Hi everyone - I'm looking for any advice/reassurance you can give on a kitten with renal failure. Apologies in advance for the wall of text.
We adopted our kitten Henry (~4 mo. old) just a few days after our 12-year-old cat with congestive heart failure had to be put to sleep. I was devastated, but Henry, with his crazy kitten antics, really brightened our home and we've come to love him immensely in the short few weeks we've had him.
He's been doing really great, but this past week we were totally blindsided. On Thursday, he was vomiting up pretty much everything he ate, though otherwise acting totally normal. We took him to the vet that night, and the suspicion was that he had swallowed something. An X-ray didn't show anything, so he got some anti-nausea meds and we were told if it continues tomorrow to go get an ultrasound - the suspicion still being a bowel obstruction. The next two days he was fine, eating and bouncing around as usual. Then on Sunday, he started to seem a little mopier than normal and wasn't eating as much. We went out for a bit that evening and when we returned, there was vomit on the floor and he hadn't touched his dinner. Panicked, we took him to the emergency vet the next morning to get an ultrasound, which revealed nothing - all his organs looked great and no obstructions. The vet suggested he might just have a viral stomach bug going on, but took some bloodwork just in case.
The next morning, I was totally blindsided by a call from the vet that his kidney levels were through the roof. He was in renal failure and had to be hospitalized. They said it could wait until evening, but I rushed home from work and we brought him straight there. They said it could be something toxic he ate, an infection that spread, or it could be congenital, but were cautiously optimistic that it was one of the former, and thus they would treat it as acute renal failure. He was put on fluids and antibiotics just in case while they await the results of a urine culture.
I'm just a total wreck now -- he's so young and tiny. The update from the vet last night was that he was bright and alert, purring and meowing at the staff, and that he ate two bowls of food. One of them was even wet food, which he normally hates (weirdo), so that was encouraging. His numbers were scary though -- 3.0 Creatinine and 112 BUN. The vet said she can't give a prognosis yet but the fact that he's so active is a "very good sign."
As for the cause - we've already researched all the plants we had -- one was a peace lily, which I was concerned about because I know lilies can be toxic to cats, but apparently this isn't a true lily and doesn't cause renal issues, only GI issues. The only other thing I can think of is grape juice, which I've had recently, but I know grapes are bad for cats and dogs so I've been careful to keep him away from it. The vet didn't seem sure that that could be it. I know he's a kitten who gets into everything, but I'm overcome with guilt that something here made him this sick. If and when he comes home, I know we'll be doing a full-apartment cleaning with all natural cleaners, just in case.
I don't know that I have a question, just looking for any experience with a similar issue in a kitten or young cat - most threads I've read have been about senior or much older cats. Thanks.
We adopted our kitten Henry (~4 mo. old) just a few days after our 12-year-old cat with congestive heart failure had to be put to sleep. I was devastated, but Henry, with his crazy kitten antics, really brightened our home and we've come to love him immensely in the short few weeks we've had him.
He's been doing really great, but this past week we were totally blindsided. On Thursday, he was vomiting up pretty much everything he ate, though otherwise acting totally normal. We took him to the vet that night, and the suspicion was that he had swallowed something. An X-ray didn't show anything, so he got some anti-nausea meds and we were told if it continues tomorrow to go get an ultrasound - the suspicion still being a bowel obstruction. The next two days he was fine, eating and bouncing around as usual. Then on Sunday, he started to seem a little mopier than normal and wasn't eating as much. We went out for a bit that evening and when we returned, there was vomit on the floor and he hadn't touched his dinner. Panicked, we took him to the emergency vet the next morning to get an ultrasound, which revealed nothing - all his organs looked great and no obstructions. The vet suggested he might just have a viral stomach bug going on, but took some bloodwork just in case.
The next morning, I was totally blindsided by a call from the vet that his kidney levels were through the roof. He was in renal failure and had to be hospitalized. They said it could wait until evening, but I rushed home from work and we brought him straight there. They said it could be something toxic he ate, an infection that spread, or it could be congenital, but were cautiously optimistic that it was one of the former, and thus they would treat it as acute renal failure. He was put on fluids and antibiotics just in case while they await the results of a urine culture.
I'm just a total wreck now -- he's so young and tiny. The update from the vet last night was that he was bright and alert, purring and meowing at the staff, and that he ate two bowls of food. One of them was even wet food, which he normally hates (weirdo), so that was encouraging. His numbers were scary though -- 3.0 Creatinine and 112 BUN. The vet said she can't give a prognosis yet but the fact that he's so active is a "very good sign."
As for the cause - we've already researched all the plants we had -- one was a peace lily, which I was concerned about because I know lilies can be toxic to cats, but apparently this isn't a true lily and doesn't cause renal issues, only GI issues. The only other thing I can think of is grape juice, which I've had recently, but I know grapes are bad for cats and dogs so I've been careful to keep him away from it. The vet didn't seem sure that that could be it. I know he's a kitten who gets into everything, but I'm overcome with guilt that something here made him this sick. If and when he comes home, I know we'll be doing a full-apartment cleaning with all natural cleaners, just in case.
I don't know that I have a question, just looking for any experience with a similar issue in a kitten or young cat - most threads I've read have been about senior or much older cats. Thanks.
