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Old August 14th, 2008, 12:18 PM
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lm9012 lm9012 is offline
Albert's mommy
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Chicago, USA
Posts: 238
Quote:
Originally Posted by growler View Post
Duffy has never been fasted for test results, & they are always done first thing in the morning, she has breakfast about 4:30 am & previous tests were @ 8am at the conventional vets and now @ 10am with the homeopath.
I read it on 1 site, the theory is if the kidneys are still somewhat doing their job, adding extra fluid via subq is making them work even harder but then I've read accounts like yours where the fluids included given early are dropping the numbers.
Yes I'm very happy her phos, calcuim & potassium levels have stayed in the middle of normal range

Her results for the last test in US values are:
BUN 58.54 mg/dl
crea 3.64 mg/dl
phos 4.95 mg/dl
calcuim 10.16 mg/dl
potassium 4.5 mEq/l


And you give Al a kiss from me, & the same sentiments to you. Keep me updated on how he's doing too.
Growler: Thank you for the and the conversions! The values depend on so much..the range the lab is using, the type of animal, etc, the diet they are on...etc. When Albert was first diagnosed, his Crea was at 2.3 and BUN at 51 and two vets at the hospital told me he was dying! Go figure! I've read about animals with FOUR times the values being able to recuperate and have the numbers go back down! The numbers kept crawling up though, and my next vet had the total opposite attitude of 'this is normal progression, he's fine, everything is fine.." which wasn't good enough either! The rx food and fluids weren't enough and the values almost DOUBLED within a few months.

The yahoo K9Kidney boards saved us, I truly believe that. They lead me in the right direction to the right sites to get info and it wasn't until we upped fluids and switched to home food, and added the vitamins that the numbers went back down. At his last checkup his BUN went down over 20 points, phos went down too. Creatine went down to 3.

Have you ever heard of Potassium Chloride? My vet has a lot of experience with feline CRF, his school thesis was on it..and he wants to put Albert on a supplement of it. He says there's research done that shows a decrease in the progression of the disease by simply adding pottasium chloride.

I haven't had a chance to start him on it yet. But I'm considering it. He said that adding banana or pumpkin isn't enough, plus that would add to his phosphorous intake..which i monitor like a maniac! so..he suggested I use it in pill form.

Just wondering if you'd heard anything about that. I don't use any 'modern' medical techniqes on Al besides the fluids. And even that isn't a lot..he gets 600ccs a week. Other than that, it's natural vitamins/supplements and homemade food and treats. He's due for the next check up next month so I want to see these numbers first. If the numbers are elevated then I will consider it.

Another thing is that this vet has an inhouse dental facility and he would like to clean Albert's teeth...he has some dental disease already. When I adopted him 3 years ago, there was practically NO white on his teeth they were brown and gross!
The ASPCA we adopted him from was very kind and did a teeth cleaning a few months later for FREE..here a standard tooth cleaning can run up to $600!! So we were very grateful of course! and I brush his teeth and use all kinds of washes, etc...but the tartar is building up again, and his breath is a little rough...and I know there is a strong connection between kidney disease and peridontal disease. So he thinks that a teeth cleaning would prolong the disease even further! I'm worried about putting him under though!
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Proudly adopted by: Albert (Jack Russell Mix, 8 yrs young, King of the Castle) and Khloe (gray tabby, 9 mos, expert hockey player and Kung Fu Jumper)
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