Hi folks, I recently found a new kitten. At her initial exam, the vet judged her to be ~7 weeks old. She got her first distemper (FVRCP) vaccine during that visit on June 24. Since then, the kitten got extremely ill - acute renal failure from aspirin toxicity. She was in total renal failure and near death when we took her to the emergency vet on July 4, and after 6 days in the animal hospital on IV fluids , she has rebounded. She acts like her old active, playful self; however, some of her lab values concern the vet. Namely, her sodium / potassium ratio is low (sodium is the low end of normal at 142 mmol/L while potassium is at the high end of normal at 5.8 mmol/L). Per the vet's advice, we are holding off on round 2 of distemper until we get a clearer picture of what is causing this.
My concern about the 2nd booster is exposing her to a virus while she is not back to 100%. Of course I'm also concerned about the potential long term impact of distemper vaccines on kidney health. She is strictly an indoor cat since we adopted her; however, she has been around other animals at the hospital and other family dogs. How long is that first vaccine good for? and how long is it safe to wait before the second booster? the kitten was first vaccinated at 7 weeks (age is the vet's best guess) and would now be 10.5 weeks old.
My second question is about kittens recovering from acute renal failure. How long does it take blood values to normalize? Her kidney values are normal (BUN, creatinine, specific gravity) as of July 18. Phosphorus a touch high at 9.5 mg/dL, but the vet attributes this to her being a growing kitten. The only other abnormality the vet detected was that her kidneys felt firm, but the vet said this could be due to the acute renal failure and not to be concerned yet.To get to the bottom of the low sodium / potassium concern, the vet suggested an (expensive) ACTH test to determine whether there is a pre-existing adrenal gland problem and potentially an (even more expensive) abdominal ultrasound to view kidney functioning. What have been other folks' experiences with kittens who have suffered acute renal failure? The little animal is as playful and energetic as can be.
thanks.
My concern about the 2nd booster is exposing her to a virus while she is not back to 100%. Of course I'm also concerned about the potential long term impact of distemper vaccines on kidney health. She is strictly an indoor cat since we adopted her; however, she has been around other animals at the hospital and other family dogs. How long is that first vaccine good for? and how long is it safe to wait before the second booster? the kitten was first vaccinated at 7 weeks (age is the vet's best guess) and would now be 10.5 weeks old.
My second question is about kittens recovering from acute renal failure. How long does it take blood values to normalize? Her kidney values are normal (BUN, creatinine, specific gravity) as of July 18. Phosphorus a touch high at 9.5 mg/dL, but the vet attributes this to her being a growing kitten. The only other abnormality the vet detected was that her kidneys felt firm, but the vet said this could be due to the acute renal failure and not to be concerned yet.To get to the bottom of the low sodium / potassium concern, the vet suggested an (expensive) ACTH test to determine whether there is a pre-existing adrenal gland problem and potentially an (even more expensive) abdominal ultrasound to view kidney functioning. What have been other folks' experiences with kittens who have suffered acute renal failure? The little animal is as playful and energetic as can be.
thanks.
