Dehydration or kidney failure?

Mahurboy

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Hi all,

first of all, I should thank each of you for all the inputs in the website. I have gone through a big portion of it and wanted to share my own story for your help.

My cat is 5 months old Ragdoll. He has not been eating enough, but drinking and urinating quite a lot (6*day) in the last 10 days. I took him to the vet and she run a test for the pee. The test showed that he has blood and protein in his pee. The vet suggested me to have a blood test to see if there is a kidney issue, and we did. Attached are the blood results, as you can see the crea and urea values are slightly elevated than the standard. The vet suspects dehydration but also maybe a cronic disease coming from family. She asked me to have ultrasond and we did at emergency clinic.

The vet doing the ultrasound concluded that there is no cronic disease in the kidney. He does not see a permanent damage either. He sees 2 white spots, which can be an indication of a kidney infection which has passed / or about to pass by itself. In any case, they kept my boy at the clinic, gave him fluids to hydrate him, and also antibiotics to make sure that the infection is gone for sure. The day after they called me and asked me to take my boy as his blood values (crea and urea) lowered significantly and back to normal. We are now at home, continuing the antibiotics for the upcoming 10 days.

In the meanwhile, I spoke with my original vet, she already got the results from the clinic, and she advised me to have another blood test in 1,5 week to see antibiotics really worked out.

Google is a dead hole, as the more I checked, the more I got depressed. In some websites, it is written that crea and urea levels will not be escalated because of dehydration, it is an earlier sign of CKD. He is just 5 months, my body cant not take it..

any views on my case? Any advices? Anyone has experienced the same and the question either it is a dehydration or kidney disease? Please reply!
 

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daftcat75

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Because he’s only five months, I’d follow your vet’s advice over Google. Is he eating and drinking well again? Does he seem otherwise alright? Good energy, wants to play, etc? If so, monitor him for changes and retest in 1-2 weeks like your vet recommended. If he does have chronic kidney disease, you’ll likely see other symptoms besides not eating and peeing too much. Both can be signs of an infection. Not everything has to be the worst. Especially in such a young kitten.
 
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Mahurboy

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Because he’s only five months, I’d follow your vet’s advice over Google. Is he eating and drinking well again? Does he seem otherwise alright? Good energy, wants to play, etc? If so, monitor him for changes and retest in 1-2 weeks like your vet recommended. If he does have chronic kidney disease, you’ll likely see other symptoms besides not eating and peeing too much. Both can be signs of an infection. Not everything has to be the worst. Especially in such a young kitten.
He is drinking good, eating OKish. No change in the weight in the last 10 days. He started to play as of today. I also think that we should be able to see the kidney failure in ultrasound right. Why do they do an ultrasound, if they dont trust it? I dont get it..
 

mrsgreenjeens

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The ultra sound was to detect genetic issues of his kidneys. He passed the test there, which is good news. I agree with daftcat75 daftcat75 that you should follow your Vet's advise and not pay attention to what "Dr. Google" is saying. I've had three kidney cats and they did NOT have a sudden decrease in blood values like your little guy had, so I think it probably was just an infection in his kidneys.
 

Lotusflwr79

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My cat of 16 years passed last year of kidney failure. One main symptom you will notice will be constipation. Kidney failure is usually seen in older cats, but may be in younger cats, though not too common from what I’ve read and researched. Kidney failure is not something you want your cat to have, as in my experience it was debilitating to my poor girl. Keep on top of your kitty. I’m sure he’s fine.
 
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Mahurboy

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He is also changing teeth, so I am not sure thats why he was not eating that much.. he is also not eating that much now :(
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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If he is getting his last set of teeth in, yes, that could be why it is a bit painful for him to eat a ton of food right now. Did the vet(s) look inside his mouth to make sure the teeth and gums look good at this stage of the teething process for him? Sometimes the baby teeth do not fall out "on time" and new teeth grow in alongside the old teeth -- painful! You can email your original vet and ask about this possibility.
 
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Mahurboy

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She checked his teeth, did not say anything rather than he is changing his teeth.
He drinks well but not eating enough I would say.
My friends tell me that it could be because of antibiotics, so does not have to be related with kidney problem. Can you please share your views with me?

Regards,
 

She's a witch

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When I had kittens, My vet used to tell me that the values standards for bloodwork are set for an adult cats and kittens are allowed to have variations, and although they will show at out of range, they would still be totally normal, and that needs to be taken into account when interpreting the results. So yeah, follow your vet advice but if you don’t trust it, get a second opinion. Google is not your friend right now.
 

verna davies

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Just a thought, if he is peeing often and blood and protein in urine it could be a UTI caused by an infection. It could be worth asking your vet.
Do you feed dry food because teething can be painful. Try a wet food in gravy and mash it to see if it helps.
 
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Mahurboy

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Just a thought, if he is peeing often and blood and protein in urine it could be a UTI caused by an infection. It could be worth asking your vet.
Do you feed dry food because teething can be painful. Try a wet food in gravy and mash it to see if it helps.
They checked the urine. No bacteria is found. No permanent damage is seen in ultrasound. Only a mark of inflammation which has possibly passed by itself.
We are using Clavamox as an antibiotic. Every single day his appetite is decreasing. Today he has not eaten anything! I called the vet and she told me possibly the antibiotics were so heavy for him. We stopped the antibiotics as of today (5 days we used)

He is not eating and I am getting crazy..I really dont believe he has a kidney problem, but I really dont know anymore. Any ideas?
 

verna davies

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Ask your vet about syringe feeding him, he must eat. Try boiled chicken, very small pieces. Is he drinking? Stress can cause UTI, with no infection/bacteria. There will be debris in urine. Was his urine clear?
 
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Mahurboy

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No debris found. He is drinking and we syringe water him few times just incase. He just ate 1/4 wet food package and slept again. No weight loss so far. Shall i syringe feed him you think?
 

verna davies

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If he is not eating at all then in your position I would but its best if he will eat on his own. A little and often at first until his appetite gets back to normal. Its good that he has eaten something. Keep us updated.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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Today he has not eaten anything! I called the vet and she told me possibly the antibiotics were so heavy for him. We stopped the antibiotics as of today (5 days we used)
He just ate 1/4 wet food package and slept again.
If the Clavamox really upset his tummy and you just stopped dosing him with it today, it may be some hours (or a 1/2 day or day) before he eats regularly again. (At which point, he may eat a lot!) I see he just ate a little bit, so that's a good trend! Keep some full food dishes around for him and keep trying to feed him when he's awake.
:grouphug2:
 
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Mahurboy

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Hello everyone,

Last night he finished a package of wet food around 85 grams.

Today he ate half of a canned chicken in the morning. His energy is OKish, not really playful. Has been 28 hours after we gave the last antibiotics. I have seen a bit of red spots in his gums where the new teet has came up today..

He is now sleeping again. He started to afraid of us because we keep syringing water to his mouth just in case he is not drinking good enough.

any ideas further! Your support is keeping me strong. Somehow my heart is sayinf there was nothing wrong with him, the values slightly got higher because of dehyration, and it was too much of trauma for him to get the fluids, staying at the hospital.. of course maybe I am eager to think positive..
 

verna davies

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It sounds as if you are doing a good job of looking after him and his appetite is improving. Can you get some cat milk, he may like that and it will get fluids into him as well as feed him.
 
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Mahurboy

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It sounds as if you are doing a good job of looking after him and his appetite is improving. Can you get some cat milk, he may like that and it will get fluids into him as well as feed him.
Update!
My boy was not eating good enough yesterday (less than one can of chicken he ate), I syringe feed him. Today in the morning, he woke up very playful, jumping around. I gave him a wet food, he ate less than half of the package.

He lost 200grams:( can you tell me what I need to do? We
 
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