First off let me apologize for not updating yesterday here at the weebly blog. I updated at the Cat Site Forums but by then I was exhausted and had to lay down.
The vet did a Doppler Blood Pressure on Boo, after some struggling with him (and bringing him back into the room to do it with me assisting) and she was shocked that he blood pressure was fine. She said it was about 160 I believe, and she said even with him being stressed out at the time, she was happy with it.
More than anything yesterday, she was concerned with his anemia, which is at 13%. Under 20% is considered severe, and my previous vet said he'd never seen any cat survive with these numbers. The new vet (Pierce) said if we had anemia numbers that low we'd be fainting every few seconds. So, she recommended Epogen, which is about 50 dollars a vial and is given sub-q like I am doing with fluids. I said that is great, I think I can manage that somehow, and she said it would really help him. She said it would last "awhile" but I am not sure exactly how long that is.
She checked his eyes, ears, mouth and listened to his heart and breathing. The previous vet said his lungs were raspy, Dr. Pierce said his lungs sounded fine, his eyes looked great (No engorged blood vessels indicating high BP), and I should brush his teeth once a day. Ohhhhh Boo is going to love that *rolls eyes* She also said his ears look fine, there was a little wax but nothing else.
She felt of his enlarged kidney on the right side and was concerned. She did an ultrasound on his kidney and came back to tell me it was definitely enlarged, but what troubled her more is there were two small stones at the bottom of the inside of his kidney. She gave me options for these stones, one of which consisted of a place in Tennessee that blasted them (With lasers or ultrasonic something or other, I forget) and then there is the option of surgery. We decided against both of those things, because of money and because I do not believe it is fair to Boo to do any type of surgery on him, if he is living okay right now. He's been through enough as it is.
The other thing about the enlarged kidney, which a previous vet dismissed totally, was that it is possible he has a type of lymphoma. She said she couldn't be sure without a biopsy, but also informed me to go in to get a biopsy is expensive, and then if it is cancer, I would have to consider chemotherapy and there you are getting into lots of money (That I am hurting over because I don't have. If I had it, I would give it serious thought)
She took an in-house urine culture and said she would call me within the next couple days (Or Mon/Tues) with the results. If he has a UTI he will get antibiotics. Liquids. (Can't really pill him well). She also suggested a 1/4 of a regular Benadryl for his itchiness, if we rule everything else out. She offered Buprenex for any pain he may start having, as she said the stones in his kidneys may be uncomfortable (He does not like for you to press on his belly over there) but she said she does not believe he is in any serious pain.
After they stuck a needle in his bladder for a urine sample, we put him in his carrier. He started scratching the carrier while we were talking and I finally realized (I can't believe how STUPID I can be and ignorant sometimes, I thought he was just scratching! Ugh!) he was PEEING. So I opened it up and took out the thick rug I had put in there, sure enough, he had peed twice, poor baby, he always holds it and ends up with a full bladder at vet visits. Then, from the scratching, he collapsed in the back of the carrier. I told the vet, she immediately ended up half way in the carrier to observe. I am glad it happened there so she could see it.
In about 1-2 minutes he was fine and stood back up. I think Boo really likes Dr. Pierce. He acted much better with her than men (He hates the sound of men's voices) and did very well to lay on his side to get his BP taken.
We are hoping the Epogen will help. She was so very helpful and genuinely seemed to care about him. It was like she was my sister and Boo was her cat, too. She is very comforting, even with the news that while he may have underlying/side issues of cancer and/or stones, he could do very well with some meds. She did not want to Rx any Norvasc or BP meds since his was OK there.
I got there a little before 10am (About 9:45) Boo did well on the ride there. A Little confused why we bypassed the normal vet, he obviously got a little relieved, then a little concerned. I was seen immediately and didn't even get a chance to sit in the waiting room! Pretty nice on a FRIDAY morning. I didn't get out of there until about 11:45 I believe it was, because that is how long Dr. Pierce talked with me about Boo, and how thorough she was.
On the ride back home, he laid down in his carrier. As soon as we turned into our neighborhood he popped his head up and somehow KNEW he was home (Maybe he remembers the turns or something).
Dr. Pierce made me feel a little less guilty by telling me I was one of the most organized owners she had never seen, with all of my receipts and test results and questions typed out. She told me I was doing a very good job. It made me feel a little better.
She agreed that 200mL was too much, but was curious about why he would be drinking more water on 200mL/day than on 100mL/day, especially since he was not on saline solution. His being on LRS and still drinking that much water on 200mL a day, then dropping down, was curious to her.
She was also concerned about the Dental and tooth extraction he had prior to being diagnosed with CRF. I told her these were both separate procedures and both times he was put under with Ketamine and Valium, and then given a shot of Metacam afterwards. She said she would not use anything on him other than Isofluerene if he needed a procedure. This comforted me.
She felt of the extraction site of his lower canine tooth and said it felt like there may still be a part of the tooth in there. There were bigger tasks at hand, but I will be sure to add this in while I write a new updated treatment/current condition sheet up for her for next time. She wasn't sure, so I will save myself any anger for now, but if I find out they left part of the tooth in there, I will have her remove it, give it to me and I will take it back to my old vet... *raises a brow* I am tired of people trying to kill my cat, most of all me, but anyone else just the same.
So, that is the gist of it. He is sleeping comfortably curled up in his little red wine domed bed, his fluids went well and he drank a bit of cold water. I took him outside for about 30 minutes and he enjoyed it muchly. I am going to work on a walking stick to get my mind off of some things and relax for a bit.
I wanted to add that she confirmed he was going into heart failure the weekend of his heavy breathing. She said 100mL is fine to continue him on and would NOT go over that amount, but a little bit might be ok, and to keep an eye on his skin turgor.
I thank you all so much for your concern and I apologize again for keeping you waiting for these results. I will go ahead and take a picture of the receipt and post it in the lab work file. Thank you again. <3 <3 <3
The vet did a Doppler Blood Pressure on Boo, after some struggling with him (and bringing him back into the room to do it with me assisting) and she was shocked that he blood pressure was fine. She said it was about 160 I believe, and she said even with him being stressed out at the time, she was happy with it.
More than anything yesterday, she was concerned with his anemia, which is at 13%. Under 20% is considered severe, and my previous vet said he'd never seen any cat survive with these numbers. The new vet (Pierce) said if we had anemia numbers that low we'd be fainting every few seconds. So, she recommended Epogen, which is about 50 dollars a vial and is given sub-q like I am doing with fluids. I said that is great, I think I can manage that somehow, and she said it would really help him. She said it would last "awhile" but I am not sure exactly how long that is.
She checked his eyes, ears, mouth and listened to his heart and breathing. The previous vet said his lungs were raspy, Dr. Pierce said his lungs sounded fine, his eyes looked great (No engorged blood vessels indicating high BP), and I should brush his teeth once a day. Ohhhhh Boo is going to love that *rolls eyes* She also said his ears look fine, there was a little wax but nothing else.
She felt of his enlarged kidney on the right side and was concerned. She did an ultrasound on his kidney and came back to tell me it was definitely enlarged, but what troubled her more is there were two small stones at the bottom of the inside of his kidney. She gave me options for these stones, one of which consisted of a place in Tennessee that blasted them (With lasers or ultrasonic something or other, I forget) and then there is the option of surgery. We decided against both of those things, because of money and because I do not believe it is fair to Boo to do any type of surgery on him, if he is living okay right now. He's been through enough as it is.
The other thing about the enlarged kidney, which a previous vet dismissed totally, was that it is possible he has a type of lymphoma. She said she couldn't be sure without a biopsy, but also informed me to go in to get a biopsy is expensive, and then if it is cancer, I would have to consider chemotherapy and there you are getting into lots of money (That I am hurting over because I don't have. If I had it, I would give it serious thought)
She took an in-house urine culture and said she would call me within the next couple days (Or Mon/Tues) with the results. If he has a UTI he will get antibiotics. Liquids. (Can't really pill him well). She also suggested a 1/4 of a regular Benadryl for his itchiness, if we rule everything else out. She offered Buprenex for any pain he may start having, as she said the stones in his kidneys may be uncomfortable (He does not like for you to press on his belly over there) but she said she does not believe he is in any serious pain.
After they stuck a needle in his bladder for a urine sample, we put him in his carrier. He started scratching the carrier while we were talking and I finally realized (I can't believe how STUPID I can be and ignorant sometimes, I thought he was just scratching! Ugh!) he was PEEING. So I opened it up and took out the thick rug I had put in there, sure enough, he had peed twice, poor baby, he always holds it and ends up with a full bladder at vet visits. Then, from the scratching, he collapsed in the back of the carrier. I told the vet, she immediately ended up half way in the carrier to observe. I am glad it happened there so she could see it.
In about 1-2 minutes he was fine and stood back up. I think Boo really likes Dr. Pierce. He acted much better with her than men (He hates the sound of men's voices) and did very well to lay on his side to get his BP taken.
We are hoping the Epogen will help. She was so very helpful and genuinely seemed to care about him. It was like she was my sister and Boo was her cat, too. She is very comforting, even with the news that while he may have underlying/side issues of cancer and/or stones, he could do very well with some meds. She did not want to Rx any Norvasc or BP meds since his was OK there.
I got there a little before 10am (About 9:45) Boo did well on the ride there. A Little confused why we bypassed the normal vet, he obviously got a little relieved, then a little concerned. I was seen immediately and didn't even get a chance to sit in the waiting room! Pretty nice on a FRIDAY morning. I didn't get out of there until about 11:45 I believe it was, because that is how long Dr. Pierce talked with me about Boo, and how thorough she was.
On the ride back home, he laid down in his carrier. As soon as we turned into our neighborhood he popped his head up and somehow KNEW he was home (Maybe he remembers the turns or something).
Dr. Pierce made me feel a little less guilty by telling me I was one of the most organized owners she had never seen, with all of my receipts and test results and questions typed out. She told me I was doing a very good job. It made me feel a little better.
She agreed that 200mL was too much, but was curious about why he would be drinking more water on 200mL/day than on 100mL/day, especially since he was not on saline solution. His being on LRS and still drinking that much water on 200mL a day, then dropping down, was curious to her.
She was also concerned about the Dental and tooth extraction he had prior to being diagnosed with CRF. I told her these were both separate procedures and both times he was put under with Ketamine and Valium, and then given a shot of Metacam afterwards. She said she would not use anything on him other than Isofluerene if he needed a procedure. This comforted me.
She felt of the extraction site of his lower canine tooth and said it felt like there may still be a part of the tooth in there. There were bigger tasks at hand, but I will be sure to add this in while I write a new updated treatment/current condition sheet up for her for next time. She wasn't sure, so I will save myself any anger for now, but if I find out they left part of the tooth in there, I will have her remove it, give it to me and I will take it back to my old vet... *raises a brow* I am tired of people trying to kill my cat, most of all me, but anyone else just the same.
So, that is the gist of it. He is sleeping comfortably curled up in his little red wine domed bed, his fluids went well and he drank a bit of cold water. I took him outside for about 30 minutes and he enjoyed it muchly. I am going to work on a walking stick to get my mind off of some things and relax for a bit.
I wanted to add that she confirmed he was going into heart failure the weekend of his heavy breathing. She said 100mL is fine to continue him on and would NOT go over that amount, but a little bit might be ok, and to keep an eye on his skin turgor.
I thank you all so much for your concern and I apologize again for keeping you waiting for these results. I will go ahead and take a picture of the receipt and post it in the lab work file. Thank you again. <3 <3 <3
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