On 7 March, I brought in another urine sample
and Zoe had a blood pressure check.
I asked Vet Tech Matt to take pics . . .
what I meant was have someone take pic(s) of him doing the check,
but he did a selfie instead . . . aren't they cute, tho?
Isn't her St. Patrick's Day bandana pretty?
Unfortunately, it came off during one of our night walks and we found it the next day,
completely shredded by a neighbor's lawn mower.
She is now wearing another, but this was a better design/color to contrast with her blondeness.
On 9 March, Dr. Hathaway writes:
1) Zoe's urine test came back as positive for too much protein.
This confirms that she is losing protein through her kidneys
which is likely the cause of her decreasing albumin (ALB).
This is likely also the reason why her SDMA is slowly increasing over time.
2) Her blood pressure was very normal, which is good.
Our options from here to further evaluate
the status of her kidneys and/or treatment are:
1) We can perform an ultrasound to see how her kidneys look.
Basically if they look really bad, we may know more about our prognosis,
but if they look fine, it will likely not change our approach to treatment.
2) Continue with K/D diet since it is lower in protein and more kidney-friendly.
3) Start Benazepril which can help decrease protein loss and
recheck a urine protein-creatinine ratio in two to four weeks.
4) If we do nothing and her protein loss continues,
eventually she will be at risk for developing edema
(fluid retention in body cavities, limbs etc.)
and sometimes even clot development
(since one of the proteins lost through urine
is one that prevents clot formation).
I am leaning towards a combination of Options 2 and 3
and rechecking to see if we get improvement.
If no change is seen and her ALB continues to drop,
we may not want to put her through the anesthesia/dental procedure.
What are your thoughts?
Violetta Argueta writes:
I agree with your vet's suggestion of doing
a combination of Options 2 and 3 and rechecking.
I also agree that it doesn't make sense to do the dental
if her ALB continues to drop.
So there we are . . . she will have another check-up in April,
four weeks after her 7 March appointment.
Zoe does not drink to excess;
she has not increased her frequency of urination
and she remains PERFECTLY housebroken (which is more
than I can say for the REST of the Skrenninger Quintet!).
We will just keep on keepin' on . . . she and RicoBadBoy
are now on the K/D food and Zoe has begun the Benazepril.
