Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Call from Winton's Vet




Well, I just got a phone call from my vet, Dr. Evans. Basically, Winton's labs aren't too bad. His BUN and Creatinin have crept up a little bit since his last blood work-Feb 07.
  • BUN Jan '08 78
  • BUN Feb '07 60
  • Creatinin Jan '08 3.3
  • Creatinin Feb '07 3.2
She said that within the kidney parameters of 1, 2, 3 and 4, Winton falls in the 2 category of Renal Failure parameters.

Everything else checked out fine:
  • cholesterol normal
  • calcium - normal
  • thyroid - normal
  • no sign of diabetes
I can start giving fluids 1-2x a week if I choose-it wont harm him. It would be from 50-100 cc's and also if his appetite begins to wane I can give him a 1/4 tablet of 10mg Pepcid AC. CRF cats can develop uremic ulcers in the stomach area and the pepcid seems to help and is also a benighn treatment (wont hurt him). So I'll be doing that!

As for his weightloss...here is the stinger. She feels that his blood work numbers are not contributing to his dramatic weight loss. She's concerned about his heart murmur and his rapid weight loss and recommends I get a bi-cavity ultrasound and an echocardiogram. AH! She's actually more concerned that he may have cancer so the bi-cavity ultrasound she would have first.

As for the heart disease, a large percentage of cats that have heart disease NEVER show any clinical signs!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed! I love my animals and will do anything for them-but all of this is coming when I haven't been working since the middle of November because of the WGA strike.

She's recommends getting the Bi-cavity ultrasound and Echo done at Advanced Veterinary Care here in the southbay. i'm going to call them right now and see what they say.

Well I've set up an appointment for his abdominal ultrasound for Winton tomorrow at 10am at Advanced Veterinary Care with Doctor Dani Kobayashi, who is the internist. Let me tell you, I should have become a vet like I had thought about doing!!! The consultation is $155 and then the Ultrasound is $320. And of course Winton doesn't have Pet Health insurance because he had already been diagnosed with CRF way before I got pet insurance on Kodak, Perf and Velcro. Lets hope that his weight loss is from old age and not cancer!

2 comments:

Daisy said...

My older sister Pixie has had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy for about 6 years now. She is 12 years old, and is now in the "extremely severe" category of the disease, but she has coped well. Pixie sees a cardiologist every 6 months for an updated ultrasound and she said the test is not too bad. Good luck to Winton.

RBR said...

Big smooches to you and Winton. I will keep my fingers crossed for a clean bill of health for your boy. It is totally worth $475 to hear he DOESN'T have cancer.

I just went through a year of chemo with my oldest cat (his name was WinSton, interestingly enough) It cost a lot of money, but was definitely worth it. He and I had an extra year of happy life together. I guess that is why God made Visa. :o)

WGA needs to think about the all people they are affecting with this strike.