Diva: Bloodwork. A mixed bag...

Well we had to take Jazz to the vet this morning because she started vomiting again overnight (a story for another entry) so while we were there we got Diva's full blood panel summary.

Her kidney numbers remain largely unchanged from her last "short" blood panel done on 20 December, which is good, but I wish they were at least a bit better given the amount of fluids we're giving her daily (100ml AM, 150ml PM for a total of 250ml/day). Sigh. Oh wells, at least they're not getting worse!

The full panel also tests thyroid, which we were mildly worried might be becoming a problem because of lack of weight gain and some moderate hair loss as of late. Those numbers all came back well within normal. Thank DOG!

New, returning issue: she is anemic again. Red blood count is at 4.2 (low normal is 5.92 from this test); Hemoglobin is at 7.1 (low normal is 9.3 for this test); and Hematocrit is 20 (low normal is 29 for this test). Dr. B. suspected this when he was performing her physical exam (her ears were "too white, not enough pink to the inside of the ear"). About all we can do is give her Pet Tinic vitamin/mineral supplement and hope for the best--last time she was anemic we gave her a competitor's brand supplement (Pet Tabs Iron Plus) of the same ingredients and her RBC, HGB and HCT all came back to low normal within a month or so of starting it. We're hoping the same will ring true again. We shall see...

Jazz: Barfy again.

She didn't eat all her food like she usually does for her dinner and final feeds of the day...then it started last night again--wretching without bringing anything up save for a bit of saliva, sometimes tinged with bile. Not a hairball cough style wretch, either, but a "I've got a sick tummy" wretch. Seven times in all overnight that I woke up for, probably more.

Called first thing this AM. Was asked if she'd been pooping-yes, a small amount. Was asked if I thought it might be hairball-maybe, but it wasn't the typical sounding hairball cough/wretch. When can you get here? 0945. Bring her in.

Of course she checked out fine physically. Dr. B. also wanted to make sure her kidneys were still alright so we did a short blood panel. The numbers came back better than her numbers from December. Sent home with instructions to give her Reglan for the nausea/vomiting twice a day for three days, and if she doesn't eat the appetite stimulant to kick start her appetite.

We asked about giving her a bit of Petromalt in case she's harbouring a hairball, but he somewhat discouraged us because of the vomiting/tentative tummy status. Still think we should try to give her a sliver of the stuff later, though. What's the worst that can happen? She barfs it? :/

Get her home, give her her Cisapride (would've skipped it but we can't--makes her poop) and feed her breakfast, of which (not surprisingly after being riled up at the vet's) she ate about a quarter of what I gave her, then barfed what she ate about ten minutes later. :( I hope she kept enough Cisapride down! I had a feeling we should've given her the Reglan first, waited the requisite 1/2 hour before feeding her, then given her the Cisapride and fed her. :/ Live and learn, I guess, for tomorrow morning.

Another Live and Learn--if asked if I want to do a blood panel when I initially bring her in, I'm going for it. It always figures that if she goes in one day and we don't do the blood draw, she ends up needing to go back for the same thing in a day or two and ends up getting the blood draw taken anyway. Might as well get it out of the way right away, right?

Ah, living with elderly cats. Not for the faint of heart... :/