Could Bartonella be one of hypercalcemia causes in cats?

My cat has idiopathic hypercalcemia & Bartonella. He was started on Zithromax & Hill's Prescription W/D to lower his Ca++. 6 weeks later, his ionized CA++ is down. Could the Bartonella cause high Ca++? Could his old food (Natural Balance Light dry food?) Our other cat now has hypercalcemia as well. Bartonella pending. Could Natural Balance have caused the hypercalcemia in both? Could Bartonella cause increased Ca++? Or is it a huge coincidence? They haven't been exposed to excess Vitamin D, etc.

  • Vetinfo

    By: Erika Raines El Segundo, CA

    Replied on 04/19/2011

    Bartonellosis is not known to cause electrolyte abnormalities such as hypercalcemia (high calcium) in cats. Generally this infection does not cause symptoms, but when it does they are usually fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and enlarged lymph nodes. It may have been the cause of the high calcium if it infected the bone, but this would be very unusual. Feeding a balanced diet with an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement (such as the Natural Balance cat foods) should not cause high calcium in a normal cat. There are many causes of hypercalcemia, but the worst of them, such as a hypercalcemia caused by a malignant tumor or exposure to rodenticides, should not have responded to a high fiber diet as you report that your cat's did. One possibility is a condition called "idiopathic hypercalcemia" which means that the cat's calcium levels are high and we don't know what caused it. This particular condition is often caused by a change in the way that the kidneys handle calcium and usually doesn't cause any symptoms in affected cats. The good news is that if the high fiber diet (Hill's W/D) resolves the problem then there likely is no serious cause.

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