04/15 Indy AMPS - 147

Jessica & Indy

Jessica & Indy

Member Since 2025
Yesterday

Hi everyone. Indy is doing okay. Little higher today because of the reduction, but we will see how it treats him. Having the alarm not go off would be nice, as long as he is safe. We took him to the vet with Makem yesterday for itchy ears and he seems to have a mild fungal thing (I think) going on. Sent us home with some ear drops for him.

Today my anxiety is high over Civvie Makem. He is turning 10 in August so when we took him in for his annual check-up yesterday I asked for a senior panel to be done (since he hadn't had one yet) and I wanted his teeth looked at to see if he needed a dental again. Good news, he doesn't need the dental. Bad news, they came back to tell us that his urine was so clear it was almost like water. So it could be his kidneys, diabetes or hyperthyroidism. I pricked his ear last night (got a 61 on the One touch meter) so unless it is a really faulty test strip, then I don't think it is diabetes. I am anxiously awaiting lab results....Anxiety really is a b*tch. *sigh*

Safe surfing everyone!
 
Because then there is someone to blame. Instead of it being rotten luck. I have been so focused on Indy that maybe I missed something with Makem. Now he has this potentially life shortening disease and he is only 9 years old.

I have made sure to feed my animals good healthy food. Now that food can be making Makem worse. The food Makem "needs" none of the other cats should have (especially Indy). That makes things extra complicated. At least with high protein, all of the cats could eat it and it was good for them.

I just feel really guilty and overwhelmed. It is making me nauseous.
 
I’m sorry Jessica. It’s got to be tough dealing with everything. What were Makem’s creatinine, bun, and sdma? Just curious if they’re similar to Pookey’s. I was overwhelmed too when I first saw his but I think cats can be stable in the early stages for a long time. Like years.
 
It's definitely not your fault. Cats are so naturally prone to kidney issues. I had a CDK kitty that lived for YEARS with the diagnosis, to age 19, and I didn't do anything special for him other than switch him from kibble to wet food, and it wasn't even prescription. This was back years ago when we didn't have a lot of information about what to do for CKD kitties. He had a happy little life right up until the end. I do believe that creatinine levels can increase due to a UTI.

Please don't blame yourself. You are doing your very best to care for all of your babies, and they are lucky to have you.
 
A greater question I would have, since I often deal with UTI issues with Jude, is why is Makem continuing to have UTIs? Are you having the vet run a culture and sensitivity test to make sure that the antibiotic is treating the bacteria? This was a mistake I made with Jude early on--I let the vet prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and Jude's UTIs continued.
 
Basically the same as ours. You got this! Hydration and maybe I’d look into the diet since he’s not diabetic. That part is harder for us. So I really just focus on the water. Suzanne has experience with kidney stuff too if you’ve ever bumped into her.
 
It was the urine dilution that had her really concerned. The specific gravity was 1.014. Bacteria was greater than 40/hpf. Had some WBC but no protein, glucose, or RBC.

It was at the emergency vet that we had the UTI treated. She gave an injectable antibiotic and since we didn't see any blood or anything we left it be. Probably should have followed up. I will ask vet to retest in a couple weeks so we can see if it is truly gone. Makem does have a bad habit of sitting in the litter box to pee, so I could see that causing some bacterial backsplash.
 
Tim & Pookey said:
Basically the same as ours. You got this! Hydration and maybe I’d look into the diet since he’s not diabetic. That part is harder for us. So I really just focus on the water. Suzanne has experience with kidney stuff too if you’ve ever bumped into her.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but with 5 cats....how do we make sure Makem gets the diet and the other cats don't and vice versa? We free feed Indy because of his IBD and his empty tummy vomiting. I have supplements that we gave Skyla who had CKD before she passed that lowered her BUN and creatinine. Was thinking of doing that for Makem to see if that lowers his numbers in combination with getting rid of the UTI.
 
I have no idea… I should have asked about phosphorus too. Wonder how much is in the Smalls. But not a big deal if he’s good.

What supplement was that? My vet was talking to me about Porus One and I feel guilty about not digging into it yet.
 
Astro's Oil. There are 3 supplements they sell. A concentrated fish oil (which everyone is on), A high fiber scrub and a easily digestible protein.

Smalls is about 1% to 1.5% depending on the protein (which currently all 5 cats eat). They claim for cats in early stages of CKD that it is still appropriate. But that is definitely higher than the phosphorus that is recommended on the CRF website that I found. It said under .5% as much as possible.
 
I want to try the supplements, get the UTI taken care of (make sure it is truly gone) and test his kidneys again and see what we are looking at. If they don't decrease then we can try and deal with the complicated trial of changing food.
 
One thing I’ve heard many times is that they don’t restrict protein anymore (old protocols) for CKD cats. It leads to muscle wasting.

My previous kitty that had CKD was given fluids by me at home by myself (increased over time). She was super chill cat (Ivy’s opposite).
I used a binder with her food. I think she only ate wet food and she lived to be 18.
She lived many years with the CKD, it progressed slowly.
And as Tim mentioned, adding water to the food helps hydrate and flush the kidneys.
As Mary suggests, check to see what’s going on with the uti situation to try to get some answers and a plan.

Sending lots of vines for Makem 💓🍃🍀🍃🍀🍃🍀❤️‍🩹💓❤️‍🩹
 
Well, Indy has decided that he is going to add to the stress. He started throwing up yesterday. Gave him half a cerenia last night, he drank some water and threw that up...so no idea how much of the Cerenia actually got in him. *Sigh* can we catch a break please?

And of course his numbers are up today.
 
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