So here's the story: Romeo (profile pic) is a 14 year old Maine Coon Mix with type II diabetes in remission (with wet food only diet), stage 2 CKD and holding that level for almost 3 years. He takes mirtazapine when he gets finicky about food since he is a dry food addict. He went from 19lbs to 12lbs just by switching to wet food when the diabetes hit.
Recently he'd been sneezing--like 7-8 times in a row. No watery eyes or nasal discharge, no fever. Then he was picking at his food so I gave him a crumb of mirtaz, then another when that didn't work. He was sleeping a lot, it seemed...Put him on the scale and he was 10.6lbs. Called the vet.
I have another elderly cat on Depo for allergies and asthma and he was also sneezing 7-8 times in a row frequently so I thought maybe a virus blew in on the wind or something. Both are indoor only cats.
The vet did a full CBC with kidney function and while it showed no signs of a virus or infection, I was really upset at the rest of the findings:
RBC 6.16 (low)
HTC: 25.41 (low)
MCH: 20.5 (high)
MCHC: 49.6 (high)
PLT: 118 (low)
ALT: 20 (low)
AMY: 1230 (high)
CRE: 2.5 (high)
TP: 8.4 (high)
I was frantically researching causes for high hemoglobin, low RBC, macrocytic anemia, possible liver toxicity, possible pancreatitis and/or kidney issues until 2AM last night.
The vet said to re-test in 48 hours "to make sure he isn't 'crashing'" which also freaked me out. Romeo "seemed" OK, just off his appetite a bit and a little more lethargic than usual. He played with the squirrel tail toy and still woke me up in the morning licking my face so he wasn't isolating and hiding or anything like when he was really sick with diabetes.
So I took him in today and asked for a fecal also to check for parasites on the off chance he somehow ate a roach carrying something that his Advantage II flea meds don't cover, thinking maybe that's the reason for the anemia? They did both tests "in house" and the vet came out to give me the results and said all of his levels were now (magically) normal.
??????
His explanation was something about "possible artifacts in the vial" or something like that. Seriously I just had a $500 heart attack this week with that first test, then today, and I've been a wreck thinking Romeo is on a sudden downhill slope with everything failing all at once. And then suddenly it's a false alarm, he just needs an anti-histamine for his sneezing and to keep up the mirtaz when he is too picky with the wet food.
Has anyone else ever had a completely inaccurate blood test at the vet? Now I'm not sure I believe this good test. I feel like I want to take him to another vet and spend another $500 I guess to verify....It's so frustrating!
Recently he'd been sneezing--like 7-8 times in a row. No watery eyes or nasal discharge, no fever. Then he was picking at his food so I gave him a crumb of mirtaz, then another when that didn't work. He was sleeping a lot, it seemed...Put him on the scale and he was 10.6lbs. Called the vet.
I have another elderly cat on Depo for allergies and asthma and he was also sneezing 7-8 times in a row frequently so I thought maybe a virus blew in on the wind or something. Both are indoor only cats.
The vet did a full CBC with kidney function and while it showed no signs of a virus or infection, I was really upset at the rest of the findings:
RBC 6.16 (low)
HTC: 25.41 (low)
MCH: 20.5 (high)
MCHC: 49.6 (high)
PLT: 118 (low)
ALT: 20 (low)
AMY: 1230 (high)
CRE: 2.5 (high)
TP: 8.4 (high)
I was frantically researching causes for high hemoglobin, low RBC, macrocytic anemia, possible liver toxicity, possible pancreatitis and/or kidney issues until 2AM last night.
The vet said to re-test in 48 hours "to make sure he isn't 'crashing'" which also freaked me out. Romeo "seemed" OK, just off his appetite a bit and a little more lethargic than usual. He played with the squirrel tail toy and still woke me up in the morning licking my face so he wasn't isolating and hiding or anything like when he was really sick with diabetes.
So I took him in today and asked for a fecal also to check for parasites on the off chance he somehow ate a roach carrying something that his Advantage II flea meds don't cover, thinking maybe that's the reason for the anemia? They did both tests "in house" and the vet came out to give me the results and said all of his levels were now (magically) normal.
??????
His explanation was something about "possible artifacts in the vial" or something like that. Seriously I just had a $500 heart attack this week with that first test, then today, and I've been a wreck thinking Romeo is on a sudden downhill slope with everything failing all at once. And then suddenly it's a false alarm, he just needs an anti-histamine for his sneezing and to keep up the mirtaz when he is too picky with the wet food.
Has anyone else ever had a completely inaccurate blood test at the vet? Now I'm not sure I believe this good test. I feel like I want to take him to another vet and spend another $500 I guess to verify....It's so frustrating!