So I've posted recently about my old gal Cleo who had issues with patches of fur loss. Full senior panel done, hyperT ruled out.
Last weekend I went to the local Emerg Hospital to get a second opinion; this was prompted by my own Vet prescribing a deworming med for Cleo (Profender) and my other 4 indoor cats in the event that her fur loss was caused by mites. I sought the 2nd opinion mostly because I questioned the use of a dewormer for skin mites and I could find NO info online to indicate that Profender was ever used in the treatment of skin mites in cats (and I was not about to give this to all of my cats without good reason). The ER Vet I saw did a skin scraping and ruled out any kind of mite so good move not to give the Profender.
She was convinced that fur loss due to a food allergy. I did buy some Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic Dry and Canned and the canned was a total bust; not one of my 5 cats would even touch it. As I want them to eat a diet of mostly canned, it made no sense for them to eat the dry Hypo food but then still be eating other canned food.
She started Cleo on a 3 week course of Prednisone (to be tapered right off of the Pred by the end of the 3 weeks). This has helped tremendously. I no longer see Cleo obessively grooming. I've been able to remove her little infant sleeper......and I've come to the conclusion that her continued fur loss to front of chest and other shoulder area has actually been DUE TO wearing the sleeper!! Since she's stopped wearing it....5 days ago, no further spread to the areas. I have a feeling that the friction from wearing the sleeper was causing the increased fur loss......so my good efforts were making the situation worse!
ANYWAY..........here is my question.
I realize she's early CRF.
Her Feb 23/2011 bloodwork showered her Potassium level to be on the low end of the normal range.
Potassium: 4.1 (our lab's range: 3.9 to 5.3)
BUN 12.3 (lab's range: 5 - 12)
Creat 238 (lab's range: 71 - 203) (a year ago Creat was 200)
Everything else normal (liver enzymes, total protein, glucose, hct/hgb/RBC all good)
Urinalysis showed a pretty good specific gravity of 1.038, no protein in urine, evidence of a UTI (she had no symptoms!)...so was started on 10 days of Baytril which she's now finished.
I told my Vet I was a little concerned about her lowish potassium level......wondered if a bit of supplementation would be in order. From having had a CRF cat in the past and from all I learned them (from my research and from my Vet years ago who helped me deal with my CRF cat then), by the time the potassium level is actually low in the BLOOD, it's actually even LOWER at the cellular level (intracellular) ..... so even though the cat might be on the low end of the range and still 'normal', some supplementation is warranted. He is in total disagreement. Gave me the speech about how we have to be careful not to cause hyperkalemia. While i understand that high potassium level can be deadly....of course...low potassium level is not harmless, either......and it, too, can impact heart function and blood pressure...and can actually accelerate kidney failure.
Had he been more receptive to some supplementation with Tumil K, I would have been content to just give her small amounts and then recheck level in 3-4 weeks. Even if it just meant giving her a small dose than normal even 3x/week then rechecking after a few weeks. But he wasn't open at all.
Her appetite hasn't been great the past while but I've attributed that to the Baytril (he prescribed 25mg once daily; she weighs 9.5 lbs so a bit of a high dose I think?). I found that splitting the dose in half and giving half in morning and half 12 hours later helped some. Today was her first day without Baytril and though I had to coax her some, she did eat a full can of FF this morning (Yes, I know, crappy food but it is the ONLY canned food she will eat, trust me). She's seemed a little less energetic over the past nearly 2 weeks but from what I'd read, Baytril can cause a bit of lethargy in cats so I've attributed that to the Baytril.
Her coat is nice and sleek and silky. She pees as per usual, about twice a day. She's not drinking excessively at all, never has. I attribute that to a diet of primarily canned food (twice daily).
I do have Tumil K in my cupboard from a previous cat who has since passed on....it's not yet expired. I do not feel comfortable just supplementing her with Tumil K without my Vet's knowledge or approval.......but I'm frustrated by his refusal to consider supplementation. Do we want to wait until she's really low and symptomatic before we 'react' and then supplement her?
It's a known fact that older cats are often low in potassium. when you add to that, aging kidneys, it adds to it. I don't want to just sit back and do nothing.
At the time she had her bloodwork done on Feb 23, she'd not been having diarrhea or vomiting or excessive urination or any common cause of losing too much potassium. I do know that the potassium level in the blood is constantly fluctuating so although it was 4.1 on Feb 23, it could be totally different now.......maybe I should wait a week and have it rechecked?
I joined a feline CRF Group to ask about "when" one starts potassium supplementation and I'm receiving pretty much no responses and I am frustrated and don't know where to turn.
I remember all too vividly, dealing with a cat with CRF whose potassium level was low.....and having to supplement twice daily with TUmil K....and her weakness, constipation, lack of energy....and I'd prefer to be PROACTIVE and not have to go down that road. I'd feel better if CLeo's level was a bit higher.
I don't know what to do.
Any suggestions?
Talking to my Vet about this again will be pointless because he claims he consulted with the Vet Lab who processed her bloodwork and they (I'm assuming there's a Vet at the lab who reviews the results) discouraged supplementation at this time citing the risk of hyperkalemia.........but again......I can't get out of my mind the fact that by the time the K level is low in the blood, it's even lower in the cells......
Thx
Last weekend I went to the local Emerg Hospital to get a second opinion; this was prompted by my own Vet prescribing a deworming med for Cleo (Profender) and my other 4 indoor cats in the event that her fur loss was caused by mites. I sought the 2nd opinion mostly because I questioned the use of a dewormer for skin mites and I could find NO info online to indicate that Profender was ever used in the treatment of skin mites in cats (and I was not about to give this to all of my cats without good reason). The ER Vet I saw did a skin scraping and ruled out any kind of mite so good move not to give the Profender.
She was convinced that fur loss due to a food allergy. I did buy some Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic Dry and Canned and the canned was a total bust; not one of my 5 cats would even touch it. As I want them to eat a diet of mostly canned, it made no sense for them to eat the dry Hypo food but then still be eating other canned food.
She started Cleo on a 3 week course of Prednisone (to be tapered right off of the Pred by the end of the 3 weeks). This has helped tremendously. I no longer see Cleo obessively grooming. I've been able to remove her little infant sleeper......and I've come to the conclusion that her continued fur loss to front of chest and other shoulder area has actually been DUE TO wearing the sleeper!! Since she's stopped wearing it....5 days ago, no further spread to the areas. I have a feeling that the friction from wearing the sleeper was causing the increased fur loss......so my good efforts were making the situation worse!
ANYWAY..........here is my question.
I realize she's early CRF.
Her Feb 23/2011 bloodwork showered her Potassium level to be on the low end of the normal range.
Potassium: 4.1 (our lab's range: 3.9 to 5.3)
BUN 12.3 (lab's range: 5 - 12)
Creat 238 (lab's range: 71 - 203) (a year ago Creat was 200)
Everything else normal (liver enzymes, total protein, glucose, hct/hgb/RBC all good)
Urinalysis showed a pretty good specific gravity of 1.038, no protein in urine, evidence of a UTI (she had no symptoms!)...so was started on 10 days of Baytril which she's now finished.
I told my Vet I was a little concerned about her lowish potassium level......wondered if a bit of supplementation would be in order. From having had a CRF cat in the past and from all I learned them (from my research and from my Vet years ago who helped me deal with my CRF cat then), by the time the potassium level is actually low in the BLOOD, it's actually even LOWER at the cellular level (intracellular) ..... so even though the cat might be on the low end of the range and still 'normal', some supplementation is warranted. He is in total disagreement. Gave me the speech about how we have to be careful not to cause hyperkalemia. While i understand that high potassium level can be deadly....of course...low potassium level is not harmless, either......and it, too, can impact heart function and blood pressure...and can actually accelerate kidney failure.
Had he been more receptive to some supplementation with Tumil K, I would have been content to just give her small amounts and then recheck level in 3-4 weeks. Even if it just meant giving her a small dose than normal even 3x/week then rechecking after a few weeks. But he wasn't open at all.
Her appetite hasn't been great the past while but I've attributed that to the Baytril (he prescribed 25mg once daily; she weighs 9.5 lbs so a bit of a high dose I think?). I found that splitting the dose in half and giving half in morning and half 12 hours later helped some. Today was her first day without Baytril and though I had to coax her some, she did eat a full can of FF this morning (Yes, I know, crappy food but it is the ONLY canned food she will eat, trust me). She's seemed a little less energetic over the past nearly 2 weeks but from what I'd read, Baytril can cause a bit of lethargy in cats so I've attributed that to the Baytril.
Her coat is nice and sleek and silky. She pees as per usual, about twice a day. She's not drinking excessively at all, never has. I attribute that to a diet of primarily canned food (twice daily).
I do have Tumil K in my cupboard from a previous cat who has since passed on....it's not yet expired. I do not feel comfortable just supplementing her with Tumil K without my Vet's knowledge or approval.......but I'm frustrated by his refusal to consider supplementation. Do we want to wait until she's really low and symptomatic before we 'react' and then supplement her?
It's a known fact that older cats are often low in potassium. when you add to that, aging kidneys, it adds to it. I don't want to just sit back and do nothing.
At the time she had her bloodwork done on Feb 23, she'd not been having diarrhea or vomiting or excessive urination or any common cause of losing too much potassium. I do know that the potassium level in the blood is constantly fluctuating so although it was 4.1 on Feb 23, it could be totally different now.......maybe I should wait a week and have it rechecked?
I joined a feline CRF Group to ask about "when" one starts potassium supplementation and I'm receiving pretty much no responses and I am frustrated and don't know where to turn.
I remember all too vividly, dealing with a cat with CRF whose potassium level was low.....and having to supplement twice daily with TUmil K....and her weakness, constipation, lack of energy....and I'd prefer to be PROACTIVE and not have to go down that road. I'd feel better if CLeo's level was a bit higher.
I don't know what to do.
Any suggestions?
Talking to my Vet about this again will be pointless because he claims he consulted with the Vet Lab who processed her bloodwork and they (I'm assuming there's a Vet at the lab who reviews the results) discouraged supplementation at this time citing the risk of hyperkalemia.........but again......I can't get out of my mind the fact that by the time the K level is low in the blood, it's even lower in the cells......
Thx