lab results....feedback appreaciated!

I took Morris to the vet yesterday as he has not been eating. I spent a whole lot of $$$$ on a bunch of labwork & the vet (not my regular vet, but another vet at the clinic) examined him. She did look at his teeth as well (we both agreed that 2 most likely causes of him not eating were pancreatitis or needing a dental)....she saw some areas of concern in his mouth that may be causing his pain, but she has seen worse teeth than his as well! No one in town stocks bupe, so she has ordered it in.....fish flavor! Will hopefully arrive by Saturday.

To conserve space, I will just type out the values that are out of their normal range.....if anyone wants me to provide the other results, I am more than willing to do that!

Glucose - 17.3 (range 4.0-8.0)
Albumin - 34 (range 23-33)
Cholesterol - 8.09 (range 2.00-6.00)
Mean Corp HGB - 13.4 (range 13.5-17.3)
Spec fPL - 14.0 (range 0-3.5) **then it has comments saying >5.3 ug/: serum spec fPL concentration is consistent with pancreatits. Consider investigating for risk factors and concurrent diseases (e.g. IBD, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus). Periodic monitoring of Spec fPL may help assess response to therapy.
Tetraiodothyronine - 10.7 (range 16.0-45.0)
Urine was negative for ketones & glucose was positive 3+

My question now is, why is the vet not willing to say Morris has pancreatitis when the lab report is saying he does?!?!? I know she mentioned to me on the phone "it's a little high" (I think it is pretty darn high!) and she was talking about there can be 'false positives' (I have heard of false negatives on this site, but no mention of false positives). I would love to hear your feedback!!

 

The fPli value sure indicate pancreatitis to me. Maybe you can have the vet you saw consult with your regular vet. Your discussion did not mention what the vet's plan was.

 

My regular vet won't be back until Feb 18. The plan is, SQ fluids, trying to get him to eat a minimum of 270 kcals per day & pain meds once it arrives (no one in town stocks bupe). My Lantus Land friends have also convinced me to pick up some Pepcid AC today & start giving that as well.

 

Are you getting the injectable Pepcid? I found it to give much faster relief than the pills.

 

Also the B12 injections have been great for Tucker. Each time he gets one his numbers are really low for days.

 

I have never heard of false positives, but the false negatives can happen because the fPLI is most accurate during a flare, so if the cat is getting better the number might be lower.

Conors vet was skeptical that he had pancreatitis and when we sent the fPLI to Texas A&M Univ, the "severe" range was anything over 36 ug/L and Conors was 68.1!! Dr. H. was more surprised than I was. A month later Conor was at 14, which was in the mildly increased range, high on ref range being over 12.9.