Author Topic: Vlad's Blood Tests  (Read 4183 times)

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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #15 on: April 23, 2017, 10:48:34 AM »
Usually around 100 points over the "high normal"

 


Vlad's 288 over the highest normal.



I also boil the eggs so Mazy cat can have egg yolk daily.  In the IBD group it was determined (by the ones who do research) that the nutritional values change very little by boiling the egg first.



Thank you! I might try one and see how it does with his beard, and then go from there.
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Offline Lola

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #16 on: April 23, 2017, 11:11:53 AM »
Arrows' cholesterol was 234... if that helps you any.
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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2017, 12:52:10 PM »
Arrows' cholesterol was 234... if that helps you any.

For dogs, the normal reference range is 131 - 345 mg/dL. I'm not sure if cats are the same though.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2017, 12:55:46 PM »
Cats: 75-220

Offline Pookie

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2017, 04:30:24 PM »
Quote
He's gotten digestive enzymes added with each meal once I found out he had pancratitis during crisis. Supposedly giving them helps the pancreas from being signaled quite so much or replaces what the pancreas can't provide if pancreatic insufficiency is going on with the animal/human.

Yes, that's correct.  The pancreas releases enzymes during digestion.  My instructor told us that we're born with a certain amount of enzymes that are to last us for life.  When they run out, so do we.  Again, I don't know how true that is, but her point was by adding enzymes to the diet, you reduce the stress on the pancreas, which isn't having to release those enzymes.  I'm glad Vlad is getting them!   thumbsup1

Quote
His vet said his thyroid was fine at 1.7 though that's below the middle of 1-4 reference value.

I may be way off on this, but to me that seems low-normal.  If he was human, I'd be wondering if he was showing symptoms of hypo-thyroidism.  I'm not sure how those symptoms manifest in dogs, though.   :-\  I just did a lot of reading on hypothyroidism, because my mother has that issue, and one of the books I read advised to treat based on the symptoms, not the labs.  Just tossing that out there, because I'm wondering if, despite the lab showing "normal" and the vet saying it's "fine" if Vlad isn't slighty hypothyroid, which may be contributing to the high cholesterol.

Quote
No, he never had any hugely comprehensive blood tests before his Addisonian crisis--just basic things when they were trying to figure out what might be wrong with him. 

Thanks for looking.  :-*  I asked since, if you did have them, it would give you a baseline to compare the new lab to.
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Offline Pookie

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #20 on: September 29, 2017, 09:40:56 PM »
How's Vlad doing these days, DeeDee?
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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #21 on: September 29, 2017, 11:31:17 PM »
Thank you for asking, Pookie. He's been doing great. However, though realizing that cholesterol doesn't do the same to dogs as humans USUALLY, I'm still concerned.

When he has his yearly in April, I'm going to ask about changing to hydrocortisone or something else similar. Something that doesn't require the work from his liver. I realize I'd have to give it 2x a day because of the half-life being shorter, but he eats 2x a day so it's doable. I don't forget to feed him, so I'd remember to give him that too.

This paper tells me that giving him something else could most likely change the cholesterol somewhat. I'd just feel safer, and I'd at least like a chance to see if it would work for him. It's not like we couldn't go back to prednisone if it didn't work.

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/atvbaha/11/3/760.full.pdf
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
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Offline Lola

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #22 on: September 30, 2017, 10:26:44 PM »
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Offline Pookie

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #23 on: October 01, 2017, 02:21:47 PM »
I just happened to be going through one of my books on thyroid, and saw that hypothyroidism can affect (increase) cholesterol.  I was about to bring that up but in reading back through this thread, it looks like Vlad's thyroid is normal.  I can't help but wonder if vets use the same (inaccurate) tests that most doctors use, just looking at TSH and T4.  In humans, T3 and Reverse T3 should also be checked.  But I don't know if that's true for dogs.

[Pookie has a brain fart, grabs her Dr. Plechner book and checks the Index for thyroid.]  DeeDee, check pages 79-80 in Dr. Plechner's book.  Did your vet test Vlad's T3?  Does he also test estrogen levels?
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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #24 on: October 01, 2017, 03:45:14 PM »

[Pookie has a brain fart, grabs her Dr. Plechner book and checks the Index for thyroid.]  DeeDee, check pages 79-80 in Dr. Plechner's book.  Did your vet test Vlad's T3?  Does he also test estrogen levels?

I can't see where he did a T3 or estrogen. However, the prednisone he's already taking (along with the saw palmetto for his prostate) would be treating estrogen imbalances.

I might ask for extended Thyroid next time he sends in the extensive blood tests.  However, I was considering Thyroid as the problem when Vlad was first diagnosed. I actually asked about it since he was showing some of the symptoms that turned out to be lack of Cortisol.  I know all the thyroid symptoms b/c I have Hashimotos myself, and he doesn't show any of them now that he has been getting the prednisone.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Pookie

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Re: Vlad's Blood Tests
« Reply #25 on: October 03, 2017, 09:25:16 PM »
I can't see where he did a T3 or estrogen. However, the prednisone he's already taking (along with the saw palmetto for his prostate) would be treating estrogen imbalances.

I might ask for extended Thyroid next time he sends in the extensive blood tests.  However, I was considering Thyroid as the problem when Vlad was first diagnosed. I actually asked about it since he was showing some of the symptoms that turned out to be lack of Cortisol.  I know all the thyroid symptoms b/c I have Hashimotos myself, and he doesn't show any of them now that he has been getting the prednisone.

I guess my thinking is that there may be a thyroid issue in addition to the Addison's.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to get the extended thyroid and estrogen (if your budget permits) to see.  If nothing else, it gives you a baseline.  Just a thought.
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