Hypertension in an elderly cat UPDATE: BLOOD RESULTS BELOW

Status
Not open for further replies.
CyrusMishi&Angela

CyrusMishi&Angela

Member
Mishi is ~ 17/18 years old and just had his senior wellness exam. My vet's office has started including a blood pressure screening in their senior exam's (which I think is a really good thing). He tested at 200 - which they said is high - they said normal is 120 to 150.

Could his pressure be that high from vet stress?

He does get stressed at the vet - he doesn't freak out because he is not that type of cat. He is an orange boy with a pale pink nose and pale pink ears. When he is at the vet, his nose and ears get bright reddish pink - so I know he is stressed.

The next steps are to bring him back in within the next couple of weeks to have it re-tested. They have a "quiet room" with a couch that we will sit in for about 15 minutes and then they will take it again. They also want to do a urinalysis because I guess high blood pressure and kidney issues can be related. Although, she said the last time they took urine, his concentration was great for a 17 yr old cat - I think she said 1055? - but I could be mis-remembering the number - she threw a couple at me at the same time - what elderly cats usually test at, what she would like them to be at, and said that his number was better than that.

How do they treat hypertension in kitties? I am fairly certain I have read some posts of others here with hypertension kitties - but for the life of me, I cannot remember who any of them might be.

Any thoughts anyone has to share on hypertension would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Re: High Blood Pressure in an elderly cat

He tested at 200 - which they said is high - they said normal is 120 to 150.
he next steps are to bring him back in within the next couple of weeks to have it re-tested. They have a "quiet room" with a couch that we will sit in for about 15 minutes and then they will take it again.
Could his pressure be that high from vet stress?


200 is high even w/ stress .
my vet uses incorporates stress into her range and anything over 170/180 is high
please ask your vet what she considers high that includes factoring in stress.

treating HBP is very important. Just like in humans it can lead to all sorts of problems. my wolfie's hbp was first found several years ago after a regular exam eye check revealed he had some bleeding in his retina if not treated, his retinas would of detached and he would of gone blind. He has not had any problems w/ his eyes since that time.
He has been on amlodipine/norvasc ( pill) which has kept it in normal range.
When he first started he got his BP rechecked after a couple weeks on it and then again in a couple months to make sure it was the right dose and was working. Now he gets it checked whenever he goes to the vet which is at least every 6 months.We always do bp check first -- before he sees vet or has anything else done. in fact we wait in the car until they can take him right in back to avoid dogs or stress of being in vets -- no quiet room at my vets ;-)

They also want to do a urinalysis because I guess high blood pressure and kidney issues can be related. Although, she said the last time they took urine, his concentration was great for a 17 yr old cat - I think she said 1055? -

that is an extremely high concentration number for a cat his age !( there is a decimal point in there. 1.055) Wolfie has CRI and is at 1.020. The test is USG ( urine specific gravity) that is one way to check is kidney function. Has he had a sr. blood panel? If not I would highly advise it when you take him back for his bp recheck. things to look at together to evaluate renal function are creatinine, BUN and phosphorus levels. Anemia is also quite common with renal disease and a CBC should also be included.

from the CRF information center ( http://www.felinecrf.com/tests0.htm ) :

"Specific gravity is an important measure of how well the urine is being concentrated by the cat's kidneys, and therefore, how well the kidneys are actually functioning as filters. CRF cats cannot adequately concentrate urine so a low specific gravity is indicative of renal failure. The normal range for specific gravity is between 1.015 and 1.060 but only concentrations higher than about 1.030 can be considered solid evidence of normal kidney function."

You can check out more info on CRF/CRI (most of the sites will also include BP info )

Holly and Spader post many links regularly :

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7789

Melissa and Popcorn put together info on this regular post:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8039

Please let us know how Mishi makes out in his follow up !
 
Re: High Blood Pressure in an elderly cat

Cheryl gave you all the important information, so I'll just give you my experience. My Kayro (GA) had high blood pressure. The first sign I noticed was that her eyes appeared to be dialated all the time. I took her to the vet several times and they kept saying she was fine (never did a blood pressure test). I finally switched vets and found out that yes, she had high blood pressure and that her retinas had detached and she was blind.

The treatment was super easy - Norvasc, once a day. I used a compounding pharmacy to make it into a tuna suspension - Kayro just thought she was getting a nice treat every night. I put the liquid on a spoon and she licked it right up.

So, it's very important to treat, but also super-easy to treat. And, if by chance they do go blind, it's really no big deal. She did fine walking around the house and even insisted that I lift her up on countertops to drink water.
 
Re: High Blood Pressure in an elderly cat

Thanks, ladies.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that his eyes did not seem to be constricting as quickly or as much as I would expect. I shined a flashlight in his eyes and they seemed to constrict fine -so thought I was being a nervous nellie mom bean. Lesson to me to follow my instincts.

Cheryl, they did take blood for a blood panel during the visit - so hopefully I will have those numbers in a few days. They wanted to do the urinalysis at the same time. But they were unsuccessful getting any urine because his bladder was too small during this visit.

I will take a look at the links.

Thanks again!
 
Re: High Blood Pressure in an elderly cat

I just checked my email and realized they emailed Mishi's blood results this morning.

His results are bolded in red. Everything appears to fall in the normal range - although the Creatinine appears to be bordering on high. I am not sure if this means anything by itself - if everything else is normal.

I have the results in PDF format if anyone wants to see all. I can PM or email (did not want to post on public board).

BUN 25 (14-36 mg/dL)
Creatinine 2.4 (0.6-2.4 mg/dL)
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 10 (4-33)
Phosphorus 3.9 (2.4-8.2 mg/dL)

Thanks.
 
For a cat of 17.5 those are fantastic renal function numbers ! Imho I wouldn't worry about the high normal. Especially in context with the other numbers. ( and see what the USG turns out to be)
But I would talk to your vet about a plan for when to recheck -- at his age I would think in at least 6 months.

btw -- what do you feed mishi? ( one thing you can do as a preventative is to feed a food low in phos. -- janet has the values on her chart. I feed my kitty below 250mg/100kcal. )

Please keep us posted on the follow up BP check, k?
 
Thanks for helping us, Cheryl.

He and Peanut (my other guy) eat Nature's Variety Raw Rabbit due to Peanut's intestinal issues. He had chronic diarrhea for months after I adopted him and the Raw Rabbit was the only thing that put a stop to it.

I have never been able to find that on Janet's list (I think I have found other varieties of NV Raw just not the rabbit) - but I will take another look.

I'm going to try to get Mishi back in sooner rather than later - maybe one evening next week - if he really does have HBP - I want to get him on medication ASAP.

I'm flying to Philly to pick Murray up from Venita next Saturday - so can't do it next weekend.

I will let you know the recheck number - hopefully it will be significantly lower and this will be a false alarm.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top