Can I get some opinions on Krissy's blood test results?

Krissy is nearly 12 now, overweight but getting better (she lost 2.4 lbs since switching her to all canned a year ago)

She has always been a low keyed cat, I got her the day she was born, so she is my child so-to-speak.

This past year or so I noticed her gradually sleeping more and more and more, my gut was telling me to take her to the vet. It has been 10 years anyway, so def. time.

He said she looks great, her teeth are like a 3 yr old cat, (yay for that!) and all looks good on the outside.

I asked for a blood test to check her insides out, see how her organs are doing, diabetes, etc.

He called with the results and left the msg that, "Krissy looks great, all areas look good, except her potassium is very slightly elevated, but that's not unusual since it fluctuates, and also her wbc count is high, specifically her eosinophil cells. This can be caused by allergies, fleas, food, or parasites."

Nothing big right? But I got to thinking, she never has fleas and is always protected with advantage, allergy to canned food? Okay that would seem wierd but....okay maybe parasites. Wait a minute, her poop is fine, it barelty even smells and is perfectly formed. I KNOW what coccidia and ghiardia smell like!

So I called today to speak with him about things, in surgery all day of course, I had the recep. email me her test results, and this is what I saw.

It doesn't look to me like that is the only thing off, but I am no expert here.

I would sleep alot easier if anyone can please help me with what they see as possibilities or what they get from this.

I need to mention also, Krissy was EXTREMELY stressed out. What cat isnt right? But she was very, very upset.

I say this because I do know that in a matter of minutes stress can affect some of these areas results.

Krissy's numbers are immediately following the title, followed by the normal range numbers. Red indicates out of normal range.

Thanks so much!

Oh, White Shadow and Violet, if you can help, you came highly recommended Thanks.

Hematology

12/30/2013

(Order Received)

12/30/2013 @ 8:39 am

(Last Updated)

RBC 8.61                 6 - 10 M/μL

Hematocrit 48.1     29 - 45 %

Hemoglobin 16.2    9.5 - 15 g/dL

H

MCV 56                   41 - 58 fL

MCH 18.8            11.0 - 17.5 pg

H

MCHC 33.7          29 - 36 g/dL

% Reticulocyte 0.2 %

Reticulocyte 17       3 - 50 K/μL

WBC 20.8         4.2 - 15.6 K/μL

H

% Neutrophil 61.5           35 - 75 %

% Lymphocyte 20.6       20 - 55 %

% Monocyte 3.1              1 - 4 %

% Eosinophil 14.7         2 - 12 %

H

% Basophil 0.1               0 - 1 %

Neutrophil 12.792      2.5 - 12.5 K/μL

H

Lymphocyte 4.285        1.5 - 7 K/μL

Monocyte 0.645           0 - 0.85 K/μL

Eosinophil 3.058        0 - 1.5 K/μL

H

Basophil 0.021        0 - 0.1 K/μL

Platelet 336           170 - 600 K/μL

Remarks

SLIDE REVIEWED MICROSCOPICALLY.

Chemistry

12/30/2013

(Order Received)

12/30/2013 @ 8:39 am

(Last Updated)

Glucose 86           70 - 150 mg/dL

Generated by

Page 2

Patient:

KRISSY

Chemistry

(continued)

BUN 22                    15 - 34 mg/dL

Creatinine 1.3           0.8 - 2.3 mg/dL

Sodium 151              147 - 156 mmol/L

Potassium 5.5         3.9 - 5.3 mmol/L

H

Na / K Ratio 27

Chloride 114            111 - 125 mmol/L

TCO2

(Bicarbonate)

19                             13 - 25 mmol/L

Anion Gap 24           13 - 27 mmol/L

Total Protein 8.1       5.9 - 8.5 g/dL

ALT 46                     28 - 100 U/L

ALP 23                     0 - 62 U/L

Hemolysis Index ++

a

Lipemia Index +

b

a

I'm not a vet but most of the red numbers seem like they're "barely" higher than the "normal" range so I wouldn't stress too much about it.

I don't know about cats but I do know that humans can develop allergies to things they werent allergic to before. (I wasn't allergic to shellfish at all until I turned 14!)

I hope this helps you sleep better tonight if you don't hear from the other folks you were hoping to get a reply from

Hope you and your kitteh feel better! Happy meow year!

Thanks for saying ! I appreciate the positive thinking, and you very well maybe right.

Her eosinophil is doubled though...that makes me wonder.

Plus her hemat and hemog are high.

There I go again, trying to diagnose.

Going to bed for now.

Thanks again.

@Violet I don't know if you have notifications turned on, but I hope so! Maybe you can help?

LDG, I pm'ed Violet last night hoping she might see. Also White Shadow, who replied that she really wouldn't know the breakdown/numbers in her blood work.

Thanks so very much for your help!

In reply to her telling me this, I was mentioning something.....when the vet said in his msg that her elevated eosinophils are likely from allergies/fleas/parasites? How I knew it's def. not fleas, can't have parasites since her poop is great and virtually has no smelly nothing, I sort of disregarded the allergy part.

But aside from her excess sleeping, she is constantly grooming.......not chewing or scratching, just lick lick lick, or sleep.......BINGO!!  Sure as hell, maybe she DOES have an allergy!!!

But to what??!!  I'd assume it would be her food, but wow, allergy to fancy feast? Friskies? Both canned? Or the Natural Balance dry food I give as a before-bed snack?

I've been giving her that type of canned for a long time, even before she got on an all canned diet, I gave her canned for dinner for years. I wouldn't know where to begin there if it were the canned.

So the Natural Balance ultra premium dry? That's only been for the past month, before that it was Purina One dry.  Did she over-groom before the past month or so? I just can't tell. Maybe not.

Here's the ingredients in the NB- I just wouldn't have a clue what the allergy would be to.

Chicken meal, chicken, brown rice, barley, oatmeal, chicken fat, duck meal, potatoes, carrots, lamb meal, canola oil, natural flavor, salmon meal, dried egg, brewers yeast, duck, potassium chloride, whole ground flaxseed, choline chloride, taurine, spinach, parsley flakes, cranberries, l-lysine, l-carnitine, yucca extract, zinc, and vitamins, etc etc. No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Could this be the culprit??

I got this 6 lb bag as a promotional thing from petco and I do recommend it for adoptors who plan to feed dry food, although I always first recommend a wet/raw diet.

Once I got it I called Natural Balance to get the caloric content, and was told it was the highest calorie food they have, so I had planned to use this (slowly) and not get more, go for the lesser indoor variety for Krissy since I need to get more weight off.

So it's never been a permanent thing but maybe that is what is up with her eosinophil elevation....

Gosh, nutrion is def. my weak area, so I wouldn't have a clue what ingredient would possibly cause an allergic reaction in her......!

Most of those elevations are insignificant.  As mentioned EOS can be due to Allergies, Fleas etc, but also can be due to Asthma and sometimes cancerous tumors.  Did the vet give her anything for the WBC?  That indicates that there is an infectious response somewhere in the body.  This talks about eosinophils. https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/clinpath/modules/hemogram/eos.htm  The MCH means poorly oxygenated blood.  HGB can indicate dehydration.  As can the elevated HCT, was she fasted before the test?

cprcheetah, no. She was not fasted prior.

Her vet has not given her anything for the wbc.

I should be able to talk to him over the phone today after his appts.

Cancerous tumors, of course that is what I am really concerned about. The rest is fairly lightweight to me.

As for her MCH, it being slighly on the higher side, would this sort of indicate it may be coming from asthma or insufficient/heavier breathing?

Her HCT and HGB elevated, she isn't dehydrated, drinks lots of water and is mainly eating canned food.

What would you suggest I should do next?

With what you see and what info I have given with her, is there anything that might jump out at you about a possible cause between these numbers?

Thanks for the input and link. I will read it now.

If I were you, I would get the cat on an antibiotic.  Retest the CBC in about 2 weeks or so to see how the levels are then.  If there are still elevations etc then pursue further testing or diagnostics such as an ultrasound.  You said she has normal poops?

So I just got off the phone with her vet )finally!) and he is pointing more towards it actually being a parasite, despite her completely normal poops, saying he commonly sees this in cats as well as dogs.

I am so used to seeing diarrhea and stinky poopy kittens, that's why, without ruling it out wasn't thinking that was the cause of the elevated eosinophils.

I guess the next step is, he said to drop by a poop sample and we will check for parasites. This part sort of sucks as I have seen countless times in kittens and other cats, nothing shows up despite all the right signs, end up treating for the suspected culprit and sure enough, the meds work, meaning the testing didn't show what was actually there. I get that they shed intermittedly but frustrating

Of course I brought up the question about a possibility of cancerous tumors/masses of cells, he said no, he didn't think so, doesn't strike him that way.  (??) I'd like to believe that one!

Well, let's hold out hope that it's not anything major.     And I guess the only thing you can do is confirm parasites or rule it out. Luckily, a fecal exam is a stress-free test for Krissy!

When I was analyzing Caesar's and Sebastian's blood results in the past, I found these resources helpful in providing definitions and what increases and decreases mean:

From Idexx: Understanding Your Pet's Diagnostic Testing

http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresource...ient-education/understand-diagnostic-test.pdf

From Antech: Blood Analysis & Testing

http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/Uploads/Public/Documents/Blood Analysis and Testing Guide.pdf

From WSU: What Do Those Lab Tests Mean?

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/lab.aspx