Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Cooper Recent Blood Work, Hypercalc, and Valium

Cooper in the Christmas Tree
Cooper and hypcercalcemia and Valium update: 

Cooper is our hypercalcemia cat. This means that his calcium levels have been extremely and dangerously high in the past. (Please search the FB and blog for his history beginning June '11 for more info.) The hypercalc has tested so far (with a variety of tests) to be idiopathic. By administering a lot of water in food and by mouth, extra feedings, and the use of fiber, the hypercalc has decreased from a dangeroulsy high of 13.8 in 2012 to a high normal of 11.8. We just has his blood retested and the results show calcium is 11.8, and phos, while low at 2.6, has not increased (high calc combined with high phos can lead to mineralization in the kidneys/heart causing death and are indications that hypercalc is not idiopathic and would need to be mitigated by other means.)

Cooper also takes Valium for litter box issues (he doesn't like to sit in the box but stands and sprays out of the box. Valium helps him sit.) But Valium can cause hepatic failure so we need to do blood tests to check his liver and kidney values. This blood test showed that his liver and kidney values are normal. Will need to retest every so often to make sure Valium is not causing hepatic failure.

We retested his parathyroid but that test isn't back yet.

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