day has to be preferable to sitting for a week.

I had a question though; how come Fedex can't pick up the draw on Saturday, the day of the draw? Fedex must work 7days/week because the offer next day delivery.

Is there no other person at your vet's office that can do the draw? I am just wondering as I go to a vet clinic with a few vets and techs, so I don't know how your situation compares.
 
I would call MSU up and ask if Saturday draw and mailing is OK. For the IGF the MSU site says:
"May be shipped via regular mail. Recommend shipping samples with an ice pack in an insulated container second-day or better delivery in summer months."

For the insulin antibody test MSU states:
"Refrigerate or freeze prior to shipment. Ship serum samples in a leakproof tube with an ice pack."

This implies that you shouldn't freeze the IGF sample and drawing an Saturday and running test on Wednesday might not be the best. When i sent sample to TAMU I uses UPS next day shipment with ice pac.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
I would call MSU up and ask if Saturday draw and mailing is OK. For the IGF the MSU site says:
"May be shipped via regular mail. Recommend shipping samples with an ice pack in an insulated container second-day or better delivery in summer months."

For the insulin antibody test MSU states:
"Refrigerate or freeze prior to shipment. Ship serum samples in a leakproof tube with an ice pack."

This implies that you shouldn't freeze the IGF sample and drawing an Saturday and running test on Wednesday might not be the best. When i sent sample to TAMU I uses UPS next day shipment with ice pac.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all of the advice. Is there a phone number of the MSU webiste that I can contact?
 
It's perfectly acceptable to freeze the IGF-1 sample (in fact, I would it keep it cold longer). Dr. Lunn had one of mine frozen for almost 3 months before shipping to MSU.
 
Agree - Saturday blood draw is fine -- Norton's blood was drawn on Saturday for the IGF-1 test.

ALSO -- MSU used to only run the test twice per month (every other Wednesday). They increased the testing frequency to every week in just the past couple of years as the demand has increased.
 
I knew if it could be frozen then Saturday would be fine I just wondered why the DCPAH's site didn't mention freezing for the IGF but did for the antibody test.
Boo said:
It's perfectly acceptable to freeze the IGF-1 sample (in fact, I would it keep it cold longer). Dr. Lunn had one of mine frozen for almost 3 months before shipping to MSU.
Click to expand...
 
Hi All -

I just thought I would let you know that Casey is having his blood work done this Sunday, so there should be no problem with the blood getting there in time for the Wednesday test.

Thanks so much for all of your generous support!

Diana & Casey
 
Great news, Diana,
There's nothing like knowing what is and is not going on.

I wanted to mention that I had been told the tests done on Wednesday would give me results by Friday. I waited too long to harass my vets office, so by the time I got them to call to see if the results were available, the lab was closed and I had to wait till the start of next week.

While I don't know what time they run the tests, I made my vet office call to confirm the draw arrived there in time to be included in the Wednesday's tests, so that's why i had expected to hear results Friday. I guess that's why it mentions a turnaround of 2 to 9 days on the info sheet :lol:

One last thing - fasting. Shadoe has issues with lipemia on most of her blood draws and it's mentioned on one of the sheets, so I did fast her to lessen that factor interfering her draw. I did not want anything to mess up her results.
 
Gayle and Shadoe said:
Great news, Diana,
There's nothing like knowing what is and is not going on.


One last thing - fasting. Shadoe has issues with lipemia on most of her blood draws and it's mentioned on one of the sheets, so I did fast her to lessen that factor interfering her draw. I did not want anything to mess up her results.
Click to expand...


Hi Gayle,

How long should I have Casey fast? My vet said 4 hours. Do you think that is enough time? Four hours will be tough, Casey is always hungry!
 
Diana,
On the sheet for the IAA test, it mentions "avoid hemolysis or lipemia" - well, lipemia is always mentioned in the comments for Shadoe's results. I fasted Shadoe from midnite and the draw was before noon. She may have been hungry, but that was too bad because I did not want to mess up the results. I did bring a small container of some yummy foods she liked so that she could eat as soon as they had taken their draw.
I did give her foods at 5min to midnite :lol: - just like if you have to fast for some testing.

Check on your copies of Casey's past blood work results and look in the comments sections someplace near the end of the results. Look around for any mention of lipemia and if there are none, then maybe you could go with a shorter fast time, but if you can get the draw done early in the day, just ignore Casey or even better, go OUT and come home just before it's time to head to the vet - yes, I did that. I may have gone to the gym I believe.

Overnite is the best because it's a big chunk of time.
 
Definitely check on past results.

Norton did not have a history of lipemia, and he did not have to fast before the blood was drawn.

However, he did not have the IAA test done - just IGF-1 (because 1. we already knew he had a brain tumor, 2. didn't think about the IAA test and 3. he already had inoperable intestinal cancer - very short life expectancy)
 
Hi All -

I just wanted to let everyone know that Casey's IGF-1 test results came back today. His reading is 68. My vet said that is does not have acromegaly. Does everyone agree? She did mention that a reading of 70-100 is inconclusive and over 100 is positive. Isn't 68 close to 70, so is it possible he could have acromegaly? She firmly believes that he has Cushings disease.

The results for IAA are not in yet. We should have those in by Monday.

Thanks so much to everyone for your generosity and support! We are so grateful.
 
I think that number rules out acro and leans towards Cushings...you might have to become our resident Cushings expert. I'm not sure any of us know much about it. I'm not even sure if Cushings is better or worse than acro, but at least this makes the other diagnosis more reliable. Thank you for updating us.
 
For the IAA results, anything under 20 is considered as normal.
The ref range on IGF-1 results, 12-92, so I would think that the 68 is pretty much a negative. It could be that the upper range of 70-100 is looked on as suspect only, with over that 100 mark as positive.
 
Hello All -

I just swithed from using the Alphtrak to the ReliON meter this morning. I am very concerned because I took two readings on Casey and I got 50 and 58. Casey's reading are always in the 300's with the Alphatrak. I must be doing something incorrectly? I am also concerned becasue Casey has not been feeling well. He vomited three times during the night. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.
 
Is it the ReliOn Micro, which does not need "calibration" or is it one that you have to use a calibration stip each time you open a box of strips?

Do you still have a stip for the AlphaTrac that you can use? That way, you can compare (you should see some difference, but obviously not 250 pts!). You could also test yourself with the ReliOn.
 
Well I don't know much about Cushing's in cats but I know alot about it in humans (I'm a pathologist). A test for Cushing's is not that difficult generally it requires measuring the blood cortisone levels and then giving an injection of dexamethasone (which is a version of cortisone) suppresses the adrenal gland from producing cortisol in normal dogs, but not those with Cushing's. It achieves this suppression by interfering with the negative feedback mechanism. The dexamethasone is monitored by the brain as an excess of cortisone in the bloodstream, so less ACTH is secreted, and therefore less cortisol is secreted by the adrenal gland. This test is always positive if Cushings is present, but being positive doesn't mean Cushing's is the reason (Since cats are prone to stress related cortisone release I think this may give many false positives) Cushings does have a number of symptoms (diabetes being one of them) and some other findings (blood tests such as elevated alkaline phosphatase or high cholesterol. Cushing's can be caused by several differnt things mostly tumors of the adrenal glands (which produce cortisol) or the pituitary which produces ACTH the hormone that stimulates the adrenals to release cortisol. An Ultrasound of the adrenals could potentially show such a tumor. In addition the finding of slightly enlarged adrenal glands (hypertrophic) indicates that they are working overtime which means Cushings could be the cause. A urine test can also be used to measure the level of excreted cortisol and is simple to obtain. I suspect this might be a better test for cats because the sample could be obtained at home and brought to the lab so there would be less stressed related cortisone release.

As for how it can be treated in cats i really don't know, in humans it is usually cureable. Then again so is acro in humans but in cats the procedure is reletively new so..... Removal of the adrenal glands will cease the over production of cortisol, of course then you have the opposite problem (called Addison's disease) and the person needs to take a cortisone suppliment life long, but supplimentation is easier to mange than a chronic over production, if only one gland is removed treatment may only be nessisary short term until the remaining gland can produce enough on it's own. Simularly pituitary tumors that causing to much ACTH can be removed. Several medications which can supress cortisone or ACTH production are availble as well. Of course until everything is resolved (if it can be) the symptoms such as the diabetes need to be treated as well.

For anyone that thinks they don't have a clue about Cushing's.... Cushing's can also be caused by giving cortisone drugs which are to treat another condition (allergies, arthritis etc.) and the symptoms are the same (drug induced Cushing's syndrome) so cats that have become diabetic while on steriod therapy actually are dealing with Cushing's syndrome and anyone who has dealt with this situation knows that it makes treating the diabetes a bit more challenging espcially if the cat needs to continue on the steriods. Insulin dosages are often higher and regulation is more challenging.
 
Diana & Casey said:
Hello All -

I just swithed from using the Alphtrak to the ReliON meter this morning. I am very concerned because I took two readings on Casey and I got 50 and 58. Casey's reading are always in the 300's with the Alphatrak. I must be doing something incorrectly? I am also concerned becasue Casey has not been feeling well. He vomited three times during the night. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately Casey's readings are correct. He is in the hospital now. I'll keep you updated.
 
So sorry that Casey is in the hospital.

Next time you get low-ish numbers and question the meter -- Test Yourself -- should be around 100. (or use control solution)

Hope Casey is feeling better soon
phoebe
 
I visited Casey today and he is doing much better. He BGs got as low as the 20-30 range yesterday. They put him on a dextrose IV and his numbers are finally going back up and he is starting to eat. Casey has a large mass in his panacreas and the vet believes this may be causing some havoc with his insulin production. We are doing a recheck on his March ultrasound tomorrow to see what is going on with the mass and to check for any more abnormalities. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
 
What a huge relief he's doing better now, and how fortunate that he was with professionals who were able to deal with his low numbers. On the mass, what was said that can be done or will you hear more about that later once he looks at the rest of data? Let's hope for good news tomorrow for you and Casey.
 
Poor baby boy!

Diana, do you keep some high-carb food in the house? Fancy Feast Grilled varieties are good. Whenever you get "uncomfortable" numbers, the high-carb can bring them up nicely (although it sounds like he really did need the vet). Please keep us updated - we want to hear good news on Casey.
 
Casey is at peace. I posted separately.

Just to let you know, his acro and IAA tests were negative for those conditions.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top