Wednesday, May 05, 2010

FatBoy's Review

Before - FatBoy eating Fussiecat tuna and chicken plus antibiotics...

I went down with Cousin R to give FatBoy his dinner and to bring him to the vet. When he saw me with the carrier, he was a little hesitant and brought Cousin R on a different route to his dinner area. I guess he thought I might not be able to follow him. He was very clever!

I did not place the carrier in his line of sight but I did sit with him and watched him eat his dinner. He ate /4 of the 80 g and decided to flee as he instinctively knew he would have to go to the vet. he tried to walk away but Cousin R caught him. I opened the carrier door and the both of us pushed him in.

He was not angry but just said, "Nyom..nyom...nyom.." and sat quietly in the carrier. This was a great surprise he it was the frst time that this whole operation was very easy. So we got to the vet in good time.


FatBoy loves J and allowed her to give him many scritches. Dr Tay spoke to him softly and allowed him to relax. Dr Tay told me that Dr Lim had noted that he could be feisty :) But he showed none of his testiness yesterday. J said this was because he wanted to photograph well :)

Dr Tay decided to get his blood from his forelegs and FatBoy was not bothered too much about this. He allowed Dr T to swab his arm and only looked at the vet once or twice.

Dr T was able to get enough blood for his Critical care indicators and FatBoy did not even flinch. It was all over very quickly and he got a blue bandage for his troubles :)

Then it was time for his SubQ. He really loves J and sat close to her...
When we got home, we gave him another can of Fussiecat which he polished off quickly. Then he drank quite alot of water and rested to watch the night activities.

His indicators:
ALT: 82 (20-100)
GLU: 100 (70-150)
BUN: 141* (10-30)
CRE: 7.6* (0.2-2.1) down from 8.2 at MP
NA+ : 151 (142-164)
K+: 4.0 (3.7-5.8)
C-: 113 (112-126)
tCO2 : 11* (15-24)

PCV: 37%
Tp: 9.8 g/ld
SERUM: Clear

So at least his CRE was lower than before. So some good had come from the twice weekly SubQ. The vet recommended that we do daily SubQ but I do not want to stress him 5 daily with bringing him to the vet. But I will try to steel myself to do the SubQ for him at the end of May, by which time I think he would be used to sitting in his carrier and I can do the SubQ myself with Cousin R's help. For now I will still bring him to the vet twice a week.

Dr L had also recommended that we give him a capsule daily of some good bacteria but I am not doing that as he would be averse to swallowing capsules - a big one, daily. I am trying a homeopathy treatment that I can put in his food and also we have to give him s small amount of potassium.

Dr Tay asked me if MP had done high blood pressure test on FatBoy but I was not able to tell him. He said Fortekor is for high -blood pressure mainly and we could do a test after he had run the couse for this session of Fortekor. I thought Fortekor increases their appetite , quality fi life and survival time.

This is from a site that deals with Fortekor:

Fortekor affects a complex system of reactions and responses in the body concerned with blood flow through the kidneys, blood pressure, and the total volume of blood in the body. These systems do not work usefully in heart and kidney disease, and Fortekor is able to improve their effects.

One of the potential side effects in cats is that they will seem to be hungrier and put on weight. Since most cats with kidney failure tend to go off their food and lose weight, this is probably a good thing and a benefit of treatment rather than anything else from a website about Fortekor).

Anyway we will need to do another review in 4 weeks time and so this Friday will just be for the SubQ. I hope J will be on duty as FatBoy likes her and so he would look forward to seeing her at the clinic.

The cab driver who drove us home was very friendly with Fatboy and spoke to him all the way - meowmeow...MEow..MOW. We have been quite fortunate in our cab drivers I must say.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:21 PM

    Tanya's Feline CRF Information Centre (High Potassium): "Using benazepril (Fortekor) may increase potassium levels..." I have given Fortekor5 for over 7 yrs, i have no problems with my cats & dog (Fortekor is for dog's heart) though these pets are/were older pets. If pet is young, perhaps Fortekor may not be necessary.
    Once a while it is good to do comprehensive diagnostic blood test (wah..$270 at a***) & you can check on potassium. Just my humble opinion.

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  2. Anonymous2:38 PM

    I have given Azodyl (bacterial product esp for CRF cats) for my cats for yrs. It used to be known as Kibow. Other CRF care-givers i know give Greek style yogurt. Azodyl has to be kept cool so my daughter has to hand-carry it back from overseas. There is a local agent for Azodyl. Does it work? Who knows, just give along with other supplements ;)

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  3. Anonymous2:57 PM

    BTW, since FatBoy is a community cat, i know of a care-giver who gave a combination of Fortekor/analapril (ACE inhibitor) to CRF community cats. Fortekor is $3+ per tab and analapril is probably few cents. Dr L once suggested i use analapril as i had 7 kidney cats at one pt of time, i declined bec care-giver said analapril did not work as well. Fortekor is especially formulated for cats and dogs. Ask SP as she cared for many community CRF cats in her shelter.

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