11/5 - Ruby Update

Ruby has been enjoying her time at the Falls. On Friday, at 28 weeks OTJ she scored a beautiful 78 :mrgreen: . (we've switched back to the Relion Micro).

Unfortunately she got a "mild renal insufficiency" diagnosis in September. We switched her diet to Friskies Special Diet, which she seems to be just fine with.

I noticed last week that her water intake is creeping higher and higher. Right now its close to 4 ounces a day from her bowl, not counting what I put in her food. It was more like 2 ounces. I'm worried about the increase in water so tomorrow she gets to go visit her most favorite person in the whole wide world, Dr. K. Hopefully she won't pee on anyone while we're there. Last time I drew the short straw. Cross your fingers and hope that the tests tomorrow will tell me that we're on the right track. I'm also going to have the Free T4 test because it wasn't done last time.

These were her blood & urine test results in September:
USG 1.028
BUN - 33.0 (14.0-36.0)
Creatinine - 2.10 (0.6-2.0)
Phosphorus - 3.3 (2.7-7.5)
Potassium - 4.2 (3.4-5.6)
Calcium - 10.3 (8.9-11.7)
Hematocrit (Hct) or Packed Cell Volume (PCV) - 44.0 (27.0-48.0)
T4 - 1.2 (1.0-3.0)

 

It's so nice to see a Ruby Update :mrgreen:
Good luck with the vet visit, and I hope everything goes smoothly (no wet beans), and her test results are on the right track. Let us know how it turns out.

 

Heck, for a clean bill of health she can pee on me all she wants. ;-)

 

Paws crossed for a good visit.

 

Hope visit turned out good.

 

We go in a few hours.
Thanks!

 

Good Morning and nice to hear from you and Ruby! Vines and fingers and paws crossed for a good Vetty visit. We will check back on your update. Scritches to Ruby.

 

Hi guys .. so nice to see an update on miss ruby! Good luck at the vet's today, hope she get's a clean bill of health!

 

We're back. She spent the hour growling her head off at anyone who came near her. :razz: She's all huff and puff.

No sign of dehydration. Blood pressure normal. They'll call me on Thursday with the the cystocentesis, urinalysis w/sedimentation and big blood panel results.
She's gained a little weight, but nothing to worry about. Up from 11 lbs 10 oz to 12 lbs 4 oz.

The blood pressure test was interesting. It was the world's teeniest BP cuff! They did 7 tests and took the average. She just hung out on my lap while the machine went to work.

And she's got significant arthritis in her elbows so we brought home a bottle of Dasuquin. Instructions are 2 caps a day.
Does anyone have opinions on this?

 

There are a number of people who use either Cosequin (it's over the counter), Adequin, or Dasequin for their cats with arthritis.

 

Hi Amy - good to see you post when I popped in!

Numbers are looking good Miss Ruby! Hope the new results look equally good! Hope everything continues to go well for her. Send some postcards from the falls to the rest of us hopefuls! ;-)

Lu-Ann

 

Hey there!

I was really happy to hear that her BP was normal. I didn't get the exact number. I'll get that when they fax me all the results on Thursday.

Right now I'm just hoping that the kidney values aren't worse. I am really glad to know about the arthritis now though, before she's obviously in pain.

 

It sounds like a good Vetty visit and paws crossed for good b/w and Lab results. You mentioned significant arthritis in the elbow. I was wondering how did they daignose it, via X-ray or testing. The reason I ask is sometimes I feel like Maggie's walk is off a little. I suspect arthritis and I'll have it checked. Give Ruby some scritches from us.

 

Ruby started clicking when she walks so I asked Dr. K about it. (you know how you can hear your knees or ankles click sometimes? Its like that)
She laid Ru on her side on the table and carefully stretched out her legs (she did one side, flipped her over and did the other). For both front legs, she said she could really feel her elbows click as they flexed. She didn't do any other tests than that, but I believe her. She said the Dasuquin could take up to 6 weeks to really start working and that we could also look into acupuncture if we want. I'm not ruling that out but I want to try the Das first.

 

Blood and urine tests are back. She's pretty much holding steady, which is the best I could have hoped for.

Her Creatinine has gone down, back within the normal range for our lab. Was 2.1, now 1.9 - the lab considers 2.0 the upper threshold.
Her BUN is up slightly, was 33, now 38. The lab's upper threshold is 36.
Her Urine Specific Gravity held at 1.020. While not good, its better than getting worse.

All in all, I consider it a win. :smile: