Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene S
Can you call the vet back and ask specifically what the abnormalities were? You paid too much money for that "general" of a diagnosis. A little variance may not be that big of a deal, so you need to know what you're dealing with. And ask to talk to the vet directly, not an assistant.
Pick up or have them email you a copy of the blood work you can read it for yourself. There are websites to help you understand the terms, like this one: Understanding Blood Work: The Biochemical Profile for Cats - Page 1 |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Candace325
After doing some light research it seems strange to assume that the cat may have IBD or cancer given that she's exhibiting no symptoms at all. No vomiting, her stools are normal, she's energetic again now that the URI is passing. She acts totally OK, she's just super skinny and always wanting to eat. Everything I'm reading online indicates that there would be gastrointestinal symptoms and possibly even food refusal.
I'm not going to make any decisions or judgments without talking to the vet further but I'm thinking that either having a second opinion or simply waiting a bit to see if she gains weight on high quality food may be options.
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As far as the blood work goes, it matters whether they use IDEXX or have the blood evaluated by an actual person, not a machine. My understanding from my current vet, who's wife does blood work for Cornell, is that IDEXX is not sensitive enough to spot a problem until it is very advanced. (My awkward wording)
As he puts it "We look at blood differently" There is also another local vet that does her own blood work and has the same opinion of IDEXX results.
As for the need for gastrointestinal symptoms, and/or food refusal: Alfredo is very ill, low potassium and low sodium, that has been unresponsive to supplementation, non-regenerative anemia that has been unresponsive to treatment (iron injections) so far, unless the erythropoietin injection has had a positive effect (we haven't re-re-done his blood work yet)
Blood work shows renal disease and cancer, yet ... His bowel movements, and actual stools have been better than any other older cat I've had, and his appetite has been unchanged, through all of this. He has always eaten well and still does, he begs for his favorite foods, but also eat a variety, if I his first choice isn't offered.
They only way I realized that something was wrong was because when laid on my chest, he was feeling "heavier" meaning, he felt like dead weight. He also had a looked of extreme tiredness in his [now] half closed eyes. These symptoms became apparent to me, "overnight", one day he fine, next day he wasn't.
I called my vet at 10:30 at night, saying it was an emergency (he only does house calls).
My vet thought Alfredo seemed fine, but knows me well enough to take me seriously. My vet took a blood sample that required sedating Alfredo to be able to humanely get a enough blood, and a preliminary look and testing at my house show Alfredo was severely anemic. My vet had me look at Alfredos blood on the slide he made for wife to do further testing, Alfredo's blood was like water, it was so thin.
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