11/19 Spot had a vet visit

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Deb & Spot

Deb & Spot

Member Since 2009
Spot has been having some constipation issues for about a week now. He is on a regimen of 1/4 tsp. of miralax at each meal because constipation is something he has been struggling with off and on for over a year now. He has done good on that dose up until now. I noticed he hadn't pooed in about 2 days, so I gave him some pumpkin. He had a movement, but then the next day, no poo. More pumpkin, more poo. I also thought his tummy felt a little hard to me and his bg's were a little higher than usual, so I decided that he needed to go see the vet.

Results of vet visit: Temp good, eyes and ears good, breathing and heart rate good. Blood test and x-rays done. X-rays show some type of dark area by his colon and intestines. Vet said it could be one of two things - gas or some type of obstruction. Won't know for sure until tomorrow, after the radiologist reviews the films. Vet thinks that it more than likely is gas. If there was an obstruction, he would be vomiting and not wanting to eat. He has not vomited and he certainly looks forward to his meals and snacks and has no problem asking for more food and treats. I am being optimistic and keeping a positive outlook on this. Unfortunately, the blood tests were not quite so good...except his bg was 136, good for a stress related test at the vet!. Vet said that Spot is in the beginning stages of kidney failure.....it has taken me 2 hours to be able to type those words. Kidney failure. His creatin was 2.5 mg/dL (she said 0.8 - 2.4 was the norm) and his BUN was 37 mg/dL (said 16-36 was the norm). Also said that kidney failure could cause constipation. I need to do more research into kidney failure and educate myself. She suggested that I start Sub-q's soon - 100 mg. 2 to 3x a week. Will be looking into the best place to get fluids and the needles/line. I know that we are catching this early....and getting the treatment started asap will give him more time and make him feel better. I am also keeping optimistic and a positive attitude with this diagnosis too.

Nina suggested low phosphorus foods, which I will look into. Just bought $36 worth of the Petsmart brand food, it's low carb and he's been on this brand for 3 years. I'll talk to Dian and get some information from her since her Twinkie also has kidney failure.

I'd appreciate some good vines for my boy. And some poo vines would be nice too!
 
(((Deb)))

Kidneys are issues for many cats, not just those with FD. I'm presuming you know about Tanya's Site. It's the equivalent of FDMB for cats with kidney issues. Dr. Lisa just put together a list of low phos foods.


I know Marje has info on fluids, all of the apparatus, and a video on how to administer fluids if you've not done it before.

You're catching this early and you can stay on top of things.
 

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Lets hope it's gas. And try not to worry about the kidney disease.. It's early stage and there is a lot of support etc for it and you can start treating to slow it.

Sending lots of vines ~~~~~~~~
 
Sending you lots a gassy prayers.

We recently switched Smokey over to some lower phosphorus foods, lower carb. She has really liked Avoderm Chicken and Authority Turkey and Giblets. We also do a couple of Max Cat once in a while but they do seem to affect her BGs more and she isn't as excited about them. She liked them so much she refused to eat anything else for a while.

Many, many good wishes that Spot's tummy problems clear up and that you caught the kidney disease early and are able to find treatment to maintain it where it is at.
 
I am wishing the best for Spot, and hoping the result on the xray is just gas. J.D. has a little constipation problems, too.

I'd like to know about this watching the phosphorus, as J.D. was also diagnosed with early stage kidney problems with a creatinine of 2.2 and a bun of 50 something, and I asked my vet about fluids and limiting his phosphorus and my vet said his phosphorus wasn't high, so I didn't have to change food. We feed FF and it is very high in phosphorus and I just bought a year's supply. If I need to return it all, I would like to know that. Sorry to partially take over your condo.
 
Hi Deb & Spot,
We are keeping fingers and paws crossed that the problem is gas. With regard to the kidney issue, there are many people here on the board who deal with this. Tanya's site is excellent, and Helen Fitzsimmons (the creator of Tanya's CKD website) has recently published much of the info. found in the site in book form: http://www.felinecrf.org/ckd_the_book.htm I think this would be a handy reference to supplement the web pages.
You are catching CKD very early in the game and that is good.

Hugs to you and scritches for Spot,

Ella & Rusty
 
Deb, I think it is good that you are being optimistic. It sounds like gas may be the culprit (paws and fingers crossed). Sending lots of healing vines to Spot.

My other cat, Cleo, has CKD and was diagnosed about 1 1/2 years ago. As Sienne mentioned, Tanya's website has a wealth of info and also Claudia and Marje have been such a help. They know so much! Cleo hates the kidney food so I just buy what she will eat and then add the Aluminum Hydroxide Powder to the food. It is a binder and it is just like giving your cat low phosphorus food but with better taste. You can get it at thrivingpets.com and it is pretty inexpensive. PM me and I'll give you the specifics about it. Cleo gets subq fluids every day and I buy the bags of lactated ringers solution at Walgreens. Do you have Walgreens in Pittsburgh? If so, buy the Walgreens drug card for $20 (good for a year) and you can get an entire case for a little over $20.00. Such a deal compared to the vet! I know this is all overwhelming, but it is definitely managable.

Try to get some rest tonight. Hugs to you and Spot.
 
Hi Deb - hugs to all. I am glad that you have caught this early,and with good diet and fluids Spot will be around for many roe years. My BJ was early stage kidney too, numbers bit higher that Spots, and with diet we were able to get them back into the high end of normal range. I hope it will be the same for Spot. One can't stop, or reverse, renal disease, but one can control it. Fingers crossed on the films too! Good luck on all!
 
Thanks you all for your encouraging words and your suggestions. They are all very much appreciated. I will be checking out all those links and sites as soon as I can, probably some time this weekend...Sunday more than likely since my week up until then will be extremely busy. I think Spot may have poo'd last night...but not sure if it was him or Ali, lol...I thought it was Ali until I saw the size of the poo, then I wasn't to sure. I didn't see Spot go to the box, but I did see Ali run like a bat out of hell from that area, so I assumed it was her. A few minutes after that I noticed that Spot was no longer on his chair, but on top of the love seat, so he may have sneaked out there and did the doodie.

He woke me up twice last night heaving...I believe he was trying to get out a fur ball. He was not successful....I started wondering if that thing they saw was a hair ball.....BUT he was more than happy to have breakfast and was quite loud when he realized that he wasn't getting breakfast until later (mom away on vacation and I have to work tomorrow evening and his pm shot will be around 8 instead of 6, so I am adjusting now). He wanted fishy flakes before I left for work. So he isn't in any distress....hope gas is the word!

Thanks again, all...and as soon as I hear from the vet, I will let you all know.
 
Hi guys .. I'm keeping you in my thoughts that what they saw in the x rays was that hairball he's trying to get up .. and I know it's scary going into the unknown, but you have lots of links here that will help you through all of this .. and like it's been said, you are catching this early ((hugs))
 
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Deb, Hoping Spot has simply hairballs and gas and can easily be relieved of them. Sending positive vines your way. If it is a kidney issue, catching it early is the best thing. Administering sub-q fluids is somewhat simpler than managing fd, measruing the dose is much easier, no hypo type concerns and you dont have to test. Marje posted a great video here showing and explaining how. Hope Spot poops and feels better soon.
 
It was gas!!!! X-rays were good according to the radiologist. There was a spot on his gall bladder but rolled out a stone since his blood tests do not show anything that would suggest that. The black area on the film was gas. There is no obstruction at all...he had some poo in the colon, but nothing out of the ordinary.

So, I will be doing some reading over the weekend and making plans on starting squids.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
 
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