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- Jan 5, 2020
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We just got our 13-year old Russell's blood test results. The good news is kidney, liver, glucose, thyroid, etc., are all fantastic - like a healthy young cat.
The alarming news is his BNP - Cardiopet proBNP (Feline) - was extremely elevated. It's literally off the charts (there's a red arrow leading off the right side of the range chart): normal range is 0-100 pmol/L; Russell's is 1236.
He has no outward symptoms of heart disease or any other disease other than the occasional flare-up of an allergy to mosquito bites in the summer, which seems to bother us more than it bothers him. He's a healthy-seeming, happy, well-adjusted, sociable, bright-eyed, playful boy with very regular eating, drinking, and litter box habits.
I'm trying to stay calm - not my strong suit. Obviously he should see a cardiologist for an EKG or ultrasound. But please see my previous thread about his unbelievable stress level at the vet on Monday when he went to get the blood test. He had a full-blown panic attack there and has not been fully himself since. The last thing we want to do, at least at the moment, is add to his stress level.
Here's my hope, of course: that the test isn't always accurate and it was falsely elevated or that it was so elevated because of his extreme stress. (I ran that last one by the vet and she said it might raise the numbers a little but probably not that much. But who knows?)
Please, please - anyone with any experience of heart disease and/or such severely elevated BNP numbers, I'd love to hear any experiences and advice. Thanks
The alarming news is his BNP - Cardiopet proBNP (Feline) - was extremely elevated. It's literally off the charts (there's a red arrow leading off the right side of the range chart): normal range is 0-100 pmol/L; Russell's is 1236.
He has no outward symptoms of heart disease or any other disease other than the occasional flare-up of an allergy to mosquito bites in the summer, which seems to bother us more than it bothers him. He's a healthy-seeming, happy, well-adjusted, sociable, bright-eyed, playful boy with very regular eating, drinking, and litter box habits.
I'm trying to stay calm - not my strong suit. Obviously he should see a cardiologist for an EKG or ultrasound. But please see my previous thread about his unbelievable stress level at the vet on Monday when he went to get the blood test. He had a full-blown panic attack there and has not been fully himself since. The last thing we want to do, at least at the moment, is add to his stress level.
Here's my hope, of course: that the test isn't always accurate and it was falsely elevated or that it was so elevated because of his extreme stress. (I ran that last one by the vet and she said it might raise the numbers a little but probably not that much. But who knows?)
Please, please - anyone with any experience of heart disease and/or such severely elevated BNP numbers, I'd love to hear any experiences and advice. Thanks