My cat has high calcium. What tests are needed to find the cause?

High calcium is not very commonly found in cats on well-balanced cat foods. Potential causes for hypercalcemia in cats include lab error or lipemic blood sample, cancer, kidney failure, bone disease, hyperthyroidism, toxic exposure, supplements, among a few others. I would recommend that you follow-up with your vet about these possible concerns. The vet may recommend additional testing, including an ionized Calcium level, which more accurately evaluates the calcium in the body than total calcium on most in-house blood panels.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I’m so sorry to hear about Beyoncé! This may be a good one to open a consultation with us about because there are lots of variables. First, if the calcium was a little high, kidney disease seems most likely and further testing may not be needed. If the calcium was significantly elevated, I start to worry about cancer and it may be worth doing the ultrasound. I’m not sure how long you’re out of town, but it may be worth just rehydrating her to help her feel better and get her stable. Then holding further testing until you get home. Obviously if there is something serious later found on the ultrasound, you may have wished you had just done the ultrasound in the first place. A feeding tube is indicated for fatty liver disease or if she has been more than 3 days without eating. Otherwise I’d probably hold on that. Of course all of these are general rules and I cannot make the same kind of judgements as the vet who is there looking at and examining her. I’d recommend calling that vet with questions and a budget. The vet will be able to best use your money if you are up front with how much you can spend. Hope this helps and very best wishes to you and Beyoncé!

Unfortunately high calcium levels often do point to a cancerous condition such as lymphoma. And cats are particularly prone to lymphoma. Here is some good information on feline lymphona: http://download.skyscape.com/download/ota/5mvetcf5/documents/pdf/lymphoma-cats.pdf And here is information on hyperparathyroidism: http://download.skyscape.com/download/ota/5mvetcf5/documents/pdf/hyperparathyroidism.pdf If you have any specific question feel free to ask. Sometimes high calcium levels may be idiopathic, ie the cause is unknown. Your vet likely will also send blood in for ionized calcium which will help determine the cause.

Hi and thanks for your request. Neoplasia, chronic renal failure (CRF), and idiopathic hypercalcemia are common causes of elevation of Calcium levels. The approach to this problem with elevated Ca++ I would recommend is: - repeat the blood test and analyze the ionised Ca++ (which can give you a reliable information about the calcium levels). At the same time I would recommend to perform a urine analysis and determine the SDMA value on the blood which can be an early indicator of renal failure; - If then this is a true elevation (Ionised Ca++ elevated) I would recommend to perform x rays of the chest and an abdominal ultrasound. This is to rule out any possibility of a tumor, especially lymphoma which is a common reason for this problem. - Based on these results you can then either treat appropriately or look for other uncommon causes like Hyperparathyroidsm (HP), Vitamin D toxicosis, granulomatous diseases such as Actinomycosis and Criptococcosis, and Hypoadrenocorticism. Regarding the ear discharge, these are typical signs of an infection and antibiotics ear drops are often resolutive. Hope this answer was helpful, and at least gave you an idea of the next steps necessary in these cases, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Symptoms of elevated calcium levels are rare indeed as the calcium level needs to be very high. this is a list of symptoms you could expect if the calcium levels become a problem: Extreme thirst (polydipsia) High production of diluted urine (polyuria) Pain when urinating (dysuria) Blood in the urine (hematuria) Frequent urination which may come only in drops (stranguria) Muscle weakness. Muscle twitching. Listlessness.

The cost depends on your area and if your vet wants to run a full panel to check all the chemistries and organ functions or if they want to just check the thyroid levels. Call you vet and ask what the cost would be. If it is the first time, the vet will probably want a complete panel and these generally run $100-150. These are helpful because it gives a good baseline to compare future blood results against and can give indications of early kidney or liver disease, diabetes, and is a good indicator of overall health.

Increased thirst and urination can be commom symptoms of many disease processes and you are right that the first things we check for are metabolic (kidney disease, diabetes, etc.). The answer to your question is both. A urinalysis should always be performed as part of a blood panel, otherwise you are missing crucial information. Your vet will likely order a senior kitty wellness panel from an outside lab which will include cbc, chemistry panel, thyroid testing, and urinalysis. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!