UPDATE: Abby's new numbers

[Twice]

I took her to the kidney specialist today. I was dying to know if the raw patties were helping or hurting her.

Urea Nitrogen (the amount of nitrogen/ammonia in her blood) has come down a LOT but still higher than before. This could mean that she has advanced from early kidney failure to moderate failure. We will need another month of results to know for sure. Her glucose is well within normal range now, we can't find a reason for last months spike.

The other important numbers are slowly dropping but are still higher than they were a couple of months ago. Her PCV's are still low which makes her borderline anemic but it's still not low enough for them to treat. I'm treating it with supplements but the doctors aren't worried yet. They don't like to treat anemia until that number hits 20. Albumin dropping so close to the bottom end of normal could mean that pancreas is crapping out. Last months elevated Amylase could indicate liver failure. Can I just tell you how much I HATE this "could be" crap!! Next month I hope to be able to afford a full CBC to get a better picture of what is going on with her.

	June 2, 2012 (fasting 12 hours – homemade + raw)	Lab Ref Range		May 2, 2012 (fast 6 hours + homemade diet	Lab Ref Range		Mar 13, 2012 (fast 8 hours + homemade diet)	Lab Ref Range		Feb 21, 2012 (non fasting – Fromm Puppy Gold)	Lab Ref Range
Glucose	96	74-143		111 H	60-110		96	70-138		106	70-138
Bun							36 H	7-27		57 H	7-27
Creatinine	2.4 H	0.5-1.8		2.6 H	0.3-1.4		1.3 H	0.3-1.2		3.2 H	0.5-1.6
TotProtein	5.8	5.2-8.2		6.7	5.4-8.2		5.5	6.0-7.8		5.3	5.0-7.4
Albumin	2.5	2.3-4		3.5	2.5-4.4		2.3	2.1-3.8		2.9	2.7-4.4
Total Bilirubin				0.3	0.1-0.6			0-0.9		0.1	0.1-0.3
AlkPhos	101	23-212		65	20-150			1-175		82
ALT (SGPT)	37	10-100		28	10-118		<10	0-60		62	12-118
AST (SGOT)								0-60		30	15-66
Cholesterol								92-324		348 H	92-324
Calcium				13.1 H	8.6-11.8			8.0-12.0		10.1	8.9-11.4
Urea Nitrogen	63	7-27		95 H	7-25		36 H	6-31		182 H	7-31
Total Phosphatase										82	5-131
Phosphorus	9.3 H	2.5-6.8		10.3 H	2.9-6.6		9.4 H	5.1-10.4		15.6 H	2.5-6.0
sodium	152	144-160					120 H	105-119		149	139-154
potassium	4.9	3.5-5.8					5.7 H	4.0-5.5		4.6	3.6-5.5
chloride	118	109-122					120	105-120		105	102-120
Albumin/Globulin ratio	0.8							0.5-1.7		1.2	0.8 - 2.0
BUN/Creatinine ratio	26	4-27					28 H	4-27		57 H	4-27
Globulin	3.3	2.5-4.5						2.5-4.5		2.4	1.6-3.6
Lipase
Amylase				1903 H	200-1200
Triglyceride								30-150
CPK								59-895		265	59-895
GGTP								0-13
Magnesium								1.5-2.5
Osmolality,Calc	320							277-311
Corrected Ca										10.7
Dir Bilirubin								0-0.3
tc02-bicar
Ind bilirubin
NA/K ratio	31							27-40		32
Anion Gap
NA+				154	138-160
K+				5.7	3.7-5.8
PCV	32 L	36-60		32 L	36-60		30 L	36-60		34 L	36-60

The whole time I was writing these numbers into my own spreadsheets I had @JAKEISGREAT running through my head. "holding her in place for one more step forward".

I am happy to say that for today, Abby is holding in place

 

[Corlando465]

Yea Abby and Yea Mom!!! Well done! She is so stinking' cute and you can tell by all her photos that she has the cutest personality to match! Keep up the great work and more picts, please!,,,


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[AubreysMom]

Come on, Abby! You can do it! We're all rooting for you to keep having better numbers!

 

[bullmama]

If they are dropping that is good right? Oh those could be answers suck but the levels are going down, so you think the patties are working? Looks like a good report overall momma, good job! Hope to hear the same next month!

 

[Twice]

If they are dropping that is good right? Oh those could be answers suck but the levels are going down, so you think the patties are working? Looks like a good report overall momma, good job! Hope to hear the same next month!

I won't say the patties are helping, but they definitely aren't hurting. I think the best numbers we've gotten were from the solely vegetarian diet but her iron was getting lower and that was scaring me. As long as the numbers keep dropping I'll stay with what we are doing now. But I have this tiny voice in the back of my head telling me to go back to vegetables and forget the meat.

p.s Thanks for deleting my double click oops

 

[Davidh]

So glad to hear she is still doing well. great job momma, keep up the good work. You have given this cute little girl a longer lease on life. Sending her hugs and kisses from the gang.

 

[izstigspunks]

A lot better than last month, so that's a step forward.

I wonder if you can mix the patties with a vegetable diet. She can get her iron from the meat. Or is that what you've been doing now?

 

[ziviabell]

Have you heard of V-Dog? It's vegetarian kibble. It's an excellent dog food. I have bought it on-line. Please look it up. I also give Hershey raw patties and mix it with vegetable pulp (we juice a lot) and the V-Dog kibble with Nature's Variety kibble. Really, it's not that much kibble (1/3 cup with each meal). She stays steady at 52.8 lbs. I'm a firm believer in raw. I hope her numbers get better. Sounds like you're a great bullie mom!!

 

[Twice]

A lot better than last month, so that's a step forward.

I wonder if you can mix the patties with a vegetable diet. She can get her iron from the meat. Or is that what you've been doing now?

That's what I'm doing. She gets 2 patties a day (breakfast and dinner) but that little thing isn't enough to fill the hole that is Abby's belly. With the breakfast patty she gets her regular sweet potato mash. For dinner she gets a bowl of steamed veggies with her patty. I'm trying to cut back a little on the potato since she is getting this meat. She averages about a pound a month in weight gain. That's good considering she was barely 8 pounds when I got her but I am terrified that she will outgrow what little kidney function she has now. The bigger she is, the harder they have to work ya know? I'm also worried about too much weight on those hips and legs since we can't do surgery to fix them.

The main thing is that the important numbers are a little lower and her PCV is holding at 32. Kidney failure in itself rarely kills animals. They usually die from anemia or pancreatitis before the kidneys completely stop functioning.

For now, for today, the numbers aren't much better, but they aren't any worse. Believe me, I'm grateful for that stability.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I'm just amazed at how well she is doing. The could be answers are also.."maybe not" answers. Science isn't exact...and moving numbers are just that!! Moving...we just hold her (and you) in our hearts....

 

[Twice]

Have you heard of V-Dog? It's vegetarian kibble. It's an excellent dog food. I have bought it on-line. Please look it up. I also give Hershey raw patties and mix it with vegetable pulp (we juice a lot) and the V-Dog kibble with Nature's Variety kibble. Really, it's not that much kibble (1/3 cup with each meal). She stays steady at 52.8 lbs. I'm a firm believer in raw. I hope her numbers get better. Sounds like you're a great bullie mom!!

I've not heard of V-Dog. I went to their website but can't find a nutritional breakdown. You have this food now? Can you maybe PM me the nutritional values? The protein seems ok at 24% but I have to be conscious of things like magnesium and phosphorous levels too.

 

[Vicaroo1000]

Sweet, sweet Abby and her amazing Mama......

 

[Saalwi]

So glad to hear sweet Abby is holding her own....you are amazing with all the information you've learned to process and understand!

 

[Biogirl71]

Fighting Abby and her fighting mama...good job keeping those numbers steady!

 

[Fontanafox]

I hope your documenting all of this. It might be a book or article that you can share with others that are going through this. You are a very impressive bully mom for sure!