DROOL! - sign of renal failure or something else?

[BigBurgers]

I posted last week about getting my CKD cat to eat after being diagnosed with a bladder infection. Fast forward, after a couple rounds of sub-Q fluids and letting her antibiotic go to work a bit more, she has regained much of her appetite and I'm cautiously optimistic that she's recovering, albeit slowly. Feels like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. She's going in tomorrow for another round of fluids and her second dose of the antibiotic.

This morning though something concerning happened. She was sleeping near me all night, and early in the morning I woke up to hearing a *thud thud thud* in the kitchen, almost like someone was playfully stomping their feet to get her to run away. I thought great, more improvement! Well, a few minutes later she walked into my room and sat on the carpet near my bed, nothing major. Eventually she turned and jumped up, and I noticed a long thread of thick drool hanging from her mouth. I looked closer, turns out her whole mouth was covered in drool. I grabbed a couple tissues and wiped it up, then I carried her downstairs for breakfast. I cracked open a can of food and she freaked out, meowing "feed me feed me." The drooling never returned, but I'll definitely have to keep an eye on it. I'm wondering if by chance she jumped up on the counter because she was playful and hungry, then slipped off and tumbled to the ground, maybe hurt her jaw causing her to drool. On the flip side, she does have CKD, and though her vet is still confident in her kidney panel from a few weeks ago, drooling can be a sign of failing kidneys.

Again though, her energy is good, she's playful again, eating dry food again, lights up when I walk into the room with a dish, walks around with her tail up, etc. Now that the fluids have exited her system her litter box function has, again knock on wood, returned to normal. Best I can tell, she's retaining her fluids and the skin on her back feels hydrated.

This is just another head scratcher to throw into the mix with her. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks.

 

[StanAndAlf]

Just another thing to think about, sometimes drool occurs if she smelt something funny, from pain and especially from dental issues. Keep an eye out, as you said, and maybe get her teeth checked next time you're at the vet. It may not be her CKD at all

Great to hear she's doing better!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And do talk with your vet about this entire episode. There is also a VERY slight chance that she had a brief seizure. I repeat, SLIGHT chance.

 

[fionasmom]

I have a TNRed male outside who is still a figher and we had one "drool" episode where he came to eat with saliva dripping from his mouth. My best assumption was that he was bopped in the mouth and it did clear up completely. But in your case, tell the vet what happened just to be sure.

 

[BigBurgers]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to give an update on my cat. She went on her second antibiotic course last week and there has been a noticeable improvement in her overall health. She's more like herself, fur is full and fluffy, and she's generally awake more during the day and doesn't hide under the covers as much. That's the good news.

The frustrating news is that I cannot for the life of me get her to eat more. She's lost a pound of weight from this ordeal, and although she does eat from time to time, she refuses most foods I give her, including Fancy Feast (which is new to her). She also hasn't been drinking from her dish (that I've seen), but she is getting water that I've added to her food. I've been giving her the Tomlyn high cal supplement, and she's on her second day of her Rebound treatment, but if I don't start getting more calories into her soon we're going to have big problems. Fancy Feast is my newest addition, she sometimes goes for tuna, and I'm going to pick up a couple jars of baby food tonight. A cat friend (who really knows her cats - nursed two fatty liver cats back to health) is convinced that I just need to give it more time because she's in recovery, but I'm in a tossup of whether it's because of that or kidneys. I'd ask for tips and tricks on feeding, but I feel like I've tried everything short of syringe feeding.

 

[BigBurgers]

Just to add, the strange thing is that she does come around as normal as can be, looking for her dinner. She just refuses every food I offer. She was already a picky eater long before her CKD, but this is next level.

 

[catsknowme]

How is her dental health? Stomatitis can appear deep in the throat so a cursory vet check can easily miss it. Also, she might feel hungry but nauseous.

 

[BigBurgers]

A few weeks ago the fill-in vet looked in her mouth and didn't notice anything, though I don't completely trust that vet. I believe nausea is to blame here, but I'm trying to understand if it's caused by her CKD or recovery from her illness. As a last ditch effort I bought her some chicken baby food earlier. When I popped open the can she went nuts, and when I put it in front of her she licked it 10 times, popped her head back up, then walked away. My thinking though, if it were CKD, would be that she would be experiencing more obvious symptoms? Like I said, her coat is thick and full again, she's energetic, and has been eating somewhat. Basically, at this point, if you walked in the room and met this cat you wouldn't think she's ill, just thin. I'll be contacting the vet again on Monday.

 

[catsknowme]

I agree that it probably is nausea. Does she allow you to open her mouth for a look-see? You can also try gently rubbing the fur under & behind her lower jaw. use small, circular motions which can irritate stomatitis. If that's tolerated, try crossing under her windpipe at the lower throat - often, nauseous cats don't allow it.

 

[BigBurgers]

Getting a look inside her mouth is no easy task. I just tried to no avail, best leave it for the vet. I did try your suggestion with the rubbing, and she did get squirmy when I rubbed her lower throat. That could be from nausea or just "leave me alone." Tough to say. Not too long ago she jumped down off the chair and went over to her food/water dishes, she smelled both and went right back to her chair. I've got some baby chicken food in there just to entice her appetite. She DID eat a little bit about a half hour ago but hasn't since.

For now I'm going to assume nausea as well. Depending on how tomorrow goes, I'll be contacting the vet on Monday for another anti-nausea injection and we'll go from there. If it is indeed nausea, the bigger question is "why?" Again, if it were her kidneys I would assume other symptoms as well such as dehydration, but right now I would safely say she's hydrated - full fluffy fur, alert, playful, meowy. That makes me optimistic. It could also possibly be some early signs of fatty liver because of her reduced appetite over the last month, or lingering effects from her illness. I've also wondered if maybe her Rebound has caused some nausea, because I neglected to realize that you're supposed to avoid giving them food for the first two days on the treatment? Today was her second full dose of the treatment, and based on the thousands of other positive reviews on Rebound, I'm cautiously optimistic she'll start turning around.

 

[BigBurgers]

Just a quick update. At the store earlier I bought her a few new types of foods, including Fancy Feast kitten variety. I just tried giving her a little and she ravenously gobbled it up. I know Kitten food is the forbidden fruit with CKD cats....but these are desperate times.

 

[StanAndAlf]

You could try mixing a little of the kitten food with some other brands, or putting some on top... fed is always best but if you can get her off the high phosphorous that is obviously better

Glad to hear she ate something though!

 

[fionasmom]

I am wondering now if the drooling was related to nausea. As for your friend telling you to give her more time to decide to eat, I would not be comfortable with that as time went on. I would keep up the kitten food as suggested until you can get to the vet to see what is going on.

 

[BigBurgers]

Thankfully the drooling incident only happened once....cause still unknown. Just to clarify, my friend's advice was to continue feeding her with the hope that over time she will regain her appetite as her stomach allows for larger portions. I'm definitely going to continue feeding her Fancy Feast or just about anything that she'll tolerate until we can get to the vet.

Today she has been noticeably more active and outgoing. She ate a bit more, though still not enough, but she has also been drinking a lot more water today. This could be because she didn't drink much yesterday and she's just excessively thirsty, but it could also be a symptom of her kidneys. I would think though, that if she were drinking to compensate for failing kidneys there would be other symptoms as well - dehydrated skin, poor coat, bad breath, lethargy, etc. She's the complete opposite. She also fought me tooth and nail against giving her a dose of Rebound via syringe (she won't lap it from a dish anymore). When she was first diagnosed with CKD last year, I do remember periods where she would drink a lot earlier in the day then almost nothing the rest of the day, so I'll have to wait and see.

Tomorrow I'll be calling the vet to decide our next course of action. At this point it's probably wisest to just do a full blood panel and urinalysis.

 

[fionasmom]

Please keep us posted.

 

[BigBurgers]

Just an update. So, she had a seizure today. I've been taking care of her at my mom's house for the time being, and she had called me when I was almost home telling me she thinks she had a seizure. I walked in the door 3 minutes later and my cat was wide awake, alert, walking to me. A bit of a stumble, but she seemed otherwise normal. My mom was a bit traumatized though. That confirmed to me that she had one two weeks ago to the day as well, hence this original post. Strangely enough, not 15-20 minutes after the episode she was hanging around me for attention, then went and ate from her wet and dry dishes...

Her normal vet was too busy to get her in so I took her to an emergency clinic. They were super helpful, recommended full blood work, more fluids, and gabapentin. The scary thing is that they couldn't get any urine out of her for a urinalysis because she was so dehydrated. The tech gave her 75ml of fluids and she took them immediately, so she gave her another round. The dehydration really confuses me though....because she's been active, alert, not sleeping quite as much during the day, playful, eating. Her appetite has been steadily increasing every day for the past few days (got her to eat about a full can of Fancy Feast today (the smaller cans). That's how she's been this past month, it's "this" but not "that." Tomorrow we get the blood work results and I'll be taking her in for them to take a urine draw. Will update the board when I know more.

 

[fionasmom]

Now I am back to what Mamanyt1953 said earlier.....there is seizure activity going on. It is common for cats to come out a a seizure and act very normally. The original drooling and thudding that you heard was probably a seizure?

 

[BigBurgers]

Most likely. Her blood work shows elevated BUN and CREA higher than a month ago. We’re going to start sub-Q fluids at home for now. The good news is that she’s still eating and her appetite is pretty strong at the moment. The vet hopes that we can at least get her stable again, so I’m going to do all I can.

 

[BigBurgers]

Hey all, just another update. It's been a bizarre week. Her eating has still been strong, she began drinking on her own again, but yesterday we believe she had another seizure. I gave her sub-Q fluids for the first time, she was alert and outgoing right afterwards, then she went to sleep and I left her alone for a couple of hours. She likes to sleep under the covers, so I peeked on her and she just seemed super weak. I put her on the ground and her whole hind side wobbled like she was drunk. We decided to take her to the 24 hour ER but there was a 4 hour wait, and by that point it seemed like she was perking up a lot. We took her home and she trotted out of her crate. A drastic 180 from how she was an hour earlier. I believe she had a seizure when she was sleeping, because my mom says that's exactly how she was walking after the seizure she witnessed. When I brought her home though she wouldn't sit still! Climbing over everything, eating a lot, meowing for attention, etc. This morning was more of the same. As the day went on today though she's gotten significantly weaker and more lethargic. I just gave her 6ml of Rebound, and in about a half hour I think I'm going to give her another 50ml of fluids. She has an appointment tomorrow with her new vet so I'll see what they say...

 

[BigBurgers]

Just to add, I spoke to a vet on Friday about her urinalysis and he says even though her urine is dilute, he's not putting her in the "renal failure" category yet, because she's alert, eating, drinking, etc. As I see her get weaker and weaker though, I can't help but wonder.