? 19.4. Simba Acting a Bit Off - Please Review Labs

Hi all!

It's been almost 2 months since I last gave a little health update. I'm happy to say that Simba's BG levels have remained steady and he is still in remission from diabetes. He hasn't vomited bile during the night either and his asthma is very well under control with the inhaler.

My main worry this time was that he seemed a bit off lately, more sleeping/laying around and not playing so much, in addition to gaining weight while eating less than what's recommended for his size. He will be receiving 3ml twice a day of Kaminox to lift his potassium levels. I've ordered Samylin liver tablets as well as the vet suggested them for additional support.

His current food is raw frozen "meatballs" that are quite calorie dense and have 10.3g of fat per 100g. Our vet suggested to switch to a tinned food that's lower in calories and fat. His blood was so fatty that the machine couldn't analyse some of the values properly. My poor boy can't catch a break

I'd appreciate any insight to what could be done to improve Simba's health!

 

Hi Lina Glad to hear Simba's diabetes is still in remission though sorry to hear he's a bit off. I'm not one to read labs but just here to bump up your post. You may want to change your title to "19.4 Simba - Acting a Bit Off - Please Review Labs".

For food, have you read through the (abundance) of info on catinfo.org ? This is just one vet of course but she recommends the following:

An optimal weight loss diet should be:

• high in protein (over 40% of calories),

• moderate in fat (under 50% of calories),

• low in carbohydrates (under 10% of calories), and

• high in water.

Hope that helps a little bit and hope you are doing well

 

Thank you Susanne! I definitely need a refresher on the food info and pay attention to the nutritional value of what he's being fed.

 

Hi Lina. I’m glad Simba is still OTJ. The albumin and ALT are liver enzymes. Max had high ALT off and on but my vet said unless more than double the high range not a concern. The albumin is also a liver indicator but also can be elevated if dehydrated. What did your vet say about the high protein? Were the labs run at the vet’s office or sent to a lab? My vet never goes by one set of labs. I would recheck in a month and send out to a lab and get an early appointment and don’t feed before the blood draw.

His being lethargic is likely due to the low potassium. I am not sure the values are accurate since the blood was fatty. Any chance you can switch to a different raw food with less fat or different manufacturer?

Has he lost any weight? It needs to be slow to prevent fatty liver.

 

Actually, albumin is a protein molecule. It tells you about a cat's (or human's) protein/nutritional status as well as reflects kidney and liver function. It is sensitive to dehydration.

Did the vet happen to do a fasting blood draw? It's not all that uncommon to have a lipoic sample if the kitty hadn't been fasted.

 

Hi Elise. About the high protein she asked what he's currently fed and I said raw food only... she suggested to switch back to a LC and low fat food. The labs were run at the vet's office. We're going back in a month for another check up and I'll ask her to send them to a lab too. We had a 9am appointment and Simba had his last meal at 11pm the previous day, which is why I'm extra concerned about these results.

I hope he perks up with the potassium supplement. I've switched him back to the LC food he ate before for the time being and will research other raw food options. He was at the same weight of 6,4kg for a long time and now he's at 6,8kg! Definitely the wrong way, as he should have been losing weight...

 

Okay, thanks for the info! It was indeed a fasting blood draw, Simba's appointment was at 9am and he had his previous meal at 11pm the night before.