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!

off to the vet with Winton

Well i just got back from the vet with Winton. He was not happy to be there today. He's was growling from the moment we walked in the door-great! Once we got in the room he was weighed, 10 lbs 10oz and his temp was taken-98.8-the first thing I asked was what did he weigh the last time he was in (which was around the 17th Decemebr) and I was told 11 lbs 5 oz. YIKES he's dropping weight so fast!!! It's scaring me! When he was last in in march 2007 he weighed about 12 lbs 10oz.

Dr Evans ,whose is my vet from All Pets Vet Hospital, came in and we talked. She asked what had changed and I mentioned the howling in the middle of the night and that the food right before bed seemed to be helping. She thought he might have kitty alzheimers or might get a little confused at night-which kinda makes sense since he comes running when I call him and settles down.

We talked for awhile as Winton cruised around the room-he tends to growl less if he's given the chance to explore and smell. Then Dr. Evans said she wanted to take his blood pressure first before she started examining him-so the vet tech came into take him back and he immediately started hissing and growling. SO we kept him in the room and they sprayed some calming spray and let him wander for a little bit. Then she came back in and took him back for his BP and his exam which included taking blood and urine, FUN TIMES! The good part-I didn't hear a thing so he couldn't have been too bad!!

When Winton came back into the room he had a bandage on his foot, growling and hissing and all he wanted to do was go in his carrier. So I put him in and Dr. Evans and I talked.

His blood pressure was about the same as in december, about 170. And it seems she heard a heart murmur for the very first time. It could be fear, it could be thyroid related-which we'll find out when we get the blood work back on tuesday or Dr Evans says it could be one of two types of heart disease:

• Restrictive Cardiomyopathy, RCM-there is scarring of the heart muscles that prevents normal pumping action.
  

• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, HCM-the heart retains it's classic shape but the walls of the heart thicken, reducing this muscle's ability to pump blood.

There isn't anything we can do until the blood work comes back. Once she has a bit more info ie thyroid levels etc we can then figure out the next approach-he might need an echocardiogram and also he might need an ultrasound on his stomach to see if we can find out what, if anything, might be causing the rapid weight loss. So I sit and wait until tuesday....scouring the internet on feline heart disease now.

Meow Meow Meow Meow

Perfy

Kodak

Winton attacking Velcro

Yep that's what I heard at 7:30 this morning from Winton-mom get out of bed and feed me!!! So I listened like the good human caretaker that I am! And they all gobbled down food. Perfy slept on the bed last night-he must have been cold. Well he started off on the chair and the proceeded to move to the bed to snuggle by mom. Come to think of it Perf loves to sleep. he did play quite a bit yesterday~of course he was racing around the house and the dog thought it was her job to chase him so there were Perf and Velcro sliding across the hard wood floors...funny! I've scheduled a vet appoinment for Winton tomorrow. He's a little past due for blood work. he's been losing weight. But there isn't anything glaring other than the fact that he's renal deficient. But the blood work will let me know how his levels are-for I feel things have changed. Kodak threw up today-he ate alot!!! He tends to overeat a bit....especially if he's hungry.

Food, Food and more Food

Calm, Quiet, peaceful night! Thanks goodness for that! I didn't make it to the pet store yesterday-felt the need for time for me so I saw a movie-good thing I have a huge stash of food!!! I think I'm going to order the Wysong online-the all meat variety-it's good for both Diabetic and CRF cats and the dog can eat it if they hate it!!! Gotta love that! I have to order online because no one carries the all meat variety anywhere near me in Los Angeles-hopefully I wont get killed with stupid shipping charges! And hopefully after all that they like it and will eat it. kodak has been VERY picky lately! He's wanted to go back to his dry food-they've all been hungry-it's been a bit chilly here in sunny southern cal....the boys must bulk up to stay warm-HA!

Here is the list of Fancy Feast that are good for both Diabetic and CRF:
Minced Beef feast
Sliced Beef feast
Sliced Beef and Giblets
Grilled Chicken feast
Tuna ans Ocean Fish in Aspic
Grilled Beef feast
Grilled Turkey feast
Sliced Chicken Hearts and Liver

The other foods I found that I think all of my cats would eat-well probably not Kodak:

Wellness:
Turkey and Salmon
Chicken and Herring
Turkey

sounds YUMMY!!!

AAAHHHHHH!

Seriously I want to scream! What a horrible night! Winton was awful. Kodak and Perfy are fine at night but last nite-it feels like I got zero sleep! He cried and was at the water bowl I swear all night. I finally got up at 3:30am, went into the kitchen and opened a can of fancy feast and fed him-amazing after that he settled down and was fine! I noticed that he hadn't eaten his K/D~which is his renal food. So I'm going to have to check out the CRF food charts and find a kitty junk food that i can feed him that has the proper levels for his kidneys.

On another note-Kodak is balking at his caneed food-turning his nose up at it~the beast! Is is a full moon or something? What's going on???

Another Day another shot and dollar....

Well, Kodak turned his nose up at his canned food-figures all this shit would happen and I'm leaving town tomorrow. But his shot was better today...maybe,hopefully, he was just sore yesterday!I think they know I'm feeling ill about leaving! I have so much to do today. I must get Winton's prescription, removable zip ties for the dog's crate, litter and paper towels so my pet sitter has everything she needs. I hate leaving my boys. This is why I had wanted to drive all of them cross country! I really need to get a small trailer or RV or something so when I need to leave town I can take all my animals with me. A tow behind trailer would be perfect! They would have a home away from home.

A note to the person who left the anonymous comment last nite-thanks-but I know Kodak will live longer than 1 year and it's ok if the pet insurance doesn't help after that! I'd pay it no matter what! And I believe ever bit counts! He only has a lifetime limit of $1500 anyway for this-but once again every little bit counts! Especially right now with the WGA strike at the holidays-I'm out of work so in the true sense every little bit counts!

Joined the Catster Diabetic group

Well last nite I decided to join the diabetic group on Catster. And what I really found out is that I must get kodak eating canned food! But he hates canned food so I'm on the great hunt for a canned food he'll eat! The website http://www.felinediabetes.com/
had a great list of some canned foods that have No wheat gluten in them and are below 10% carbs so off I go today! He goes into the vet at 12:20 to get his levels checked....

I also joined the CRF group on Catster. I've been dealing with CRF for much longer but now that I have a CRF cat and a diabetic cat I need to make sure each are getting the appropriate foods! Check out this website too: http://www.felinecrf.com/index.htm