Tristan is PKd Positive - Now what?

My beautiful Persian Tristan is PKd positive. I had emailed his breeder to ask if he'd ever been tested and she sent me back that he was positive. I thought to ask b/c I was researchign to learn more about the disease and one of the symptoms is LOTS of drinking. He drinks a LOT of water.

What do you do? I know about the ultrasound and such - I'm talking about - HOW do you prolong their life?!?!? Tristan is 6 and I expected him to be around for a long long time with me. I'm worried now and if I lose him early I will just die.

I've read the feline pkd website and I see nothing on what to do holistically or otherwise to make it better. They basically just say if the cat get the symptoms - he's doomed... or at least I perceive it that way.

Here is a pic of my beautiful boy Tristan.

I know a few on here have experience .. i offer a and suggest having a sit down talk with your vet

I just came from the vet for another cat of mine. I bought a breeder Persian from someone in January. She came to me pregnant and due March 6th. She had the kittens March 1st and they were VERY premature. I only found out THIS week that she also is PKd positive. Her kidneys are HUGE! I'm just crushed. It's been a horrible week.

... and lots of prayers..

Thank you. It all means so much to me - even cyber wise.

I have nothing to but sympathy and some

I think mzjazz has exp. with this. I'll send her this thread.

Okay if anyone has experience with this - I'd appreciate it. I was so upset at the vet I forgot to ask pertinent questions so have to call back.

First I want to say I'm so sorry you've received so much bad news lately. Yes, I had a PKD kitty named Hallie. Unfortunately, I was not successful at prolonging Hallie's life that long. She was only 4 when she died. But that doesn't mean your cats can't live a long life. Many live in their teens. I can't believe breeders would home these cats with you and not tell you before hand, that they were PKD +. It may not have changed whether you took them or not but you should have been informed before hand so you could be a bit more prepared.

The ultrasound will help to tell you how advanced the kidneys are. They count the cysts and measure how big they are to determine how far along the disease is. I strongly encourage you to get them both spayed/neutered. This is the first step in prolonging their life. Your vet may have already told you but they should be on a lower protein low phos diet and lots of fresh water. Higher protein diets can speed up the deterioration of the kidneys. Wet food is going to be the best choice. There will be times, in the future, when your cats don't feel well at all and probably won't be eating very well either. Sub-Q fluids usually perks them up and helps them to start eating better again. Your vet can help you obtain those supplies when the time comes and instruct you on adminstration (unless you already have experience with it.) Those are the main things to do for a PKD kitty.

Some things about PKD cats... at some point, many of them become very sensitive to touch. They won't want to be touched, picked up or groomed and are very prone to high stress and anxiety. The last year or so of Hallie's life, I had to keep her shaved. She just couldn't bear to be groomed at all. She had good days where she'd play a bit and lay on my bed and bad days where she just wanted to be alone in a box with a soft blanket in it.

I don't know what else to tell you at this point. I feel like I'm painting a pretty bleak picture and am sorry for that. If you have any questions I can help you with, I'd be happy to help. One thing I found, is that it is very hard to find a vet experienced with PKD. Hell, I had to tell my vet at the time, what it was. Needless to say I didn't keep that vet long.

There are more PKD links on my web site I can get for you but here's a good PKD FAQ's page: http://Feline PKD FAQsFeline PKD FAQs

Tristan won't touch soft food so what food is out there that he could have? I haven't had the chance to start research on that yet. Tristan is already neutered. He was a breeder and she was retiring him and I got him. Tristan prefers to be shaved as he hates being groomed. I dont know if that is PKd but could be b/c his breeder never had a problem with him being groomed. He HATES me grooming him! Now I understand more of what Tristan does. He came to me and was my total Luv Bug and slept with me - ON me and always near me. Now he goes through spurts of sleeping alone all the time and then one day he'll be up on my bed with me sleeping. Tristan also drinks water like there's no tomorrow!!!

My girl Persian loves soft food so that should be fine to feed her that. She's heatlhy and VERY loving and only has the huge kidneys right now. My poor girl.

I don't think YOU paint a bleak picture. PKd IS a bleak picture in of itself. It affects our cats, makes them sick and knowing that they could die a early death. I just have to do more research and get totally educated on it.

I sent you a PM by the way.

Originally Posted by fluffysimba

Tristan won't touch soft food so what food is out there that he could have? I haven't had the chance to start research on that yet. Tristan is already neutered. He was a breeder and she was retiring him and I got him.

Tristan prefers to be shaved as he hates being groomed. I don't know if that is PKd but could be b/c his breeder never had a problem with him being groomed. He HATES me grooming him! Now I understand more of what Tristan does. He came to me and was my total Luv Bug and slept with me - ON me and always near me. Now he goes through spurts of sleeping alone all the time and then one day he'll be up on my bed with me sleeping. Tristan also drinks water like there's no tomorrow!!!

My girl Persian loves soft food so that should be fine to feed her that. She's healthy and VERY loving and only has the huge kidneys right now. My poor girl.

I don't think YOU paint a bleak picture. PKd IS a bleak picture in of itself. It affects our cats, makes them sick and knowing that they could die a early death. I just have to do more research and get totally educated on it.

I sent you a PM by the way.

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There are other dry foods that are low protein by prescription. They are not as "good quality" as some more organic etc. but they are better for a cat with PKD. Ask your vet. The wet food is just better because a cat with PKD needs all the moisture they can get. Maybe you could try putting some water on Tristan's dry food and see if he'll take it that way.

It makes total sense to me that Tristan doesn't like to be groomed and that he's having spurts of wanting to be close to you and then times when he wants to be alone. That's classic PKD behavior. Actually, it can be behavior of any animal that doesn't feel well.

I think you said Kono has the huge kidneys but no symptoms? A cat doesn't start having symptoms until the kidneys are over 70% affected/diseased. An ultrasound definitively diagnosis and will tell you how far advanced the kidneys disease process is.

You have my sincere sympathies. I was stunned to learn in the past couple of months that our Tippy, a shorthair domestic rescue, has severe PKD. His cysts are quite large, to the point where we were just told how sorry our vets are about this.

We are treating the changes in kidney function that he has with calcitriol, his high bp with norvasc, and for his poor protein/creatinine ratio (losing protein in his urine), he is on Benzapril. He is also on pepcid. I feed him a lower protein, lower phos dry and wet food...he has begun to gain some weight back, his bp has normalized, appetite has picked back up, but I know it can change at any time.

We simply try to cherish him each day.

For information on chronic renal failure (and there is a section on this site re PKD), visit http://www.felinecrf.org

Keep us update, as I keep everyone updated on Tippy,

Well now that I am more aware .... I did a business deal with the owner of the female breeder back in January. the contract was that I would pay for the cats with the sale of kittens.

this is what my vet told me today: he stated that although Kono is healthy over all, the enlarged kidney is a symptom of her positive PKd status. He stated that she could go into renal failure at anytime due to her being PKd positive. He said that she should NOT be bred anymore b/c although healthy, she IS PKd positive and it could be passed on to her kittens. He also stated that PKd is diagnosed with the test which she already had done to give her the positive and that an ultrasound would show the cysts in her kidneys which are why she has enlarged kidneys.

According to the breeder Kono still has *lots left in her* for breeding and she never had problems having kittens before for her. She says Kono is too good to not be bred.

I have more bad news: Not only is Kono PKd positive but 5 of the 8 cats I got from her are. There is one kitten that has not been tested yet. Apparently b/c I assumed ALL responsible and caring Persian breeders would not be breeding PKd positive cats and would certainly disclose such things before a contract was signed, I should've asked before hand. Yes I know that now. NEVER assume people on anything!!!!! I was told that since I am a new breeder I don't need to be concerned with PKd in my cats and that PKd was some man's idea to make money for some new machinery he purchased.

I told the breeder that I wanted to return all the cats except for Kono and the male that is PKd negative wiht the intention of the same contract. My Delilah is pregnant by this male cat. She informed me that I would have to pay upfront for them if I wanted them. Actually she told me she wouldn't let me have the male but would pet out Kono IF I paid for her upfront. cuz otherwise she'll just breed her again.

Oh and I have until Monday to come up with the money. She wants the cats returned tomorrow or Monday.

I'm wondering... how do I go about getting THAT done?!?!? I wish I didn't have to take Kono back. She deserves a good retirement.

Pat & Alix - What kind of tests were done to determine what meds were needed for your kitty?

Mzjazz - THANK YOU for the tissues. I sure do need them right now.

Originally Posted by fluffysimba

Pat & Alix - What kind of tests were done to determine what meds were needed for your kitty?

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He had an ultrasound which found the cysts and explained why his kidneys felt enlarged to my vet on palpation. Next he had blood work which showed his BUN and Creatinine were elevated - signs of renal failure. His potassium was normal, as was his phosphorous level so need for a phosphorus binder or a potassium supplement (due to the volume of urine, renal failure kitties may have a low potassium level, and you want their food to be lower phos as they feel absolutely lousy with a too high phos level).
His calcium level was good, so we could use the Calcitriol with him (a medication I used with my first crf kitty - Patrick - I am convinced it is why he lived almost 4 years post diagnosis, and then when he needed to be pts it was not related to his renal failure).

He had a doppler BP taken at the vets which showed a very high bp, which is why he's on the norvasc, which brought it down to normal.

The protein/creatine ratio per my vet should be .1 to .2, this is a newer belief, as previously it was thought that .5 would be okay. Tippy's initial was 1.1 or 1.2, don't recall at the moment. The benzapril has brought it down to
.5, still too high, but a vast improvement.

I will be taking Tristan in soon to get an ultrasound done. It's going to be a long road and I'm gonna make sure he's around for as long as he can be!

I can't save the others ... but I can inform others about PKd and breeders who don't care that they are selling kittens that are positive to their customers. I can keep PKd out of MY cattery.

That breeder is lucky that she doesn't live in Germany, as it's actually a crime to breed cats that are PKD positive here, punishable by fine, and the breeder will be kicked out of any breeders' associations, and may not show cats.
I picked up a German cat breeders' magazine yesterday (Our Cats), because it had an article on PKD, and I'd read this thread. I'm appalled. Apparently, 25% of all Persians in Germany have PKD. If one parent carries the gene, 50% of the offspring will probably have it!!!!
The article said that other breeds with "Persian blood", such as Exotic Short Hairs, British Short Hairs, Norwegian Forest Cats and Maine Coons, are prone to it, as well as Moggie/Persian mixes.

Some breeders simply should not be breeding and should be thrown in jail.

Sorry you are going through this