Toro grooming last night...The docs found stones in both of his kidneys. There were about 8 or 9 stones lining each of his kidneys !! The smallest was 2.2mm and the biggest 6 mm. I was horrified when I heard this news. Dr T said they could not confirm if his kidney issues were chronic or not. If chronic, there could be no reversal of this status. He warned that Toro may have to have life-long kidney management which included medication and subq. He also said it would be unlikely that his subq fluids could be lessened with time and told me to expect to give him sub-q everyday for life. He also said that his creatinine, which was 2.9 (0.3-2.1) at the last blood test was higher than normal but it was the best that he could manage and if we get these numbers in a week we would be lucky. His BUN was 32 (10-30) last Tuesday. I asked him if his indicators would ever be normal again and Dr T said that would be unlikely.
He suspected melamine poisoning because I had given Totoro Nutro when it happened and Nutro was part of the brand that was contaminated by melamine. Bujang seemed unaffected and Ms Akira had vomitted several times throughout these years but the vet suspected that she was a nervous cat and the food might not agree with her. The vet did not take a blood test though when I brought her in for vomitting. That was a few years ago and now I wonder if I should bring her in too. :(
He suspected melamine poisoning because I had given Totoro Nutro when it happened and Nutro was part of the brand that was contaminated by melamine. Bujang seemed unaffected and Ms Akira had vomitted several times throughout these years but the vet suspected that she was a nervous cat and the food might not agree with her. The vet did not take a blood test though when I brought her in for vomitting. That was a few years ago and now I wonder if I should bring her in too. :(
Toro looks rather well. But if you can reduce his stress level until he fully finds his feet, it will be better.
ReplyDeleteMy vet told me 2 years ago. Once they get an acute version, they will be classified as chronic even after recovery. And definitely meds daily.
SubQ I am not so sure. XX was on subQ for a month in 2008 but she recovered well enough to be 100% hydrated daily until her relapse Jul 10 when she was subQ-ed for 3 straight days. She is now running around the house again.
It is possible to bring down the BUN and creatinine to normal levels. We did it with XX and so can you.
For the past 2 years, Xx's daily diet is at least 75% renal food and the rest non-renal food (wet food fish is her favorite). And no treats at all. Do you want to cook for Toro? I have a renal home cook diet from my vet. But I have not yet tried. If you want, I can mail you a copy.
Can kidney stones be removed in cats as easily as in people? Don't they zap them with lasers nowadays?
ReplyDeleteMy MCat passed out "crystals" - ultra sound showed no visible stones. These crystals blocked his urethra & and cat had perineal urethrostomy surgery-widening opening of urethra. There are struvite/calcium oxalate and other crystals/stones. They get bigger in acidic/alkaline urine. Unfortunately MCat had calcium oxalate which is the difficult one.
ReplyDeleteI bought a pH test strips (online) to test cat's urine at home. Dr L recommended Nature Sunshine's Cranberry & Buchu which cat has to take for life.