Cat Owners & Vets please take a look

Hey guys, I was hoping to get an opinion from you guys.

Kidney Failure seems to be the issue. But I want everyone elses opinion.

Here is the condition of the cat:

- 19 years old

- severe weight loss (skin and bones)

- occasionally eats, but vomits often

- occasional drinks (hesitates)

- occasional red (blood?) spotted in vomit

- cries after each poop for about 30 seconds

- weak

- moves very slow

- sleeps most of the time

Here is the blood work:

(everything in red is obviously abnormal levels)

http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/1.jpg

http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/2.jpg

No urine sample or xray.

Has he been checked for thyroid problems? That's very common in older kitties.

Meowkitteh said:

 
Hey guys, I was hoping to get an opinion from you guys.

Kidney Failure seems to be the issue. But I want everyone elses opinion.

Here is the condition of the cat:

- 19 years old

- severe weight loss (skin and bones)

- occasionally eats, but vomits often

- occasional drinks (hesitates)

- occasional red (blood?) spotted in vomit

- cries after each poop for about 30 seconds

- weak

- moves very slow

- sleeps most of the time

Here is the blood work:

(everything in red is obviously abnormal levels)

http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/1.jpg

http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/2.jpg

No urine sample or xray.

Click to expand...

Some of the red indicative of age, so can be pretty much disregarded.

I would have to strongly agree on the CKD, which is likely the cause for the weight loss, etc.

The high WBC and individual cells, ie mono, neutro, eos, looks like mono elevation is his body attempting to repair the tissue damage.

I think he is in advanced kidney failure.

Is this new to you, in other words has he been put on a specific diet for CKD and does he get sub-q's at home?

This is my recommendation for him, he will be better hydrated and won't cry when pooping, and all around will feel alot better.

Unfortunately, my baby of 19 years was euthanized this week.

I'm going through the typical guilt state of grief and wanted a second opinion on her condition.

The vet said she was in renal failure. I knew before I took her in she was in bad shape. Cried all the way to the vet. Ofcourse, now i'm wondering if I could have still had her for another year or more. Or if it was a simple fix. The vet basically said she would need intravenous fluids, medicine, blah blah blah and even then there were no guarantees.

I frankly decided I couldnt put her through all of that.

I took her into the vet a year ago for vomiting (some red stuff in it) and her weight. She has always vomited (shes a long hair) her whole life, but the red stuff in the vomit concerned me. The blood results, urine tests and x-rays didnt show much of anything. I mentioned how she briefly cried after she pooped. The vet suggested wet food (which we tried, no success) and some medicine to act as a lubricant. But aside from that, she seemed ok and normal.

I cant recall CKD being of any concern at the time. 

Anyway, the past 3 months she went down hill. For awhile me and my wife wrote it off as her just getting older. Eventually, her weight became real concerning. and then she started peeing around the house (very abnormal) and even sitting in her urine it at times.

I knew something wasnt right.

I'm so sorry. Older cats can go downhill so quickly, and kidney issues are so very common in senior cats.

What a great life you gave her that she was able to make it to 19 years! Which of course makes their passing so much harder to take. Rest assured that really, there was nothing you could have done. :grphug2:

I am so sorry, 

P.S. She had earmites a year ago as well. So I took her in for the vomit with red stuff, earmites, and 

misterwhiskers said:

I'm so sorry. Older cats can go downhill so quickly, and kidney issues are so very common in senior cats.

What a great life you gave her that she was able to make it to 19 years! Which of course makes their passing so much harder to take. Rest assured that really, there was nothing you could have done.

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Thank you. She DID have a wonderful life. I know CKD eventually wins, and it was part of the reason I didnt want her to spend  her last year(s) with shots and pills forced down her throat. She has never known any discomfort. It would have been hard on her.

The vet couldnt get a urine sample, but seemed pretty confident in her renal failure diagnosis after the blood work. She didnt urge x-rays either.

I sorry you lost her, but she she was in bad shape, and I don't think any amount of meds would have helped that. She was diabetic and had elevated cholesterol in addition to the obvious renal failure. A urine test wouldn't have made much difference to the blood results. You did the right thing for her. Her quality of life would have been very bad and would have gotten worse. You gave her many good years, so remember those and hold them close.

DreamerRose said:

 
I sorry you lost her, but she she was in bad shape, and I don't think any amount of meds would have helped that. She was diabetic and had elevated cholesterol in addition to the obvious renal failure. A urine test wouldn't have made much difference to the blood results. You did the right thing for her. Her quality of life would have been very bad and would have gotten worse. You gave her many good years, so remember those and hold them close.

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How are you able to tell she was diabetic? I'm looking on the internet for explanations of these charts and I dont see anything related.

Her blood glucose level was very high and she had not been eating. That indicates diabetes. Diabetes affects many organs, especially the kidneys. She was also urinating a lot, which is also a symptom of diabetes. The kidneys try to wash the sugar or glucose out of the blood, increasing the amount of urine. Some of the other blood results indicate kidney failure.

DreamerRose said:

Her blood glucose level was very high and she had not been eating. That indicates diabetes. Diabetes affects many organs, especially the kidneys. She was also urinating a lot, which is also a symptom of diabetes. The kidneys try to wash the sugar or glucose out of the blood, increasing the amount of urine. Some of the other blood results indicate kidney failure.

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I mean, where are you actually seeing the glucose level? I looked for GLU everywhere (as some sites said it should be labeled)

DreamerRose said:

Her blood glucose level was very high and she had not been eating. That indicates diabetes. Diabetes affects many organs, especially the kidneys. She was also urinating a lot, which is also a symptom of diabetes. The kidneys try to wash the sugar or glucose out of the blood, increasing the amount of urine. Some of the other blood results indicate kidney failure.

Click to expand...

Meowkitteh said:

I mean, where are you actually seeing the glucose level? I looked for GLU everywhere (as some sites said it should be labeled)

Click to expand...

Blood glucose is in the first image at the bottom right corner in red: http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/1.jpg

It's listed as 156 mg / dl which isn't terribly high. Normal levels are roughly 60 to 150 mg / dl. You also have to account for the fact that many cats are stressed out at the vet's office so their blood glucose level will be elevated.

I'm sorry about your cat From the blood work it seems that she has multiple health issues going on. 19 is a long time to live and I'm sure that before the health issues your cat was a happy well spoiled cat who was loved very much  

LTS3 said:

Blood glucose is in the first image at the bottom right corner in red: http://198.1.101.47/~motoho/123/1.jpg

It's listed as 156 mg / dl which isn't terribly high. Normal levels are roughly 60 to 150 mg / dl. You also have to account for the fact that many cats are stressed out at the vet's office so their blood glucose level will be elevated.

I'm sorry about your cat:grphug2: From the blood work it seems that she has multiple health issues going on. 19 is a long time to live and I'm sure that before the health issues your cat was a happy well spoiled cat who was loved very much:rub:  

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Wow. There it is. How did I miss it??

Anyway, yeah this is tough. Lost my mother suddenly in october. Now my special girl. Its been very rough.

I should note we have other cats and shes not the first ive lost. My other cat was 21. That was hard. Another we took in (my mother in laws) had renal failure. They were both hard, but not like this. This one was my baby. My 24/7 sidekick. She only wanted me. Weve been through a lot together.

Sigh. Thanks for the support folks.

Meowkitteh said:

Wow. There it is. How did I miss it??

Anyway, yeah this is tough. Lost my mother suddenly in october. Now my special girl. Its been very rough.

I should note we have other cats and shes not the first ive lost. My other cat was 21. That was hard. Another we took in (my mother in laws) had renal failure. They were both hard, but not like this. This one was my baby. My 24/7 sidekick. She only wanted me. Weve been through a lot together.

Sigh. Thanks for the support folks.

Click to expand...

I'm so very sorry for your loss Lost my Lucky to kidney disease last November, and while he's not the first, nor will he be the last, cat I have lost (or even lost to kidney disease), he was my baby. I often say he was my feline soul mate. I get it.

Allow yourself to grieve. And try not to worry too much about the "what-ifs". Those will get you every time. And more often than not, the end result would be the same. You followed your instinct on this and did the best thing you could for her.