So confused with everything!!!!!

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Jodi & Jasmine

Jodi & Jasmine

Member Since 2010
Hello all, Thank goodness for FDMB. I have no good vets in the area and I second guess everything they say because I feel that don't have the experience & knowledge how to deal with many cat illnesses. Jasmine has been showing many signs of illness over the past several months and I have had 3 sets of blood tests done on her in that time frame (kidney's normal, thyroid normal and dental fine). The vets are no help. Her symptoms are PU/PD, excessive appetite, lethargy, fur not groing back, fur not shedding, absess on her skin and bruising and poor coat. I am very confident that she has cushing's disease. I checked in again the other day for testing and the vet advised me they didn't know a lot about cushing's as it is rare. They had me take Jamsine off insulin as they did not feel Jasmine was reacting to her insulin properly and thought she may have pancreatitis (I feel they are ignoring the symptoms I gave). I told the vet I didn't think so because her symptoms have been more long term and not symptoms of pancreatitis. They are treating her for an infection on Baytril but again, her symptoms are not that of an infection. And her diabetes numbers are not high enough to be diabetic symptoms. When she was in remission she was having many of these symptoms but the vets kept passing it off. Jasmine has been off insulin for 48 hours and her numbers are up slightly. I feel she should be back on her insulin. If I put her back on her insulin, do I continue with the 1.5 units BID that she was on or since she was off a few days do I have to start all over again? I get very frustrated because I know I have a sick kitty aside from her diabetes and there is no vet support to help me around here with her diagnosis and what to do :sad: Any advice? :?
 
Hi Jodi,

I'm a newbie here so I don't really have any recommendations. Just wanted to reach out and say hang in there! Hopefully someone on the board with more experience can give you more insight. I'd hate to see a kitty in 200's not treated, especially if they're in such discomfort already.

Hope you'll find some answers today!
 
Keeping you bumped so you can get some expert eyes.

I had a dog with cushings, demand your vet do a cushing test on your cat if your gut is leaning that way. At least you will know one way or another and can then proceed from there.

Good luck and lots of healing vines.
 
Jodi's numbers don't look like those of a non-diabetic cat, at least not to me.

I think my response to a vet that says they don't know much about a particular disease is that there's no time like the present to learn. Your vet has the option to call another vet or a vet school and get the information that's needed. There are ways to test for Cushings so at least rule it out. As far as it being rare, it's only rare if vets fail to diagnosis it. Here's info on Cushings. Likewise, bruising can be in indication of a blood-related disorder that may not be picked up on a normal blood test.

I think you have a couple of options. Is there a vet school in the Province or somewhere relatively close? Could they provide a consultation? If not, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY has a Center for Feline Health. They provide phone consultations. The cost to the consumer is modest. Alternatively, your vet can call Cornell.
 
Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say...Hey, I want a test for cushings. Just because you don't know anything about this disease doesn't mean the suggestion that it may be a problem should be ignored. Get armed with printouts and show the vet. They may roll their eyes at you, but you are the customer and you are paying for their help. They need to give it to you.
 
Thanks guys. I am pretty confident she has cushing's. I have done extensive research and have it pretty narrowed down based on her symptoms and testing to date. I agree Sienne, Jasmine's numbers in my opinion as well do not reflect that of a non -diabetic cat either. And yes, the vet has an opportunity to learn. We pay them the big bucks to get answers to help our kitty's. I also truly feel she should be on insulin so I will likely go against the advice of the vet. They seem to blame every symptom on diabetes but I told them it is possible that a cat can have more than one disease. In cushing's, a high percent of cats with the disease also have diabetes or develop it. Thanks again everyone for your ongoing support.
 
If you were to change your Subject line - put something like "Suspect Cushings Disease, have questions", you may get some responses from others who have first hand experience.
Linda's Bearman had cushings and may be able to help you sort out the symptoms.
the link for info I have: Cushings Info
 
I hope that you are able to get your vet on board with reseaarching the tests you want done, and getting some answers for you. If they do blood tests for Cushings and they come back positive, you will likely have to follow up with an ultrasound. I don't know if you have access to a specialist in the area who does that?

You mention that you had bloodwork done and that it came back normal. Did they do the fPLI test for Pancreatitis at all? When they tested for the kidney function, did they also do a urinalysis and get a urine specific gravity? I also wonder if they did a culture and sensitivity on a sterile urine specimen (obtained via a needle in the abdomen) to confirm or rule out a urinary tract infection before starting on Baytril?

Your concerns about PU/PD and the skin and coat issues are valid and need to be addressed.
 
Hello Linda and thanks, to my knowledge there are no specialists around but will/am definitely looking in to it. I know there was no pancreatitis testing done. They tested thyroid, did a urnalysis which is where they concluded she had some sort of infection and CBC for kidney. The test showed elevated glucose and cholesterol. The vet keeps putting every symptom back to her diabetes but as I told them she was in remission for a whole year April/2010 to April/2011 and her symptoms have been around for several months while her diabetes was controlled. It is as though they don't have the answers and need to pass it off somehow so they do not need to deal with it. As Sienne said, now is the time to get educated. I am going to push and get to the bottom of this. I am very, very certain of her diagnosis of cushing's. And I don't agree that taking her off her insulin was good advice on their part. I will keep you posted!
 
i agree with sienne. jasmine's numbers do not look like those of a non-diabetic cat.
you've already received good information from some knowledgeable persons. not having dealt with cushings myself, i have little to add except for a link to a cushings discussion where Dr. Lisa talked about some diagnostic tests. from what i understand, getting a cushings diagnosis can be tricky. perhaps there's some info here which will help you in your discussions with your vet:

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=32506&p=341947#p341947
 
you need to get both tests done the T4 and the FREE T4 to rule out hyperthyroidism.....only the T4 alone can not give the vet the diagnosis on it or ruling out such diagnosis...both need to be done together....
 
Thanks Jill & Claudia!

@ Claudia - I mentioned about both the T4 and Free T4 to the vet for thyroid. They said they would/could do that, they also mentioned a T3 test for thyroid?

@ Jill, thanks for the link. The vet is suppose to call me in the morning where I hope to be able to discuss everything further including possible testing.
 
Jodi...there is a test to check total T3 (tT3) and freeT3 (fT3) but those won't be as indicative for hyperthyroidism as tT4 and fT4. For example, my Teddi has hyperT and her tT4 and fT4 are outside of normal range but both T3 tests are totally normal. In fact, about 10% of hyperthyroid cats have normal thyroid levels and other diseases can cause the thyroid levels to look normal (euthyroid sick syndrome) when they might not be.

Good luck....I agree that a specialist is really what you need if you can find one....
 
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