Addisons disease in cats? any experience?

Conor my civie has lost weight, and we went in for bloodwork. bEcause his electrolytes are out of whack vettybean wants to do a test for Addisons.. His thyroid is also out of whack AGAIN, and hes had I-131 .......but they can get tumors in the other gland.. and hes got a new heart murmur, which could be the thyroid being high.

 

Keeping fingers and paws crossed for you and Conor. cat_pet_icon

 

Of course I have no answers but sending prayers for Conor and a bump up the page.
jeanne

 

Hi Lisa

Addison's is very rare in cats, and the few cats that are diagnosed are usually very sick ("Addisonian crisis"). Do you know which electrolytes were out of whack?

 

Hi Jess.. his sodium is low. 138 (ref range 145-158
His Potassium is high. 6.5 (3.4-5.6)
So his Na/K ratio is low. 21 (32-41)
Chol also high 400 (75-220)
Amylase, which has been high before, 2246 (100-1200)

BUN 54 (14-36)
Creatinine 2.6 (0.6-2.4)

 

I'm obviously here with a diabetic cat so I don't have experience with feline Addison's however I have Adrenal Exhaustion myself which is the step before Addison's. I think its awesome your vet is even testing for it b/c I struggled for 6mths trying to get 8 drs to even consider it. Based on his numbers & the fact that thyroid is continually disfunctioning that's a sure sign of primary adrenal. Now you can have an adrenal problem w/o it being as bad as Addisons, thats the last step meaning failure but there are several steps before it gets there that can still wreak havoc on the system. Usually it takes years/decades to get to Addison's so like pp said its rare. Most notice issues well before it gets to that stage. If he's positive for some adrenal issues but not Addison's they can do a low dose steroid regimen which could very well completely heal him. For humans it takes anywhere from 6mths-2yrs so not sure about cats but it is curable when it's not full blown Addison's. Fixing the adrenals first will regulate any thyroid issues as well. Is he neutered? Adrenal, thyroid & gonads/ovaries are tied together so it can cause issues there as well. HTH & please feel free to ask any questions as I've done extensive research on it. Like I said no feline experience but I imagine it's prolly not that different.

 

Thanks myboo99. When I was researching this also, I realized that one can influence the other. I am hoping that the thyroid result was because of the weight loss his thyrosin dose is too high now. We did the Addisons test today...vettybean feels that if its negative for Addisons that its his kidneys even tho his numbers arent that bad. From my diabetes experience I know that its not always about the numbers..so, we shall see.

My nurse friend noticed it was a hemolized +1 sample but vet said that they rarely see high K due to that, and that doesnt explain the low sodium.

 

Ack! Hemolysis definitely affects the potassium.

 

Hi Lisa

This is true, potassium isn't usually elevated in cats with hemolysis and/or platelet aggregation. It's possible, and I know it's a big thing in humans, but in cats and dogs it's just not seen very often. And it doesn't affect sodium.

Let us know what happens with the blood test.

 

Thanks, we get results tomorrow. The fluids he got Friday perked him up enough so that he was eating better over the weekend and actually gained a little weight. He was grouchy because they did the last part of the test too late to feed him. Not sure he would have eaten there but he devoured his wellness puree when he got home. ooo I forgot to ask if they gave him saline or LRS, LRS has potassium in it... hm.