Kidney issues in 1 yr old cat - Page 2

It is about 5am here and I am leaving in about 30 minutes to get Joey!!!! Last night the poor thing wanted to come home SO bad!! He kept glaring at me like he knew that he was doing better and didn't know why he wasn't allowed to come home. I called the Vet at 430 and they said he is doing well, still eating well....he had another bout of diarrhea (last night when we visited he had had one also a little bit before we got there...but it was the first time he pooped since Thursday so I was just happy he was pooping again!!) so they said he was a bit messy and they would try to get him cleaned up before I picked up, but to watch him for more diarrhea. My husband is taking a half day at work so he can be home to keep an eye on Joey...I am home too but with the daycare kids here it is a little harder to keep an eye on them, so he comes home around 1030am which will be nice.
Thanks for the continues vibes. I am hoping tonights vet visit goes well and his levels stay down. I am not sure how often they will want to check his levels to make sure they don't go back up....I am hoping not super often as long as he seems to be doing well, just because he gets upset when he has to go to the vet.
I am still just amazed still that his levels went down to normal and I think the vet was also. It was so discouraging on Saturday when they told us that usually if they don't go down at all the first day, they won't the second day...so I am trying to stay positive that he will continue to have normal levels although I will confess I am a little worried that tonight his levels will have gone up...so please hope for continued low levels.

This picture was from Sunday evening after finding out his levels went down. He was so ready to come home but had to stay about 10 more hours.


Joey was finally up to exploring the room....sick of being in a cage!


My husband holding Joey, he likes to climb on us and be held especially when he could tell it was almost time for us to leave him again.


Taken Sunday morning after he had been finally eating normally for about 18 hours. He liked to stretch out and sleep while I petted him.

Thought I would add a couple pictures of sweet Joey that were taken over the weekend.

I did want to add another post...since my original one did mention financial concerns.
When we took Joey to the first vet, once he said "kidney failure" we freaked out. I bawled, and we basically told him that we don't know if we can afford a whole weekend of hospitalization etc. At that time, he had treated Joey for nausea, gave SubQ fluids, tried to feed, cleaned his ears, treated ear mites, did bloodwork, an exam, a fecal sample and I cant remember but I thought there were a couple more things. The original bill was going to be around $450. The vet let us know that because we were going to have to take him to the 24hour hospital, he took off some of the things he did such as ear cleaning, mite treatment, nausea medicine....the bill we paid when we left the first vet was $239 dollars.
When we got to the 24hour hospital after we decided on IV fluids and all the treatments for the first day, our quote was from $660-850 for the first 24 hours. To get treatment, we had to pay $660. When we went in on Saturday, the quote for a 2nd 24 hours of fluids etc, was quotes at $117 (because we still had a credit from the deposit) and on Sunday when we went in, they said another 12 hours of hospitalization to bring him off fluids was around 30 dollars. So we expected another 200ish due today.
When I checked out this morning, she told me my total...$96! IDK how...I questioned it, she double checked and said they must have estimated high....but I was just thrilled. Because we still have to pay a vet appt tonight and more bloodwork tonight for Joey so we were definitely stressed about money...SO even though they don't do payment plans....I have had some awesome vets helping us out to make it so we could really afford treatments for my baby.
Right now he is resting at home and eating well, I just havr to watch his poop bc he has had diarhhea...and if he throws up or becomes lethargic we have to rush him back to vet, otherwise, we just have to go tot he appt at 6 tonight to make sure his kidneys are still okay.

No big news after our vet visit. The Vet basically told us that it was too soon to check his levels bc they would not be aaccurate yet since he stopped the IV fluids just overnight. I was a little disappointed because they could have told me over the phone yesterday when I scheduled it that we would need to wait...because todays visit I had to pay a visit fee just to have the doctor tell me to come back. He did give me prescriptions for food, two different brands to try. We got three cans of each to see which he likes best. One is Hills renal something, and the other is Royal Canin for renal something. My memory is shot so sorry I don't remember exact names.
We have to go back Wednesday...I expressed my concern over yet another visit fee and I think he told me that they would ONLY charge for the BUN and Creatinine test for kidneys...esp since if those are elevated again, we need a urinalysis to check and see how diluted it is. So he is definitely working with us to save as much money as possible.
Poor Joey shook the entire way there and burrowed his head in the blanket he was wrapped in while we walked through the store into the clinic. He has had diarrhea bad since yesterday and went to the little sink in the exam room and started howling and scratching frantically (he is ALWAYS so good about using the litterboxes so we knew that meant he had to go) but I guess they don't keep litterboxes there, because the vet said to just let him use the sink as a litterbox, so poor Joey now has a poopy tail again. We did get a prescription for his diarrhea that we are going to try to give him tonight.
Anyway, we go back Wednesday to check his levels unless he starts throwing up again, acting lethargic or stops eating, if any of that happens we rush him back.
Thanks again for continued vibes for low levels!

I felt HORRIBLE for poor Joey. He HATES having an accident. About a week and a half ago he pooped on the floor...just a tiny little poo, but he frantically tried to cover it until I cleaned it up. On his way home from the animal hospital, he had gas and it was so smelly....he was frantically covering like he thought he had an accident. We tried warning the vet that if he is that frantic about scratching and looking around like that, he really has to go and the vet just said to let him go in the sink but I felt bad because Joey knew it wasn't where he was supposed to go. He really is the best kitty ever and so diligent about his litterbox habits. Having a disposable one is a good idea, I think we will have to do that, especially if he will need a lot of visits. Part of the problem was it was (TMI SORRY!!) super runny diarrhea so he couldn't hold it or anything, it had to come out!

The reception at home has been mostly okay. His two best friend kitties definitely looked for him while he was gone, toby jumped on him ready to play soon as he got home, but backed off when he realized joey wasn't up to playing just yet. He is still hanging arond with him though...unfortunately Billy is having an issue. Billy, Joey and Toby usually sleep all together on the bed with us at night but Billy keeps hissing at Joey bc he smells different, and since Billy can't see he only relies on smell....so we are hoping Billy figures it out here soon...

And my baby Joey has normal creatinine and BUN levels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two days after stopping fluids, which means that for right now he is just fine! They are thinking it was an acute attack on the kidneys that caused it. OMG I am SOOOOOOOO glad we opted for day 2 of IV fluids!!!!!! The Vet told us the first day that if they didn't come down, in most cases they wont...but that if it was her cat and she could afford it, she would do it. And we did, and he is now okay. We go back on April 14th for a recheck to make sure they are still down. And he is still on his prescription food although he is not a big fan of it. Cleasrly if he starts showing any signs like last week, we will rush him back in.

For the bad portion of the day....one of my daycare parents were late picking the kids up so we were almost late to the appt, so Hubby was already in a bad mood. We get to appt, and the petnurse is checking Joey out and shows us a computer screen total for todays visit...$100!!!! When we went Monday, I specifically asked him for the total for Wednesdays visit because money is tight and we don't get paid til the end of the week and have lots of bills to pay, and the Vet said 24 bucks for the testing. I asked if we would have to pay yet another doctor visit fee and he told me NO. So when she showed us 100 my husband almost went off! He didn't yell but told her we would have to leave because we were quoted something way different. He told her what they quoted us, she went and spoke to Vet and said it was a confusion bc he quoted us the 24 for the actual visit, PLUS testing cost...but when he said it Monday, ad I even clarified, he said something wayyyy different. SO husband was way pissed, I was crying bc I just wanted to know results, and the lady didn't know what to do. Husband was telling her we would never be back there bc it was ridiculous.
She had the vet come talk to us and I told him that I asked him for the entire total of the visit and told him that there was NO point to Mondays visit since he said we couldn't test levels til at least Wednesday and had they told me that on monday instead of telling me to bring him in right away, that I would have never even come in Monday. I told him that when he told us about the testing taking a couple days, I even told him that if we were going to be charged another office visit, we could not afford the testing! It was a VERY frustrating 20 minutes, but they ended up removing the office charge, and running the blood test for ONLY creatinine and BUN like they originally told us they would. I felt bad, and felt like we caused a scene but sheesh when I have to ask you twice for the exact total of my visit and you tell me but than the day of visit it is 4x that, it is an issue!!
But overall, Joey is home, resting, fine and wont have to see a vet for a month. Poor baby was shaking the whole way there. I love him so so so so so freaking much. Thank you for all your vibes, good thoughts and responses. Joey says thank you too!

It was rough...I kept telling the Vet, had we known on Monday that we would be charged for another 25 dollar exam, we would have done the testing that day because we already paid a 25 dollar exam fee that day for really no reason. The exam Monday was scheduled to run the kidney levels but we didn't even do that so paying two exam fees I thought was a little crazy...they could have told me on Monday when the appt was scheduled that we could not do the testing yet, and we wouldn't have even gone in!
End rant. haha
Now we are just worried about our house. They are running our credit again this week for what is supposed to be the last time before final approval....but until final approval they can ask for copies of our bank statements and it worries me because we spent SO much this weekend. Our accounts were looking awesome last week in preperation for this, so this Joey thing is really really hurting us. I just hope it doesn't result in us losing the loan approval. :o( But overall, I am so so so glad he is okay.

We did use our debit card so the charges will show up as vet offices...I am hoping they would put two and two together and realize the transfer of money from savings to checking on Friday, and then a charge coming out of checking at a Vet office means that we used that transferred money for the Vet bill. Hubby doesn't seem to think that they will care. I have no clue.

About the vet...I apologized for my husbands attitude like ten times because I hate when he gets like that. And like I told the vet, had they told me on Monday that it was recommended that we do the tests later in the week I would not have gone, and also when we were in the room with the vet and he said he recommended waiting til Wednesday, I told him the ONLY way we could come back another time this week was if we only had to pay for tests and not the office visit...so I really thought we were on the same page, and like I explained last night, had he told me on Monday that we would still be charged an office visit, we would have just tested that day.
I hate causing friction, and was so embarrassed ....but the Vet seemed apologetic too so IDK. This weekend when I get paid I plan to get two thank you cards, one for each vet office to thank them for all their help throughout everything. Without them & all their help, my baby would not be alive.