Hi, everyone. My furry daughter Emma is diabetic and has been on 2 1/2 units of ProZinc in the AM and PM for over 6 months. Two weeks ago, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure when I started noticing that she was very careful about jumping up and down the couch and chairs and her pupils were always pretty dilated. After a visit with my local vet, he had me go to a veterniary optamologist who diagnosed bilateral retinal detachments. She prescribed .625mg of norvasc(amlodopine) and scripted out a bunch of tests to have my local vet run on my cat. Eye vet said that normally cats with high blood pressure have an underlying issue such as hyperthyroid or kidney disease. My local vet ran all the tests and blood work and everything came back normal. The blood pressure meds are definitely working because the eye vet was confident that once the blood pressure went down, that there was a good change the retinas would reattach as I caught it early. Sure enough one week after I started the blood pressure meds, her eyes look much better...she can follow my fingers, see the birds outside, and jumps out and down like normal. Only problem I have now is, she is drinking a lot of water which means she is peeing a lot. Local vet checked her blood sugar and he says it's normal. He is thinking it's the blood pressure meds but I have seen nothing online that says norvasc/amlodopine side effects is increased thirst and urination. So I am totally stumped as is my local vet. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Could it be the blood pressure meds? Emma has an eye doc visit tomorrow as a follow up and I am having Emma's blood sugar tested at the locat vets again on Thursday afternoon. Other than drinking and peeing a lot more than usual, she is acting normal. Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Diabetic cat on high blood pressure meds - increased thirst
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julie & punkin (ga)
Very Active Member
Re: Diabetic cat on high blood pressure meds - increased thi
i don't have experience with that in a cat, but just wanted to send you a little encouragement. i do have high blood pressure myself, and i take an ace inhibitor combined with a diuretic. so while i would think that might be a possibility, i googled the question and the answer on yahoo is that it is not a diuretic.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060714044121AAxjMMF
i saw the question on a couple of other web pages and all of the answers were that it is not a diuretic.
i don't have experience with that in a cat, but just wanted to send you a little encouragement. i do have high blood pressure myself, and i take an ace inhibitor combined with a diuretic. so while i would think that might be a possibility, i googled the question and the answer on yahoo is that it is not a diuretic.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060714044121AAxjMMF
i saw the question on a couple of other web pages and all of the answers were that it is not a diuretic.
BJM
Very Active Member
Re: Diabetic cat on high blood pressure meds - increased thi
Amlodipine is a calcium channel blocker.
It relaxes smooth muscle which causes blood vessels to dilate.
Dilation will increase blood flow to the kidneys, if it was reduced before.
Increased blood flow to the kidneys will allow them to do more work ... and they are.
One thing to rule out is underlying kidney disease. Copious urination can occur with reduced kidney function.
Did the vet check the concentration of the urine?
ps I'm on a calcium channel blocker for migraines. I am more thirsty on it. N=1, may not apply to everyone.
Amlodipine is a calcium channel blocker.
It relaxes smooth muscle which causes blood vessels to dilate.
Dilation will increase blood flow to the kidneys, if it was reduced before.
Increased blood flow to the kidneys will allow them to do more work ... and they are.
One thing to rule out is underlying kidney disease. Copious urination can occur with reduced kidney function.
Did the vet check the concentration of the urine?
ps I'm on a calcium channel blocker for migraines. I am more thirsty on it. N=1, may not apply to everyone.
Re: Diabetic cat on high blood pressure meds - increased thi
Hi, Julie and Punkin. Thank you for your good wishes and kind words. It means alot as I am trying to be strong for my baby girl. Good news today at the veterniary optamologist. Her retinas have almost completely reattached. She's 7/8s of the way there since she was put on blood pressure meds. But as eye doc said we need to figure out root cause of her hypertension. I measured today and she is consuming about 3 cups of water a day!!! And peeing about 6-8 times a day...when she used to pee 3 times a day. I am bringing her back to my local vet to recheck her blood sugar and run a urinalysis as last time I was there, my cat freaked out with all the poking, prodding and blood work drawing they were doing. So hopefully they'll get something out of her to tell us more. Otherwise, the eye doc says a trip to an internal medicine specialist is probably needed.
Hi, Julie and Punkin. Thank you for your good wishes and kind words. It means alot as I am trying to be strong for my baby girl. Good news today at the veterniary optamologist. Her retinas have almost completely reattached. She's 7/8s of the way there since she was put on blood pressure meds. But as eye doc said we need to figure out root cause of her hypertension. I measured today and she is consuming about 3 cups of water a day!!! And peeing about 6-8 times a day...when she used to pee 3 times a day. I am bringing her back to my local vet to recheck her blood sugar and run a urinalysis as last time I was there, my cat freaked out with all the poking, prodding and blood work drawing they were doing. So hopefully they'll get something out of her to tell us more. Otherwise, the eye doc says a trip to an internal medicine specialist is probably needed.
Re: Diabetic cat on high blood pressure meds - increased thi
And Hi, BJ. Thanks for your post. I am bringing her to my local vet again on Thursday, and hopefully this time they can get a good urine sample out of her. Last week, with all the poking prodding and blood draw, she was not doing well and they had a hard time trying to get any urine. So we are going to try again on Thursday. I will let everyone know how I make out. I appreciate everyone's support and comments. My baby girl means the world to me. I found her almost 3 years ago and between her diabetes and anal gland issues, I never gave up on her. And she still loves me despite all the vet visits
God bless you all!
And Hi, BJ. Thanks for your post. I am bringing her to my local vet again on Thursday, and hopefully this time they can get a good urine sample out of her. Last week, with all the poking prodding and blood draw, she was not doing well and they had a hard time trying to get any urine. So we are going to try again on Thursday. I will let everyone know how I make out. I appreciate everyone's support and comments. My baby girl means the world to me. I found her almost 3 years ago and between her diabetes and anal gland issues, I never gave up on her. And she still loves me despite all the vet visits
God bless you all!
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