Kidney issues in 1 yr old cat

My cat Joey will be 1 in about 2 weeks, he is a neutered male.
On late Tuesday/early Wednesday I noticed a cat had been throwing up recently eaten food. I watched the cats and realized it was Joey. He still ate both wet and dry food but was throwing eveyrthing up.
Thursday morning he refused wet food, which was a first. He ate a little dry food and threw it up. Twice in his life he has gone for a couple days throwing up...but is always better by late the 2nd/early 3rd day. Thursday evening we bought plain chicken babyfood and syringe fed him. He loved it and ate some on his own as well.
Friday morning he refused food again. I syringe fed him 3 syringes which he held down. Around noon I fed him 2 syringes which he threw up. (all of chicken baby food) He grew increasingly lethargic and would cry when picked up. I called the vet and got a walk in appt for this evening. He started getting even worse, so my husband left work early and took him. They did an exam, and had to do bloodwork. While they did that, hubby came home and got me. I had my daycare parents come early to pick their kids up so I could go to the vet with Joey.
The bloodwork was bad news. I cried and cried and cried. Apparently the BUN, creatine, potassium and calcium (i may be missing something or a little wrong about something, i was basically crying the entire time so it was hard to keep up) were all high. The vet was not sure if it was acute renal failure, or some sort of blockage/obstruction in his kidney. The vet was amazing and so nice. He said he didn't think it was anything chronic, could possibly be something he ate...but they gave him medicine for nausea, fluids, cleaned his ears, treated his ear mites, and did a fecal exam and the bloodwork. The vet ended up only charging us for the bloodwork and one medication...he took about 200 off the bill because he knew that the IVfluid treatment was expensive and we were concerned about affording it.
We took Joey to a animal hospital where he will stay for 24 hours getting IV fluids, his blood rechecked tomorrow, and xrays. The xrays will tell us the size of his kidneys which will help to let us know if it is an obstruction/blockage(large kidneys) or some sort of other issue (normal size/small kidneys)
We are about $1000 into it...just with these two visits. We are kinda nervous to hear how he reacts to the fluids. I saw some posts on here about cats needing multiple days of IV fluids. I don't know how we can afford more then one day. We are in contract for a home, and our savings account was all for the down payment and furnishing the home...we just spent a good portion of the furnishing money and can't break into the downpayment money really. I am looking into a second job just to pay back what we took from savings. The vets mentioned somehting called Care something....but until our loan is approved for the house, we cannot try to get any additional lines of credit which means we can't even apply for it for another week. So basically....idk what to do. I can't have to choose between my cat and our house. I am hoping the one day of IV fluids helps a lot. If our loan is approved (we find out this week), we have to close on the house by the end of March which would not give us much time to recoup the loss of money in the savings account but we will do whatever we have to if it comes to that...

Anyway, sorry for the long post but has anyone experienced anything like this and have any advice for me? any good news about cats going through something similar and being okay?? or anything about what i should expect based on the diagnosis? thanks for any advice, vibes, good thoughts, prayers....anything. Joey is my soulmate kitty. I got him at 6 weeks old...he follows me around, sleeps with me, cuddles with me, has always been very attached to me and I am very attached to him as well. This is killing me.

that you get some good news....it's so hard when one of our babies is sick, and we all hate that economics can have such an effect on our decisions. You love Joey, and he knows it. I know you won't sleep well tonight. And i know if you could be sick instead, you'd do it for Joey.

The vet was probably talking about CareCredit, but you're right - taking out an additional loan right before you get your final mortgage approval isn't a good idea. If he needs multiple days of fluids, but nothing else, the vet can probably teach you to do the fluids at home - a lot of members have done that.

I was just looking at Homer's Odyssey again, the story of the little blind cat that never gave up - he had a spell of not eating and was diagnosed with some liver damage some years back, and they never found how the cause...but he's still hanging in there today.

The vet suggested doing 48 hours of fluids, and we asked that they re-assess at 24 hours after more bloodwork so we can come up with a plan. I will make sure to ask the vet about administering fluids at home tomorrow.
Yeah it was CareCredit...I have had a rough day with a lot of emotion so I am in a forgetful mode. And I keep staring at my phone waiting to hear about his xrays. I wish this happened (well i wish it never happened) but also that it could have happened a week later after our mortgage loan was approved...either way we are going to try to get carecredit for anything in the future that may happen....once we are in the new house and all.
Hubby has been great...he loves Joey too, just not as much as I do. He is very stressed about the financial hit we are taking with all of this and how it may affect us being able to put a downpayment on the house...but he also knows how deep my love for Joey is so we are doing whatever we can to have the money for treatments. I am trying to stay positive and not think about what may happen if the news tomorrow is bad.

I read Homers Odyssey soon after we adopted Billy, our blind cat. I forgot about the part you mentioned though. Our Billy is such a little fighter too. When we got home without Joey he gave a confused cry...he and Joey are pretty much BFF's (lol at using the term BFF) but they love each other and Billy misses Joey....so I hope for good news for both us and the other cats that miss their friend.

It's horrible how everything seems to happen at just the worst time. Buying a home is one of the most stressful events in life, and I can just imagine how having this happen right now is making you both feel more than a little desperate, right when you should be so happy about creating a new home for all of you.

I'm surprised you can remember anything the vet told you. But try to stay positive and just know that you and your husband are doing everything possible for Billy - you're wonderful parents and if Billy had to be sick, he could have no stronger support than you two.

Originally Posted by darlili

It's horrible how everything seems to happen at just the worst time. Buying a home is one of the most stressful events in life, and I can just imagine how having this happen right now is making you both feel more than a little desperate, right when you should be so happy about creating a new home for all of you.

I'm surprised you can remember anything the vet told you. But try to stay positive and just know that you and your husband are doing everything possible for Billy - you're wonderful parents and if Billy had to be sick, he could have no stronger support than you two.

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Aw sweetie, I'm so sorry!

!!!!!!!!!!!

UGH, this is very, very difficult on you and your husband, and why now, right???!!!!! Your love for Joey, and the timing of the economics for his care are not good. You are such a great meowmy for Joey and he knows how much you love him. He will be alright, and yes, the bills seem overwhelming, but I am sure the vet will work with your without you having to go the CareCredit route. For you, your DH and for dear Joey . Just try to stay positive that all will work out for you and Joey and get some rest tonight!!! We are here for you

I just spoke to the vet. I will probably call every 2 hours to check on my baby. The xrays showed that his kidneys are still in normal size range. They are in the big end of normal though...almost out of normal size range....but still considered normal. His liver is a little big but because his blood test showed no issues with liver, they are not concerned. One loop of his intestine was big but again they are not concerned because that could not have caused the issues he has. I forgot to mention early, they took a pee sample supposedly at the animal hospital (they must have done it fast bc he was in with us most the time, aside form about 5 minutes) and said the urine was diluted. IDK if that means anything. He peed twice today at home in the box like normal and has not had any accidents anywhere...thats part of why I didn't think it would be anything to do with his kidneys.
Anyway, he is still at the vet obviously. I took his favorite fleecey blanket for them to let him lay on while hooked up. Its the blanket he shares with me every night while we sleep.
If he is able to go through the night without vomiting and is receiving the fluids well, they will be offering food in the morning to see if he will eat anything. I am in tears, again. I was so hoping it was a blockage and fluids/meds would dissolve it and he would be fine. Well, idk how much sleep I will or won't get tonight and I will update with any additional info as I get it.

Please update as you can and feel like it - we're all sending prayers that you get very good news soon.

I called the vet at 2am and they said he was the biggest purrer they have seen and he is so lovey. Which he is...he is the loviest cat ever and he loves being petted and literally purrs all the time. They said for me to try and get some sleep (i did warn them I would be calling every couple hours LOL...) and that he was doing okay so far, his bladder was starting to fill so they hoped he would urinate soon, and he would be offered food in the morning based on whether or not he threw up overnight.
I called again at 7am, he had urinated overnight which was good, and was still resting comfortably. I asked if his urine was still diluted and they said yes but it would be because of all the fluids given to him. They were planning to offer food soon. They were keeping him hooked to IVs til about 7pm and would check his kidney function at that time and I could call to receive those results.
I called again at 10am and they said they had offered him food, and he had no interest in it. They did say that he was moving around a lot more then last night, everytime someone came into the room he was getting up and meowing until they petted him, he was walking around a little and seemed to have a lot more energy. They asked if he had any food preference, and his favorite is wet food, so I told them that, and his favorite flavor is anything to do with beef. When we first got Joey actually, we fed primarily dry food with an occasional wet food "treat" to the cats...but Joey didn't eat the first two days we had him unless it was wet food, so we started giving wet food twice a day and now that is his favorite. Joey knows the schedule of when he gets his wet food and if its a weekend and I sleep in he will walk all over me in bed meowing until I get up. Anyway, my husband and I decided that instead of calling for blood work results tonight at 730 we will go in and see Joey and get the results. Also because I am concerned with him not eating, we are getting ready to go take a can of his favorite food to the animal hospital to see if they will let us offer it to him, just in case it helps him eat. IDK if it will work, or if its even allowed but its worth a shot.
Thanks for the vibes, please keep them coming. Last night I applied to a few pt weekend jobs..with my schedule running the daycare in my home, I can't really work a second job weeknights. I am also talking to my daycare parents to see if they have any friends who need occasional sitters so I can make some extra money...and as soon as we get back from seeing Joey this morning we are going through the house for anything we can sell. Please please think good, cheap thoughts for us. We have a little bit left that we can use for his treatment so I am hoping the cost doesnt go above that. IDK what I would do. I am just numb right now. I have barely slept, cried so much...this just sucks.

Lots of ongoing good thoughts for a quick diagnosis, and effective and 'cheap'
treatment and for Joey to be home soon, all well and wanting to make sure mommy doesn't sleep in too much!

Oh gosh, I a so sorry you are going through this now with all your other things going on.

Honestly, apply for the Care Credit. You can do it over the phone or online too. It has saved me many times and is such a comforting thought to have it as a backup. I thank God the day I got it. I have 11 cats and 7 are seniors. There is enough to worry about without worrying about the bill. It will buy you some time too to come up with more money.

You have enough on your mind. Joey and you will be in my prayers.

Originally Posted by frankthetank

My cat Joey will be 1 in about 2 weeks, he is a neutered male.
...
We are about $1000 into it...just with these two visits. We are kinda nervous to hear how he reacts to the fluids. I saw some posts on here about cats needing multiple days of IV fluids. I don't know how we can afford more then one day. We are in contract for a home, and our savings account was all for the down payment and furnishing the home...we just spent a good portion of the furnishing money and can't break into the downpayment money really. I am looking into a second job just to pay back what we took from savings. The vets mentioned somehting called Care something....but until our loan is approved for the house, we cannot try to get any additional lines of credit which means we can't even apply for it for another week. So basically....idk what to do. I can't have to choose between my cat and our house. ...

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Our Vet will let us make payments. I recently had to have emergency surgery for one of our cats - $1500 - the Vet let me make payments - hope yours will too. I used my credit card to make 4 equal payments, each on the 17th of the month - my credit card then didn't have a large charge, or balance and we were able to pay the balance on the credit card each time.
Rooting for Joey
G

I'm so sorry to hear about Joey. Mackerel and I are sending you lots of vibes.
:vi bes:

Last month Mackerel was diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure and admitted into the vet hospital for IV fluid treatment. It's not really good news, because unfortunately it looks like she has FIP and she wont pull through but the IV treatment DID perk her up HEAPS and her kidneys were recovering really well for a while. I truly think that if it was just ARF then she would have been fine and the IV treatment would have worked splendidly.

I hope that helps a little.

Also- something you should consider is that even if the IV doesn't work 100% and Joey's kidneys don't completely recover or they're damaged, he can still live with partial function! The vet went over possibilities with me when Mack was taken into the vet hospital for IV treatment and said that basically she might recover only to a Chronic Renal Failure level... but that with medication and treatment and changes in diet, she could still live a long and happy life.

So take heart! Nothing is predestined, and it sounds like you and Joey have a bond that's strong enough for him to be determined to fight ANYTHING. I bet your little boy surprises the vet and yourself and your hubby with his quick recovery and fierce love.

Oh, I feel for you ((hugs)). We just had our 3 and 1/2 year old kitty go into acute renal as well a few weeks ago. About two weeks of fluid therapy, prescription food, and antibiotics cleared it up. We still don't know why this happened. Lots of vibes for your baby and an affordable bill

I couldn't get into TCS last night, but just wanted to let you know that your Joey and your family were in my thoughts.

I'm so sorry to hear that Joey's Creatnine levels haven't gone down much. It sounds like you have a fantastic vet and wonderful support at the hospital, too, so I'm sure that you guys can put together a plan that gives Joey the best treatment available. He's very lucky to have a home with you and your SO.

A word about what you mentioned about cause- I'm really intimately aware of what you're going through. Mackerel was just diagnosed with FIP, but for the last month it was ARF and I spent so much time thinking that it's something that I did.

So: my vet told me that the most common causes of ARF in cats is antifreeze poisoning- apparently they like the taste of it!

This is what the_food_lady said in my thread about Mackerel:

Interestingly and sadly enough, a lady at the local premium pet food store was telling me last week that a lot of the cheaper quality grocery store cat foods (and some cat TREATS!) contain propylene glycol (also known as ANTIFREEZE)- for taste and as a preservative. [snip]

I'd be sure NOT to feed Mackerel any of the food you'd previously been feeding prior to all of this..............what if it was a bad batch that had an overabundance of P.G.? What type of food had you fed prior to this?

Not sure what laws are where you are, in terms of allowed ingredients in pet food.

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...ne-glycol.html

ALSO.........................do you have a Dog? From what I've read, althought P.G. isn't supposed to be use in cat food (at least in the U.S.), it IS still apparently used in Dog Food. Any chance that Mackerel eating dog food?

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...ne-glycol.html

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But you can also find antifreeze in cars as well as fridges and a lot of common things.

Another common cause is lillies. Any kind of ingestion of the leaf, the stem or the flower can cause acute renal failure in cats.

So... after giving you some of the info that I found out when I was trying to figure out why Mackerel got sick... I'm also going to share the conclusion that I came to.

It doesn't matter. I know it hurts to know that Joey is sick, and you want to do everything you can to figure out why... but the chances are that you will never know. There's no test to figure out what has caused kidney damage and nothing you can do to find out beyond speculation.

You can educate yourself about what common household things are dangerous for cats so that when Joey comes home you can be sure that he's not going to get into anything toxic, and maybe to look at keeping him inside if you're worried about outside factors you can't control.

... but please don't blame yourself for what happened. I know it's easy to blame yourself or to obsess about how he got sick and what you could have done to prevent it. Those thoughts aren't helpful, though, and Joey needs you to be at your A Game now. So just think about this: you are a GREAT cat owner, and Joey is lucky to have you! You recognized that he was sick when a lot of owners wouldn't have noticed or would have ignored it. You took him to the vet straight away, and you're doing everything you can to get him treatment, even though it's really really hard for you financially. You're going to see him as often as you can and you're talking to the vet and getting all the information you can so that you can make an informed and educated choice. You're taking Joey's needs and desires into account, and you're making sure that you're doing what's best for him.

Those are all the signs that I need to know that you care a lot about Joey and that you would die before you deliberately hurt him. Joey knows that to. And so does everyone who's been reading your story here on TCS. How Joey got sick is irrelevant, IMO.

Sorry for the wall of text. Joey's story... resonates a little closely for me, I guess. I really really hope that you have good news for us tonight, and I'm thinking about you.

Joey and for you.

I've been following this and I am so sorry you and Joey are going through this. It is clear that he is very dear to you, and that you will do whatever is needed so that he recovers.

You are explaining to the vets about your current financial bind, and that you are applying for CreditCare very soon?

Lots of going out to you, your husband, and of course, Joey!

I think it's great you are going to see him so often and being so involved while he is hospitalized. It keeps his spirits up, and keeps the humans there on their toes.

Robin

Fingers crossed for him. I would definitely try longer fluids even if it is at home, i don't think you should give up hope after just two days on them. Had he shown any sign of urinary issues before this?

Originally Posted by Jalindal

I'm so sorry to hear that Joey's Creatnine levels haven't gone down much. It sounds like you have a fantastic vet and wonderful support at the hospital, too, so I'm sure that you guys can put together a plan that gives Joey the best treatment available.

He's very lucky to have a home with you and your SO.

A word about what you mentioned about cause- I'm really intimately aware of what you're going through. Mackerel was just diagnosed with FIP, but for the last month it was ARF and I spent so much time thinking that it's something that I did.

So: my vet told me that the most common causes of ARF in cats is antifreeze poisoning- apparently they like the taste of it!

This is what the_food_lady said in my thread about Mackerel:



But you can also find antifreeze in cars as well as fridges and a lot of common things.

Another common cause is lillies. Any kind of ingestion of the leaf, the stem or the flower can cause acute renal failure in cats.

So... after giving you some of the info that I found out when I was trying to figure out why Mackerel got sick... I'm also going to share the conclusion that I came to.

It doesn't matter. I know it hurts to know that Joey is sick, and you want to do everything you can to figure out why... but the chances are that you will never know. There's no test to figure out what has caused kidney damage and nothing you can do to find out beyond speculation.

You can educate yourself about what common household things are dangerous for cats so that when Joey comes home you can be sure that he's not going to get into anything toxic, and maybe to look at keeping him inside if you're worried about outside factors you can't control.

... but please don't blame yourself for what happened. I know it's easy to blame yourself or to obsess about how he got sick and what you could have done to prevent it. Those thoughts aren't helpful, though, and Joey needs you to be at your A Game now. So just think about this: you are a GREAT cat owner, and Joey is lucky to have you! You recognized that he was sick when a lot of owners wouldn't have noticed or would have ignored it. You took him to the vet straight away, and you're doing everything you can to get him treatment, even though it's really really hard for you financially. You're going to see him as often as you can and you're talking to the vet and getting all the information you can so that you can make an informed and educated choice. You're taking Joey's needs and desires into account, and you're making sure that you're doing what's best for him.

Those are all the signs that I need to know that you care a lot about Joey and that you would die before you deliberately hurt him. Joey knows that to. And so does everyone who's been reading your story here on TCS. How Joey got sick is irrelevant, IMO.

Sorry for the wall of text. Joey's story... resonates a little closely for me, I guess. I really really hope that you have good news for us tonight, and I'm thinking about you.

Joey and

for you.

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Thank you for your awesome response. I have looked into things that could have caused poisoning...he is a strictly indoor cat, we have no plants, no automotive things inside, there is a chance he got into ibuprofen but he does not typically eat anything weird...he is very very picky about the things he eats. Also when we mentioned this to the vet they seemed to believe that had he gotten into ibuprofen he would have died rather then had this happen, so idk. Either way I hate that it could have been something I did but I am trying not to beat myself up over it because it really can't be determinded why this happened.
I have checked his food for the antifreeze and didn't see that ingrediant. We are switching all our cats over to a mainly wet food diet and going to use dry food as "treats" instead of the other way around. I am considering a raw diet, I need to do some more research on it. My husband and I are both vegetarians so we don't keep meat in the house typically but for my kitties I would do it.
I have a vet appt set up for tomorrow evening so that we can work with our regular vet to set up a treatment plan once we find out more about his blood tests and kidney functions. When we just went to see him he was so so happy to see us. He is back eating on a normal schedule, the animal hospital said he is regularly eating dry food. We brought him another container of natural wet food and asked that they give him that for his next feeding instead of dry, I know he is getting a lot of fluid from the IV but I would still like him to have the wet food we took. We go back in this evening to find out blood test, and have a list of questions to ask them. We only stayed 15 minutes because I wanted him hooked back up to fluids but he was so happy to see us and slept while we petted him for a little bit. He gave me a mad face when we had to leave..he misses his mommy. The tech said he is the sweetest cat...all the techs have said it. It makes me feel good bc I know that I think he is the sweetest cat in the world so it is nice to see that others think that haha.