On May 20, 2011, Caymus and Murphy went in for their routine check-up and the vet thought that Caymus had had unhealthy weight loss – specifically muscle loss on either side of his spine. Here’s a run down of Caymus’ last three weigh-ins:
- May 2011 – 17 lbs 8 ounces
- August 2010 – 18lbs 13 ounces
- December 2009 – 17lbs 4 ounces
So, they first took his blood and wanted to follow-up with ultrasounds and what not, if nothing was discovered through the blood. Here’s what his blood work looked like:
Caymus Blood Work 5-20-11
You can see from it, that Caymus has low Neutrophils and also Low Platelet Count.
Caymus
However, Caymus was acting totally fine. My sister had been home from school and said he was being his normal self – wanting food all the time, as usual. Caymus doesn’t like to miss a meal.
I was a mess that day waiting to hear what his blood results would say – Caymus will be 7 years old in August, so too soon for anything wrong to go on.
Well, the vet was OK with his blood work, so they wanted to do more testing with an ultrasound and what not. While I love Caymus’ vet, I also think that there are more approaches. That’s one thing with this website that I have learned, over and over again.
I first wanted to do an animal communication session with Caymus. After a recent experience with another reader, I wanted to try out Dexter Del Monte, so I contacted her about talking to Caymus. In emailing with her, she recommended I also try a biomedical profile with Dr. Kruesi of Cold River Veterinary Center.
Caymus, "Oh GAWD! She's talking about me again!"
Because of my tight budget, I had to choose one or the other, and decided to do the biomedical profile first. A biomedical profile is a comprehensive nutritional analysis of Caymus’ blood. So Dr. Kruesi makes an interpretation of the metabolic, hormone and nutritional imbalances, and a nutritional treatment plan.
Taken from Cold River Veterinary Center’s paperwork, “the purpose of a nutritional analysis is to identify which physiologic parameters or blood test results deviate from the midpoint of a reference range for cats or dogs. These markers include measures of organ function, mineral levels, hormone assays, and enzyme ativities. Organs that are under stress or diseased are identified, and a therapeutic plan is developed to address all the imbalances, excesses or deficiencies, simultaneously. Our goal is to promote healing and return the body to normal function.”
If you are a regular reader, then you know that my mom has been taking her dog Tucker for acupuncture treatments with Dr. Pat Perkins. Tucker has had many improvements from his sessions with Dr. Perkins – more than his ability to walk. His diet has changed and as a result, his coat is fabulous. Every day, he looks like he got a bath. He is also looking less like an 11-year old and more like a 7-year old.
So, the biomedical profile is 6 pages long. You can read it online through this link.
It was recommended that he take 5 different supplements – acetyltor, parathyroid complex, pineal concentrate, amino B + K and EFA 2-Plus – this is for a 3-month period and will be $168.
Dr. Kruesi pointed out that “Caymus is likely to be at risk for acute adrenal stress responses and obesity. One pound of excess body fat is served by one mile of blood vessels, produces hormones such as aromatase and adiponectin that lead to mid-body adiposity or weight gain. He could benefit from more vegetables in the diet, starting with baby food.”
My interest in putting this on the site is 3-fold -
- I want to let readers know about it that might not know something like this exists. It is a great preventative measure.
- I want to see if anyone else has done it and what they think.
- The more information that’s on the Internet the better!
So I will let you know what happens with Mr. Caymus. My mom has agreed to take both Caymus and Murphy off of dry food and they will be on a wet food only diet – so my guess is that this too will change Caymus’ overall blood work as well.
What struck me was “add more vegetables” to his diet – Cats are carnivorousness . I am taking my two in for their yearly check up this Friday, asking for bloodwork to be done as I feed raw, I want to make sure they are getting everything they need nutritionally.
Yes, it struck me too. I haven’t asked about it because to talk to the doc, I have to pay $90 and I don’t have that right now.
Have I asked you before what raw food recipes you follow?
yes you have asked, I use the franken prey as we are so not doing whole prey lol
http://www.rawfedcats.org/nature.htm
so the only recipe is following the
80–85% meat (besides boneless muscle meat, this can and should also include things like fat, skin, sinew, tendons, cartilage and any other soft connective tissue etc.)
10% edible bone
5-10% organs (with half that amount being liver) This is what we are still working on as they don’t like many types of organ meat including liver *sheesh* They do however love tripe
thanks, sorry for the repeat. I have a file of raw food stuff, but i haven’t had a chance to get into it. we did buy a ginder and made the raw food recipe that was on the catinfo.org site. the cats had NO interest in eating it. so I figured we’d keep them on wet food for awhile longer.
just start by putting little strips of meat in with their wet, if they eat that start reducing the wet and increasing the raw. I think the website has great information to help transition to raw. That is what I did with the oldest DSH and now she eats raw, she sort of transition herself, we are still working on bone and organ meat with her, organ meat with the raggies, so I still supplement with canned that I know has organ meat content. like liver pate (sp) lol
great idea – i should have thought of that. thanks.
Your welcome, I’ll have to figure out the new Raggie when he comes in July, he will come eating the pre-bought ground, but will do the same thing, kittens are easier to transition.
As a nurse, I’m glad you had the blood tests done to rule out petential causes for Camus’ weight loss. I am saying a little prayer for him…
I really hope Caymus will be all right!!! I have blood work done on our older cats every yearly exam–or anytime they’re sick. Thanks to blood work, we found out what was wrong with Holy Tara. Now she is doing so well on the thyroid medication, is happy and confident, at her normal weight again. Good luck, Jenny
[...] Pat McKay was referred to me by Dexter Del Monte, an Animal Communicator, when I was talking to her about Caymus’ recent vet visit. [...]
what happened at the 3 month follow up after supplements ?
any noticed improvements ?
Kim, I wasn’t feeling comfortable about the supplement thing – I go with my gut a lot. So, we took him to see an acupuncturist instead – worked wonders and he is balanced now. You can read about it here: Caymus Receives Acupuncture from Dr. Pat Perkins, DVM, CVA