Vet check-up next week

Howiesmom

Howiesmom

Active Member
Howie and I just celebrated 1 year since he entered my heart and soul on Wednesday (my pandemic pet)! We celebrated with presents and a pie with candles (for me!). He gives me more every day than I give him!
He has his senior wellness check-up next week complete with bloodwork. Is there anything in specific I should have the vet monitor or check on with his check-up especially with acro and IAA? I already have his heart and kidneys on the list. I’m still not seeing any effects of cabergoline yet.

As for his FD, he was on 12 cycles of 39 units (a decrease down from 53 units) but I had to raise him back to 43 units tonight. @Wendy&Neko any feedback on his SS that you can see/recommend?
 
Howiesmom said:
Howie and I just celebrated 1 year since he entered my heart and soul on Wednesday (my pandemic pet)! We celebrated with presents and a pie with candles (for me!). He gives me more every day than I give him!
He has his senior wellness check-up next week complete with bloodwork. Is there anything in specific I should have the vet monitor or check on with his check-up especially with acro and IAA? I already have his heart and kidneys on the list. I’m still not seeing any effects of cabergoline yet.

As for his FD, he was on 12 cycles of 39 units (a decrease down from 53 units) but I had to raise him back to 43 units tonight. @Wendy&Neko any feedback on his SS that you can see/recommend?
Click to expand...
Aaaw... that is sooo sweet. He's been with you one year. What a year you've had. Howie's Family Day!! March 24! Congratulations.

Darcy is going to the vet on Tuesday for a re-check. I think we're just going to run a CBC on him to make sure his white count is back down to normal. He will have been off his antibiotics for 3 days by then. On Friday of next week, too, he's supposed to go in to get a cardiac ultrasound. I'm soooo scared that his heart will be enlarged or something else will be wrong with it (due to the acromegaly). I'm going to be very anxious while I wait for her to do it.

Darcy has been on Cabergoline for three weeks today. Don't know what to expect, so I can't tell if it's working or not.

But back to happy thoughts. I'm going to think about Howie now and you.... and how happy Howie's dad would be to know what great care he's been receiving and how he is loved. Going to go off to bed with a smile now... thank Tracy! (or do you spell it with e... sorry).
 
Happy Gotcha Day!

I just got a geri panel bloodwork done with Neko, sometimes called a senior panel. And occasionally urinalysis too. Not all acros have heart issues, but it's good to have a base line none the less. Howie's still relatively new to acromegaly, and some changes take a while to happen. The vet can do a general check over him, see how his teeth/gums are doing, and if he feels any signs of arthritis if you see him being stiff at all.

See how he does on 43 this time, you may find somewhere in between is what he needs. The numbers will tell you.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Aaaw... that is sooo sweet. He's been with you one year. What a year you've had. Howie's Family Day!! March 24! Congratulations.

Darcy is going to the vet on Tuesday for a re-check. I think we're just going to run a CBC on him to make sure his white count is back down to normal. He will have been off his antibiotics for 3 days by then. On Friday of next week, too, he's supposed to go in to get a cardiac ultrasound. I'm soooo scared that his heart will be enlarged or something else will be wrong with it (due to the acromegaly). I'm going to be very anxious while I wait for her to do it.

Darcy has been on Cabergoline for three weeks today. Don't know what to expect, so I can't tell if it's working or not.

But back to happy thoughts. I'm going to think about Howie now and you.... and how happy Howie's dad would be to know what great care he's been receiving and how he is loved. Going to go off to bed with a smile now... thank Tracy! (or do you spell it with e... sorry).
Click to expand...
Thanks, Suzanne! I think he is doing relatively well with all things considered. I’ll be glad to have a once-over done on him that isn’t tied to specific issues/symptoms. I really appreciate all your positivity and happy thoughts!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Happy Gotcha Day!

I just got a geri panel bloodwork done with Neko, sometimes called a senior panel. And occasionally urinalysis too. Not all acros have heart issues, but it's good to have a base line none the less. Howie's still relatively new to acromegaly, and some changes take a while to happen. The vet can do a general check over him, see how his teeth/gums are doing, and if he feels any signs of arthritis if you see him being stiff at all.

See how he does on 43 this time, you may find somewhere in between is what he needs. The numbers will tell you.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Wendy! Yes, i called and it sounds like it’s a senior blood panel. I’m not sure about urinalysis, but probably wouldn’t hurt. For the heart, I think you had said previously that the vet can just listen to it and if he notices something to then order an echocardiogram or an ultrasound to save some $. Did I remember that correctly? Or should I be requesting something else as a baseline? Luckily, Howie is a Toothless Joe, so I don’t have to worry about all his dental issues. I wish we knew how old he really was. When I got him from his previous owners family, all they could say was that his Daddy had him for about 3-3.5 years and he had been at the humane society for about 3 years prior. No one knows how old he was when he made his way to the humane society. My vet said by looking at his eyes and some curvature in his back legs, he guessed 10-12 YO last year.
Thanks for checking on his SS. Disheartening to go back up again :(
 
Yes on the heart. Neko didn't get an echo until after a murmur was noticed. Another possibility is a blood test called the NT-ProBNP. Which wasn't available until after Neko's murmur showed up. It would also be cheaper than an echo.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Yes on the heart. Neko didn't get an echo until after a murmur was noticed. Another possibility is a blood test called the NT-ProBNP. Which wasn't available until after Neko's murmur showed up. It would also be cheaper than an echo.
Click to expand...
Great! Thanks for the recommendation! Paws crossed for a good check-up on Friday!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Happy Gotcha Day!

I just got a geri panel bloodwork done with Neko, sometimes called a senior panel. And occasionally urinalysis too. Not all acros have heart issues, but it's good to have a base line none the less. Howie's still relatively new to acromegaly, and some changes take a while to happen. The vet can do a general check over him, see how his teeth/gums are doing, and if he feels any signs of arthritis if you see him being stiff at all.

See how he does on 43 this time, you may find somewhere in between is what he needs. The numbers will tell you.
Click to expand...
@Wendy&Neko Can you help me figure out any reasons why his R isn’t doing hardly anything? I increased his dose to 10 units for BGs 150-174 and it’s only dropped him 16 or so points. Hardly worth giving it to him! Is this the antibodies at work again or something else possibly to check into at my vet appt this week? This is the highest dose or R I’ve given him since he started it in December. I’ll also be increasing his L up to 47 units tomorrow AM unless you have other recommendations. Thanks so much! I’m just getting frustrated again.
 
You can't judge how R is doing at a particular scale by just one cycle. There are lots of other underlying things in play, such as the Levemir insulin action, variability in absorption, possible bounce action, etc. And with IAA, sometimes you'll see delayed action, so possibly more action the following cycle.

Besides the antibodies action, the pituitary tumour can wax and wane. Although I know how hard it is, try not to focus on the "why" of things. It just is what it is and not something you can control. All you can do is respond to what the numbers tell you with dosing changes. Since you got lower blues on this dose, I might hold it a total of 8 cycles before deciding if he needs an increase.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
You can't judge how R is doing at a particular scale by just one cycle. There are lots of other underlying things in play, such as the Levemir insulin action, variability in absorption, possible bounce action, etc. And with IAA, sometimes you'll see delayed action, so possibly more action the following cycle.

Besides the antibodies action, the pituitary tumour can wax and wane. Although I know how hard it is, try not to focus on the "why" of things. It just is what it is and not something you can control. All you can do is respond to what the numbers tell you with dosing changes. Since you got lower blues on this dose, I might hold it a total of 8 cycles before deciding if he needs an increase.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Wendy! His PMPS was 114 tonight. I’ll hold 2 more cycles and then see where he is at. I work from home tomorrow so can monitor more. You’re the best!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Sometimes we just need to put on those patience pants. ;)
Click to expand...
Well, someone decided to hang out in the yellows today. I ended up increasing him this AM. I guess I’m glad I did or else I’d hate to know how high he really would have gone. He seemed lethargic today but ketones were .5. Lots of sugar in his urine...white paw prints all over my freshly washed floors!!!! Grrr....
 
What kind of cat litter is it? Should I be checking the glucose in Darcy’s urine? I assume he would have a lot of it since he’s almost never below the kidney threshold.
 
And don’t you just think those yellows are because of the dose increase? Sorry about it though. It ruined your pretty spreadsheet!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
What kind of cat litter is it? Should I be checking the glucose in Darcy’s urine? I assume he would have a lot of it since he’s almost never below the kidney threshold.
Click to expand...
I use FreshStep. I’ve never actually checked the glucose level in his urine. You can just smell it (on top of the phantom paw prints around your house)!
 
Oh wow. Does it smell sweet-ish? Sorry if that is a dumb question, I have never noticed. Probably because I have other cats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top