Pole’s Check-Up At The Vet’s (blood Pressure And Thyroid Under Control)

We took Pole along with Smurfy as her check-up is due as well.

To recap, Pole is 14 years old, has CKD (chronic kidney disease) which is exacerbated by her hyperthyroidism (on transdermal Methimazole) and recently, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure (on oral Amlodipine) and she is also prone to FLUTD (urinary tract problems). Pole also has gastritis (on Omeprazole daily).

On 14th April 2020, her creatinine was 368, this came down to 277 on 22nd April after daily subcut. Subcut was then reduced to alternate days.

Her creatinine today went back up to 381 and urea was 25.6 (also high).

That is the not-so-good news for today.

But the GOOD news is, her blood pressure is now 130, which is normalised now (so the Amlodipine works) and her TT4 reading is only 14, which is really good. Previously, it was 67 (so the increased Methimazole (1.5 times) works too).

The vet says Pole has to be continue to be on the Amlodipine and Methimazole for life.

The fact that the blood pressure is normal and thyroid reading is also normal is a good thing.

Another piece of good news is that Pole tipped the scales at 2.7kg today! She has always been 2.5kg or at most, 2.6kg. So, this is good too.  And it’s because I have been feeding her on demand. Whenever she wants to eat, she gets. She could only eat small amounts, so it’s small amounts at frequent intervals.  Like a baby?

So, now we go back to the not-so-good news, which is her increased kidney readings. The vet said not to worry too much. She postulates that it could be the food. Since her gastritis on 22nd April 2020 where she was vomiting all her raw food out, Pole has been on canned food with Primal sprinkles. Canned food may have added salt.  But this combination of canned food with Primal was what Pole could tolerate.

The vet suggested that I try to switch Pole back to her “old food”, which would be Coco&Joe’s. It’s also back to daily subcut for two weeks before the next check-up.

Oh yes, I’ve tried. I have not given up. Every few days, I would give Pole Coco&Joe’s and sometimes she would willingly eat it, but after about 45 minutes, she would vomit it all out. It just happened again this morning.

My raw-feeding friend from Coco&Joe’s thinks that Pole’s medication could be reacting with the raw food and causing the vomiting. That is totally possible. He advocates stopping her medicine and let her heal holistically through good nutrition.

I’m too afraid to take the risk of stopping Pole’s medication for her hyperthyroidism and high blood pressure.

So, I’m in a dilemma right now. But I will figure something out after doing enough research, and checking with authoritative sources.

On the one hand, there’s holistic healing. On the other hand, there is medicine.

I’ve thought about it and right now, at this moment, I think my priority is that Pole eats and does not vomit out the food.

I don’t think I would want to take away her medication or impose the “eat or starve” principle on her to convert her back to 100% raw. Not when she already has gastritis.

Pole is happy, very alert, very active and clinically as well as she can be. She also has good appetite but has to eat whatever she can. Now, whether that is a “real” issue or she is just being fussy and choosy, I really do not know and should not assume.

So, after discussing with the vet over text messages, I have decided to still let her eat her canned food but slowly increase the amount of Primal in it. I have tried sneaking in Cubgrub, but now, she won’t eat it at all. She would just walk away.

For me, the priority is that she eats. At least she isn’t asking for kibble.

I have also contacted Avant Pet and have found out that Monge and Cindy canned food do NOT contain any added salt. However, Pole likes tuna and tuna has its own natural salt, so maybe that is a problem for her with her CKD issue.

The trouble is, Pole does not like the chicken canned food. Sigh…

So now, I’m going to reduce the tuna and increase the chicken.  And increase the Primal (that’s raw).  That would be the nutrition plan for now.

And we will do the daily subcut and wait for the next check-up. At least we have now got the high blood and hyperthyroidism under control. The gastritis is also under control with the frequent small meals. So, that’s something to be thankful for.

Pole happily eat Coco&Joe’s this morning, on her own, but she vomited it out later, after more than an hour.

This was after coming back from the vet’s. She is eating Primal with canned food.

Because of her gastritis, Pole gets to eat small amounts as often as she likes.

Eating again.

With Brother Cow.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2020/05/16/poles-check-up-at-the-ve..

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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