From perfectly healthy to Stage 4 kidney failure in 2 weeks

[TodaysFishIsTroutALaCreme]

How the heck can this happen? I only took him in to have his teeth cleaned and now I could be looking at PTS when they do more bloods tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago he went in to have his teeth cleaned and ended up with two taken out due to root reabsorbsion. At this point, all of his blood were all within normal parameters.

All was fine for a few days but then I noticed he wasnt eating much. Took him for his 1st post op check and vet said all looked fine, healing nicely, poss touch of dry socket so gave him pain injection as he was refusing to eat food with metacam in it and were sent away to see how he got on.

He seemed to be ok. Still not eating much and sometimes refusing his favourite foods. He seemed well in himself, he was still playing and communicating with us, still wanted cuddles etc, but during the week he started to get lethargic and we noticed he was drinking a fair bit. Friday night, he tried to drink out of the toilet so I knew something wasnt right. Turns out I was correct. Went to vets Saturday am and they said he had lost weight and his bloods showed he had kidney failure.

This morning, she phoned with an update and they have staged him. It's at stage 4 which is the worst stage and very life limiting but shes hoping that will reduce with the next bloods tomorrow.

So it all depends what happens with his bloods tomorrow. If there are no changes then its PTS. if there is improvement, he can come home. But for how long?

She said he is well in himself and loving the attention so I am clinging on to that and praying that he can fight it but all I know right now is that it was me that allowed him to have his teeth done. I really really wish I hadn't been a good cat mum. And because of covid, I cant go and cuddle him.

Did they offer a pre op blood test for kidney function? Ours had that before his dental.

The did. It was completely normal

It’s just awful bad luck then, it would have happened anyway and if his teeth needed doing it was the right thing to do.

I know but I'm still kicking myself. If its chronic kidney disease, it would have happened anyway but the op was the trigger for it. If it is an acute failure, it is because of the op. Either way, because I allowed the op to happen, he's now very poorly.

Wouldn’t the blood test have picked up any problems though? Otherwise what’s the point in doing it?.

I guess to make sure there is nothing wrong before they operate. My cat got poorly because they operated. It's just a big pile of pants and I am devastated.

I am so sorry for you and your DCat.

Our Sev died in Feb. shortly after he had his teeth cleaned. Heart failure. I think it was brought on by the anesthaetic, because he had got a clean bill of health before the procedure.

Just wanted to say i'm really sorry to hear this news, fingers crossed for the best positive outcome 🤞🏻

I should preface this by saying that My old girl also has hyperthyroidism so obviously it's a different situation go yours.

Her blood results were fine but after having a crisis with her other illness that resulted in an emergency stay at the vet hospital they did a scan and coincidentally found that she had only one working kidney and could see the other had died off! Probably from a stone blocking the tube.
Her kidney disease has progressed now of course.

I was told that the hyperthyroidism may mask things like her having kidney disease but in the beginning even though one had died off her bloods didn't really show the extent of her disease.

Oh OP I really feel for you. I'm also caring for a cat which has suddenly developed severe kidney disease (stage 3) despite being only 7.

If your cat is well enough to come home, please have a look at this site felinecrf.org/index.htm which is an absolute goldmine of info about caring for the condition.

We've had to start giving our cat subcutaneous fluid injections - not fun but clearly make her feel better so quickly and you get used to it. Fingers crossed that your cat's levels drop a bit and you get a bit more time with him.

It seems odd to me, Did your cat show signs of infection? Off food, so tooth/gum pain? Sepsis causes kidney failure. What explanation have they given you for the sudden kidney failure?