3yo cat: kidney problems

[ZebraOwl]

Took one of my dcats to the vet this afternoon as he'd been rather off-colour all weekend. Locum vet hugely dismissive but ran some blood tests.

Glad I pushed because it turns out my poor moglet's creatinine is elevated. Today cost me £133 & all I have is the Worrying News. Am expecting to have to go back tomorrow to see Senior Vet (who is splendid, at least) - unhelpful twitvet said they might want to do an ultrasound &/or more [blood]tests. Cat is insured with Petplan (as is his brother) on the For Life thing, but as I'm on disability benefits, paying out in the first place is painful. (Although I would clearly sell one of own kidneys on black market to fund vet care for dcat. They're one of the bits that work ok. In fact, I've had abnormal result alerts on them for working too well. And yes, I'm busily wishing I could magically transfer that to my little House Liger...)

Does anyone have any experience of young cats having kidney issues? Ideally ones where the feline had a one-off wonky blood result that mysteriously disappeared overnight?

He is a neutered indoor cat (his choice, outdoors is scary & the cause of actual panic attacks) who gets plenty of exercise. Wet food (organic/human-grade stuff) at breakfast & dry food (the stuff that's around 70% meat & again, organic & full of goodness & whatnot) in the evening & he's a little over 4kg of solid muscle (with correctly-palpable spine). He thinks his bedtime toothpaste stuff is a treat, ACTUAL treats are occasional & again better quality than my own diet. (Though I'm an almost-vegan, so...). (Well & in the summer they got tiny bits of frozen catmilk on all the Very Hot Days.)

But yes. It's just really all a bit scary. Am desperately trying to tell myself that it'll be Nothing. But what if it's not?

[cozietoesie]

Well Thank Goodness you had the lifetime insurance for them both.

Wait and see what Decent Vet has to say. (Not easy, I know.)

[ZebraOwl]

Thanks cozie

Although I can get free care through PDSA due to my personal circs I felt Right Thing was to shift things around so I could pay for pet insurance - & went for Best Policy Possible.

I'm still hoping that The Donkey Of Destiny will respect the Law of Sod on this one - the Lifetime policy means that he should remain in boundingly good health & not need the cover I'm paying that bit extra for. Nope nope nopetty nope nope.

Am letting him sleep in with me tonight because he's feeling poorly. And because he was So Very Good at the vet. Rather happier little cat than earlier as a result!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

If creatinine is the only thing elevated (BUN and phosphate are normal) I wouldn't be getting excited and it probably is a single one of abnormal value.

[cozietoesie]

Are there any other possibilities that spring to mind, Lone ? ( Given that he's off- colour. )

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Raised creatinine alone would be suggestive of muscle breakdown which any weight loss would cause. Me I would do a spec fPLi as of colour cat pancreatitis has got to be fairly high on the list.

[cozietoesie]

Ta.

[ZebraOwl]

Thank you.

Mr B is spending the night at the vet so they can do More Tests. Apparently his kidneys looked good on the ultrasound (yay!) but they thought there might be something in his bladder (query sediment, I was on Waterloo Station & twitvet was just BABBLING at me despite my repeatedly saying "I can't hear you properly" & "as this isn't urgent could we discuss it at another time".). It was twitvet who rang me at 1030 this morning "please can you bring the cat in" "ok, when?" "Oh, whenever is convenient for you" "um, well, what time can you actually take him" "whenever is convenient for you" "I'm sorry, what time do you want me to bring my cat to you" "ok let me ask [muttering noises] eleven o'clock?" (We were 5 minutes late. Given I dislocated my shoulder trying to persuade Mr Balanchine into his carrier, I don't think that's bad...)

So I'm thinking now it seems like perhaps Mr B is a cat who just can't cope with dry food? Even though his dry food is the high meat content hypoallergenic stuff. Bit of an extreme way to go about getting wet food for both meals, frankly. (He really likes his dry food actually. I'm going to have to think HARD about my budget if I'm to switch the cats to wetfood only. I already bulk-order from ZooPlus, might need to look at WHICH wetfoods I order for them - they have a range of them that I get them, so they have variety in their diet. But Yarrah tins = more cost-effective than the little trays, though those are easier to manage jointswise. Umph.).

Looks like Celia Hammond might be going to get some food in a few days then. Which reminds me, going to need to get the Brownies to decide what to send our sponsored cat & his friends for Christmas this year: they're generous kids, rather than keep money raised at coffee morning for themselves, it goes to our sponsored cat (& his friends at the sanctuary). Oh & the Brownies chose to sponsor Mr Brown because he has neuro issues & they were worried that might put other people off sponsoring him "because some people aren't very nice to people with disabilities" & "some people don't understand people with disabilities are just as important as everyone else". (I might be the very tiniest bit biased, but I think my Brownies are superawesome. Thinking about their enthusiasm for supporting CHAT - we collect used postage stamps as well as sponsoring Mr Brown - has made me smile for the first time since the weekend.)

[ZebraOwl]

Well I didn't sleep last night & the house panther didn't sleep as much as usual either, he was quite prowly. But we have our house liger back now!

He's had bloods taken & IV fluids given & IV antibiotics & other medications & they're sending his urine sample away for micro analysis because they're none to sure about exactly what the why of the stuff clarting up his wee bladder is. I've come away with two sorts of antibiotic & a supplement for urinary tract health - luckily my cats are very good about taking tablets for me. Am actually more worried about the supplement you add to food as think B might simply say "euwurgh no thank YOU"...

It seems my instructions to Be A Good Boy didn't fall on deaf ears - the vet was genuinely baffled by having been able to do an ultrasound on a cat without sedating it first. Poor wee man looks so fragile with his shaved tummy & his shaved legs & the shaved bit on his chest. And his brother wants to snuggle him better but B gets hedgehoggy when he feels poorly so he won't let him near. Hopefully he'll get over that soon & remember he loves to snuggle!

[cozietoesie]

He looks a little ....approximate, actually. It's his eyes. When will the results be in ?

Oh - which vet did you deal with this time ?

[ZebraOwl]

He's feeling quite fragile-shocked I think. He's starting to look a little - though only a little - better having spent the afternoon cuddled up into me, purring like it's his actual job.

They weren't sure when the results would be back - it was twit!vet again...