Anyone have experience with kidney disease AND autoimmune disease?

A little background on Gracie: She's 2 years old, female dilute calico, adopted from a local animal shelter as a kitten. Until recently she has been incredibly healthy, suddenly I started noticing some alarming symptoms:

- weight loss (she's a small cat, healthy at 7lbs, but now down to 6lbs)

- hair loss on her ears as well as colorless scabbing (there were no signs of her scratching them until recently)

- fur has become spiky and lost it's shine

These symptoms have been going on for a few months now, and before anyone jumps on this she has been to the vet several times, will be going again and has had many tests. I'm not neglecting the issues at all, I am hoping to get personal experience from other owners.

After blood tests, urine tests, fungal culture test (for her ears), the vet has said it is likely that she has kidney problems (another urine test was submitted today to get an idea of how bad they are), as well as an autoimmune disease which is causing her body to attack her own ears.

Has anyone had a cat with autoimmune problems before? The ear scabbing is cyclical meaning that it goes through periods of intense scabbing and periods of no scabbing. The hair has not grown back. Other than the recent scratching and head shaking (just started this weekend) she's shown no sign of discomfort and let's us examine her ears regularly. The scabbing occurs on the outside AND inside of the ears and appears to be located most along the edges of the ear. The vet saw no sign of ear mites, mange, etc and fungal culture came back negative.

As far as the kidneys, the vet said the first urine test showed higher levels of proteins in her urine meaning that her kidneys are dumping them there and they are not being used for nutrition (causing the weight loss).

Lastly, I should say that for the most part, Gracie is not acting sick. She plays, snuggles, eats, drinks, pees, poops - all normally.

So, does anyone have any advice for someone trying to deal with kidney disease and potentially autoimmune disease? The vet wants to do a biopsy for the ears to test for autoimmune disease. Has anyone been through this process?

Thanks!

This picture shows a shot of some of the scabbing in/around her ear. Taken this morning.

Here is an excellent resource for cats with chronic kidney failure http://www.felinecrf.org/ although Gracie hasn't actually been diagnosed with that .  My Sven was diagnosed with CRF over 3 years ago, and at age 16+ is still with us .

As to the auto immune issues, I don't know anything about that one, but am hoping others who have experience will chime in.

for your little one.  Oh!  And welcome to TCS.  Be sure to ask any questions that may arise after you read about crf, if, indeed, that's the diagnosis you get. Unfortunately, we have many, many cats here who have CRF.

Thanks so much! I will definitely look into that site. I should hear back on the latest urine test in a couple of days and hope to have a better grasp of her diagnosis then.

Thanks again!

Update! The results for the second urine test came back today. The vet said that the levels of protein in her urine are 0.1 and anything under 0.5 is considered not much of a threat, so her kidneys are okay (not functioning perfectly, but not a danger and no special diet or medications needed). This is good news, however, it also means that we're a little bit back to square one on what causing the sudden weight loss, fur quality, and of course, the ears.

It's been suggested that perhaps she's developed a food allergy, so I will be switching her food and seeing if that improves anything. The next step is trying to get her in to the vet again to look at her ears. So frustrating since two vets in the office have already looked at her ears and both said it looked like nothing they'd seen before. I'm hesitant to go back to the same people and dump money into more tests without even the slightest leads, which we don't have.

The good news is that she is still in excellent spirits!

LaceyBelle said:

 so her kidneys are okay

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Yay!!

LaceyBelle said:

It's been suggested that perhaps she's developed a food allergy,

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Quite possible. What does she eat now, and what do you plan to switch to?

She currently eats Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. It's a dry food that was recommended by my vet for quality of ingredients and cost. She also gets some shredded food every now and then, but I don't remember the brand. She will NOT eat canned (or pate) food.

I'm not sure what to switch her to. I am planning to go to the local shop (not a chain, a small, highly organic type place) where I get her food now and asking employees and reading labels. I'm open to suggestions!!

Go grain free. That food isn't grain free. One thing about grains in pet food is it's causing SO many allergies in pets it's unreal. It's just pure sugar and carbs! What you can do is get Nature's Variety which has good high quality protein foods. Also Evo, Merrick Before Grain. Just make sure whatever food you go with has no grains at all in it. No barley, no corn, gluten, wheat, etc. nothing. Don't feed Wellness Core as that has been causing a lot of kidney and bladder problems in the last year.

LaceyBelle said:

She will NOT eat canned (or pate) food.

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How did you introduce the canned food? It can require a great deal of patience and persistence to switch a cat over to better quality food (like kids raised on cookies and ice cream suddenly being offered broccoli and spinach - it ain't gonna go over too well at first!). Here are some tips to check out on various ways to convert a kibble addict:

http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nsition-your-cat-to-raw-food-diet-part-1.aspx

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nsition-your-cat-to-raw-food-diet-part-2.aspx

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/switching-foods/

finnlacey said:

Go grain free. That food isn't grain free. One thing about grains in pet food is it's causing SO many allergies in pets it's unreal. It's just pure sugar and carbs! What you can do is get Nature's Variety which has good high quality protein foods. Also Evo, Merrick Before Grain. Just make sure whatever food you go with has no grains at all in it. No barley, no corn, gluten, wheat, etc. nothing. Don't feed Wellness Core as that has been causing a lot of kidney and bladder problems in the last year.

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Thank you! This is excellent advice!

Sugarcatmom said:

How did you introduce the canned food? It can require a great deal of patience and persistence to switch a cat over to better quality food (like kids raised on cookies and ice cream suddenly being offered broccoli and spinach - it ain't gonna go over too well at first!). Here are some tips to check out on various ways to convert a kibble addict:

http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nsition-your-cat-to-raw-food-diet-part-1.aspx

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nsition-your-cat-to-raw-food-diet-part-2.aspx

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/switching-foods/

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I tried getting both of mine to eat canned food when I adopted them at 9 weeks. They'll lick it, but they never really ate any of it. I will be reading those articles though and trying some of the strategies! Thanks!

On converting from dry to canned, I completely agree with Sugarcatmom.  All four of mine were dry food addicts, but one day I just decided enough was enough, and their health was too important to mess with it any more (IMHO).  So...I pulled up all the kibble, and started serving them canned, using some of the techniques outlined above, and experimenting with many different types/brands of food.  They're pretty much on track now.  We still have some meals where one or two don't eat much, but they make up for it at the next meal.  Frankly, I had my doubts, but it CAN be done

Oh! and BTW, so glad her kidneys are ok .  What a relief!