9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 +2 233 +4 159 BW IN - THOUGHTS?

The weird cycles continue condo (09/01)


Welpers, at least he didn't spike...in fact he is the same that he was at +6.

The vet should be calling with his BW results today and I will tell them I would like to bring Skoots in for a urine culture.....I sure wish I could go BTB, and I might try for a quick 15 min one as I am already exhausted and the day hasn't even begun yet

I think I will feel better once I get the results from his blood work.....

Healing vines to all the kitties who need em (including Skooter) and hugs for the beans....

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157

I hope skooters bw comes back with normal results, and that he returns to lower numbers for you.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157

Sending vines for excellent BW results for SkooterPie! I know that exhausted feeling all too well...sometimes even a little 15 minute snooze does help. I hope you can get some rest in at some point...have a great day, Molly!

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148

I missed the vet's call but on her voice mail she said she had good blood work results for me....

She is going to go over them with me when I bring him in to get the urine culture.....his appointment time may throw off his insulin schedule a little bit, but I think it is super important to get the test done now so he can get on his medication asap for it.

It is weird being so confident in what I need to get done for him, I am still a little uncomfy when there is a disagreement with the vet on what should be done, but that doesn't happen too often.

I will see if I can get a copy of them and then get them in his condo so if there is any insight anyone else has....

If he does have a UTI, do I need to be concerned that this will be an ongoing thing? He has never had one before and now two within about five months....

I will be getting a probiotic and start that, is there anything else I can do to help prevent UTIs?

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 *6.25 181

Welp, since the vet said she had good news on blood work for me, this has to be the mastermind of some sort of infection and I am guessing UTI......

I will be really surprised if it is not.....time to dash back to work so that I can leave by 430 to get Skooter to the vet and hopefully home by 6 pm shot time!

Wish us luck!

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Come on skooter come back down for your mama.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Usually UTIs occur in FDs because of the sugar in the urine. Bacteria love it. But Skooter has stayed below renal threshold a lot! However, never say never.

I am not aware of anything you can do to prevent a UTI other than be sure he drinks a ton of water....add it to his food if you don't already. I always put 1-2 tsp of water in every helping Gracie gets. And keep doing what you're doing to keep him below renal threshold.

If you have a chance to post the labs, it would be good. Too many times I hear vets say "all is good" when there is a number or two I'd question and just follow. Paws crossed for the culture to be negative.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Ditto what Marje said about labs. I always get copies now. The first I heard of my Tiffany being anemic was from list friends. If my vet sees normal range it's fine with him, even if high normal. I would question that. Now I'm not confident until I have the labs in my hands and look them over get my list of questions ready. I hope all is well.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Adding vines for good results and some answers from the vet.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Hi there

What is up with these numbers? :?

Your juice OK? It's not expired is it? Did it fall on the floor or get used as a kitty toy ?

I've probably asked before however I'll ask again if Skooters teeth and gums have been properly evaluated. By properly I mean while under anesthesia.
In BKs case there is no doubt in my mind that dental issues were fueling his FD and had they not been addressed he would not be OTJ.
It took 2 rounds, 5 months apart (and many $$$$) with a veterinary dental specialist to get his mouth addressed but it paid off.

When you get the BW results you can place them on a separate tab of the ss, which many of us do (see BKs ss for example)

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

Adding more vetty vines for Skooter.

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181

fingers crossed for a good report . . .

Re: 9/2 Skooter AMPS 157 +1.5 148 +6.25 181 +11 179 PMPS 227

Thank you all for the good vetty vines.....as much as I dislike that yellow number, I am about 110% that as most to do with the vet visit over anything. I specifically tested him before going to the appointment so I could gauge the difference....

When they took him back to do his urinalysis and retest his calcium and the vet said with the noises he can make, she wasn't sure he was a cat LOL....

They vet techs also said, he is super vocal and let's you know he is not happy, yet he never ever swats at them or tries to hurt them Such a good boy....

OK I spent the about two hours entering in his numbers in a second tab on the spreadsheet. I am not 100% excel savvy, but did my best.

I had them give me copies of the bloodwork from when he was diagnosed on 04-19-14 and then the blood work they did on 08-30-14 for comparison. In April they used a lot of initials for things, and I was able to figure out most of them (I wanted to put them next to each other, so it would be easy to compare). Below are the ones on the NEW tests that I could not figure out what they corresponded to on the first one....so if someone might be able to help me with that, so I can fill in the rest of the numbers, I would be awfully greatful.

The vet suspects a UTI as well, however if he does not have one, I will go with it being the insulin not working and order new insulin....my question (after the people who are waaaaaaaaaay smarter than me and can understand the test results)......should I be increasing his insulin during this time or just leave it be until we figure out if it is a UTI or not. I did tell her that if it is a UTI I want medication I can administer and do not want the shot where it lasts a couple of weeks. She said she does have that shot, but wouldn't use it for a UTI, only skin infections....I am so glad my vet is smart like that

on to the results I didn't know what the corresponded to:
ALP - 51 (12 -59 U/L)
AST - 19 (19 - 67 U/L)
CREATINE KINASE - 74 (64 - 440 U/L)
BILIRUBIN - CONJUGATED - 0.0 (0.0 - 0.2 mg/dL)
TCO2 (BICARBONATE) - 18 (12 - 22 mmol/L)
BILIRUBIN - UNCONJUGATED - 0.1 (0.0 - 0.2 mg/dL)
HEMOLYSIS INDEX AND LIPEMIA INDEX - N INDEX OF N, +, ++ EXHIBITS NO SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON CHEMISTRY VALUES
ANION GAP - 22 (12 - 25 mmol/l)

Any thoughts or interpretations would be much appreciated. Overall, from what I can tell, he actually seems to be doing better overall.....
T4 - 1.4 (0.8 - 4.7 ug.dL) ***I DON'T THINK THEY DID THIS IN APRIL***


**ETA: I am not sure if this would effect advice on a dosecrease, but I will not be able to come home tomorrow at all and I will not be home until probably +8 on Thursday **

Re: 9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 - BW RESULTS IN, INTPRETATION HELP

I'm no expert, but those numbers look good to me. His kidney numbers look really good. His BUN is higher than it was in April, but it is still in the normal range. And creatinine is the more important of the two and that looks great. The 1040 urine concentration is also really good. I hope someone with more knowledge than I have comes along soon to evaluate the other numbers.

I also hope someone answers your question about increasing Skooters dose. I hate to see him back in yellow numbers.

Re: 9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 - BW RESULTS IN, INTPRETATION HELP

FluffBunny said:

His BUN is higher than it was in April, but it is still in the normal range

Click to expand...

I did ask about this as it doubled and the vet said I didn't really need to worry about it because it has to do with hydration and it could be he wasn't as hydrated in one test vs the other.

FluffBunny said:

I hate to see him back in yellow numbers.

Click to expand...

I also hate it....I remember when we started out, how happy I was to see yellow and how much better he felt. Now, you can tell he doesn't feel well. The vet seems to think it is probably a UTI, and if it is, hopefully he can be on meds in a few days once they do a culture.....I hope they get the results earlier in the day versus later, so I know what I am dealing with.

If he doesn't have an infection, then I will order new insulin....however, I know he feels somewhat ok as he has been crawling all over me and feeling that he is small enough to snuggle up on my neck......which I can confirm, he is NOT small enough to do this...

Re: 9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 - BW RESULTS IN, INTPRETATION HELP

I'm not sure I would increase his dose. In general, you dose for the numbers, ie, if his bgs go up, you would increase. Then if the antibiotics cause the infection to resolve and his bgs go down, you decrease the dose. My hesitation is this is just 24 hours without green and you're thinking some of it is vet stress.

However, if you do want to increase, and I can see why you're considering it, i would just fatten the dose the smallest amount possible. You o a super job of monitoring!

For the labs, everything looks pretty good. I'm not familiar with calcium so can't speak to it. His kidneys look good - that's the bun and creatinine. Kidneys are often affected by diabetes, so that's really important. Glucose in the normal range is amazing.

If you want to be able to compare labs, look at punkin's ss, the lab tab. It is set up a little differentlt, but easy to compare lab value changes over time. I find it curious that both sets of labs were idexx, but the reference ranges aren't the same.

Re: 9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 - BW RESULTS IN, INTERPRET HELP PLS

Molly:

The numbers you posted look good to me, but I'm not an expert by any means. The T4 test is for his thyroid. He's in great shape there.

Bilirubin deal with the liver. I believe Hemolysis and lipemia indexes do, too. I'm not sure about the others, but someone smarter than I will be along soon, I'm sure and fill you in.

I'm glad Skooter seems to be feeling better. It's weird to hope it's a UTI, but then you'd know what to do to fix it....

Sending healing vines!

Re: 9/2 Skooter PMPS 227 - BW RESULTS IN, INTERPRET HELP PLS

I guess I just got nervous when I saw the yellows.....He has built so much momentum and I hate for him to lose it, but I wasn't sure if a temporary increase would help or not.

I am not sure about an increase because tomorrow I won't be able to come home, I have a work thing and then Thursday, since I am about oh say, two months past due on an oil change....I am taking a half day and taking it in, so I wont be home until like +8.....

Tricia & Cinco said:

It's weird to hope it's a UTI, but then you'd know what to do to fix it....

Click to expand...

Funny you should say that because I am kind of hoping for that as well....from what I can tell his numbers look great, so it would come down to either pens or dental....at this point, I am already trying to save up for dental, but it is looking like I won't be able to do it until early next year as it is.....so I guess if it is not a UTI (and I can't believe I am hoping for one), then I will order pens from Canada and have those hopefully within a few weeks.....

Who'da thunk I would be THIS happy over a 159? lol

Isn't it strange to see BG as normal? Max had a 144 on his labs in April as well. However he did have +++in his urine. When it was mentioned that the USG was good I had to go back and check the report. I see that was the April test and yesterday's was sent out. With Skooter concentrating his urine that well just a few months ago and the creatinine and BUN numbers what they are, I wouldn't be worrying about CKD at all. The high calcium I know has been mentioned on other boards I am on but I can't remember what it might mean. When you get the results of the urinalysis ask your vet. Marje may know about that one. I'd be really happy with these labs.

Hi Molly,
Sending feel better vines to Skooter. I am very new at this, but from what I see, his #'s don't look too bad.(Michael is playing with a very big bouncy ball)
Glad his test results are good.
Darin suggested I ask you about automatic feeders since you have one. How do they work?
Thanks,
Paula (Michael's Mom):smile:

The only thing I see that is concerning is the calcium ...I'm hoping your vet has discussed that Skooter has hypercalcemia. His calcium level is pretty high. There are several things that can cause this so I'd talk to the vet about addressing it and any tests to figure out the cause.

She wanted to do a retest of it. She said that sometimes, especially when they have difficulty getting a sample (which they did when this test was done) that it can skew the number.

So, we did a retest of it yesterday and will hopefully have the results from that test today, along with the results of the urinalysis.

I am trying to go one step at a time and figuring out finances for everything right now....

I did see the retest and when they do struggle, it causes hemolysis which can skew the results. But it usually skews more than just one and his last bloodwork had high calcium. While I can think of many things that can cause it, none seem applicable to Skooter. So paws crossed the numbers will be normal today.

I did quite a bit of research on hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia when Snugs was diagnosed with parathyroid carcinoma. There are lots of things that can cause it, but Skooter doesn't seem to have any other symptoms or indications in his blood work. Here are three good web sites with info on hyperglycemia:

http://www.cat-world.com.au/hypercalcemia-in-cats

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_hypercalcemia.html

http://felineihc.org/

One of these articles defines hyperglycemia as a reading above 12. Also, it seems that the most common form of hypoglycemia is ideopathic - no known cause. It's something you should discuss with your vet, but don't get into a panic about it.

I know from personal experience that vet bills can be overwhelming. When Snugs was first diagnosed with cancer, I got a Care Credit card. It is specifically for medical and veterinary expenses. When you charge a bill from a participating facility, you have 6 months to pay the bill with no interest. You still have to pay it, of course, but it allows you to spread big expenses out over 6 months without incurring additional charges for credit card interest. It might be worth looking into. Here is the web site:

http://www.carecredit.com/

Sorry to hear that Skooter might have a UTI! Those are always a pain. Vet bills are also a big pain...Billie needs health insurance more than I do! I hope you figure out what's up with Skooter and he gets back to normal soon.