? Vet techs or knowledge with lab results?

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Susan G & Jimmy G

Susan G & Jimmy G

Member Since 2017
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Can anyone provide any insight based on these numbers. Vet didn't seem too concerned with anything.
 
I see nothing to be excited about. Ity seems somewhat common to have high cholesterol and triglycerides.
The high amylase might indicate pancreatitis but the Precision PSL results ruled out pancreatitis
 
Has your cat been ill or was this a routine check up? If he has been ill I would ask the vet about the high CPK values and if it is something to be concerned with at this point. I called the vet after each lab and ask about high and low readings. That's just me though-being an overly cautious cat mom after having kitties with chronic problems. My cat's triglycerides were through the roof at one point but after switching to canned food they went to normal. No one was really concerned about the high triglycerides but I'm still glad to see they went back to normal range.
 
He wasn't ill but wanted a check in to ask about potential reasons for the high dosage. She didn't seem to think 6.5 was considered high. I also asked his constipation episode/issues to which she replied use Miralax. I'm not to thrilled with anything she said...no mention of possible IBD or acro or any possible cause for the constipation. Upon coming home after the vet visit and giving him Miralax he had bad diarrhea for the first time ever. So I stopped the miralax and increases his fat intake (chicken thigh skin). Since then he's had two good looking stools (every other day because he's 100% raw). That said...

Since his visit he's been the highest he's been in a few weeks. I've also transitioned him to raw thinking that may also help his numbers. But they are indeed higher as you can see on his SS. Just got a +9 of 337. I'm thinking of increasing him to 7 tonight. Vet wants to stay at this dose until I send her his numbers next week. But I've been managing his doses on my own and with the help from this group and letting him sit at these high numbers makes me uncomfortable.

Another factor is I started a new pen...upon delivery from Marks the ice packs had melted and they were room temp. Could the insulin possibly gone bad and now be ineffective?
 
Amylase is not used to determine pancreatitis in cats. It's an indicator in dogs for pancreatitis, but not cats. It used to be thought that a high amylase was indicative of pancreatitis in cats, but no longer.

Here's the one thing that does worry me about Jimmy's lab and another member mentioned it and it's his high CPK. This reminds me very much of Doodles. He went from looking pretty good BG wise to not looking good, dose kept going higher and higher. CPK shot up to 1300.

Is Jimmy a Maine Coone or part Maine Coone? The reason I ask is that Maine Coones are prone to heart issues.

If Jimmy were mine, I'd do two things:
  • I'd check to be sure there are no heart issues. There are two ways to do it. Probably the best way is an echocardiogram by a board certified cardiologist. That's also the expensive way. The other way is to find out if your vet has access to IDEXX labs and have them draw blood for a Cardiopet ProBNP or a Feline snapProBNP (although I'd go for the Cardiopet ProBNP, personally). This test will only indicate if there is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or not. It won't tell you if there are any valve issues, etc. But it's much cheaper.
  • I'd check for a high dose condition esp IAA. But as long as you are doing IAA, I'd check acro just for the heck of it. Not all acro cats are at really high doses.
I'm not trying to scare you but I just don't like that CPK and that's one of the things that threw a red flag up about Doodles was the drastic change in his CPK and that he was a Maine Coone.

Other things can cause high CPK are any trauma to the muscle even from IM injections. Do you have any other historic labs that you can see what the CPK has been? I just like to be overcautious and rule things out early as to wait and have them bite me later on.

I also wouldn't worry too much about high triglycerides and cholesterol. It's not uncommon in diabetic cats but the balanced raw diet might help. The other slightly off numbers don't worry me either.

Please let me know if you have questions.
 
My cat's CPK was checked after he had a seizure from the topical flea med. It was one way to measure the muscle activity, enzymes, and damage etc. from the seizure. It was extremely high at the time which alerted them to the fact that he did have a seizure before I had gotten him to the Er hospital. I'm overly cautious now after dealing with so many health conditions with my cats.
 
The high CPK kinda flew at me too. Vet said that may be a secondary issue to the diabetes and didn't address it any further. Jimmy is not a MaineCoon (but he is a big cat -19.2 lbs).

If I had given him a muscle shot - which I don't think I've done because he never flinched when I give him insulin...would this effect that number?
I have no prior BW results of this test.

I need to check with my (regular) mobile vet to see if she's heard any murmur in his past check ups.

I will see how he does threw the weekend with his BG - but prior to this current dose I was doing TR.

I have a lot to think about and thank you all for your insight!! I'm sure I'll revisit this thread again... in the meantime :bighug:
 
Susan G & Jimmy G said:
The high CPK kinda flew at me too. Vet said that may be a secondary issue to the diabetes and didn't address it any further. Jimmy is not a MaineCoon (but he is a big cat -19.2 lbs).

If I had given him a muscle shot - which I don't think I've done because he never flinched when I give him insulin...would this effect that number?
I have no prior BW results of this test.

I need to check with my (regular) mobile vet to see if she's heard any murmur in his past check ups.

I will see how he does threw the weekend with his BG - but prior to this current dose I was doing TR.

I have a lot to think about and thank you all for your insight!! I'm sure I'll revisit this thread again... in the meantime :bighug:
Click to expand...
No, it isn't secondary to the diabetes. I am absolutely certain about that. And I think you would have to give a muscle shot with more than a tiny needle to really traumatize the muscle enough to raise the CPK. You would know if you gave a muscle shot because it's painful and he would have jumped, meowed, something.....

You can see from @Lillie that it was a pretty major event that caused her kitty's CPK to increase.

A heart murmur won't raise the CPK and a heart murmur is not indicative of anything other than a valve leak, typically. There are cats with advanced HCM and no detectable heart murmur and cats with no heart disease with a murmur. In fact, my cat's cardiologist said they are finding in people and animals, with the higher tech equipment, that almost everyone has some type of valve leakage...mostly very minor but it's the norm more than it used to be thought.

When the dose gets over 6u bid, we recommend you have the kitty tested for high dose conditions. If you need the info on that, let me know and I'll post it for you. The tests are done at Michigan State University and I can send you the links.
 
Marje and Gracie said:
When the dose gets over 6u bid, we recommend you have the kitty tested for high dose conditions. If you need the info on that, let me know and I'll post it for you. The tests are done at Michigan State University and I can send you the links.
Click to expand...

Could you please? The link on the Acro sticky isn't working.
 
Chris & China said:
For the IGF-1 test, go to https://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/Bin/Catalog/Catalog_Test.exe?Action=Print&ID=1401

For the IAA https://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/Bin/Catalog/Catalog_Test.exe?Action=Print&ID=1494

The current links in the Acromegaly group aren't working for some reason...these are "printable" links

You can also go to https://www.animalhealth.msu.edu/Bin/Catalog/Catalog.exe

For the IGF-1 test, enter Name/Code 20005....Species Feline

For the IAA test, enter Name/Code 20031
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Perfect. Thank you. How do I go about this? Do I bring these sheets to vet and get the blood drawn there and then have them send via instructions on the sheet?
 
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