cat - wt loss dehydration

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

scarlet — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:13:42 GMT

latest bloods show a marked regenerative aneamia (no H felis seen on smear) and and mildly positive coombs test. urine sample was normal prot:crea ratio fine slight trace blood. is booked for u/s on abdomen . on the previous bout of wt loss heamatolgy was totally normal. ........watch this space. cat eating like a horse!

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

vs0u — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:04:38 GMT

Any news on the cat yet??

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

ms1083 — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:25:02 GMT

Are you able to ultrasound? Especially the bladder and a general abdominal ultrasound, I have found a lot of strange older cat cases have marked end stage liver signs on ultrasound.

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

scarlet — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:11:44 GMT

forgot to say urine this time trace blood and protein no crystal on sediment and sg 1.025

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

scarlet — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:10:18 GMT

sorry thought i had included more than i had!! yes , when o brought back in for bloods first time we took new ones and on clin exam cat was v dehydrated and o says not eating. mouth fine nothing on clin exam (except pre existing hm) the minute we started him on fluids he started eating straight away and gained wt v quickly. no sign of cystitis with us at that stage. we did give covering antibiotics(synulox) but nothing else.

owner is odd (ie never rings to find out how cat is doing) so dont think i can really trust much he says. this time round still no hx of v/d/pu/pd palpation nad mouth ok . yet again really dehydrated and thin on presentation and weak. ate straight away when given food here. also a bit constipated - likely from dehydration. no palp goitre bun/crea fine - yes urine prot:crea and bp were going to be further investigations. was mainly interested if hyperparathyroidism could cause this in absence this time of hypercalcaemia. parathormone is such a faff to measure

Re: cat - wt loss dehydration

vs0u — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:48:57 GMT

Hi Mel,

a few questions about your case...

When you saw it in nov 08 what was the reason for dripping - as you mention that the cat came for a booster but had lost weight - but you never said it was off its food or dehydrated. Then you say it responded well to iv fluids...in what way? Was any other tx given that could have helped eg pain relief/antibiotics?

I would suspect the urine result was due to cystitis given the history...what was the bladder like on palpation (often you can feel tumours). Was the cat having problems passing urine? I wouldn't have thought a bladder tumour would cause weight loss by itself. I don't know if the Ca increase is significant - it's very marginal.Think parathyroid probs rare unless iatrogenic (thyroidectomy).

(Presume you took new samples when the owner wanted the tests doing 2 weeks later?)

The next time the cat came in, dehydrated/anorexic, my approach would be full history including whether it is eating, what food is offered, whether there seems to be difficulty chewing/swallowing, any change in drinking, vomiting/diarrhoea, what the cat is like in itself. Then clin exam especially teeth, heart/lungs, abdominal palpation, feel for goitre. I would check urea/creatinine and correlate with urine SG as a first step. Once renal problems are ruled in or out you are better placed to know what to do next. Blood pressure would also be worth doing.

I find most old dehydrated cats are either kidney or dental related, sometimes diabetes/tumours. In this case possibly the heart has deteriorated leading to renal failure?

Give us a few more history/clin exam details to go on!

Good luck!

alison