Advice to Lower Creatinine and BUN Levels

Hi,

My 22-month-old cat Echo came back from the vet about a week ago.  She's on daily IV treatments and an appetite stimulant.  Her attitude and behavior are fine; she's very happy.  She plays with her mother Stardust, and they clean each other.  Her overall quality of life right now is pretty good.

She was initially reluctant to eat anything, let alone her prescribed Kidney Diet food, but today I finally got her to eat a mix of Sheba (her favorite) and some Kidney Diet food.

Her bloodwork indicates her BUN and Creatinine levels are high, though.

Does anyone have any advice, ideas, or experience . . .  anything, that can lower those levels?  Anything I should know about or any advice?  Thanks in advance.

Gosh, did the Vet say this is Chronic Kidney Disease, or Acute Kidney Failure?  It's not common to see a cat so young with Chronic Kidney Disease, that's why I ask.  Could it be a genetic issue?  What breed is she?  Some breeds are more prone to kidney malfunctions that others.

As far as what you can do to reduce her BUN and creatinine, you are basically doing them with the fluids and kidney diet.  Here is a website that I refer to as my "bible" when it comes to anything kidney related....i've had 3 kidney cats to date :  http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm  The site is not interactve like we are, but still provides oodles and oodles of information as you can see once you've delved into it. 

I'll double check, but I got the very clear impression that it was chronic. I think she was just born with poor kidneys "Chronic" was thrown around a lot. I don't know the exact breed, but she's medium-hair and all black. We've got her on a phosphate binder now as well. I have to start mixing it in with her food.

Thanks for the website. I have been there before, but I never went to the front of the page. I've spent most of my time on the "How Bad Is It" section. It's scary, but there's hope too. That website is helpful. I really understand now why people say "despair is easy". There IS hope; I just feel like there's so much to learn in a situation where time is also very important. Thank you so much for replying.

Maybe another way to put it - did her symptoms come on very suddenly and very severely? Or was it more of a gradual thing? Do you happen to have the lab results by any chance?

Is it possible your kitty got into something it shouldn't? Lilies, possibly antifreeze?

Hi Donutte,

Thanks for replying.  It was pretty sudden.  She's an indoor cat in a condo.  There is no way she got out.  i don't see any cleaning products or toxins in here that she could have consumed.  Her mother Stardust is with me too, and she's fine, so . . . I can't 100% say for sure that she didn't get into anything, but I don't see what she could have consumed.  Stardust is fine.

I do have the test results as a PDF. I'm not sure how to paste it here or insert it.  What numbers or information are you looking for?  Maybe I can relay it to you.

TheBlackSwapper said:

Hi Donutte,

Thanks for replying.  It was pretty sudden.  She's an indoor cat in a condo.  There is no way she got out.  i don't see any cleaning products or toxins in here that she could have consumed.  Her mother Stardust is with me too, and she's fine, so . . . I can't 100% say for sure that she didn't get into anything, but I don't see what she could have consumed.  Stardust is fine.

I do have the test results as a PDF. I'm not sure how to paste it here or insert it.  What numbers or information are you looking for?  Maybe I can relay it to you.

Click to expand...

Creatinine, BUN, and phos are the big ones, although all play a role in some part. I can't remember the one that indicates anemia, but since you didn't mention that I'm guessing that isn't a concern.

That definitely sounds more like acute from what you said; the numbers will either solidify that or make more questions For some reason, people (even vets sometimes) will throw the word "chronic" around even when it's really not chronic at all. I guess because that is what people are used to hearing?

There is the genetic component that is a possibility, but not sure - could also just be an infection in the kidney if it's not poison. Acute is very bad (severe), and can hard to recover from, but it is a curable condition if caught quickly enough. Chronic is a lot more subtle in nature, gets worse gradually over a period of months or even years. The symptoms may be so subtle that people don't even realize their cats are exhibiting symptoms. And, chronic kidney disease is not curable.

One more question - is she on antibiotics at all? I know when both of my cats went into acute on chronic renal failure (had aspects of both) they were put on antibiotics in case it was an infection. With Lucky, it was likely a tumor, and with Sara it did indeed seem to be a hidden kidney infection.

The vet said she is "slightly anemic", but her levels are livable. She's starting a phosphorus binder today. We justwant to give Echo a good life. The numbers are bad for her blood work, but her behavior and attitude are healthy and happy. The vet said that the blood work only tells part of the story. The behavior and attitude are the other part.Her creatinine is 5.6. Her BUN is 130. Phosphorus is 8.0.These numbers are bad. She's not on antibiotics. She's on the potassium IV, an appetite stimulant, and we're working on the kidney diet. I just got off the phone with the vet. I'm going to try to get a call back with the stage/actual diagnosis as well as tips on how to get her to eat. Thanks for the help.

For tips on how to get her to eat, there is a section on that website for that...there is a section on that website for just about everything, including how to determine the stages.  Right now, that's stage 4 ,

Hopefully with the daily fluids she will start to feel better, and when that happens, her appetite will automatically pick back up.  Along with the appetite stimulants, is she on anything else?  Any antacids or anti-emetics?  Is she throwing up at all?  Does she appear to be nauseated?  When she goes up to her food, does she lick her lips and walk away?  If so, that's nausea.  Our Vet told us the very best thing when they are in stage 3 or 4 is the fluids...it helps flush away the toxins that are building up in the kidneys, which is what causes the nausea. 

With my girl, I found what helped best was giving her lots of small meals throughout the day, AND night.  And I only fed her wet food with lots of water added to the food.  She might only eat 1 tablespoon of food per meal, but if she ate 9 meals per day, she got plenty of food (she was only 5 pounds for the last year of her life)  So she basically ate every 3 hours or so.  For her middle of the night meals, I froze two bowls of food, and at bedtime I put one bowl in a ziploc bag on my nightstand (to keep the other cats out of it) and one on an icepak.  Once she woke me for her first meal, then I took the next bowl off the icepak so it could thaw.  I never had to get out of bed, therefore didn't lose TOO much sleep.  And I always gave the other cats a couple of treats that I kept under my pillow in another ziploc bag because they would be good and wait for her to finish up without trying to get her food   Everyone knew the routine and it worked well for us.  We DID have to keep switching foods though, because Callie quickly grew tired of the same foods day in and day out.  So I had quite the arsenal here.  Our Vet said to let her eat anything she would, so we did. 

Here's the exact page from felinecrf.org that discusses tips on eating"  http://www.felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

No antacids or anti emetics. She's not throwing up or showing signs of nausea.

I just got back from work. It looks like she ate her food with the binder this morning, but I just put a plate of mixed regular and kidney food down mixed with the binder. She didn't touch it.

I'm giving her the appetite stimulant later today. We'll see. ..