kitty update
Mar. 4th, 2003 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioI got a phone message from my vet about the latest blood tests, but haven't gotten her "live" yet. It sounds like we are, in fact, dealing with "idiopathic" high calcium. In other words, that's just the way he's built, and there's no real explanation, and we should just monitor it. It's a pity that there's no test that actually says "kidneys are healthy", but oh well. Blood tests are for all practical purposes useless for detecting kidney problems (that's me talking, not what the vet actually said), and so far the urine analysis suggests that there's probably not a problem there. Words like "probably" are so comforting...
Stats:
Blood sodium 160. Blood calcium 13.1 mg/dl. (I didn't know anyone worked in deciliters...)
Urine specific gravity: 1.032, "few" calcium oxylate (? I wrote "oxy") crystals, where "few" means "1-5/high power field".
Ionized calcium was "high" on the latest test, which means we check Pth level. Pth is normal, so Erik does not have a hyperparathyroid problem. (If he did, it could be corrected surgically.) The vet said he'd be kind of young to have this problem and, sure enough, he doesn't have it.
If calcium times phosphorus exceeds 60, there's potential tissue mineralization (translation: bad stuff), but there are drugs that reduce the effects. This isn't a cure, in that it doesn't reduce the calcium levels; it just keeps the damage they do in check. We aren't there yet; the magic number was 58.9.
So it sounds like things are probably ok, just quirky. She thinks we should test him every 6 months. I wonder if every 6 months is really appropriate, or if checking annually would make sense. I'll have to ask.
Stats:
Blood sodium 160. Blood calcium 13.1 mg/dl. (I didn't know anyone worked in deciliters...)
Urine specific gravity: 1.032, "few" calcium oxylate (? I wrote "oxy") crystals, where "few" means "1-5/high power field".
Ionized calcium was "high" on the latest test, which means we check Pth level. Pth is normal, so Erik does not have a hyperparathyroid problem. (If he did, it could be corrected surgically.) The vet said he'd be kind of young to have this problem and, sure enough, he doesn't have it.
If calcium times phosphorus exceeds 60, there's potential tissue mineralization (translation: bad stuff), but there are drugs that reduce the effects. This isn't a cure, in that it doesn't reduce the calcium levels; it just keeps the damage they do in check. We aren't there yet; the magic number was 58.9.
So it sounds like things are probably ok, just quirky. She thinks we should test him every 6 months. I wonder if every 6 months is really appropriate, or if checking annually would make sense. I'll have to ask.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-03-04 08:47 pm (UTC)And I would have to guess it's "oxalate", not "oxylate".