4/8: Sammy - AMBG 87; PMBG 121 - OTJ Trail Day 5

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tina & Sammy

Tina & Sammy

Member Since 2010
Yesterday's Condo

Well, at +2 last night Sammy was still hanging out close to 120, but when I woke up at 2 am (+7.5) I decided to get a quick test to see where he was, still only at 103, but he had eaten within the hour.

This morning we are back in the green, and I am hoping that these mid-day spikes will stop soon. I still think it has something to do with the inverted curves prior to the trial, but no one has said if they know for sure. I am just hoping that over time off insulin his body will rediscover the proper way and settle down a bit.

Hope everyone has a fabulous day.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Do I need to find the post about not testing so much?:):D Happy day FIVE!!
Click to expand...

LOL! I know! I am really trying to wean myself off of testing so much. I have just been a bit nervous with the numbers over 100 and I really wanted to see more green. It is going to be really hard when I leave for knit camp next Wednesday and I won't be able to test at all. DH will be home to test and he doesn't have a problem only testing once. LOL! I am going to have to give him instruction as to when he might have to test again after PMBG if he is a bit higher than we want. He won't be able to do a second test after AMBG because he will be off to work and won't be able to come home to test.
 
We got some disappointing news from he vet today. Sammy's kidney values have gone up from his readings in January. Which means instead of being able to reduce fluids we are going to need to increase fluids. Yes, the news could have been worse, but we were just getting excited about being off insulin, and now we have to think about the fluids more often.

@Amy&TrixieCat I know Trixie is fluids, I am assuming it is for CRF, and I just wanted to know if Trixie's kidney values improved after being under the Renal Threshold for longer and longer. Right now his BUN is in the low 60's but the Creatine is 3.1. This really concerns me. We had another cat that had much higher numbers and we were able to get them under control, but CRF eventually took that fur baby from us. I know there isn't anything else we can do other than fluids, but I would love to know how you are treating Trixie.

Hopefully with increased fluids for awhile we can bring his numbers back down a bit.
 
Looks like Sammy likes being a tease on his evening numbers! The depot will be gone after 5 days, so this is just Sammy being Sammy.

Sorry to hear about the kidney results.:bighug: Do you have your lab results? If you have them and could post them in Sammy's spreadsheet (template in the new version of the SS or copy from someone else), then maybe @Marje and Gracie can comment - she's very knowledgeable about interpreting lab results. Feeding low phosphorus foods helps, and B vitamins. How is Sammy's blood pressure?
 
Nice work Sammy!! :D Now if you can just sneak those PM numbers down a bit so your bean doesn't have to worry about you so much that would be great!

Our 18 year old cat has been on fluids and potassium for CKD for about 3 years now and does really well on them. She gets Tumil K BID as well as fluids twice a week and the combination of the two, plus low phosphorus food seems to be keeping her really healthy - the vet was surprised by how good her numbers all were when she had bloodwork done about 3 weeks ago. It might be worth asking your vet about potassium supplementation as well as the fluids - Shadow started out on the pills just every other day but has had dose increases over the years (plus one dose decrease - at one point she was on the pills 3 times a day for a couple of months).
 
Thanks April @manxcat419 I will definitely call the vet in the morning about potassium. Anything that will help bring those numbers down I am willing to try. The vet gave the go ahead to give 200 ml fluids every night for the next week, and then 125-150 fluids every other day for the week and a half I am at camp. The only reason we will be decreasing while I am at camp is because DH just isn't the doctoring type and it will be like pulling teeth to get him to do it every other day. I had really hoped that he wouldn't have to give fluids at all while I was gone. Hopefully he will do what needs to be done for Sammy's sake.
 
That's a huge amount of fluids - we give 100ml twice a week! I think that's because the potassium helps Shadow not to lose as much fluid or as many minerals. I think it would definitely be worth asking about the combination with potassium supplementation as well especially if it might reduce the amount and frequency of the fluids. I have to admit while I'm pretty good with Rosa's insulin and tests now I still don't like the bigger needles for fluids (might be because I stuck one of them right through my finger about the 3rd or 4th time I had to handle them though ;) ). It's one of those things that I'll do if I have to but usually I watch the level in the bag while Michael handles the needle! We have the cats figured out one way or another to make sure they all get what they need when they need it. ;)
 
manxcat419 said:
That's a huge amount of fluids - we give 100ml twice a week! I think that's because the potassium helps Shadow not to lose as much fluid or as many minerals. I think it would definitely be worth asking about the combination with potassium supplementation as well especially if it might reduce the amount and frequency of the fluids. I have to admit while I'm pretty good with Rosa's insulin and tests now I still don't like the bigger needles for fluids (might be because I stuck one of them right through my finger about the 3rd or 4th time I had to handle them though ;) ). It's one of those things that I'll do if I have to but usually I watch the level in the bag while Michael handles the needle! We have the cats figured out one way or another to make sure they all get what they need when they need it. ;)
Click to expand...

We have been giving Sammy 100 ml of fluid every 2-3 days, and obviously that wasn't enough. I am wondering if the higher BG caused the numbers to go up and now that he is back to normal and under the renal threshold his numbers will slowly come back down again. But last year even before the higher BG his BUN was in the 30's and his Creatinine was around 2.4. I put a reminder in my phone to call the vet tomorrow about the potassium.
 
The main reason we are going with 200 ml for the next week is to try to do everything we can to get the numbers down a bit before I leave, since DH won't give fluids as often. If he was going to do fluids every day then I wouldn't be as worried.
 
The lab results should show if potassium supplementation is needed. You don't want to give too much.

Here's an example of a Labs Tab from the new SS. It is good to have previous labs for comparison.

Another member managing CKD too is @Ann & Tess
 
I'd have thought it's likely that time spent above the renal threshold wouldn't have helped in the short term. Fortunately you got his BG back under control so there should be a good chance of reversing some of the rise in his numbers. I agree, getting the numbers down quickly is important - if it takes extra fluids for a while then it just does. Hopefully he'll stabilize for you really soon so you don't have to worry too much while you're at camp.
 
Tina & Sammy said:
We got some disappointing news from he vet today. Sammy's kidney values have gone up from his readings in January. Which means instead of being able to reduce fluids we are going to need to increase fluids. Yes, the news could have been worse, but we were just getting excited about being off insulin, and now we have to think about the fluids more often.

@Amy&TrixieCat I know Trixie is fluids, I am assuming it is for CRF, and I just wanted to know if Trixie's kidney values improved after being under the Renal Threshold for longer and longer. Right now his BUN is in the low 60's but the Creatine is 3.1. This really concerns me. We had another cat that had much higher numbers and we were able to get them under control, but CRF eventually took that fur baby from us. I know there isn't anything else we can do other than fluids, but I would love to know how you are treating Trixie.

Hopefully with increased fluids for awhile we can bring his numbers back down a bit.
Click to expand...

Trix is a weird case, so she's not a good example to follow. She suddenly went into what appeared to be Stagee IV CKD last year - without any real symptoms that anything was wrong, much less that her kidneys were barely functioning. We checked herBP, which was elevated. We started fluids and amlodipine right away, but neither helped her kidney values. We did an ultrasound, which showed nothing unusual. We added in benazepril, and that brought her BP down, and brought her kidney values down to Stage III, which is where she stood until January of this year. Then she went back to the top of Stage IV - again, with nothing signaling us that something was wrong. We did some ABs, and that put her back down to Stage III. She's just odd.....she supposedly has horrible kidneys, but she eats, she doesn't have muscle wasting, she doesn't vomit often, has normal poop. She did seem to have some sort of underlying mystery infection that wasn't really showing up in any tests.

At this point, we don't test her too much any more....for one, we are maxed out in treatments for CKD (BP meds, benazepril, and 100mls LRS daily), so as long as she feels well, those numbers don't really tell us anything anyway. And for another, she seems to get really sick a few days after she gets a needle stick (probalby stress-induced p-titis), so my vet and I agreed that we would keep her vetty visits to a minimum - only when necessary.

So if you haven't checked Sammy's BP, that would be a good starting point. High BP can increase kidney values. Some people do use Azodyl, too, but we haven't tried that yet. I'm hesitant to add another pilling to her daily routine, since we sometimes struggle with the two that she absolutely needs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top