10/7 Tina AMPS 115 +4 89 +7 96 PMPS 136 +3.5 109

10/6

Good morning - may Jill rest in peace. I didn't know her the way many of you did, but the loss is strong. I wonder how many cats she helped -- more than we might guess. I was a lurker like so many other "strangers" she helped.

Tina is as flat as a pancake today so far - I sure have used a lot of strips lately, but a good reduction is worth it!

Have a blessed day today.

 

Nice start for Tina. I hope you see some green today.

 

Nice start Tina.

Can't imagine Jill not being here.

 

Tina's SS is look'in Good

 

October is my favorite color too!
Keeping paws crossed for Ravan's BG today.

 

It must be blueberry pancake Monday
Have a good day Jan!
I still can't wrap my head around Jill not being here anymore.

 

Tina is doing very nicely!! Great job

I am sure we will all be reeling for a very long time at Jill’s loss.

Might I ask a favor please? I’m sure you don’t realize this because you don’t click on your own SS link but when we do, the tab that pops up is her lab tab. That’s because the tab with the 2019 data should be all the way to the left, and the lab tab to it’s right. If you want to click on the down arrow on the actual data SS, click on “rename”, put in “2019”, and then drag it to the far left, that would be greatly appreciated. That way, when we click on her SS link here, the data SS will open instead of the lab SS.

Thank you so much.

 

Thank you! I'm glad you told me.
Since you are here do you think it's too early to repeat blood work done the first of July? I'm most curious about her kidney health. The vet agreed she didn't need the KD diet or reduced protein, but I've been concerned about the phosphorus level in her food. Dry matter basis is .82 in her Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken. It's the lowest carb and phos. level I've found that she will eat.

 

I certainly wouldn’t give a reduced protein diet to a CKD cat so I’m glad your vet said that. Her P level could come down a wee bit...it would be nice to see it between 4-4.5 but it’s not bad by any stretch. When did you start feeding the Weruva? Once I get that info, I can discuss further labs.

Thank you for fixing the SS. For some reason, it added a “sheet 1” tab If you want to click on that drop down arrow and then “delete”, it will get rid of it.

 

Goodness, my fingers were fumbling. Now I see 3 sheets - SS, Labs, and Template. Thanks again!
7/25 is when she started the Weruva.

 

So plenty of time for her P to come down, Knowing how I am, I’d likely retest at this point because controlling the P is really essential to longevity.

In addition, they didn’t do a full panel and so you don’t know where her hematocrit is. Controlling anemia is the other big one in CKD (wish there were only two but P and anemia are big ones). Did they check her blood pressure? Even if they did, you’ll want that rechecked.

I’d suggest you get a full panel. If your vet uses Antech, they have a senior panel for less that includes superchem, CBC, tT4 (since you are likely monitoring it), and urine. I always have my vet run this panel even on my healthy 3 year old.

 

They did not check her blood pressure - I got some story about the difficulty of it. Just now when I called, I was told they would definitely check her BP. She has an appointment tomorrow for the senior panel, and for a blood pressure check. Her urine was checked just a couple weeks ago, and it was clean w/no glucose. She had a bout of peeing outside the box, but all looked good in the culture. I started giving her a small amount of D-Mannose, and there have been no more incidents.

I'm also concerned about her thyroid being overtreated a year ago, and the vet saying he has never seen a case of giving anything to now boost her thyroid (he sure seems uninformed). He wanted me to ask the cardiologist. After this vet did a heart function blood test, and it came back seventy something (under 100 means no likely serious disease), I haven't yet followed up with the cardiologist, who wanted to repeat an echo done about a year and a half ago, (after her thyroid was steady for nine months). Tina has "mild" Cardiomyopathy. If you believe a visit to the Cardiologist is in order, I will take her.

Thank you so very much

 

She is in the lagoon. Beautiful flat Lantus cycle!

 

Nice flat numbers today for Tina!

Have a lovely evening!

 

You’re welcome.

More importantly about the urine is her urine specific gravity and her urine protein. If you have that info, it would be great to see it on her lab tab (did I miss it?).

I agree about the vet that said he’d never seen a case of giving something to raise the thyroid level if the I131 put her into hypothyroidism being uninformed. It’s very common and one of my own GA kitties had to take a very low dose of thyroid medication. Not having the thyroid at the right level can cause impacts to the kidneys. Is she on any synthetic thyroid?

By a heart function blood test, I’m assuming you mean a CardioPet ProBNP? A positive test above a certain threshold indicates cardiomyopathy so I’m surprised she was diagnosed (from an echo?) with HCM with a normal BNP test. But....never say never. My speculation is that she was showing mild HCM due to the hyperT but, once the hyperT is resolved, the HCM often evolves and that might be why her BNP is normal. Because a CKD cat might eventually need fluids, it might be a good idea to get her back into the cardiologist.

 

You are a huge help and I just can't thank you enough. I love Tina so much and our health care journey has been very rough since right after the I-131 treatment a year ago. We got cleared for that treatment through a cardiologist, also in October 2018. Her blood pressure was good, and they did an echo then, hoping her heart might improve after the HyperT treatment.
I was told there was no protein in her urine, but I will get the lab sheet at the vet's office tomorrow, and enter urine specific gravity in SS, unless it wasn't checked.
Tina is not on any thyroid medication, and I am seeing a different vet (same practice) tomorrow, and hope she isn't ignorant about supplementing when necessary.
You are correct - the Cardiopet ProBNP is what was done just recently. The vet thought I could save 700 dollars on a repeat Cardio visit if the ProBNP looked good. All I want is what makes Tina feel her best.

Hugs to you Marge during this very difficult time of loss.

 

The CardioPet ProBNP is an excellent screening tool. And if you prefer, you could wait until Tina might need fluids. For me, I trust our cardiologist and follow his instructions but then we have an established relationship with him. What you could do is call your cardio’s office, relay the info on the test and why you did it, and see what he says. My cardiologist is good with annually alternating an echo with the BNP test.

That is a crazy high rate for an echo. Here, it’s $400 for the first and then $200 for rechecks.

And, thank you....we are all feeling the loss of our friend and leader.

 

Cardio consult: 230
Blood Pressure single procedure: 30
Blood Pressure single interpretation: 42
Echo Procedure: 182
Echo Equipment: 96
Echo Procedure Room Routine: 126

Kind of crazy!! It's only slightly possible they wouldn't charge for the Cardio consult again. I sure think they would try!

 

That is absurd! It’s like a human hospital.