Newly Discovered Heart Murmur

[10thomer]

I'm back with yet another confusing update! See my previous thread for background on Lewis: Borderline kidney disease numbers caused by diet?

As I mentioned in the previous thread, Lewis had his annual bloodwork done and had the following results:
1/14/22 (Lewis is 6 y.o.)
BUN: 38
CRE: 2.2
Phos: 4.3
SDMA: 14
Urine Specific Gravity: 1.024
(Reference ranges are: BUN 16-37mg/dL; CRE 0.9-2.5mg/dL; SDMA 0-14ug/dL; Phos 2-9-6.3 mg/dL)

I was okay with these numbers, nothing too crazy stood out to me and it seemed attributable to diet.

His teeth are pretty bad, so we just had another set of bloodwork done, with the following confusing results:
4/11/22 (Lewis is 7 y.o.)
BUN: 37
CRE: 2.6
Phos: 4.9
SDMA: 11

So now his SDMA has dropped well into the normal range while his creatinine increased! So confusing that those two numbers don't correlate so we're still not positive if he has kidney issues v. is this is just caused by diet. But the really confusing issue is that he was supposed to have his dental done today, but the vet detected a grade III/IV parasternal heart murmur that needs to be assessed via EKG prior to the dental surgery. So we had to postpone the dental...

Any thoughts on what could be going on here with this new information? I'll keep this thread updated when we get the results from the EKG but wanted to hear if you all had any thoughts in the interim.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I think you got a lot of good information in your previous thread - even with regard to heart issues. Despite the lowered SDMA - which like most any other element of blood testing can be skewed by other things - it does seem as if Lewis is at the onset of kidney disease. But pancreatitis can also mess up the numbers, and just because he is not vomiting now does not mean he isn't experiencing some degree of another bout of pancreatitis. Chronic pancreatitis comes and goes with varying degrees of severity. Dental issues can also skew blood work results.

I'd wait to see what the EKG reveals, and regardless, I think you probably need to get a second opinion from an internal medicine vet. They are typically more 'in tune' with how different health issues can intertwine. I don't recall seeing that you have done that in your previous thread, so if I missed it, please excuse me.

 

[10thomer]

Hi. I think you got a lot of good information in your previous thread - even with regard to heart issues. Despite the lowered SDMA - which like most any other element of blood testing can be skewed by other things - it does seem as if Lewis is at the onset of kidney disease. But pancreatitis can also mess up the numbers, and just because he is not vomiting now does not mean he isn't experiencing some degree of another bout of pancreatitis. Chronic pancreatitis comes and goes with varying degrees of severity. Dental issues can also skew blood work results.

I'd wait to see what the EKG reveals, and regardless, I think you probably need to get a second opinion from an internal medicine vet. They are typically more 'in tune' with how different health issues can intertwine. I don't recall seeing that you have done that in your previous thread, so if I missed it, please excuse me.

Yeah I guess I'm still in shock that my young cat would have CKD (had elevated creatinine at 4 y.o.) in addition to IBD and pancreatitis and now maybe some type of heart disease? Did his mom get into a nuclear waste dump when she was pregnant with him? Because it all just seems surreal for a relatively young cat...

We did visit an internal medicine specialist last year, that's who diagnosed the panc. But this was before the heart murmur so we may need to take him back if it ends up actually being heart disease.... I was hoping the dental would clear some of this up but now who knows how long that will be postponed, if we can even do it at all

 

[vansX2]

Many years ago now around 2007. I purchased a Maine Coon altered male. He was about 3yrs. old from a family who had neglected him. The following day I brought him to a Veterinarian too be checked out. He had a severe case of ear mites but the I wasn't expecting to hear that he also had a heart murmur. I asked if anything could be done too correct the problem. I was told just enjoy him. He could live another 10 yrs. Or be gone tomorrow. Smokey survived another 11 months in my care. Then suddenly he had a stroke that affected his back legs. The Veterinarian gave him 24 hours if no turn around. Then euthanasia was suggested. Smokey went to "Cat Heaven" two days later.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Yeah I guess I'm still in shock that my young cat would have CKD (had elevated creatinine at 4 y.o.) in addition to IBD and pancreatitis and now maybe some type of heart disease? Did his mom get into a nuclear waste dump when she was pregnant with him? Because it all just seems surreal for a relatively young cat...We did visit an internal medicine specialist last year, that's who diagnosed the panc. But this was before the heart murmur so we may need to take him back if it ends up actually being heart disease.... I was hoping the dental would clear some of this up but now who knows how long that will be postponed, if we can even do it at all.

Hold the faith. another consult with the internal med specialist may actually help. All of these things are more than likely interrelated somehow - and I don't mean because 'mom' was in a nuclear waste dump ().