Chunk attacking Lucy...need to know how to nip it!

[Traci]

Well, other than the association with the UTI/crystals, I'm not sure. Some cats have hypercalcemia with renal disease, sometimes it's related to diet (although rare, unless diet not supplemented appropriately), the idiopathic types are really really hard to pinpoint.

There's always research ongoing, but it can take years and a lot of money to get the answers. As with nearly anything else, I would guess genetics, environmental factors maybe, sourcing of food ingredients, who knows.

[Tina B and crew]

Ok...my vet just called and Chunk has his appointment at Virginia Tech on October 2, a week from today! I am personally transporting all of his records, including a CD with his Xrays on it, to Tech so I will know they have everything in hand. Hopefully this won't cost us an arm and a leg and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it!

[Tina B and crew]

I had my initial consult this morning and was very pleased with the clinic at Tech thus far...Chunk wasn't too pleased with the number of big dogs, however. He was a very good boy though - no hisses, no grows, no scratching. The vet that checked him out said that she agrees with my vet's thought that this is probably idiopathic, however they they are putting him through a plethora of tests again to rule out any other causes - the two main things they want to rule out are lymphoma and granulomatous disease - but after going over his history, previous tests, and the fact that he seems to be acting pretty normal she doesn't think they will find any. He's there getting an ultrasound (looking at his abdomen, kidneys, bladder), more xrays (closer look at chest cavity), more blood work, and another urinalysis. This all may be unnecessary but it will give us peace of mind (except when we look at our bank account )

I will let you know what the results are of today's visit...he should be done by this afternoon.


Edited to add that the vet there said she detected what could be a heart murmur and at one time a skipped beat. This could be attributed to the stress of the visit and she wasn't too concerned since his regular vets had never detected it. However, it will be in the report that gets sent to them and they can follow up.

[Traci]

Here's hoping nothing serious, what a trooper Chunk is! Please let us know when you know!

[Tina B and crew]

Good news!! Just as we all suspected it is idiopathic! Now of course that doesn't mean he is completely out of the woods but it does rule out cancer. Tests today, including another ionized calcium test show that his calcium is still elevated. However everything else looked great. Her suggestion is to try him on a kidney diet for a month and see if that brings down his calcium levels. Both her and my regular vet agree that is the best course of action to begin with. If diet does not seem to be doing the job then we will of course look at treating it with steroids, diuretics, or bisphosphonates but neither of them want to jump into that route just yet. At any rate, he is starting on a diet of Hill's KD and we will go from there. I asked her opinion on how he has been licking the fur off his stomach and she's guessing it might just be stress. That makes sense because it started right about the time we had to start taking all these trips to the vet. She also suggested allergies, either diet or environmental. I will continue to keep an eye on that and if it doesn't get better we will look further into it.

They said he was such a good boy today. They didn't even have to sedate him for the ultrasound, xrays or anything. I'm so proud of him. However, he did do his usual stress poop on the way home.

[Traci]

Oh Tina, this is such great news! (other than the idiopathic of course)

Hopefully, the diet will help, but please talk to your vet about the possible connection to the stones/crystals, did the university mention that at all???

[Cleo]

That's awesome news! I remember being soooo relieved when Jackson's came back idiopathic although I have to say, I didn't do as detailed testing as you did, but he wasn't dealing with crystals either.

So happy for you and Chunk.

Btw, is Doc in his new home yet? Did I miss the thread?

[Tina B and crew]

She certainly mentioned the connection between hypercalcemia and crystals in the fact that the elevated calcium causes crystals and stones. The ultrasound included a detailed look at the abdomen as well as the kidneys and bladder. She told me specifically that they would be looking for any evidence of stones as well as tumors. Could you elaborate on anything else in regard to the connection that I'm not familiar with? From my research it appears that both my own vet and the vet school have covered all bases as far as the "causes" for hypercalcemia. At last check there was no evidence of crystals in his urine.

I hope the diet works too. Chunk seems to like the K/D at least. Of course the new diet is going to increase our food expenditures with having to feed each cat a different food in addition to an RX diet.

Cleo...we are glad too, although I'd rather this just resolve itself so we didn't have to deal with it long term...but of course we will.

[Tina B and crew]

Oh and Cleo, Doc is still here. We can't seem to get weekends coordinated to make the transfer. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be October 20!! He needs to be in a forever home because he just loves human contact so much. Otherwise he is doing fine.

[Traci]

Well, I'm just wondering if your vet and the specialist could have "concluded" that the hypercalcemia was in fact, a result of the crystals (as opposed to "idiopathic"). I'm just thinking because he first had the oxalates, then struvites, so there was a lot of activity with urinary changes going on (transition between types of crystals, length of time, pH adjustments, dietary changes etc). I'm also wondering if the oxalates had been forming before the hypercalcemia diagnosis on bloodwork.