SDMA spiking from 10 to 17 in 2 weeks??? Possible CKD???

Ryathe

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 20, 2022
Messages
3
Purraise
0
Hi all,

First of all, what a great forum!:redheartpump: I've learned so much reading through different threads, I'm pretty sure I now know more about the nutrition/health related things when feeding a raw diet than my vet (how sad but true in many cases, still...).

I'm humbly asking your advise as per the title: what can cause SDMA spike so much in literally 2 weeks? :eek:

To give you some background info; a few weeks ago, I noticed that my Beni (he just turned 5 years this month) one morning started going to the bathroom basically every few minutes. He was urinating a tiny amount (without blood) and that's it. Then he would often link himself after. No other symptoms: still eating, playing, no sounds, no signs of distress, changes in behaviour etc. As it was my first time ever of this kind of issue, after searching online, I gave him a small dose of apple cider vinegar in the afternoon. Almost immediately his often visits to the bathroom stopped and everything returned to normal. After 2-3 weeks I saw again he was going often to the bathroom, same symptoms as before. This time I called a vet and made an appointment in 2 days (since I was sure it was not a blockage). A day later (and a day before the visit), I noticed some blood in his pee. Still no other symptoms than often visits, peeing little and licking himself more often.

At the vet I asked for a full blood test top of the urine test. I also asked for culture & sensitivity test (I'm a huge fan of Dr Pierson's website catinfo.org) to makde sure if it's an infection and not inflammation. The results came negative but my vet insisted we put Beni on antibiotics for 2 weeks, "just in case" since tests can sometimes be wrong. I strongly opposed at the beginning but gave in under the pressure from the vet and my partner (they were both looking at me as if I was this "crazy hippie cat lady":hmmm:). We repeated the tests after two weeks and my vet concluded Beni might have CKD. She based her diagnosis on SDMA results, creatinine levels and the fact that urine had 1.033 gravity while she said the min should be 1.035. I also told her that I've been feeding Beni mostly raw food (catinfo.org recipe) with some wet food as topping (Friskies) but 2-3 months before the first bathroom episode, I started giving my cats anti-dander Purina dry food once a day (I feed them 3 times) since my partner has mild cat allergy and wanted to try if it helps. I don't think she knows much about raw food but she did say that even after a short time, this could have contributed to some crystals in his bladder which caused the blood and inflammation.

My point is: knowing that raw food can cause SDMA and creatinie be higher and urine gravity more dilute, I don't think my cat had CKD. But I'm worried why his SDMA spiked so much in such a short time. :jawdrop: I can't find any info on what it may relate to and whether it is something normal. For those two weeks in between the tests, I was only giving him his raw food and some wet food, with even more water than I usually add...I'm attaching blood test results as well.

Sorry for such a long post but I wanted ot give you a full picture, in case it's useful~~🙏🙏🙏
 

Attachments

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,390
Purraise
7,126
Location
Arizona
I am not familiar with raw food causing USG to be lower. I feed raw and have not had that issue. I HAVE had, however, one of my cats have raised SDMA when he had a UTI, and then it went back to normal range once we got that taken care of. But he also had raised Creatinine at the same time, which Beni doesn't really have. Was he actually diagnosed with crystals, or is your Vet just thinking that's a possibility? Is Beni stressed or a nervous cat? That can cause crystals and urinary tract issues. Normally raw food does not cause crystals nor inflammation, but we did have one member here who kitten did develop crystals on a raw diet. That's the only time I've heard of that happening, since raw food is typically lower on the PH scale and high PH usually causes crystals.

So, if he has crystals, that could be the reason for the inappropriate peeing AND the rise in SDMA. If the crystals are taken care of, the SDMA may go back into the normal range. What has your Vet suggested you do? (as you mentioned, most Vets don't really know much about raw food and will try to discourage you from feeding it. I've had three kidney cats and actually educated my Vet on raw food. She was all for it, even after my last cat developed kidney disease. I just needed to show her it was nutritionally complete and could be adjusted for kidney cats.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

Ryathe

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 20, 2022
Messages
3
Purraise
0
Thank you for your reply, mrsgreenjeens.
In the first urine test, it showed "a few" crystals and the vet confirmed there weren't that many. The second test showed even less, not-significant amount of crystals. My vet thinks the urinary problem might have been due to some inflammation or infection. Yes, Beni is rather shy cat but there has been nothing new/scary/different around him happening during the last 2-3 months (we moved but that was back in May 2021). I'm suspecting that anti-dander dry food and increased number of treats my partner was giving him over the last 2 months that might have caused some issue? Or maybe I didn't clean their litter well enough and it was actually some infection? I don't know but what worries me is that SDMA went so high AFTER 2 weeks on antibiotics. Shouldn't he be "cured" by then?

My vet suggested putting him on a Royal Canine Feline Renal Support Early Consult (as she suspects early CKD) for 3 months and then do the tests again.
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,390
Purraise
7,126
Location
Arizona
If they didn't find any bacteria after checking for a UTI, then I don't see how antibiotics would "cure" anything. Many cats have inflammation of the urinary tracts (which can cause blood in the urine and excessive trips to the litter box) without infection, so they don't get antibiotics. They get anti-inflammatories and sometimes anti-spasmotics. Shy or nervous cats are much more susceptible to these issues, no matter their diet.

Here is an article that might help relieve stress for him, but I'm just not sure about what would cause the SDMA to go up so suddenly.


If you don't want to feed the Renal Support food, you can always look into switching his raw food a little bit to make it more kidney friendly for awhile anyway to see if that makes a change. We basically switched out the bone for egg shell powder, but there are premixes out there specifically made for kidney cats that include other things other than just substituting the form of calcium.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

Ryathe

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 20, 2022
Messages
3
Purraise
0
If they didn't find any bacteria after checking for a UTI, then I don't see how antibiotics would "cure" anything. Many cats have inflammation of the urinary tracts (which can cause blood in the urine and excessive trips to the litter box) without infection, so they don't get antibiotics. They get anti-inflammatories and sometimes anti-spasmotics. Shy or nervous cats are much more susceptible to these issues, no matter their diet.
I totally agree. I wish my vet didn't put my cat on antibiotics, "just in case".

Thank you for your suggestions. I've switched both cats for now to canned food with low phosphorous and I prepared yesterday a batch of raw food using TCFeline premix Special formula for CKD as well. We'll see how the tests will show in a few months.

In the meantime I have to figure out what to do with my other cat who vomited first two meals of this new TCFeline raw meal. :rolleyes3::sweat: He is used to raw since I've been preparing it with catinfo.org recipe... I'll take it slow with him.
 

IndyJones

Adopt don't shop.
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 13, 2017
Messages
4,015
Purraise
3,722
Location
Where do you think?
5 is extremely young for CKD honestly, I'vehad a couple kidney cats and all have been over 12 years old. Could it have just been a bad test?
 
Top