7% dehydration?

I am hoping some people might have knowledge or experience concerning the following situation:

October 2013 I took my 7 year old cat in for blood work for a dental cleaning. Normally, the vet takes blood from the leg, but the veins were so inaccessible that he used the jugular vein and said even that was rather difficult. Also noted was a two pound weight loss since the prior visit and stated my cat was 7% dehydrated. Nothing was ever mentioned about this being potentially serious, nothing was mentioned about what it might mean such as kidney issues, nothing was said about considering the use of subcutaneous fluid. Nothing.  I always provide fresh water every day in a large bowl and provide mostly wet food.

Five months later my cat had an annual exam and it was noted that he lost another pound in those five months. The cat seemed otherwise healthy and normal in all respects.

I'm not a vet and I've never dealt with this before, but it seems to me that 7% (or more given the additional weight loss) dehydration is an issue that should raise some concern. Yes? No?

The reason I am asking is that less than two months later (May 11, 2014) my cat died of a heart attack. At the emergency vet I was told he was so severely dehydrated that they could not find the jugular vein in which to insert a needle. Ultrasound and x-ray showed no abnormalities at all. There is too much to discuss about the event itself but the heart attack was stress-induced (inadvertently by me - I was only trying to help) combined with his compromised circulatory system (i.e. thick blood).  I am just wracking my head whether the dehydration was something that should have been addressed long before this happened.

First of all, don't beat yourself up about this.  All of the what ifs will drive you crazy.  You took care of your kitty including getting vet care.  Was complete blood work done, I tend to think something was going on but again don't beat yourself up over this.

The blood work was complete as far as whatever is necessary for putting him under anesthesia for a dental cleaning.  Whether the 7% number was based on blood chemistry or something else I don't know, but I've always assumed that is how you would make such a precise determination.  From what I've since read online, 7% dehydration and 2 pounds of weight loss, followed five months later by another pound of weight loss, should raise some cause for concern.  I need to understand what happened, why it wasn't addressed as a potential issue, and make sure it does not happen to my other cat.

First of all, I am so sorry about your loss!  It is not your fault.  I'd say it was the vet's fault for not offering the suggestion of giving your cat fluids. 

My cat was 4% dehydrated when I had taken her to the specialty vet last year and they gave me subcutaneous fluids to give to her at home.  They had no trouble drawing blood from her, or if they did, it was not mentioned.  (She was a senior cat and I also found out at this visit via ultrasound that she had tumors in both her kidneys as well as in her belly.  I opted to keep her comfortable until it was 'time.')

A human can have a heart attack and die due to low blood/fluid volume.  That is the main cause of death if someone loses a lot of blood, for example.  Another thing which happens to both humans and animals when dehydrated is a urinary tract infection. 

The vet should have instructed you on SQ fluids and sent you home with the necessary supplies for your cat. 

The two main things that come to mind would be kidney or thyroid issues.  The kidneys are checked with routine pre-anesthesia bloodwork.  He was a little young for hyperthyroidism but I guess it would be possible.  Was he eating more and/or vocalizing more especially at night.

whatever happened for whatever reason, I would switch vets on the "trust" issue alone

sorry for your loss

He was not eating more than usual - he never overate or gorged in any way.  Vocalizing more, no; he had always vocalized a bit at night while scratching at a door to a room he wasn't allowed to go in to, just because he wasn't allowed to go into it I assume.

Since my cat died I have realized a few things, especially in light of being told he was severely dehydrated.  First, now that my other cat is alone, I can see that his (the living cat) poops are moist, fresh looking if you will.  When the other cat was alive, for the last month or so I noticed very dry, almost white colored poops.  When he died and I buried him I noticed that the poop that came out was very dry and white colored.  I never provided a fecal sample to the vet because I didn't know whose was whose and they told me the purpose was to check for worms, which they did not have.  Second, over the last couple months his hairballs, which he had quite often for years, were becoming more strenuous for him - which makes sense because it would be harder to vomit the more dehydrated you are.  His hairballs were often 1/2 inch wide and up to 3 inches long.  BIG.  I had mentioned to the vet the extreme crying and groaning he sometimes made prior to throwing up the hairballs but that didn't seem important to the vet.  Third, he preferred running water and while I sometimes ran a faucet for him, I generally just kept a bowl filled daily and fed them wet food (often with a couple teaspoons of water added in just for the sake of providing more water in their diet).  Given how he loved for me to hold him like a baby cradled in my arms with his paws up in the air, and that he liked to chew on anything I put near his mouth, I could have bottle or syringe fed him water as a form of "our time".  We both would have cherished that. 

I never realized how significant dehydration was and I cannot believe the vet just mentioned it as an off-hand issue.

cataan said:

I never realized how significant dehydration was and I cannot believe the vet just mentioned it as an off-hand issue.

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join the club

I don't know what was going on but I think there definitely was something that wasn't right.  A cat simply is not that dehydrated and loosing weight unless something was wrong.  Even a cat on a diet of strictly dry kibble would not be that dehydrated and wouldn't be loosing weight.  You were doing everything right as far as wet food and even adding water to the wet food.   Whatever was going on does not sound contagious so I don't think you need to worry about your other kitty.  I would, however think about looking into getting another vet.

Denice said:

 
I don't know what was going on but I think there definitely was something that wasn't right.  A cat simply is not that dehydrated and loosing weight unless something was wrong.  Even a cat on a diet of strictly dry kibble would not be that dehydrated and wouldn't not be loosing weight.  You were doing everything right as far as wet food and even adding water to the wet food.   Whatever was going on does not sound contagious so I don't think you need to worry about your other kitty.  I would, however think about looking into getting another vet.

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wouldn't not be losing weight?...think the op might like clarification, I know I would. however, I had a bottle of shiraz 2nite  

I appreciate everyone's input into this - thank you.  One thing I don't understand, and it certainly affected my concern for my cat, was how absolutely normal he behaved despite the severe dehydration.  He died in the evening on Mother's Day, but at no time even that day did he appear lethargic, sullen, tired, etc.  He seemed happy and content despite what had to be significantly more than 7% dehydration by that time (since 7% was back in October 2013).  Understanding how dehydrated he was and that something had to be underlying it helps me realize that, had he lived, he would have probably faced a health problem in the near future.  However, I did in fact - in this particular situation - cause his heart attack.  Perhaps in another post I'll explain what happened; I've realized that expressing myself helps me deal with the loss, but I have to point a finger at myself even if he would have died a month from now (though hopefully he would have been rehydrated and checked for whatever was going before that could happen).  I'm glad I found this forum - thank you again.

Just an FYI on your cat's poops:  White colored means there is no bile from the liver going into the digestive system.  (Bile is needed to digest fats in food.) There could have been a blockage in your cat's gallbladder or a bile duct caused by gallstones or cyst or tumor.  The body produces and secretes bile daily.  They call the white poop 'clay-colored' stools. 

The fault does not lie entirely upon you, my dear.  Be gentle to yourself.  We are our own worst enemies, you know? I hope one day you can begin to forgive yourself. 

Thanks FBM - I should be clearer by what I mean.  The stools were extremely dessicated, almost fibrous, kind of flat due to lack of water.  Bile, being a liquid, would certainly be affected by severe dehydration since less would be produced.

Now I am getting angry - at me for not realizing what was happening over the last month - and at the vet for just glossing over my kitty's lack of hydration.  I don't practice veterinary medicine, I should be able to rely on a vet and not have to connect the dots for someone whose profession is animal medicine.  Subcutaneous fluid should have been administered if not last October then in March after yet another pound of weight was lost.  Or at least I should have been warned that my cat was facing a potentially very serious situation.

I agree with you about a minimum level of vet care.  I am kind of known here for getting on my soap box about this after vet hopping for 6 years with a chronically ill kitty before finding a vet that got him on the right track.  I do believe that we should not blindly follow what a vet says but the vet is the one that has gone through vet school and should have a basic knowledge.  

cataan said:

 
I appreciate everyone's input into this - thank you.  One thing I don't understand, and it certainly affected my concern for my cat, was how absolutely normal he behaved despite the severe dehydration.  He died in the evening on Mother's Day, but at no time even that day did he appear lethargic, sullen, tired, etc.  He seemed happy and content despite what had to be significantly more than 7% dehydration by that time (since 7% was back in October 2013).  Understanding how dehydrated he was and that something had to be underlying it helps me realize that, had he lived, he would have probably faced a health problem in the near future.  However, I did in fact - in this particular situation - cause his heart attack.  Perhaps in another post I'll explain what happened; I've realized that expressing myself helps me deal with the loss, but I have to point a finger at myself even if he would have died a month from now (though hopefully he would have been rehydrated and checked for whatever was going before that could happen).  I'm glad I found this forum - thank you again.

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I could guess u are a "people doctor" and gave him benadryl or a shot

if u did and it caused a heart attack I'm sure u know he was too sick at that point anyway

when a vet can't/won't help what else can u do?

Im really really sorry for your loss. This is absolutely not your fault. The fact that you took your cat in for a dental cleaning tells me that you were a person that not only cared for him, but took steps to optimize his health. These guys can hide chronic dehydration very well that would have hard for you to find. Combined with the weightloss, there could have been several issues going on. 7% dehydration is significant. Hopefully in the next month or so I will have a video posted that shows people exactly how to assess hydration at home and address it. It's something I do for my own cat (who has plenty of reasons for his hydration to vary over time).

take care,

k

No, I did not give my cat anything.  People say that there is no way I should blame myself for what I did so I need to provide background.  My cat was extremely anxious and stressed (but super sweet and nice).  If he heard a knock on the door of the apartment next door he would go into hiding for hours.  If maintenance came over he was gone until late that night.  Once I took him to stay with someone he had known for years and he spent the first night hiding in the bathtub, trembling.  And the worst of all, putting him in a cat carrier -- the wailing and groaning and crying was incessant and he even peed all over himself in the carrier. 

It wasn't until recently that he started crying and groaning prior to a hairball.  In the past it was just like other cats - you would hear that vomiting sound and then up came the hairball.  I didn't realize he was becoming so dehydrated so didn't put two and two together about why he was now first crying and groaning before he would spit it up.  Each time he did it I was scared that something terrible was wrong.  But each time I told myself to wait, be patient and see if it is hairball because adding the stress of the carrier to the stress of the hairball wasn't something I wanted to risk.  And every time, indeed, out came the hairball.  This time -- the one and only time - I didn't wait he SCREAMED as I put him in the carrier, and he groaned and wailed as I went to my car and we drove to the vet.  But after a few minutes the groaning stopped and his breathing became labored, then very shallow.  He whimpered when I called his name and as I neared the emergency vet I heard a final breath.  That is how I overstressed him when should have simply done what I had always done -- just give him a minute to deal with the hairball.

Oh, and please don't misunderstand me - through this forum and reading what I can find online, the dehydration, regardless of the underlying cause, was obviously becoming so severe that something would likely have happened in the future - whether a week, a month, I don't know.  Maybe he would have died anyway, maybe signs would have appeared and he would have been treated for the dehydration, I don't know.  What I know is that on that particular evening at that particular time, I took a specific action that overstressed my cat so much that his compromised circulatory system could not handle it and he went into cardiac arrest.

I am still tring to find a vet. Seems any info they give to me I have to pry it out of them...They will want to send exact medicine home that never helped the first visit. I really can' t exspress my anxiety and dissappointment when I have to visit a vet as I have no faith in them.

I have actually had vets tell me to give benadryl ! Has anyone ever tried that? No WAY that happened...Jusy one tiny touch of syringe that tastes of benadryl and there is no holing even the sweetest babe! Foaming from mouth and gagging and coughing for the next couple of hours...all fron just a tiny taste...I have never understood how a whole dose could be given..[