Buzzupdate

Well, I finally heard back from the oncologist.

No sign of infection in Buzz's urine, but his protein in the urine, supposed to be 1.something, is 4.7.

We've never gotten the exact numbers on the protein before.

Buzz has less protein in his blood than he should, and more in his urine, so we conclude that it's likely that the kidneys are dumping protein.

This can be caused, I'm told, by cancers of various sorts, by steroid use (but the number for protein in the blood is about identical to what it was in June before he went on pred for his leukemia), by infection, by immune-mediated diseases, and that's all I can remember but there may have been more.

"None of these numbers are clinical" -- I think that means we are not panicking at this point, but will support Buzz's kidneys as much as we can.......... His leukeran is dealt with by his liver, so I guess that's good.........

I will talk to his local vet about all of this and see how we will proceed.

The oncologist is more concerned about the cancer returning than anything else, and feels that since Buzz is on a low dose of pred (5 mg every other day for about 30 pounds worth of dog), he should stay on the pred.

He suggested enlapril, which is a med for hypertension. I have not yet begun to think about coping with kidney disease.

Especially as Buzz doesn't seem to be any worse than last June............

He feels good. I'm going with that.