Checking B12 Levels/At Home Injections?

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ty3535

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Just wanted to give an update on Enzo! So his labs and xrays all came back great with the exception of an elevated ALT which is a liver thing. It’s slightly elevated but she said that could be due to a number of things but I’m taking him in to recheck in a month. Kidneys were great, even better than his labs 4 months ago. Thyroid was good, urine was concentrated, xrays were all clean. So there was like I suspected miscommunication between the vet and vet tech. The blood she took that I thought was only to measure B12 was actually a full GI panel that was sent to the Texan A&M diagnostic department, which does have the best (according to the vet) GI research/testing. She said it’ll take a week or two to get those results. So until we get that her best guess is maybe some malabsorption issues with his food. Hopefully digestive enzymes can help with that. I’m eagerly awaiting the GI results but am super relieved to have ruled most of the serious stuff out.
 
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ty3535

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BlackCatOp BlackCatOp LTS3 LTS3 K kittenmittens84 daftcat75 daftcat75 FeebysOwner FeebysOwner O Ocean Planet Hi! So the vet called today and she got his GI panel back today (way sooner than she thought, yay!) Everything was normal. B12 was middle of the road, so not even on the low end. She left a message as I missed her call and she won’t be back until Wednesday, but I was wondering if anyone knew what exactly was checked with a full GI panel. The B12 only thing she mentioned specifically because she knew that was my main concern. We have him dewormer even though his fecal came back negative because she said false negatives are actually fairly common depending on when the worm sheds eggs (blech) so I guess I’m just going to have to keep monitoring his weight and see how it goes since ever single test and X-ray came back normal. The X-ray didn’t even show thickening or inflammation of his stomach lining which it had in the past. As I mention his liver values with a bit high, which she said can be caused by a ton of things, but she didn’t seem to be concerned about it at all. I’m taking him in a month to recheck that. So, it’s all great news and I should feel super great and relieved, but I really wish I had some answers about the weight loss.
 

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X-ray won't show thickening but ultrasound will. An X-ray can show blockages. You can ask about the fecal PCR test too. It's a more expensive test than the one one that looks for worms (float test) but it will identify bacterial infections that the fecal float test won't. An ultrasound and a fecal PCR would be the next steps I would ask about. B-12 is also water soluble so any excess would be excreted in his urine. You could still ask about giving a course of B-12 shots to see if that improves anything. Elevated ALT can be anything. It's a marker for inflammation anywhere in the body and not necessarily exclusively the liver. Krista used to have mildly elevated ALT because of inflammation in her mouth and her gut. Her mild elevation was 140-180. Then she had severely elevated ALT because an IBD flare up spilled over into her pancreas and liver. That was a 1400 and she spent 10 days in the hospital on IV fluids. Ask your vet how elevated and if it's a monitor it and re-test or something that needs treatment. I'm sure she would have recommended treatment if she thought it was elevated enough to warrant it.
 

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I believe I have a copy of results when my kitty had the GI panel done. I will see if I can find it can get back to you.
 
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ty3535

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I believe I have a copy of results when my kitty had the GI panel done. I will see if I can find it can get back to you.
This would be awesome thank you so much!!
 
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ty3535

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X-ray won't show thickening but ultrasound will. An X-ray can show blockages. You can ask about the fecal PCR test too. It's a more expensive test than the one one that looks for worms (float test) but it will identify bacterial infections that the fecal float test won't. An ultrasound and a fecal PCR would be the next steps I would ask about. B-12 is also water soluble so any excess would be excreted in his urine. You could still ask about giving a course of B-12 shots to see if that improves anything. Elevated ALT can be anything. It's a marker for inflammation anywhere in the body and not necessarily exclusively the liver. Krista used to have mildly elevated ALT because of inflammation in her mouth and her gut. Her mild elevation was 140-180. Then she had severely elevated ALT because an IBD flare up spilled over into her pancreas and liver. That was a 1400 and she spent 10 days in the hospital on IV fluids. Ask your vet how elevated and if it's a monitor it and re-test or something that needs treatment. I'm sure she would have recommended treatment if she thought it was elevated enough to warrant it.
Luckily no blockages! That was actually why I asked for the X-ray to check for foreign objects. His ALT was 55 6 months ago and it was 136 this time. So definitely not crazy high but she wants to check again in a month just to make sure it doesn’t continue to rise. She did mention that if his IBD is flaring it could affect his ALT. I’ll talk to her on Wednesday about trying B12. I feel like before I took him for his abdominal ultrasound, when we were first trying to figure out why he had intermittent vomiting she saw something on the X-ray that made her suspect IBD and I could’ve sworn it was thickening of his stomach lining but I guess it must’ve been something else. It was almost 7 years ago now.
 

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Luckily no blockages! That was actually why I asked for the X-ray to check for foreign objects. His ALT was 55 6 months ago and it was 136 this time. So definitely not crazy high but she wants to check again in a month just to make sure it doesn’t continue to rise. She did mention that if his IBD is flaring it could affect his ALT. I’ll talk to her on Wednesday about trying B12. I feel like before I took him for his abdominal ultrasound, when we were first trying to figure out why he had intermittent vomiting she saw something on the X-ray that made her suspect IBD and I could’ve sworn it was thickening of his stomach lining but I guess it must’ve been something else. It was almost 7 years ago now.
Thickening of intestinal lining is a common ultrasound finding among IBD cats. X-rays don’t have that kind of detail. You probably took him in for an ultrasound. Did you bring him home with a shaved belly? They don’t need to shave his belly for an X-ray. But they do for an ultrasound.
 
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ty3535

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No I definitely had the X-ray first which it what made my vet suggest the abdominal ultrasound. I remember because I had to go to a separate clinic for the ultrasound which was almost an hour away because my local vet can’t do them. He definitely had a shaved belly after the ultrasound and was not happy about it at all lol.
 
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ty3535

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Thickening of intestinal lining is a common ultrasound finding among IBD cats. X-rays don’t have that kind of detail. You probably took him in for an ultrasound. Did you bring him home with a shaved belly? They don’t need to shave his belly for an X-ray. But they do for an ultrasound.
No I definitely had the X-ray first which it what made my vet suggest the abdominal ultrasound. I remember because I had to go to a separate clinic for the ultrasound because my local vet can’t do them. He definitely had a shaved belly after the ultrasound and was not happy about it at all lol.
 
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