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Entry tags:
kitty checkups
Baldur: 18.0 lb (a slight drop from last year)
Embla: 10.1 lb
Erik: 8.125 lb (lost a pound)
I think this is the first time in his life that Baldur has lost weight from one checkup to the next. This is cause for celebration, though the drop was only about three-quarters of a pound. I'll take what I can get. The vet was unwilling to estimate what his weight should be, however.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Erik has lost weight; last year he lost most of a pound from the previous year, and this year he lost a pound from last year. He's not a large cat to begin with. I had actually thought he was gaining a little weight this past year, but I was wrong. (I actually asked that they weigh a 10-pound bag of food, to make sure the scale wasn't off. It wasn't.)
The vet took a blood sample from Erik and they're going to run the standard suite of tests. I should hear back in several days (maybe by the end of the week). His only other blood test was two years ago, when he showed elevated levels of calcium -- enough to call for a dietary change, but not enough to worry about cancer, they said at the time. (Tonight's vet concurred with that.) So we'll see what the level is this time. The physical exam was just fine -- nothing suspicious there, the vet said. (Apparently the other thing that sometimes causes high calcium is a thyroid problem, but she said his thyroid felt normal.)
He's only ten years old; he's not supposed to be wasting away yet. I hope the test results suggest a useful course of action.
The vet was a little puzzled by the choice of special diet; it's something for renal failure, rather than a low-calcium food. She's not the one who prescribed it, and when I asked her if she recommended changing it she thought about it for a minute and said no. One effect of high calcium would be kidney problems, and even if he's not showing those problems now, the food could help hold them off. And she didn't have any better suggestions for what to feed him.
Once again I have had an ambiguous experience with VCA. I was prepared to ask for a copy of our medical records on the way out, so I could take them to a different vet in the future. I might still do that before next year. This particular vet was very good -- it was the most thorough exam I can remember them having, and she seemed perfectly willing to take all the time we needed to do everything right. She handled them gently but firmly, and she showed genuine concern. She carefully read each cat's medical history before doing the exam and asked me relevant questions. That's the first time that's happened. And, like my own doctor, she didn't talk down to me but assumed I had a brain. (This was probably aided by some of the questions I asked her.)
However, she's been there for four weeks; VCA will probably beat it all out of her in time. And judging by past experience, she'll probably be there next year and not the year after. My big complaint against VCA is the revolving-door vets; I want a regular vet. They have some good people, but they don't keep them for long.
Maybe the thing to do is for me to tell her that, rather than talking to VCA. If she's going to leave VCA for some other place in the city, for example, I'd have no problems with following her. (She might have a contractual problem with that, but I don't know if I don't ask.)
Embla: 10.1 lb
Erik: 8.125 lb (lost a pound)
I think this is the first time in his life that Baldur has lost weight from one checkup to the next. This is cause for celebration, though the drop was only about three-quarters of a pound. I'll take what I can get. The vet was unwilling to estimate what his weight should be, however.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Erik has lost weight; last year he lost most of a pound from the previous year, and this year he lost a pound from last year. He's not a large cat to begin with. I had actually thought he was gaining a little weight this past year, but I was wrong. (I actually asked that they weigh a 10-pound bag of food, to make sure the scale wasn't off. It wasn't.)
The vet took a blood sample from Erik and they're going to run the standard suite of tests. I should hear back in several days (maybe by the end of the week). His only other blood test was two years ago, when he showed elevated levels of calcium -- enough to call for a dietary change, but not enough to worry about cancer, they said at the time. (Tonight's vet concurred with that.) So we'll see what the level is this time. The physical exam was just fine -- nothing suspicious there, the vet said. (Apparently the other thing that sometimes causes high calcium is a thyroid problem, but she said his thyroid felt normal.)
He's only ten years old; he's not supposed to be wasting away yet. I hope the test results suggest a useful course of action.
The vet was a little puzzled by the choice of special diet; it's something for renal failure, rather than a low-calcium food. She's not the one who prescribed it, and when I asked her if she recommended changing it she thought about it for a minute and said no. One effect of high calcium would be kidney problems, and even if he's not showing those problems now, the food could help hold them off. And she didn't have any better suggestions for what to feed him.
Once again I have had an ambiguous experience with VCA. I was prepared to ask for a copy of our medical records on the way out, so I could take them to a different vet in the future. I might still do that before next year. This particular vet was very good -- it was the most thorough exam I can remember them having, and she seemed perfectly willing to take all the time we needed to do everything right. She handled them gently but firmly, and she showed genuine concern. She carefully read each cat's medical history before doing the exam and asked me relevant questions. That's the first time that's happened. And, like my own doctor, she didn't talk down to me but assumed I had a brain. (This was probably aided by some of the questions I asked her.)
However, she's been there for four weeks; VCA will probably beat it all out of her in time. And judging by past experience, she'll probably be there next year and not the year after. My big complaint against VCA is the revolving-door vets; I want a regular vet. They have some good people, but they don't keep them for long.
Maybe the thing to do is for me to tell her that, rather than talking to VCA. If she's going to leave VCA for some other place in the city, for example, I'd have no problems with following her. (She might have a contractual problem with that, but I don't know if I don't ask.)
no subject
As a note for future reference: I don't rule the thyroid normal or abnormal on exam/palpation ... I've got at least half a dozen cat patients where the thyroid elevation only showed up on bloodwork :-)
On the plus side, hyperthyroidism is one of the easier to control problems seen in older cats (medication, surgery, or radioactive iodine treatment).
Good luck with the kitties
_M_
no subject
She also named another organ, which had two syllables preceeding "thyroid" and I think began with a "p" (hey, I wasn't taking notes), that she thought could be relevant. (The blood test will tell us more, she said.) If I understood her correctly, this is something that produces calcium and sometimes produces too much. Is any of this ringing any bells? Or am I hopelessly confused.
I think I was successful in conveying to her that my top priority is my cats' health, with money being a lesser concern, so I presume she will run whatever tests make sense on this pass. I mean, I'm not going to just hand over a credit card and say "go ahead; your next trip to Tahiti is on me" ( :-) ), but I'm also not about to risk Erik's health for the sake of saving $80 on a blood test. (I also don't imagine for a minute that vets earn the kind of money that supports frequent trips to Tahiti. It was just a rhetorical device...)
no subject
Parathyroid ... produces parathyroid hormone which is involved in the control of blood calcium and phosphorus levels. There's a brief review of parathyroid function at Veterinary Partner. Still, the calcium level being high is a bit weird, but if the elevation is mild, it might just be a normal variation for your cat :-)
Actually, VeterinaryPartner.com is a good site for you to bookmark ... lots of veterinary info there, aimed at the owner/client. It's run by a group known as VIN (a veterinary-specific/subscription site I belong to).
_M_
no subject
I got a call back with the lab results this afternoon (sooner than I expected). I made a separate entry about that. (And yes, it was "parathyroid" that I was failing to remember; I asked her when she called back, which was before I saw your reply.)