Cow Mau to the vet’s (blood pressure back to normal!)

I took Cow Mau, Cleo and Indy for their check-up today.

Here’s how it went for Cow Mau.

Cow’s was supposed to be a heart and blood pressure check-up, but the vet decided to check his kidneys too because Cow has already been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and this could easily lead to kidney problems.

The kidney results turned out to be good.
Crea 153 (previously, in July, it was 174)
Urea 12.7 (high end of normal)

Cow’s blood pressure, after being on Amlodipine for two weeks, has come down too. His systolic reading is 120mmHg (previously, 150mmHg). 120 is considered normal, so that’s good. Hence, to maintain on his Amlodipine at 1/8 tablet once a day.

Cow is also very prone to ear wax (his ears are almost always dirty), so the vet says to apply one drop of PyoClean to both ears twice a week and massage it to clear the wax. This proneness to wax is most likely due to an allergy.

For his joints, the vet recommended another more suitable product (to be shared with Tabs for the spur on her spine).

This is HyaFlex (which is hyaloronic acid).

It’s not only good for the joints, but also for the eyes, gums and coat so that would be perfect for Cow Mau because Cow has a lingering eye discharge problem, chronic gum inflammation, pain and mouth ulcers and also a very oily coat. The vet did suggest that I bathe Cow once a week, but on hindsight, she was worried it might stress him out and this would not be good for his ailing heart. So, no baths for now.

Cow is also still pawing after every meal. We decided not to give him anymore steroid injections as that would have negative side effects. I had resorted to just giving him transdermal Tramadol whenever the pain get bad, but now there is a new product from PetDiatrics.

This is Gum Max.

The vet checked Cow’s mouth and he has an ulcer on his upper palate as well as the usual gum inflammation due to his FIV+ condition. This Gum Max product should help. It contains CoQ10 (also good for Cow’s heart) and Vit E (mixed tocopherols).

I was also advised to monitor and keep a record of Cow’s SRR (Sleeping Respiratory Rate). It should be no more than 30 per minute. I should only count for 15 seconds when he is in deep sleep and multiply it by 4.

So, that’s all for Cow. I’m so glad his kidneys are still okay and his blood pressure has dropped to normal.

For a 17-year old FIV+ cat, this is already a bonus!

Cow’s next visit is in 2 months.

Next up is Cleo…