Elevated ALT, Back Pain and Elevated MCHC

[StudioGirl31]

Hi all,

My two and a half year old cat had changed some behavior this week so I took her to the vet today. She wasn't jumping up on things, but rather pulling herself up with her front legs and claws. She was walking okay, but wasn't really running. I was petting her yesterday, and touched her back in the center, and she yelped a little like it hurt her. When the vet examined her today, the vet could tell my cat was in some pain on her spine. They took x-rays and it didn't show anything, so they said there probably isn't a disk out of place, but rather more likely, soft tissue damage. I have two one-year-old cats, so they could have been playing this week while I was at work, and the older one could have gotten hurt. However, when we did a blood work up to see if she was okay to take pain medicine, everything was in range except three things: Her ALT was elevated to 282, which I was told was not a big deal (and reading here, I see that it's when it gets three times the normal that it becomes a concern for the vet), her glucosimine was one point above normal and her blood count was a little high, at 39.2, when the normal range ends at 37.5. Are these things possibly related? Should I risk a liver biopsy? Her sister was diagnosed with feline leukemia after a grueling three months of tests and finally a bone marrow biopsy, and she died a month later, this past February. Although the living cat tested negative again for FeLV today, thank goodness, I am paranoid that I am missing something, as my last experience was awful with the doctors and the specialists and consultants and no one being able to quite figure out that the other cat was born with FeLV that had hidden in her bone marrow the first two years of her life. After being told there is no cure, I researched every night until I found an experimental medication, and after two weeks, my specialist finally agreed to order it, but it was too late, and it was ineffective by that point, if it even would have worked. It just sometimes feels like everyone can tell me that something is wrong, but no one can tell me what or if we should be doing something to fix it. It was so awful losing my baby in February, and my husband and I still don't sleep in our master bedroom, where she was quarantined for those four months of tests and questions. I just don't want to lose another cat. Any advice on where to turn?

[Savas]

Actually, I forgot to ask one question; has bowel function been normal and stool of a healthy consistency?

If not, then I WOULD do the test. It's possible that internal discomfort from kidney/liver issues could be causing your cat's symptoms...and that COULD be an indicator of Feline leuk.

[Savas]

It strikes me in my non-professional but fairly experienced opinion that the test results are likely the result of inflammation; possibly with a VERY small amount of infection.

That being said, having a feline leuk positive cat as a sibling, there's a decent likelihood that the sibling contracted feline leuk as well.

I will say this though; what you've described so far is not typical of initial feline leukimia initial outbreak symptoms.

But considering what you went through, I'd understand being thorough. I personally would wait a few days to a week and see what develops, but I didn't have your experience. there's always a small risk with these sort of tests that something can go wrong, after all.

Sorry, I hope this was at least a BIT helpful. :)