Enlarged Kidney in Previously Healthy Two-Year-Old?

[ColoradoCat]

So I spoke with the vet again. She said that the prognosis is still guarded, so we don't really know what's going to happen long term. They are treating her as aggressively as they can, and she is responding to treatment, so that's all good.

I also spoke with the ASPCA hotline again and they said that because Cassie is young and otherwise healthy, and because she's receiving treatment, they're pretty confident that she'll pull through. There's still a chance she might not make it, but they think she may very well make a full recovery. Even if she doesn't, they think it will be manageable and she can live a long and happy life regardless. I've also added my other cat to the case just to be on the safe side.

I'll try to bring Anuket in to my regular vet tomorrow for bloodwork to check her kidney values just so we can make sure she wasn't also poisoned. She's completely asymptomatic right now, so I think she's ok, but I don't ever want to go through this with another cat, especially not while I'm already dealing with it.

Lilies are henceforth banned from the house and any bouquet containing them will be promptly binned upon arrival. We're also considering tossing the table cloth the bouquet was on. I'm honestly surprised by how little it takes to give a cat lily toxicity and really thought that keeping the bouquet separate would be enough to keep them safe. That's a risk I will never be taking again.

I'll also be visiting Cassie tomorrow. They tell me that she's both beautiful and sweet, and that she's been friendly and purring despite her situation. I'm really looking forward to seeing her.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. When I started reading this thread my first thought was Lillie toxicity. Regardless of your other cats blood work, he should still have aggressive fluid therapy in hospital for 3 days.

One thing to remember is that cats don’t follow the rules. I knew a 6 month old kitten that went 10 days before showing signs of Lilly toxicity after exposure. Sadly that kitten didn’t make it.

Another family with 2 cats 6 months old exposed. One died and the other showed no symptoms and did fine.

I truly wish warnings were put on those stupid flowers. All parts of the plant are toxic with the pollen being a common cause of toxicity.

I have seen cats make a full recovery when treated early and aggressively enough.I have never seen one survive once they stop producing urine.

Be sure to fully vacuum every where the flowers were. Also might consider checking your cats fur for signs of pollen.

 

[Antonio65]

Lilies, and other dangerous or toxic plants, should be banned from households with pets.
The list of toxic, dangerous, even lethal plants and flowers is quite long and I have seen that different webistes list different plants. So far, I haven't found a comprehensive list with ALL the plants.

My cat ate some leaves from a Lily plant last year, I realized what she was doing right away, the plant was in a flower pot in the front yard where my cats never go, but that was an incredible coincidence and incident.
I knew we were in an emergency, so I took her to the clinic right away and they made her throw up and luckily she threw up all the leaves she had swallowed. Anyway my cat was held at the clinic for 24h and was taken back for a complete check up a week later.
The Lily in the flower pot was given to a neighbor of mine.

Hopefully your Cassie will pull through and have no future consequences.

 

[Antonio65]

One thing to remember is that cats don’t follow the rules. I knew a 6 month old kitten that went 10 days before showing signs of Lilly toxicity after exposure. Sadly that kitten didn’t make it.

Another family with 2 cats 6 months old exposed. One died and the other showed no symptoms and did fine.

Last year, my Giada chewed on and swallowed some Lily leaves from a plant I had in a flower pot in my front yard. My cats never go to the front yard, their walking area (with harness and leash) is the backyard.
Giada was promptly taken to the vets and treated within an hour. She had no consequences.

What is strange is that my courtyard cats, who had always lived near and around that plant, would often have some pollen on their fur, and I'm rather sure they even licked it off, but they are doing fine. One of them had a thorough health check a couple of weeks ago, and he's totally fine.

 

[ColoradoCat]

Hi. When I started reading this thread my first thought was Lillie toxicity. Regardless of your other cats blood work, he should still have aggressive fluid therapy in hospital for 3 days.

One thing to remember is that cats don’t follow the rules. I knew a 6 month old kitten that went 10 days before showing signs of Lilly toxicity after exposure. Sadly that kitten didn’t make it.

Another family with 2 cats 6 months old exposed. One died and the other showed no symptoms and did fine.

I truly wish warnings were put on those stupid flowers. All parts of the plant are toxic with the pollen being a common cause of toxicity.

I have seen cats make a full recovery when treated early and aggressively enough.I have never seen one survive once they stop producing urine.

Be sure to fully vacuum every where the flowers were. Also might consider checking your cats fur for signs of pollen.

We'll definitely be doing a deep clean in the dining room where the flowers were, and it's off limits until we do. Ironically, we put them there in the first place so we could block off the cats' access to them, not realizing that the left over pollen could be so dangerous. We're also considering tossing the tablecloth just because I don't know if I'll be able to trust it again.

 

[ColoradoCat]

I received a call from the vet this morning. Cassie's continuing to improve and has been nibbling on a bit of food. I also saw on the client livestream that she was pretty active at one point last night, and seemed to want to explore.

Kidney values are still high, with BUN being 94 (normal being about 14-36) and creatinine being 6.6 (can't find any details on a normal range online, but this is very high), but they are falling.

I'll be visiting her later today and bringing her a bed and one of my shirts so she has smells of home.

 

[silent meowlook]

I received a call from the vet this morning. Cassie's continuing to improve and has been nibbling on a bit of food. I also saw on the client livestream that she was pretty active at one point last night, and seemed to want to explore.

Kidney values are still high, with BUN being 94 (normal being about 14-36) and creatinine being 6.6 (can't find any details on a normal range online, but this is very high), but they are falling.

I'll be visiting her later today and bringing her a bed and one of my shirts so she has smells of home.

Yes, the creatinine is high, but if it’s going down, that’s good.

 

[ColoradoCat]

I visited Cassie today. She was a bit nervous, but she immediately crawled right up onto my lap and I was able to get her purring. They were having some trouble getting her to eat, and I know she can be a very picky eater, so I ran out and got her some of her favorite wet food (Royal Canin adult) and dropped it off. I'm going to call in a few hours and see how she's doing with that. I also dropped off one of her beds and the shirt I wore yesterday so she has some familiar smells.

 

[ColoradoCat]

I just heard back from the vet. Bloodwork was done again this evening. Creatinine is down to 5 and BUN is down to 81.3. Her prognosis is much better and she's expected to survive. There's a chance that she may need supportive care after this, but because she's young and didn't have any kidney issues previously, it's also very possible that she'll be back to normal after this is over. I'll be visiting her again tomorrow and hopefully she'll be coming home soon.

We all miss her here, and her (adoptive) sister Anuket has been extra clingy.

 

[Antonio65]

That is great news! Hopefully this will be only a bad dream, eventually.

 

[ColoradoCat]

So Cassie is now home. She's walking a bit funny from having been in a small kennel for five days, and she's lost quite a bit of weight. Unfortunately, the vet says that she now has chronic kidney disease. I've asked the director of the shelter I work for if I can grab some kidney food while I'm at work tomorrow, and I'll be getting her a prescription on Monday. She's very happy to be home and has been purring and scratching on her cat tree. Hopefully she'll be back to normal after she recovers and I get her on her new diet.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I am sorry about the chronic kidney disease, but at least she pulled through. I do wish those stupid flowers had warnings on them.

Did the vet discuss you doing subcutaneous fluids at home?

 

[ColoradoCat]

Hi. I am sorry about the chronic kidney disease, but at least she pulled through. I do wish those stupid flowers had warnings on them.

Did the vet discuss you doing subcutaneous fluids at home?

Honestly, I think it should be a legal requirement that all florists have warnings on lilies telling people just how incredibly dangerous they are. She didn't even touch the lilies themselves, just the pollen.

They didn't talk about SubQ fluids, though she's going into the regular vet on Monday for more bloodwork and I'll definitely ask them then. I've done them before (though only on kittens), so I'm sure I can do it again if I need to.

 

[silent meowlook]

Honestly, I think it should be a legal requirement that all florists have warnings on lilies telling people just how incredibly dangerous they are. She didn't even touch the lilies themselves, just the pollen.

I don’t know how to make that happen. I have seen so many cats die from this.

 

[ColoradoCat]

My poor girl made herself comfortable. I'll be picking up kidney food at the shelter I work at today, and she's currently eating a wet food diet just to be safe. I'm hoping that her bloodwork on Monday looks better and that she'll be back to her normal self in no time.

 

[silent meowlook]

She is beautiful. I bet she is glad to be home.

 

[ColoradoCat]

I'm glad to have her back too.

Does anyone have any idea how long my little girl can live with chronic kidney disease? I'm finding some very concerning numbers online and I'm really scared.

 

[silent meowlook]

It is very much an individual thing. There still may be some resolve of the kidney damage. There is no way to put a time limit because everything can change.

 

[silent meowlook]

If she was my cat, A couple of things I would keep in mind, is avoid anesthesia, never give any Metacam or other anti inflammatory medication, make sure she stays hydrated.

 

[Antonio65]

Does anyone have any idea how long my little girl can live with chronic kidney disease? I'm finding some very concerning numbers online and I'm really scared.

As S silent meowlook said, it's an individual thing.
There are cats who have a short lifespan since the the diagnosis, we're talking a couple of years. Other cats can have a very long life with it. My cat Lola (avatar) was diagnosed with CKD at the age of 6 and went to the bridge at the age of 17 and not because of her kidneys.