Question About A Cat's Kidneys

[weebeasties]

I took Spike ( 10 year old, spayed, indoor only ) to the vet this afternoon because I was concerned that she was loosing weight even though her appetite is good. I was thinking that she may have a thyroid issue.
I was stunned when the vet examined her he said her kidneys were small. They did bloodwork (results will be back tomorrow), urinalysis, and an ultrasound. Her urine was concentrated. He also detected a heart murmur.
I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't ask many questions. I was just not prepared for kidney or heart issues and I was stunned.
Since getting home I have been reading up on CKD and she has none of the symptoms they describe other than slight weight loss.
I know I need to be patient and wait for her labs to come in, but I am wondering (and hoping) that it is possible for a cat to have small kidneys and not have CKD.
Has anyone ever heard of that?

Our sweet Spike

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Spike baby!!
I'm not an expert,/vet, but I think it's possible that if the kidneys are functioning well, that it isn't necessarily a given for her to have the disease.

Are you feeding her canned food? Is she drinking filtered water?

I don't know if you are familiar with this website, and some info is a little out of date but it could be helpful;
Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat

 

[weebeasties]

The vet called this morning and Spike's bloodwork all looked good!
He is still very concerned about her heart murmur though. He thinks we should get an echocardiogram. She was very frightened at the exam so it's possible that it is just a stressed induced murmur that isn't going on all the time. I hope that is the case.
Still, VERY good news that we are not looking at a CKD diagnosis!

 

[Furballsmom]

This is AWESOME!!

 

[Furballsmom]

.thinking out loud, is there any way you could get a home-visit vet to listen to her heart? That might be less stressful for her ...?

 

[Furballsmom]

So with that, also let me post a list of enticements and other helpful things that may give you tools in the weight loss battle.
Double-check with your vet just to be sure it's all ok with him/her

Fortiflora is a probiotic but works better as an enticement. There is also tummyworks, and animal essentials plant enzymes and probiotic.

Try making this;
tent test for dehydration and home-made pedialyte recipe - The Daily Kitten

Also, try making one of these;
Kitten Glop Recipes - Supplementing Cats and Kittens with nutritious formula you make at home: presented by Bengal Cat breeder Foothill Felines. --This website has a number of kitten glop recipes, with ingredients that you may very well have in your house.

For toppers/enticements, these can be used on their own or combined with food. Also, if you heat the food a little it helps to increase the smell - stir it so there aren't any hot spots from the microwave. Or you could warm up water, about a tablespoon, and add that to canned food. A small glass works to stir it all up.

• Chicken, beef or ham flavored baby food such as Gerber Stage 2 - make sure there is no garlic or onions in the ingredients

• Tuna and/or the juice, a low mercury/low/no sodium brand is called SafeCatch

• Salmon, mackerel

• Sardines (make sure there are no bones)

• boiled cut up chicken or turkey with no seasonings

• canned kitten food any brand - it's usually smelly. See if it's eaten on its own, then maybe mix it in or put on top

• Try mixing in Kitten Milk Replacer - there are recipes on the internet or store bought

• Fish, tuna or BBQ flavored canned wet food (I personally have never seen BBQ flavors, but...)

• Lickable cat treats or pouch treat 'gravy' poured over the food

• kitten glop (recipes in website link above)
• Bonito flakes
• fortiflora
• fish oil
• green beans, asparagus mushed up

• goat milk, or no lactose cow milk
• whole cooked eggs (the white must always be cooked) or raw egg yolk now and then
• broth with no salt and no garlic or onion or seasonings of any kind
• There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper
  
• Some good treats would be freeze dried Purebites, Orijen, Meowtinis, Meowables

• There are also Lickimats that you could spread types of soft food onto, even plain unflavored yogurt, and even freeze it. Licking something can help a cat to feel better emotionally The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats
• shredded cheddar cheese
• chamomile tea, made from the little bags only, a couple cooled teaspoons a couple times a day in water or food, can help calm a stressed cat

 

[weebeasties]

.thinking out loud, is there any way you could get a home-visit vet to listen to her heart? That might be less stressful for her ...?

That is a good idea! I will see of I can find a vet who will come to the house. The current plan was to take her back to the vet in a week or 2 with a dose of gabapentin in her so he could listen one more time before the echocardiogram.

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi weebeasties.

I think it's near impossible not to be gobsmacked when we're thrown a curveball like this. I know that I have. It will be on the way home and afterwards when all the questions surface.

There's 'more to the story' than size when evaluating a cat's kidneys.....and, after an ultrasound, I think you should have been given more detail.

I'll give you a tidbit from a reliable source that speaks to this:

The kidneys of a typical healthy cat will be between 3 and 4.3 cm (around 1.25 to 1.75 inches) in length, though in some cats they may be a little longer. The size of the cat is a factor, with females tending to have smaller kidneys than males.

Healthy kidneys are oval or shaped like a bean, and smooth.

CKD cats tend to have small, shrivelled kidneys with an irregular shape.
LINK: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Other Diagnostic Tests​

I suggest you have a read through two parts of that particular section on "Ultrasound": "Who to Use" and "Findings" - you won't need to absorb all the detail,but it will give you a sense for what's needed to obtain accurate diagnosis and what can be determined from an ultrasound procedure.

Then you can ask the Vet to tell you more about his findings: were the kidneys 'normal' small, or 'disfigured' small?

And, the 'more to the story' also applies to urinalysis. I'll give you the link from the same site for the 'items' to monitor in this test. In particular, proteinuria and urine ph are important for you. (if the ph isn't slightly acidic, there's a risk for crystals and stones, both of which could result in kidney damage). Here it is: Urinalysis - Tests. Again, you don't need excessive detail, just an overview knowledge.

You might consider asking for and getting paper copies of both the bloodwork scores and the urinanalysis results. Many folks keep copies of their cat's test results.

The "Tanya" site is widely recognized as a state-of-the-art reference guide to all things kidney-cat.


Just on the travel & visit stress point, there are a few things that I think would help her cope better in one of the articles here. In particular, muffling the ambient noise and covering the carrier (+ the spray) could help: Carrier Travel Tips



Furballsmom - in your first reply here, you wrote this about the "Tanya" site:

"some info is a little out of date but it could be helpful"​

Would you tell us what information in there is 'a little out of date' ?
.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Each page of the site has "last updated" dates towards the bottom.

So, some of the food info on this site is out of date. It's challenging for a webmaster to keep up with manufacturers frequent changes.

It is always wise for people who purchase pet food to constantly read ingredient lists on the cans/bags, and even better ditectly from the brand websites because as I understand it, product labels don't have to be updated with ingredient changes right away.