Can Someone Help Me With My Cat - High Calcium in Blood?

[joyslearning]

Hi,
I am learning now many different realms of healing and I attribute this
to my beloved cat who has been graced with much patience and many
challenges that come with age.
She has been exhibiting nervous jerking around her head, also head
shaking from side to side, weakness in lower limbs, irritability and
some constipation with hard stools. Sometimes dehydrated.
She has been to dozens of vets. The most concrete evidence of what is
going on with her is elevated calcium levels in her blood - coupled with
higher than norm ALT. There is also evidence of allergens in her system.
Just now reading about parathyroid and the possibility of it factoring
in to the calcium levels in her body. She had a few thyroid tests done
in the past since the jerking began and they came back normal. I
understand that to diagnose the parathyroid a special test is required
and possibly ultrasound. Where we live, this blood test for parathyroid,
does not exist.
Right now, we are tapped out. I don't want to subject her to more
prodding and poking unless under the hands of someone very skilled and
knowledgable who I am, trying to find as this is written.
In the meantime, I would like to hear your thoughts on this and how I
can help her.
Best wishes,
Joy

[comdyne2002]

Don't know much about animal physiology but nonetheless, high blood calcium indicates an absorption issue. In humans the calcium is largely regulated by the parathyroid glands. Associated with the hormone produced, it has been determined that blood calcium and bone absorption are factors on each end of a biological teeter-totter. One goes up and the other goes down. To help put the calcium into the bones, Vitamin D3 combined with Vitamin A and K2 in the MK7 form has proven useful. I suspect that a cat wouldn't be that much different. As far as dosages is concerned, I have no clue. Caveat Emptor! Carmi Hazen

[Irene de Villiers]

Dear Joy,

Yes not just for cats:-)

I would be willing to tackle this puzzle and try to resolve it....

Do you perhaps have more comprehensive blood tests than just the Ca and Alt tha I could see?
Also did your vet run total calcium or also ionized calcium? (The latter would need to be sent out)
And will you share the food and anything else she swallows currently, down to actual ingredients lists?

I ask because in cats the diet is invariably in error for that species due to lack of general understanding of what is good or bad for cats ...and there may well be a maintaining cause to be eliminated.
It is a place to start to eliminate the easy issues first, especially her dietary levels of Vit D, calcium, magnesium, and Vit K etc
Points to ponder:
Vit K is esential for keeping calcium in the bones. Cats need a healthy gut flora to make theirs.
Your kitty may have poor gut heath.
Vit D might be in excess due to a supplement ot commercial food/treat with too much.
Calcium and magnesium and phosphorus must be in balance and an imbalance in food can transfer to one in the blood.

The calcium comes from somewhere...we want to discover if
it is leached from bone,.....not enough Vit K, or too much parathyroid hormone
or leached from a site with inflammatory calcium stores due to pathology (tumors and granulomas can produce parathyroid-like chemicals)
or too much in the diet......too much Vit D can cause excess absorption (and then Phos is usually also high)
TOo much Vit A can also be a factor. ..as when fish liver oil is used instead of fish oil as a supplement.
or not enough excreted due to kidney malfunction....amylase reading and creatinine can tell more about that
or due to mineral related adrenal hormones which help excrete calcium, and which may be depleted.

Blood tests and diet study will help with this.
Blood tests may also help to show possible pahological causes such as

I would be happy to take a look a details of blood tests and diet and see if it tells me anything potentially helpful about what is happening internally.
This is not typical of hypercalcemia, it is more typical of issues of nerve nutrients (which can be imblanaced by excess calcium) . THis can be helped with diet.
THis is typical in hypercalcemia.

Constipation is invariably due to magnesium deficiency. Excess calcium would cause excess magnesium excretion and thus deficiency, (and also nerve related symptoms as above.)

Blood tests wodl be helpful here too.
Electrolytes are usually included.
Some cat foods are notoriously depleted in magnesium and/or Vit B6 and/or Niacin (nerve nutrients).
[I do not like to "hunt for zebras" before I have eliminated common causes like nutrieint imbalance.]
"evidence of allergens?"
Do you mean raised eosinophils? or were other tests done?
It would help to know which tests were done.
It is one of many options, see list above. I woudl see what the blood tests and foods/etc combined, show first.

I would start with assessing diet and blood tests combined to see what is causing which levels or NOT causing which levels, so asa to eliminate (or discover) any cause of that sort.
Then by a process of elimination, in order of likelyhood, one can eliminate other causes, and implement a suitable homeopathic aproach that addresses the maintaining cause along with building health.

That would be my approach.
ALso where do you live?
For some odd reason, the condition occurs more in some states (eg CT) than others.
(Not sure why, maybe minerals in water or??)

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Irene de Villiers]

Not necessarily.
It can be loss from bone, or from inflammatory sites, or failure to excrete, or excess vitamins, etc.
And the mineralocorticoids from the adrenal glands which regulate excretion, and the Vit K which determines how much is leached from bone,,,,.
It is a lot more complex than just PTH hormone.
I do not agree. There is no natural inverse relationship.
In a healthy individual the blood calcium is moderate/normal while the bone calcium is high.
But high blood calcium does not necessarily mean low bone calcium. They can both be high.
VIt D determines how much is absorbed.
VIt K helps keep calcium in the bones, does not put it there.
It can be Vit K1 or K2.
Doses of vitamin K1 up to 15 times the current recommended dietary allowance have successfully been used to reduce the percentage of undercarboxylated osteocalcin in the circulation.
Very high pharmacological doses of the vitamin K2 menatetrenone has impressively been used to prevent further bone mineral loss and fracture risk in osteoporotic patients.

In cats they make K2 in the gut IF it is healthy. Plants do not work for them. and the K3 (menadione) in cat foods is just plain toxic and no help.
There are similarities but also differences.

Magnsium is usually an issue in cats as the manufacturers mistakenly leave it out.
Cats are also susceptible to granulomas and tumors with calcium deposits.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Angela McGuire]

Magnesium usually offsets calcium as well as phosphate, in humans for sure.

Angie

Sent from my iPad

[joyslearning]

Hi Irene,

Thank you so much for offering to help my cat. I have been ill in the last few days myself. Allergy related - full blown skin eruption. So I can better understand what my cats go through when they have skin issues due to allergy.

I will have to take a bit time later to get all the info straight. I have blood panels done on Chi from one year ago only. The rest of the info needed I can supply if needed.

Will be back in a while. Thank you so much again,
Joy