1/29 Ming PMPS = 146 vet visit + IAA test fail

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/1-26-ming-pmps-194.224811/

Ming went to the vet today! Had a great visit and I'm glad I didn't go like I had planned on Sunday. I spoke to vet A who is Ming's main vet instead of Vet B.

I don't have test results yet but here's a summary of what happened:

• He's 8.1 kg on the vet's scale. His last weight was 8.5 kg on my coworker's scale.
• The anesthetic risks still outweigh the need for a dental. She said it's up to me but if Ming was her cat, she wouldn't do it. He's got mild gingivitis and no obvious FORLs. She did acknowledge that any amount of inflammation can add to the diabetes. I'm finding myself agreeing with her and perhaps won't be doing the dental after all.
• We decided against doing repeat x-rays since his symptoms for asthma have improved. Saves us from radiating ourselves and Ming.
• She felt two thyroid lumps (I can't remember what exactly she called them). He's getting a senior panel so it should have results for hyperthyroid
• His previous blood tests while he was on pred had elevated liver values. I'm curious if they're down/normal now.
• His anal glands are full!!!!!! But since he doesn't scoot or seem irritated, we're just going to leave it. She said it's mean to express them on cats haha!
• His belly is quite firm. She asked if this was normal and I said, yeah, I guess. In the back of my mind, I remembered cushing's cats have pot bellies??? I didn't say anything. He's not in pain when she palpated him.
• We did a senior panel and urine analysis. When the pee was collected, it looked very well concentrated. I was concerned about his kidneys since he's been drinking more regularly. His bladder looked normal size and not bursting or huge.
• The biggest bummer: his blood is too lipemic!!!!!! Which has ALWAYS been an issue with Ming. Granted, I did make him eat a snack before we left the house (an hour before blood collection). So we can't do the IAA test because lipemic blood can interfere with test results.

@Sandy and Black Kitty
@Wendy&Neko

Have you two run across issues with doing the IAA test when blood is too lipemic? I can't really fast him. Vet was thinking testing his triglycerides but even for that test, he needs to be fasted. Have we had diabetics fasted before?

 

Some positive moments:

• another vet opened the door to the room and stole Ming haha!!! He's never treated Ming before and he's usually very serious when working so it was really nice and cute to see him happy to see Ming
• Vet A said Ming is the most well controlled cat she's ever treated. I'll take it even though I know there are even bigger super star diabetic cats here on FDMB!

 

We're always lipemic here too... he used to have huge fat line in his blood tube when we spun it down and the rest looked like a milkshake
We had a German Vet stay with us for a bit after a conference and he said he thinks it's common in neutered males * shrugs *

Not sure about the fasting...but they fast for dentals and the Cushing's test, right?
Glad the appointment seems like it went well.
And, how ' bout those numbers today... Looking good.

 

@Si am cat mom
Another vet thinks it's just because he's diabetic. But I'm sorta glad to know it's not just Ming being a weirdo LOL

At my hospital, we fast after midnight for regular patients but it's not really 12 hours of fasting. I'm sure Ming can do it but it will be one pain in the butt because he'll become a hungry monster and/or his BSL may go low and we'd need to stop the fast. Plus I don't want to unnecessarily induce stress.

 

I hear ya. It's definitely less than ideal. I don't think we did 12 hours either. I feel like it ended up being 8 or 9. Maybe there's a way to modify it if you need to. We always called the lab to see how the test was supposed to be drawn.

We're holding off on a dental here too. I wanted to do it but he's vet says it's not bad enough to warrant sedation and the whole ordeal. I see one more dental eventually in his future though....

 

I went on IDEXX VetConnect and looked up the test but I obviously didn't read it carefully or thoroughly (good thing i'm not a tech, huh? LOL). I was more concerned on how to collect it and ship it to MSU. He did the acro test and lipemia wasn't an issue so I didn't think anything of it.

Are our cats siblings because why do they look the same and have the same issues?

 

A lot of us got the IAA test done unfasted. I didn’t. On the other hand, my vet worked late in the day so we often did bloodwork an hour or two before PMPS, in which case Neko would have been fasting six hours. That was long enough. Her blood was never lipemic.

 

+4 = 270

He's bouncing.

Every time I've taken blood from Ming, people comment how fatty it looks. Even when he was sick and not eating over night or when I used to only feed him twice a day and get a fructosamine in the middle of the day: fatty blood!!

The only time his blood seemed normal was probably when he was on IV fluids for days.

But perhaps, when the opportunity arises, I'll try to get blood from Ming when he hasn't eaten for a few hours.

 

According to who?

 

The tech said that’s what it said on Idexx’s vetconnect.

When I’m in work next, I’ll go look there too and copy the information.

 

What is Idexx vet connect?

 

It’s where you enter the tests needed for a patient and where idexx reports results to a clinic.

I know idexx lists the tests they do publicly but not all info is available. But I just went on their website and saw this:



I wonder if it’s worth calling them and asking about it. If that’s even a thing?

 

Interesting. It never came up as an issue with BK. First I’ve heard of it.

So where does your vet send the blood sample to? MSU?

 

Yes it’s sent to MSU. We just need to prepare it in a box with ice and the idexx courier picks it up like normal and ships it for us.

 

Hi Crista! Sounds like a good vet overall and nice to have a vet that appreciates your great efforts and care to Ming!

Hopefully , a fasting blood test will not be lipemic blood. There’s been such excitement with Ming and reductions. It makes all the work worth it!

 

so it goes from the vet to MSU via an Ideex courier and then MSU actually runs the test. Is that correct? If that’s the case, I wonder if it would be best to speak to MSU about fatty blood interfering with the test.

 

Yes you’re correct. That’s a good idea. I’ll be looking into doing that. Have you or anyone on the forum spoken to someone at MSU? Is it relatively easy to get a hold of them?

 

MSU veterinary diagnostic laboratory 517-353-1683 press 1.

 

On the MSU test catalog website, for IAA it says "Avoid hemolysis or lipemia".

I have heard of other people being told they have to fast their cat for this test. The question for MSU, how serious is the requirement?