My two-year old cat seems to have kidney problems

Hello everyone,

Yesterday we were at the vet and he ran a second blood test to verify his creatinine levels. Two months ago his levels were 1.6 and yesterday was 2.1.

The vet said it is still nothing to be alarmed but we should act with care. He prescribed a low protein diet for a month and a follow-up in 4 weeks where he will run another blood test.

Ultrasound was made and nothing out of the ordinary came out. Urine is still to be checked.

My cat (Richard Parker, "the great Catsby") is a two year old British short-hair male. Unfortunately he eats mostly kibble he is reluctant to eat wet food, although I keep offering him several flavors and brands (we live in Germany, Animonda and Miamor are the to-go brands, grain-free) and his dry food is either Acana or Applaws. I have read that low prot diets for a cat this young is not good, but what are the alternatives? also, it is for four weeks so far, nothing permanent.

I don't know what to think and I am sad to no end at the moment, although everyone tells me to take it easy, but as you all understand, that's rather impossible when it comes to one of your beloved furry little ones.

Any advice, input, question, will be highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot and happy paws

cmarouet

I would definitely have his urine checked, as USG (urine specific gravity) is one of the main indicators of kidney disease also. How is the BUN and phosphorus (and SDMA if they did that)? And was your cat possibly dehydrated when they did the blood work?

That is technically still within normal, but I know my vet wouldn't like it if it was that high either.

At such an early stage (if it is kidney disease), low PHOSPHORUS is way more important than low protein. In fact, low protein (as you stated) is quite bad for a cat so young. Please check out this site - http://www.felinecrf.org/diet_and_nutrition.htm. There are links to nutritional info on canned and dry foods in there, although they are specific to the US and the UK. I'd aim for anything 0.7% of less as far as phosphorus. The lower the better. At 2 years old he's probably not in need of high phosphorus anymore (kittens need it because they are still growing).

cmarouet , I am dealing with a similar situation. Dahalia, a nine MONTH old kitten, has a creatine of 2.4, BUN is normal on Saturday, November 9, 2016. In November 2015, it was 2.0. Historically, her urine has been diluted.
The vet couldn't get a urine sample but an ultrasound and urine analysis are scheduled for this Friday. She also being retested for FIV/FeLK (having previously tested negative). I don't know why but I mention that just in case.

Thanks a lot for your answers, a lot. Omg, a nine month old kitten :/ Hopefully you find the reason. And thank you thank you thank you for asking if he was dehydrated when the test was done because that actually reminded me that he had (and still has, I must check tonight) a very mild case of diarrhea (as I had mentioned he is super picky with wet food and decided to mix things up and I assume he got diarrhea from one of the new flavors, not uncommon when trying new foods) .

Tomorrow I will talk to the vet about this and maybe that will help explain a little the sudden change in results. Regarding FIV/FeLK, according to the breeder, he is negative, although maybe I could ask the vet to test for that too?

BUN-PS is 32.0 and IP-PS is 5.1.

Also, thank you for the website although I'm having problems to open it. Normally between the UK and Germany that are many foods that are similarly available (zooplus deliver to both countries) so I think I could find something here too.

Side topic: Dry food, is it really really so bad for cats? In Germany you are considered the devil and the worst of mothers if they know you feed your cat dry food but I'm tired of explaining that this kid is so reluctant to eat anything else? (I have tried raw food, cooked chicken, he just doesn't seem to mind anything but kibble ) I don't lose hope and keep trying, that for sure.

Thank you so much for your help.

In my opinion, for a cat with a possible kidney problem, yes dry food is not good.
In interest of full disclosure: Dahalia has been on prey model raw almost since I rescued her, so I am biased.

cmarouet said:

Side topic: Dry food, is it really really so bad for cats? In Germany you are considered the devil and the worst of mothers if they know you feed your cat dry food but I'm tired of explaining that this kid is so reluctant to eat anything else? (I have tried raw food, cooked chicken, he just doesn't seem to mind anything but kibble ) I don't lose hope and keep trying, that for sure.

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Wet is definitely better, especially for kidney cats because they get more water that way (and you want them to get more liquids in them). But if they won't eat it, they won't eat it.

The rule of thumb: The best food for your cat is the one he/she will eat.

If that means dry food, then the best food for your cat is dry food. If you put plate after plate in front of your cat of wet food, and they don't eat any of it, they will just starve because cats don't eat when they get "hungry enough". In the case of advanced kidney disease, the "right food" could be tuna fish or Temptations treats if that's all they will eat. So, don't feel badly, and don't let anyone guilt you into thinking you are doing wrong by your cat. My cats get mostly dry for the sheer fact I can't afford to have all wet. Until recently, my cats all lived on dry just fine, so I don't think it's quite as awful as a lot of folks make it out to be.

I think it's definitely good to TRY as many wet foods as possible, or maybe even try mixing a little bit with some dry. He of course would have to eat it relatively quickly, but if he doesn't eat it at all it won't matter.

Thank you one more time.

I could open the link and will definitely take a closer look at each section in detail. I spotted some brands like Royal Canin, Animonda Integra and Kattovit (wet food) that I can easily find where we live.

Would it be still helpful if I mixed the special wet food with wet food I'm already 100% he will eat? at least while he gets used to the new diet.

Also, how bad are the levels of BUN 32 / IP 5.1 ?

I hope you don't mind more questions, but regarding urine, would you provide tips on how to obtain a sample? This really sound like a very tricky task :/

One more thing: Your posts have been very helpful, I was already starting to freak out probably way more than necessary

Thank you from Richard Parker as well  ^_^

cmarouet said:

Thank you one more time.

I could open the link and will definitely take a closer look at each section in detail. I spotted some brands like Royal Canin, Animonda Integra and Kattovit (wet food) that I can easily find where we live.
Would it be still helpful if I mixed the special wet food with wet food I'm already 100% he will eat? at least while he gets used to the new diet.

Also, how bad are the levels of BUN 32 / IP 5.1 ?


I hope you don't mind more questions, but regarding urine, would you provide tips on how to obtain a sample? This really sound like a very tricky task :/

One more thing: Your posts have been very helpful, I was already starting to freak out probably way more than necessary

Thank you from Richard Parker as well  ^_^

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Any time Going by the range on Sara's blood work, 16-37 are normal for BUN. I know various places have different levels of "normal" though. I'm not sure what IP is on the blood work, as I don't see anything like that on here. I see it says IP-PS up above, I tried googling it but to no avail. So can't speak to that one. I just wonder if it's referring to phosphorus.

Regarding food, I don't feed Sara k/d 100%. It's impossible for me to keep her from eating from the other cats' bowls. If that answers your question Although your vet may have a different opinion. Mine feels that as long as it's more than 50% of her diet, then it's of help.

I've never been asked to obtain my own cat's urine sample. Thankfully! They usually do cystocentesis to get the urine at my vet. Somehow they manage to get it even where there isn't a lot there. I've seen some rather creative things that people have done to try and get it though! Usually ended up being messy and with them NOT getting the urine, lol.

If I remember correctly what the vet told me,  IP/PS is related to Urea. I will also discuss with him if I can give him the normal wet food I know for sure he likes, he honestly only eats small amounts during the day, which is a win already (besides the dry food of course). I tried to mix diet food with his wet food of choice and nothing, he noticed the trick :/ so for me it would be better if he eats even the smallest amount of normal than nothing at all.

Do you think the mild diarrhea could have also affected the results?, I still haven't discussed that with the vet.

Thank you and I'll keep everyone posted when something new comes. Meanwhile I'll continue exploring The Cat Site

I can't speak for whether it affected the IP-PS, but yes, the other results can be higher if a cat is dehydrated. And diarrhea can definitely cause dehydration.

And yes, you want him to eat. So the rule of thumb regardless is you feed them what they will eat. They will starve otherwise, being "hungry enough" will not make them eat unfortunately. And with kidney disease, since their appetite can fluctuate so much, you want them to eat as much as possible.

Hi again,

I have wanted to write since a while ago, we have had some updates. Beginning of February Catsby had to go to take his yearly shots and we explained all that had happened (second opinion doctor, blood tests, ultrasound, etc) to his house doctor (the one checks him since he was a baby) so he ran another blood test and surprise, his creatinine levels were back to 1.6. Other levels were okay too, white blood count is high though, dr. says possible reason could be parasites so Catsby is going to get his stool and urine tested and another blood test in 20 days. He is taking daily a medicine called Renes, I don't know if anybody knows it, but here in Germany is one of the to-go recommendations for CKD cats (also another thing called SUC, this is a combination of Solidago/Ubichinon/Coenzyme which he took at the end of last year and seemed to do him good). He is still on the renal dry food diet and a little of normal wet food twice a day (~40 gr daily).

Now, he eats well, he wants to eat everything, he plays with his brother Catticus, he sleeps well, drinks water normally and his "diva" mood is as sharp as usual, nothing has changed regarding his behaviour. He doesn't present any of the symptoms associated with the disease, thankfully. So we will continue with this plan and he will receive checks every three months to control for his levels.

@Ritz , how is it going with your little one?

If anybody has any more recommendations, tips, advice and/or extra information, it will be heartily welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you for your support and we will keep you posted.

cmarouet and others:
Thank you so much for inquiring.

Well, this is what the ultrasound report reads (ultrasound is done/diagnosed by a specialist vet):
"Bladder—Moderately to fully distended with urine. Wall measures 0.07/ cm thick.
R Kidney--3.28 cm length with decreased corticomedullary contrast
Ultrasound DDX--Decreased corticomedullary contrast with symmetrical normal to mildly decreased in size kidneys. r/o toxic exposure, raw diet/high protein/red meat, FIP, congenital abnormality, liver disease, infectious/inflammatory disease, trauma, neoplasia/lymphoma, hypoadrenocorticism
Biopsy likely necessary for diagnosis. Consider commercial diet trial, urine culture, SDMA testing, bile acids testing, FNA/cytology as other diagnostic options."

In words I can understand, best guess is that whatever Dahalia ate/drank/licked in early July was toxic and caused some permanent damage to her kidneys. Dahalia's vet said there is every reason to think Dahalia will live a normal and healthy life; and that she suspects her creatine levels (symptoms) will be stable for a fairly long time. She understands my reluctance to fed Dahalia a special kidney diet and okayed a prey raw model diet with "moderate amount of protein and moderate amount of phosphorus". Binder not necessary at this time.

Dahalia doesn't present any symptoms of kidney issues. BUT. She did not eat breakfast this morning, didn't seem real interested. Last time she ate was around 8 p.m. last night. When I return home from work twelve (12) hours later, if she still doesn't want to eat, well, then, I'll be worried. But maybe she is a cat who self-regulates; Ritz never, ever has.

Cindy, Ritz and Dahalia (I really need to post a picture of Dahalia!)