Walter blood panel

[Lisa Keck]

Thanks for the add. I run a small cat rescue in California. 18-days ago I saw this face at the high kill shelter and that his family dumped him after 8-years because someone moved in who was allergic. Walter was very drooly when I pulled him out that first day. I saw sores on his gums and determined he had Calici. He didn’t touch his food. I syringe fed him and gave SubQ. Started on antibiotics and amino acids. But after Calici looked better and still not eating we did full blood panel. Blood work looks horrible to me. I wondered if he had a blockage. But U/S didn’t show it. Blood sugar high also so suspected diabetes. Vet has ordered insulin. Not sure what kind yet. Have never had a diabetic cat in our care. He is also getting a feeding tube placed to make it easier for us to get food in him. Is the not eating common for this? What do you think of his bloodwork? Thanks for the add.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Hi Lisa! Glad to see you over here from the Facebook group. As promised, I'll tag @Marje and Gracie and maybe she can help you interpret Walter's labs

 

[Lisa Keck]

This group is amazing. I am very cat passionate especially in the area of medical. My specialty is Panlukapenia. But this is a whole new world to dive into. I’m eager to learn.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Thanks for the add. I run a small cat rescue in California. 18-days ago I saw this face at the high kill shelter and that his family dumped him after 8-years because someone moved in who was allergic. Walter was very drooly when I pulled him out that first day. I saw sores on his gums and determined he had Calici. He didn’t touch his food. I syringe fed him and gave SubQ. Started on antibiotics and amino acids. But after Calici looked better and still not eating we did full blood panel. Blood work looks horrible to me. I wondered if he had a blockage. But U/S didn’t show it. Blood sugar high also so suspected diabetes. Vet has ordered insulin. Not sure what kind yet. Have never had a diabetic cat in our care. He is also getting a feeding tube placed to make it easier for us to get food in him. Is the not eating common for this? What do you think of his bloodwork? Thanks for the add.

It’s very hard to see these labs. Why are they in Spanish?

From what I can read, besides his glucose, his AST (a liver enzyme) is mildly high as is his bilirubin. The former indicates some kind of liver cell damage. It would lead one to consider cholangiohepatitis but you said his U/S was normal and it should have shown inflammation with cholangiohepatitis.

Cholesterol is high but that’s not uncommon with diabetics. His phosphorus is high and, since he doesn’t have chronic kidney disease, there are other things which can cause that. One of the things that is concerning is his CK is high which can be due to heart damage, for one, but also if he had any muscle trauma at some time. His potassium is too low (it should be 4 or above) and he is trending towards anemia.

Because so many things can cause changes to white blood cells, I really don’t have a clue. In fact, I don’t know specifically what could be causing all these changes. They aren’t usual changes we see in diabetic cats, except for the cholesterol although diabetics “can” have low potassium once insulin therapy has been ongoing. Still...his looks lower than it should be.

I’m sorry I’m not much help. I know $ are tight with rescue organization but he might benefit from a visit to an internal medicine specialist.

 

[Lisa Keck]

We are limited in vets where we live. Only 1 actually and he specializes in dogs. So we trek over to Mexico to get care done. Plus way cheaper. Thanks for your insight.