Sasha is a Siamese from our cattery. Her owner contacted me after their Vet had diagnosed 2 year old Sasha with
CRF.
Tuesday 9/28/2010. We were informed of Sasha illness.
Reported symptoms: “The past week she had started peeing in inappropriate places (the leather couch, the chair, the other couch) and her appetite seemed off plus she was drinking loads more than usual.
She is definitely not herself—her appetite is off and I’ve been trying to coax her to eat. She’s completely stopped eating kibble since Fri and only has eaten small amounts of wet food—mostly licking up all the gravy.” They had a kidney panel (blood test) and urine culture done. Her vet
concluded CRF based solely on the blood work. There is no blood test to tell the difference between
acute renal failure vs chronic renal disease. An ultrasound is very diagnostic. How do you diagnose it as chronic renal failure in an acute case without all the test results in and its a sudden event?
My questions for the owner:
Did they start treatment for a kidney
infection?
Bacteria from the bladder can travel up to the
kidneys and cause problems with function until the
infection is treated and resolved.
Experts at Tufts told us kidney infections are
very difficult to get out of the kidneys. They
have too many nooks and crannies. Starting
an antibiotic asap will not hurt your cat and is very
low cost. We also have personal experience with
cultures coming back negative when infection is present.
Our vet has had a positive test in house sent out for a
specific culture growth and had it come back negative.
We know the infection was present these tests are not
the final word. Remember
this.
Does her scruff "tent"?
What this means is when you lift up the scruff
of the neck and let go does it snap right back or stay up sort of
like a tent. Tenting of the scruff indicates
dehydration. Did they recommended or give subcutaneous
fluids? If the kidney blood work shows creatine values
are elevated the sub-q fluid would help.
Phosphate binders are used to lower high
phosphorous levels. B vitamins in the fluid will help
her feel better too. If the values are really high
she needs to go on IV fluids to help her kidneys
recover.
She responded no. Her biggest concern was
that Sasha was not eating and had lost a lot of weight.
Not
eating in a cat can lead to unrelated complications with
the liver. It’s really important to get them to eat
anything you can. When a cat won’t eat I find “Fancy
Feast Elegant Medleys - Shredded
White Meat Chicken Fare in a savory broth
with garden greens" works like a charm.
“Fast food” is better than no food. There is an
appetite stimulant medication that works well if needed
to prevent fatty liver syndrome.
Who is your Vet and may we have copies of
the test results for our Vet to review?
My doctor knows my cats and lines. My owners can
tell their Vet I’m the cats breeder and I look into
health issues that come up in the lines I breed. They
shouldn't feel offended. I'm willing to provide my
kitten owners with a second veterinary opinion.
Have you had any plants or flowers in the
house?
Lilies are particularly toxic to cats. Even a
bit of pollen from brushing against them or on your
fingers when licked can be toxic. There are many other
flowers and plants on the toxic lists. Your cat may only
spit up a little after chewing on one.
Would you allow your cat to nibble these house
plants?
yellow flowered |
white flowered |
Pink flowered |
white flowered |
These "Shamrock" plants from the
grocery or home stores are all Oxalis, a bulb that looks like a clover leaf. It is toxic.
Oxalic acid in the plant combines in the kidneys with calcium to form calcium oxalate crystals. This is the same
crystal damage anti-freeze does. ASPCA
toxic plant list - Cornell's
toxic plant list - CFA's
toxic plant list You may notice that some of the
plants on these lists are not on all three. If you have
any plants or flowers in the house make sure they are
safe from more then one source.
 Cats lick, chew on, and eat all kinds of things that get processed through the kidneys.
Other common toxins in the home:
Anti-freeze –snow melt and broken snow globes can contain antifreeze. A small amount will kill a cat if not treated immediately. You may have heard we now have laws that anti-freeze must have bitter taste added to it. This only applies to packed goods for consumers in many states. If you have your car serviced professionally they are not required to have the bitter additive. Keep your cat out of the garage and be careful what you step in.
Household
products and cleaning products are
full of chemicals and we use so many of them everyday.
What do you mop your floors with, clean sinks with,
scrub tubs and
showers with? Is there laundry product residue around
your washer? Do you use hand sanitizers? Kitty licks
your hand and ingests the residue. Do you use a
cleaning or antibacterial spray on your kitchen
counters? Window cleaner on mirrors and windows?
Medications too, even over the counter. Have you ever
accidentally dropped a pill that went unfound? Most
human medications are not harmless to cats.
Garden and lawn treatments / fertilizers can
be toxic. Pest control products are poison. This
includes rodenticides and well as pesticides, Ever put
out one of the nice little ant baits to keep those tiny
pests out of your kitchen? Ants carry the poison around
with them and leave traces of it. Sweet poison syrups
that ants carry back to the nest leave tracks on your
homes surfaces. Even if you never use these a neighbor
may. A mouse can chow down at the neighbors and run next
door to your home where your cat catches it entering
your home. Ants too can travel far with a bit of poison
food they have found. Apartment and condo dwellers may
be at higher risk because of the close proximity of
neighbors.
Not everything you eat is good for pets
either. Products with sweeteners
are deadly. Onions and garlic cause Heinz Body Anemia in
cats. Some baby food meats have onion and garlic powder
in them. There are more human foods that will make cats
sick but that's a whole different subject.
Then there is the pet food controversy, do we really know what is in
our commercial pet foods? We were only told about the 2007 melamine after hundreds of pets died.
How may ingredient mistakes go unreported? If your cat(s)
throws up after you open a new bag of food, no hairball,
set it aside and feed something else. Buying a
premium cat food from a pet store is very important.
Grocery and discount store brands, even with well known
names, are not the same as their premium versions. This
is the FDA petfood recall list. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/newpetfoodrecalls
Click on the brand you feed and bookmark the page for
ease in checking for any new recalls.
A tiny bit of any of the above
toxins can damage the kidneys and you may not notice. Over time the damage builds,
its accumulative, and function decreases. A cat will lose 70% of its kidney function before it becomes symptomatic.
| There is a new concern being
discussed on the web that vaccinations may play
a part in some cats developing CRF. While there
are no definitive completed studies ongoing
research does suggest that there may be a correlation between the FVRCP vaccine and chronic renal failure in
cats and distemper vaccines in dogs. Dr. Jean Hofve,
DVM states " The common feline distemper (panleukopenia) virus is grown in a culture of feline kidney cells. Recent work at Colorado State University showed that most kittens developed autoantibodies to their own kidney tissues after being vaccinated for distemper. When autoantibodies react with body tissue, the result is inflammation. Each booster vaccine creates even more antibodies—and more inflammation. Chronic low-grade inflammation is the primary cause of CRF"
read more on this subject at http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/vaccination
Information on Dr. Lappin’sresearch on the
effect on feline kidneys of vaccines developed
using kidney cells. http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/insight/2004/fall2004/cats.htm
|
Wednesday 9/29/2010, Sasha's test results were
faxed to my vet. The owner's vet also asked for Sasha to come in to begin sub-q fluids. Her owner came home with a sub-q set up to give fluids at home and an appetite stimulant. She was also told to give half a Pepcid for stomach acid. Her owner reported that as soon as they were home from the Vet Sasha had perked up, was more active, eating, and using the litter box. Her Vet said that
the urine culture was not growing anything so it looked like there was no bacterial cause.
Monday 10/4/2010, the ultrasound showed normal kidneys and no congenital abnormalities.
Her vet said Sasha's kidneys did not look like a cat that had CRF. They
were now thinking maybe it was an infection that didn't show up in the bladder. They started
Clavamox antibiotics. This is seven days after we asked if their vet put her on an antibiotic.
Friday 10/8/2010, Sasha's owner had to convince her vet to test kidney levels again. He really wanted to push off retesting levels for another week or two. They will finish up sub-q fluids in the next few days.
10/9 the
kidney panel was NORMAL, liver levels not elevated. She will finish the first round of antibiotics and do a second round
of antibiotics to be sure the bacteria is gone. They
will retest kidney levels in 2 weeks. Their Vet was surprised at the results. He really didn’t believe there would be any improvement.
Tuesday 10/26/2010, Sasha’s follow up Vet visit and kidney panel are
still normal. Sasha's owner said basically their Vet is scratching his head in
disbelief at her recovery.
Sasha’s owner told me she was afraid to contact me
initially. Thank goodness she did. If
you own one of our kittens, Please don’t be
afraid to ask for advice or help. Working in conjunction
with my Vet we were able to offer some treatment
suggestions and family support that saved Sasha life.
Despite her vet’s disbelief Sasha’s owner
pushed for what was needed and they worked together to
help Sasha fight her kidney crisis. Sasha is a happy
healthy cat because she got the treatment she needed in
time.
|
The Case of Sasha
