3/3, Susie, AMPS 241, 240 @+3

3/2, Susie, Elevated ALT Blood Test. AMPS 277, +2 296, +4 220, +6.50 216 FIRST DAY | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

Just wanted to thank all the folks on this site for their support. Hopefully, there is nothing serious going on with Susie's liver. Will post her ALT when I receive it.

Can someone tell me how to enter Susie's lab information on the spreasheet? I found this site but could not enter information.

Susie had a several very high numbers. ALT was 499, AST was 315 + other high numbers.

UPDATE: Susie went to the vet today and he performed an ultrasound and x-rays on her abdomen. He saw nothing concerning. Liver, gallbladder, etc. look normal but he could not find the pancreas (?). This does not mean there isn't a problem that just wasn't picked up in these test. We will continue to work on diabetes management and they will do a special fecal test to determine if she has lung parasites. We will also redo the lab work in about a month. I am relieved but worried that liver cancer is not always seen on these test and there are other potential problems that are not picked up in these test or blood work.

 

Hi Summer,
I see three tabs in your SS, the second is Labs, and you should be able to click on it and enter your numbers. You may also need to change some of the ranges, to match your specific lab.

If you can't enter your numbers, you can tag Bhooma (Bandit's Mom) for help.

Susie - dear kitty, let us learn what is up with your liver.
Two different times, Tina's ALT and AST were elevated, and a round of antibiotics took care of those elevated numbers. Unfortunately, that's when I trusted what I was told, and didn't delve into researching.

 

Jan, I got the labs entered although I didn't have anything that said "Total Protein" or "MA" in the urinalysis. The ranges all matched up with what I have on my lab work. What happened with Tina? You said a round of antibiotics took care of the elevated ALT and AST but you didn't do your research? What didn't you research and what transpired after the antibiotics? I want to be "armed" with all the right questions tomorrow. Susie, and I, thank you for you concern.

 

This was before I learned to always collect labs for my pets, and not blindly trust doctors. Now, I would look into all potential reasons and try to find answers. After the round of antibiotics, Tina's liver values returned to normal, and have remained good . . .which is what I would hope, for Susie.

 

Now I am kicking myself. I went back to the December lab results and noticed that Susie had a high ALT test back then. Why didn't the vet address the other "out of range" blood test results? All he said was that Susie was diabetic. Maybe if we had addressed this issue back then we could have caught it early. I only have myself to blame. She is now seeing a different vet (same office) who actually asked me if the other vet didn't mention the high ALT back in December and I said "no". Unfortunately, I am learning not to completely trust the vets and this is unfortunate. Thanks, again, and will keep in touch when I get some more information.

 

I'm so sorry that the elevated ALT wasn't caught back in December, but don't blame yourself. We are supposed to be able to trust our vets and we are paying them good money to keep our beloved furbabies healthy. Most of us have learned to collect labs the hard way, unfortunately.
Sending many vines to Susie's liver for that ALT value to normalize.

 

Thanks for your "well-wishes", Lyla. Looks like your Butters is getting very good BG numbers and should be headed to remission.

 

Good luck at the vets Summer, i'm sure when Susie's numbers get better her liver will as well. Would it be worth asking your vet about giving Susie milk thistle to help support her liver.

 

I don't think I have ever heard about milk thistle. I'll google it and see what I learn. I am always open to suggestions to help Susie. Thanks for the tip!

 

Hi. I'm concerned about Susie's elevated liver enzymes, too. Keep us posted. I hope you get good help from the vet. I am obsessive about getting lab results for all of my cats and then I go over them extensively and analyze them. By now (finally) the vet's admin people are used to this and just give them to me... or the vet herself just hands me the paper right off the bat.

Since Darcy's hepatic lipidosis and liver ultrasounds last year, I have been giving him Denamarin for cats (small blue pill). It's very healing for the liver -- contains two ingredients for liver health and healing. Even my vet is a big fan of using it (although I'm the one who researched it and brought it up to her.) Of course, you need to address the immediate cause of the problem, but this is just for a more long-term approach to liver health. If the numbers go down with antibiotics, then that is perfect (although you will want to recheck at the end of the AB and then re-check again in maybe a month? to make sure they liver values are staying within normal limits.) If they creep back up, then, if it were my kitty, I would have an abdominal ultrasound performed.

Keep us posted. I will be thinking of Susie and you too, Summer.

 

I appreciate your support, Suzanne. Susie is having an ultrasound of the abdomen area and her esophagus area (for her swallowing situation) as well as x-rays today. My vet said the other day that it can be very hard to determine what the cause is of liver problems related to high AST and ALT values. She has been on a pretty strict diet since diagnosed with diabetes. She gets the Fancy Feast and Publix pates and the PureBites and Whole Life freeze dried treats. The only other thing she eats is my Mom's fake plants and they were sprayed heavily many months ago with a product to discourage her from eating them. I have mentioned this to my vet but he doesn't think this has anything to do with her problem. The other problem is the hyperlipedemia. Why would her cholesterol and triglycerides be so high with her being on a diabetic diet?????? Anyway, I will wait to see what he says about the results and ask him about the Denamarin and the milk thistle.

 

This is what we give to Duke as his liver ALT is slightly high, we give him 1/2 a tablet twice a day.
https://www.dorwest.com/product/milk-thistle-tablets-for-dogs-and-cats/

You can also get this alcohol free tincture to put in her water daily.
Before i started using the tablets we used to put a three drops of this into his food twice daily but it's very bitter to taste so mix it in well if you do use it.
https://naturesanswer.com/product/milk-thistle/

Summer, there are quite a few that use milk thistle on the forum, if you type in milk thistle in the forum search bar there are lots of posts about it.
Happy reading

 

Oh wow. Good luck today at the vet. I hope everything comes out okay. Poor Susie will be all shaved up. Yes, the hyperlipedemia doesn't make sense, does it?

 

I did read about it but forgot to ask the vet because her liver looked fine. I hate giving tablets and she is going to have to start on panacur soon but will consider it. Especially since you don't need a prescription. Will keep your post to do further research on your links. By the way, I updated my thread at the beginning of this post regarding my visit to the vet today. Thanks, Tee.

 

Now don't jump to liver cancer! Liver looked okay, you said. That means no mass. I can't figure out about not finding the pancreas? I've never heard of that before. When did the concern about lung worms start? I thought that the test for lung worms involved a tracheal wash procedure. Fecal is better, though sometimes you have to check more than once for the larvae since it takes a month or more for them to show up in the feces. But who would want to put Susie through all that. Is she coughing a lot or anything? You must be tired and probably don't feel like talking about anything right now. Take care of you and Susie! Hugs!

 

I'm glad the u/s was very boring - that is great news! However, I do recommend requesting the report because it may have more information. I hope she doesn't have lung worms, that sounds not great. Like Suzanne said, remember to take care of yourself so you can take care of Susie!

 

Updated my post at the very beginning regarding her vet visit.

She had elevated EOS and ABS EOS which lead him to believe that the coughing could be some kind of Bronchiola (spelling ?) situation. Yes, she coughs/hacks and has for a long time although nothing I have seen in the last week. She also swallows a lot. I guess all of this is just a process of elimination. Yes, I am really tired and just got a 177 BG test at +2 (pm) which makes me nervous. Usually the +2's are higher than the AMPS and PMPS. I will get up between 11:00 and midnight tonight and test again. Liver looked good. Gallbladder looked good. He say no crystals but couldn't find the pancreas. He said it is not unusual but I don't know what to think about my vets anymore. Anyway, goodnight and thanks Suzanne for caring.

 

I'll see if I can get a copy of the ultrasound report emailed to me.