High Cholesterol: Just from diabetes or could it be CRF?

[Caitlyn and Molly]

Hey guys,

I took my girls to the vet today for wellness checks, blood work and a booster. My vet called me tonight and told me all their blood work was pretty much normal except one of my girls had low phosphorus (still in "normal" range, just at lowest end) and my diabetic kitty had elevated cholesterol levels. The vet said at most she likes cats total cholesterol to be 175, Molly's was 225. She didn't seemed too concerned with it, just said to take her back in a few months for another pannel to check it again. I googled though about high cholesterol in cats, and one of the top results was a CRF in cats info site and it said that high cholesterol can be from decreased kidney function

Could her high cholesterol just be from diet and the diabetes? She eats Ziwipeak, but I'm going to look into switching her to a lower fat food to see if it lowers the cholesterol. Or, would this big of an elevation indicate something more is going on? It really worries me the vet isn't concerned, as it seems like something that should be further looked into. Are their any other blood tests/pannels (she had a typical senior pannel) I should have done, just to be sure?

Her energy level, appetite, ect. all seem normal, but I'll be keeping an extra close eye on her to be sure.

Thanks guys!

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

My diabetic also showed elevated cholesterol 2 bloodworks ago, I don't recall what it was this last time. My vet was not concerned. She said that cats do not live long enough for the cholesterol related diseases that humans see to develop. I think kidney is the only organ we are treating :roll: Currently treating pancreatitis, liver (maybe hepatitis) - possible triatitis.

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Both Gustav and Simba have had high cholesterol for the past years, much higher than yours. In cats, they say at my animal hospital, that high cholesterol doesn't do the same thing as in humans, the only thing it makes difficult is to get proper analysis of blood work when they are hyper cholesterol.
Gustav has always been a crea kidney cat, so he have eaten a higher fat content food for the kindeys all his life, but I switched him to a lower fat food in the beginning of the year and when at the half-yearly tests at the hospital in June, his cholesterol had come down.

 

[Caitlyn and Molly]

Thanks guys!

I knew high cholesterol in cats and dogs isn't as big of a deal as in humans and wasn't concerned at first, but when I googled to see what it could be from and saw CRF, I really started worrying!

So as long as her only issue is elevated cholesterol, I don't need to be worried about her having CRF?

Also, I know fish isn't suppose to be their only protein source, but because the lower fat FF (and the other brands that have passed the test I'm thinking about switching her to) are fish based, to help lower her cholesterol would feeding fish more often be okay? Like maybe other day for both meals?

Thanks again!

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

We don't have the same blood work charts here in Sweden as you have - I think we don't test everything you do, but for CRF here they go by elevated BUN and elevated creatinin. You might have some others markers to show renal statues, plus the sterile urine analysis, but here if the BUN and Crea are within normal, regardless of cholesterol levels, they aren't considered being in CRF.


Can't advice you on the FF food, since we don't have it here on the market, but I now feed mine high protein, medium fat, low carb food and their cholesterol values have gone down.

 

[Caitlyn and Molly]

We don't have the same blood work charts here in Sweden as you have - I think we don't test everything you do, but for CRF here they go by elevated BUN and elevated creatinin. You might have some others markers to show renal statues, plus the sterile urine analysis, but here if the BUN and Crea are within normal, regardless of cholesterol levels, they aren't considered being in CRF.


Can't advice you on the FF food, since we don't have it here on the market, but I now feed mine high protein, medium fat, low carb food and their cholesterol values have gone down.

I called the vet office and asked them to have the vet call me back so I can verify what all the senior panel covered. I know it doesn't include creatinin, but I believe BUN is included. Atleast it was at my old vet. I'm probably worrying way too much about this, but if it is something serious, I want to start treating it right away to prevent it from getting worse.

The food she is on at the moment (Ziwipeak) is basically a canned raw diet (all it is is meat, organs, a bit of fish and a few supplements to insure it's complete) and is extremely low in carbs, with high protein and a normal fat amount and some how her cholesterol managed to go up on it :/ I looked more, and it says diabetes can cause higher cholesterol numbers than normal, so that's probably what is going on here. I just worry way too much!

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

No yo udon't worry too much, you are just being a pro-active mama.


They only measure/test for Total Cholesterol here in our blood works, and not specified as all the different types of cholesterol. So when Simba had so high Chol, I went off and bought my own lab measurer machine only testing and calculating the Tot Chol and then the different types of cholesterols. It was a VERY expensive lab machine, but a cost I thought was worth it since the hospitals bloodwork didn't do the thing for me. I too! was very worried he'd would get an heart attack from the high cholesterol, and wondered why they didn't treat it with cholesterol lowering pills as for humans.


Good you called and asked, I do that too, in fact I always ask for a copy of the latest blood work, which they always send to me now without problems because they know I really want and like to have them.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Your senior panel should include BUN and creatinin tests. Creatinin was the only number that ever came back bad for my girl with cancer She had kidney issues that went crzy when we tried to treat the fluid side effects of the cancer.

 

[Caitlyn and Molly]

Wait, is creatinin the one that some vets try to use to monitor blood glucose? If it's high, they've had bad control over the past few months; low good control?

If it is, it definently wasn't included in the senior panel, or atleast that is what she told me. She wanted me to test for it simply to see how well Molly's diabetes is being controlled, but I opted out because it was nearly the same price as her senior panel just for the one test and I know she is doing just fine since I home test on a regular basis. I didn't even think about their creatinin levels showing overall kidney function.

The vet I saw yesterday is new to the practice, and only works Tuesdays and Thursdays, so she won't be calling me back till then. I actually didn't even know she had started working there and thought I was seeing the vet that sees our dogs until I got there. I'm going to call again and see if the other vet can talk to me about her results sooner. I have more experience with her and would feel more comfortable hearing her opinion on everything. I'm really hoping the creatinin was included and the vet just didn't realise it, because another $150 test/cat+office visit is going to take a toll on my bank account :/

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Wait, is creatinin the one that some vets try to use to monitor blood glucose?

Creatinin and plasma blood glucose tests are two different things. Creatinin aren't in its primary place used to measure blood glucose ... at all. Are you perhaps thinking of the Fructosamine, the 2-3 week long term blood sugar test?


Write an update what your vet said and explained to you, because it really sounds as they are confusing you by not telling you everything about each specific parameter that can be tested and measured. They should give you new tests for free if they've missed some instead of you having to pay 150! again.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Did you get a urinalysis done? Urine specific gravity is an excellent indicator of degradation of kidney function before they show in the BUN and creatiitine.

 

[Caitlyn and Molly]

Gah, I really hope the vet yesterday was just confused and meant to ask me to have a fructosamine test, because she definiently said creatinin. To simplify things, I asked for a copy of their panels so when the vet calls me I'll have a set to look at when we go over them. I'm picking them up tomorrow morning (I didn't have time tonight before they closed). Hopefully there will be creatinin on there! If not, I am not going to be a happy camper. *sigh* I thought I was done with crappy vets.

 

[Caitlyn and Molly]

Good news! I picked up their panel reports and creatinine was on there! And it's normal for Molly, along with her BUN (Creatinine 2.0mg/dl and BUN 31 mg/dl). But, her sisters cholesterol was even higher than hers. 280 compared to Molly's 225. I'm not concerned about Molly's cholesterol anymore, but I don't get why the vet mentioned Molly's 225, but not her sisters which was even higher :?

Oh well, I feel much better now. Still haven't had a chance to talk to either vet, but I'm going to call Monday and ask to speak to the primary vet there (who I normally see and trust) about a few things. Molly's sister Emily was low or higher than normal on a few things (HGB, HCT, phosphorus and ALT in addition to her cholesterol) and I want to her opinion on it, since the other vet didn't even bring any of them up but the phosphorus.

Thanks again guys for all your help!