Acute Kidney Failure - Reaching Out For Advice

[rocksexton]

Hi everyone.

Been a long time since I frequented this site. Unfortunately I come at time when things are not so great. My oldest cat Prada has Acute Kidney failure and I'm trying to sort everything out. It's been a whirlwind 72 hours that has tested me in ways I haven't felt in a long time.

A little over 1.5 months ago I noticed he no longer wanted to eat his dry food, but he was perfectly fine with his wet food (which he would chow down like a champion). Then a couple of weeks ago I noticed he threw up and looked a bit fatigued. His weight was also down from 16lbs to around 12. I decided to give it a couple of days and he appeared fine again. Around 3/21 I noticed he wasn't eating as much wet food and not taking in enough water. I switched the glass bowl out and used a porcelain one. I also stopped being lazy (which I had been for the past few months) and gotten water out of the fridge filter instead of tap water. He began drinking plenty again.

By 3/23 I noticed he just wasn't being himself and at this point it was time to get him to the vet. He had panels run and xrays, which showed one kidney was small and the other enlarged. They also mentioned he had a heart murmur. I boarded him for 48 hour fluid treatment on 3/25 thru 3/26 until he could get his ultrasound done on his kidneys. Turns out he has an infection/absess on his healthy kidney which is why it's inflamed. However, little did they tell me that the first round of IV were not as aggressive due to fears of complications from his murmur. I don't know why they didn't say something in the beginning. I could've gotten that test done first instead to get the full effect of the previous fluids.

The cardiologist cleared Prada yesterday for aggressive fluid treatment and wouldn't you know it as of this morning the creatinine came down to the lowest it's been. It was as high as 6.6 when I first brought him in and now it's down to 4.4. This has been really hard for me. I couldn't in good conscience put him down yet, even with the less aggressive fluid treatments he was acting energetic and eating a ton when I visited him. I at least wanted to bring him home for a little amount of time for some comfort before the possibility of having to make any permanent decisions. I'm just wrestling with optimism and reality at the moment.

I've just been determined to do all I could considering that I didn't do enough in terms of preventative care. That's something I have to find ways to mentally forgive myself. I just got so consumed with stuff going on in my life over these past couple of years and these little guys are so good at hiding what may be ailing them. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[rocksexton]

Wanted to include that Prada is around 15 years old. He used to be my ex-gf's cat and I got tired of seeing her shuffle him between places (she was always moving), so I asked her to give him to me.

 

[rocksexton]

Also his vitals have been good during this situation.

 

[rocksexton]

I took him home Wednesday night.

His creatinine levels were down tremendously after they were finally able to give him aggressive fluid treatment late Tuesday night thru Wednesday night. Literally down to almost 2pts to 3.7. As nice as the doc was she kept telling me that after three full rounds of IV - it's still not low enough and didn't think anything else was going to help. She also said the "cautious" approach they took with fluids the first two days was "really not significant enough to make a difference between the aggressive route.

I don't understand that logic at all. Hell, even on the lab report it says "conservative fluids - until proper heart examination". I'm trying to make sense of all of this. Again he has the one small non-functional kidney. The other is large, but inflamed and they're not sure of whether it's an infarction or infection. The hope was that one large healthy kidney would be enough. I mean is it possible to drop Creatinine from a high of 6.6 on the first day of being admitted all the way to 3.7? If the kidney is that compromised wouldn't it have really moved at all?

I guess that's the optimist in me. They put me in a bad predicament because I literally wasted two full rounds of fluids when they weren't aggressive - which cost $1300 a pop with all the labs, etc. I'm struggling administering Subq's at the moment and hoping my friend (who's familiar) can help me. If the vets are wrong and the large kidney can be saved then it would be worth the struggle.

 

[rocksexton]

Don't let me forget he hasn't presented any secondary health issues that normally arise with failing kidneys. It's just one small non-functional kidney and one inflamed one right now. His labs weren't even crazy high like you'd see with cats who's owners are told that it's near the end.

 

[catlover73]

My 8 year old Sonny was hospitalized due to a partial blockage. The blockage messed up a lot of his levels. His kidney values were extremely high to the point if I had not hospitalized him when I did his kidney function would have shut down. He was in the hospital for 3 days with a catheter to unblock him and lots of fluids. He had an ultra sound before he was released to look at his kidneys and check for stones. His kidneys looked normal and there were no stones. You are dealing with different issues then I was though. He was never diagnosed with any sort of kidney disease. His kidney values went completely back to normal before he was released. The ER vet was not sure if this would happen and it did. I took him to get a 2nd opinion per his former foster mommy's request at her expense and her vet had a hell of a time trying to get accurate readings for his kidney values because they were above the high limits for one of their testing machines. When her vet saw how bad his numbers were she immediately called for him to be admitted to ICU at the ER vet. The experienced ER vet was in complete shock that he was still alive because his blood work was all over the place with scary high values. He did make a complete full recovery. He got a 2nd opinion because my friend who is his former foster mommy did not care for how my vet was explaining things. She went with us to the first appointment. I told the vet she could ask questions too. She felt like he was down-playing stuff. She was right and her vet was very unhappy with my vet because of it. If you are 2nd guessing what your vet is saying then maybe you should get a 2nd opinion. This really saved Sonny's life. My friend's vet was so worried about my cat that she did not charge us for the blood work or the urine test she did to check for a UTI. My friend called to double check the bill and was told it was correct. The vet wanted us to have extra money to use for the ER care and gave us a discount. My friend is an established client and I have only been there twice.