Looking for others with similar situation...early renal disease

We ended up switching to a new vet. The old one just wasn't cutting it with their communication and we kinda wanted some place closer to our house. We went yesterday with both our cats to this new one and are very pleased so far with them. They did a new blood panel and urinalysis on Bacardi and we already go results this morning! Her protein/creatinine ratio is down to 0.6 from 1.5 a few weeks ago! I'm not sure of what her other kidney levels were since my husband spoke with the vet, but the vet is going to try another culture of the urine they got yesterday and see if there is still an infection going on. Depending on those results, we may get her in for an xray to check for kidney stones as well. So, not sure yet if it is early renal disease or just an infection, but the diet change seems to be helping at least. The new vet doesn't carry Hill's K/D, but are willing to order it for us, or we can try switching her again to the brand they carry, Royal Canin Renal LP. We are trying the wet food of this brand and both cats seem to really like the gravy on it . Does anyone else use this brand? The vet said it is usually more palatable to cats that don't like the K/D.

I hope your cat dosent have Kidney Stones.
I lost Yoshi because they can not remove kidney stones.
Also my old cat has kidney failure now.
We just found out at th er on Thurs/Fri.
Her bun is 79.
I have used K/D in the past and Stripe hated it.
She did like Purina N/F thouh.
How old is your cat again?
I am waiting for Cocos urine test results also.
I got the blood test results in 30 mins and ultrasoun with in 10 minutes.
Bladder and Kidney stones are not the same.
Will they do a ultrasound of the bladder?
Coco had bladder stones and it was disolved with S/D over 2 years ago.
Let me know if you need help.

Originally Posted by mews2much

I hope your cat dosent have Kidney Stones.
I lost Yoshi because they can not remove kidney stones.
Also my old cat has kidney failure now.
We just found out at th er on Thurs/Fri.
Her bun is 79.
I have used K/D in the past and Stripe hated it.
She did like Purina N/F thouh.
How old is your cat again?
I am waiting for Cocos urine test results also.
I got the blood test results in 30 mins and ultrasoun with in 10 minutes.
Bladder and Kidney stones are not the same.
Will they do a ultrasound of the bladder?
Coco had bladder stones and it was disolved with S/D over 2 years ago.
Let me know if you need help.

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Oh, I didn't know they couldn't do anything for kidney stones. I don't know yet if we will be getting an ultrasound of the bladder or not. I guess it depends on the latest urine culture.

I'm sorry about your old cat. Ours is only 6.

Yoshi was only 5 when he got the Kidney Stones.
He was given 6 months to 2 years but lasted 8.
My Patches was 6 when I lost her to Crf and Stripe 11.
They were ferals we cauft when they were kittens.
Coco had the bladder stones and they are gone.
If your cat has a urine infection causing the problem I hope you get rid of it fast.
Cocos Kidney problems might have come from her bladder infections.
She has had alot of them.
Do ypu know the rest of the numbers for your cat?

No, I don't have the rest of the numbers since mu husband spoke with the vet. I asked him to write them down when he spoke with the vet, but he didn't of course. I should know more on Tues. when the culture results come in and I can get the other numbers then hopefully.

Originally Posted by christine760

Oh, I didn't know they couldn't do anything for kidney stones. I don't know yet if we will be getting an ultrasound of the bladder or not. I guess it depends on the latest urine culture.

I'm sorry about your old cat. Ours is only 6.

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Check with your vet as to whether they suspect kidney or bladder stones...Tyler<RB> had bladder stones that were removed surgically (his were calcium oxalate stones, which would not have dissolved with diet change as the struvite stones will). Glad to hear you are getting some good changes in the kidney function numbers

Another update...the latest urine test was cultured and there are definite signs of bacteria. They are gram staining it tonight and will call us again tomorrow when they have a more definitive answer on what kind of bacteria it is. Then she will be put on antibiotics for a few weeks and see how that goes, then we will possibly do an xray to check for stones at this time.

I wonder if its Ecoli.
Cocos test came back Positive with Ecoli.
Cocos first infection in 2006 was Ecoli with bladder stones.
I hope your cat feels better.
She is on Baytril for the next 2 weeks because Clavamox makes her very sick.
Let us know how she is doing.

Well Dillon made it to just under 20, he was diagnosed at 12 (somewhere around there). They first said he had kidney failure at 7 (then they put him on antibiotics and the numbers came back to normal, they said that this can happen with an infection). There was another time in between when the numbers were high again, I told them to put him on antibiotics and they came down. The last time when he was around 12, the same vet said, this time it was kidney failure. I put him on the correct diet, but he had a small amount of tuna every day as well, got the blood pressure down (in a piece of pork pie), had water bowls everywhere, especially as he got less mobile through old age, and most of all (I truly believe this is what keeps them going), loads of love, attention and tit bits of food they like (the will to live!)
Best Wishes
Chris

Coco is 16.5 now.
The meds should be in today.
She is drinking way to much water.

Originally Posted by christine760

My 6 year old cat was just diagnosed with this today...so upset. She has been behaving normally and we only found out there was a problem by taking her in for a dental cleaning.

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This exact same thing happened to me with my last cat, except she was about 12 years old at the time. The bloodwork before a dental showed elevated kidney levels so when my vet called with the bloodwork results they said I needed to come in to learn how to give her sub-q fluids. I was in shock! They caught it very early due to the bloodwork, there were no symptoms.
At first we were giving fluids every day. Sylvia was eating Iams food, and when I found out about the kidney disease I wanted to switch foods. I really dislike Science Diet due to the poor quality so I asked my vet if we HAD to use a prescription food. They said we could use any low protein/phosphorus food she will eat (she was very picky.) I did some research and got samples of a few foods, and found a good one she would eat, Wellness Lite. We switched to that and her kidney values began to improve with the fluids and the better food. After a while we went to fluids every other day, then 3x a week, then less. Sylvia's kidney values stayed normal or near normal for the next 2 years and we did not need to use any other medications. Unfortunately she developed mammary cancer which metastasized after surgery and we lost her to cancer after about 2-3 years from her renal failure diagnosis.

Just curious, Christine...what's the latest? Are the numbers any better?

Haven't heard anything since Friday night, when the vet called to say that now the lab is saying that no bacteria was present. The vet wasn't too happy with the lab and apologized to us and is refunding us the cost of the labs. He was going to speak with the lab director in the next day or 2 and then get back with us. So, nothing new to report yet, but thanks for asking Stephanie!

Do you think the lab made a mistake?