High liver enzymes and glucose results?

[CatyKat]

I took my 12.5yr old cat for a resent health check. His bloods came back showing renal levels slightly up but that could have been due to stress or (dehydration the vet said? not sure about that one). But his glucose levels were up normal between 4-8 his was 14 but she said that could have been due to stress. His liver enzymes were 170 she said normal was about 80. Has anyone had a cat with high liver enzymes, are these levels something to worry about? They did suggest getting urine from him and possibly doing an ultra sound, which will cost $550. But I'm concerned its not going to really give us any clear answers in regards to the liver.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. How is your cat acting? How is his energy level and his appetite.

I have never heard of stress causing elevated renal values. One thing to keep in mind with the kidneys is that there has to be around 75 percent loss of function before it shows up on the blood work. I don't know which liver enzymes were tested so I have no input on that. The glucose levels don't make sense to me, so maybe you are in a different country than me and that might be why. The glucose can be elevated due to stress. So maybe you didn't hear the vet right or they didn't communicate clear enough to you. You can always ask for a copy of the blood work. The decision to ultrasound is usually based on not only the blood work but also the veterinarian's physical findings. So, someone online can tell you the blood work looks okay but that information is only half of the picture because there is no physical exam by a veterinarian attached to it. The ultrasound is the a good way to get a look at all the internal organs to make sure everything is okay. Just remember that an ultrasound is only as good as the person doing it. So if your vet only does one a week or hasn't had any specialized training with ultrasounds, your money may be better spent with a board certified internal medicine veterinarian that does 50 a week and has for 30 years. Is your cat overweight?

 

[CatyKat]

Hi. How is your cat acting? How is his energy level and his appetite.

I have never heard of stress causing elevated renal values. One thing to keep in mind with the kidneys is that there has to be around 75 percent loss of function before it shows up on the blood work. I don't know which liver enzymes were tested so I have no input on that. The glucose levels don't make sense to me, so maybe you are in a different country than me and that might be why. The glucose can be elevated due to stress. So maybe you didn't hear the vet right or they didn't communicate clear enough to you. You can always ask for a copy of the blood work. The decision to ultrasound is usually based on not only the blood work but also the veterinarian's physical findings. So, someone online can tell you the blood work looks okay but that information is only half of the picture because there is no physical exam by a veterinarian attached to it. The ultrasound is the a good way to get a look at all the internal organs to make sure everything is okay. Just remember that an ultrasound is only as good as the person doing it. So if your vet only does one a week or hasn't had any specialized training with ultrasounds, your money may be better spent with a board certified internal medicine veterinarian that does 50 a week and has for 30 years. Is your cat overweight?

I'm in Australia. I've had cats with renal failure before, but elevated enzymes and glucose is new to me. She said the renal was only slightly up, (I have seen this with cats I've had in the past the levels can drop back down if they are only slightly elevated). She said the glucose can indicate diabetes, but usually the levels are even higher than that again. So his levels could have been due to stress, only a urine sample would give a clearer picture. I know the vets there do ultra sounds on Mon, Tue & Wed. How much practice they have had doing them, I don't know. No he isn't overweight at all.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Was he stressed out at the Vet's office? If so, that probably does explain the raised values for glucose. Since you already are familiar with kidney issues, we'll leave that one alone for the moment. If it was ALT that was the raised liver enzyme, did they give any antibiotics or anything for it, or just say he needed an Ultrasound? I ask this because I had an older cat whose ALT would get pretty high, then she would get an antibiotic and it would lower for awhile, then it would go up again and she would get another antibiotic and it would lower again and so on. Our Vet suggested we get an Ultrasound, but since our cat already was already mid to late stage kidney disease, we decided not to do it because what were we going to do if they found something? We just put her on liver supplements and went on our merry way. But if she had been otherwise healthy, we would have gotten the Ultrasound.

 

[CatyKat]

Was he stressed out at the Vet's office? If so, that probably does explain the raised values for glucose. Since you already are familiar with kidney issues, we'll leave that one alone for the moment. If it was ALT that was the raised liver enzyme, did they give any antibiotics or anything for it, or just say he needed an Ultrasound? I ask this because I had an older cat whose ALT would get pretty high, then she would get an antibiotic and it would lower for awhile, then it would go up again and she would get another antibiotic and it would lower again and so on. Our Vet suggested we get an Ultrasound, but since our cat already was already mid to late stage kidney disease, we decided not to do it because what were we going to do if they found something? We just put her on liver supplements and went on our merry way. But if she had been otherwise healthy, we would have gotten the Ultrasound.

Yes he was stressed, there were dogs in the waiting room. One which was quite interested in getting to him, so the staff moved us to a spare room away from the dogs while we waited for the vet. I can't remember if the vet mentioned what the liver enzyme was as she said my vet was also going to call back the following week and talk to me more, so I was going to ask more questions then. (I had a different vet call through the results) My vet didn't end up calling me in the end she just text me to say she agreed with the other vets suggestion to get urine and an ultra sound, which I thought was a bit rude when she had clearly said she would give me a call regardless. Another thing the vet mentioned was one of his white cell counts was also low, she said they have 4? and one of them was reading low. So I think I may need to call the vet and ask more questions, before making a decision. When your cats ALT levels where high, did she show any signs that she was unwell?

 

[CatyKat]

Hi. How is your cat acting? How is his energy level and his appetite.

I have never heard of stress causing elevated renal values. One thing to keep in mind with the kidneys is that there has to be around 75 percent loss of function before it shows up on the blood work. I don't know which liver enzymes were tested so I have no input on that. The glucose levels don't make sense to me, so maybe you are in a different country than me and that might be why. The glucose can be elevated due to stress. So maybe you didn't hear the vet right or they didn't communicate clear enough to you. You can always ask for a copy of the blood work. The decision to ultrasound is usually based on not only the blood work but also the veterinarian's physical findings. So, someone online can tell you the blood work looks okay but that information is only half of the picture because there is no physical exam by a veterinarian attached to it. The ultrasound is the a good way to get a look at all the internal organs to make sure everything is okay. Just remember that an ultrasound is only as good as the person doing it. So if your vet only does one a week or hasn't had any specialized training with ultrasounds, your money may be better spent with a board certified internal medicine veterinarian that does 50 a week and has for 30 years. Is your cat overweight?
[/QUOTE]

Sorry didn't reply to the start of your post. The past week he has been fine acting normal and eating fine. A week or 2 before the vet visit his behaviour had been a little different. He had a few mammoth vomits of digested food (I say this because he is known for eating too fast and throwing up straight after eating) but these vomits were in the morning and they were what he had eaten the night before. Then for the rest of the day he was not himself, off his food (which is not like him at all) and sleep all day in the same spot. He did this a few times on random days, for what seemed like no reason. After the huge morning vomits and not wanting to eat he would be very quite, sleep all day and just not himself.

 

[LTS3]

14 mmol (about 250 mg/dl for those in the US) isn't terribly high. I would call that elevated due to stress. The vet could do a fructosamine blood test to determine if your cat has diabetes or not. If your cat isn't showing any typical diabetes symptoms like excessive thirst and hunger, flooding the litter box with sugary smelling urine, and weight loss then I wouldn't be concerned with a one time slightly elevated blood glucose level.

Sorry didn't reply to the start of your post. The past week he has been fine acting normal and eating fine. A week or 2 before the vet visit his behaviour had been a little different. He had a few mammoth vomits of digested food (I say this because he is known for eating too fast and throwing up straight after eating) but these vomits were in the morning and they were what he had eaten the night before. Then for the rest of the day he was not himself, off his food (which is not like him at all) and sleep all day in the same spot. He did this a few times on random days, for what seemed like no reason. After the huge morning vomits and not wanting to eat he would be very quite, sleep all day and just not himself.

Possibly a gastrointestinal issue? IBD is pretty common especially in older cats.

 

[CatyKat]

Thanks, it is sounding like the elevated glucose was most likely due to stress. I guess IBD is a possibility, I have another cat with IBD although she never had elevated liver readings. But I know all about the vomiting and food sensitivities, etc.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

When your cats ALT levels where high, did she show any signs that she was unwell?

Since my girl had CRF, she was already pretty quiet, loss of appetite, etc., but when her ALT values were high, then she would vomit bile on occasion.