2/28 Yum Kidney Failure/Seizure/HOME

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So sorry to hear what Yum and you have been going through! I really hope things are looking up for her now that they've diagnosed the UTI. Just be aware that she may still need conventional ABs if the Convenia doesn't clear it up; Convenia is designed to treat skin infections and is frequently ineffective in treating UTIs. Sending prayers and vines that it clears it up and her kidneys bounce back quickly! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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There were bacteria in Yum's urine (rods and cocci)!!! Maybe her kidneys will bounce back some when we cure the infection.
They sent it out for culture. They gave her a shot of convenia in the meantime, which she has tolerated well in the past.
She has had such bad reactions to other antibiotics in the past they are worried about treating her with the wrong one.
I will take her back for more IV fluids early in the morning. They gave her subq fluids for overnight.

Their in-house bloodwork machine is an IDEXX. So they feel it gives results comparable to the lab.
They will do the SDMA tomorrow.

Thank you everyone her for all your suggestions and support. I thought it was all over this morning.

This is terrific news! It's entirely possible that this kidney trouble is transitory. I don't think convenia works in anaerobic environments, so it's good that they sent out a culture. They can give her antibiotic(s) specific to what the culture finds.
 
Thank you so much for caring. Please keep those prayers coming.
She was not improving at my local vet yesterday so she is now at the hospital in critical care with 24 hour IV fluids.
Her SDMA was 58, her phosphorus 16, her creatinine approximately 6. Wow. She was doing great on 1/30.
I am trying to not grieve in advance, but it is tough. They said her condition is not without hope.
We bumped foreheads and she purred and looked me in the eyes when I left her at the hospital last night.
She could not be more loved and she knows it.
 
Prayers for Yum all day today :bighug::bighug: To me it’s very encouraging that vet said there is hope ... they so often are pessimistic . Does she have some of your clothing with your scent on it to sleep on in hospital ? I’m sure you already did this . Prayers for your heart to have peace , Melanie :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
PS .... Elmo went thru a 3 day stay in critical care at 17 years old and made it . Our seniors are tough and strong !! Yum has their expertise and your love so she is covered :bighug::bighug:
 
Please get well, Yum! I do agree, it's a good sign if the vets say there is hope. The high phos maybe explains why she didn't want to eat and is nauseated. Let us know when the culture comes back. Hope all the fluids and antibiotics start working right away and Yum is home with you and feeling better really soon! Tons more vines your way! :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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:bighug:continued prayers for Yum:bighug:
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Well, the prayers may be working!!! Thank you!!!
The critical care vet just called.
The ultrasound confirmed infection of one kidney and her ureter.
They have her on 2 antibiotics.
Her creatinine has come down from around 6 to 4.5.
They are very hopeful they will get her back to about where she was.
There may be some intestinal thickening which wasn't there last spring, but we'll worry about that later.
I will go in and see her later and give them her cabergoline to start that back up again.
:cat::cat::cat:
 
Well, the prayers may be working!!! Thank you!!!
The critical care vet just called.
The ultrasound confirmed infection of one kidney and her ureter.
They have her on 2 antibiotics.
Her creatinine has come down from around 6 to 4.5.
They are very hopeful they will get her back to about where she was.
There may be some intestinal thickening which wasn't there last spring, but we'll worry about that later.
I will go in and see her later and give them her cabergoline to start that back up again.
:cat::cat::cat:

Woohoo! I was so happy when I found out Asia had a kidney infection and now I'm so happy Yum has one too! I know how weird that sounds, but it's way better than the alternative with those numbers. I'm so glad they decided to do the ultrasound to look for it and I hope Yum tolerates the antibiotics well and is back to her awesome self very soon! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
More get well soon vines for Yum! Hoping that whatever it is turns out to be not very serious and easily treated.
 
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Thank you so much for caring. Please keep those prayers coming.
She was not improving at my local vet yesterday so she is now at the hospital in critical care with 24 hour IV fluids.
Her SDMA was 58, her phosphorus 16, her creatinine approximately 6. Wow. She was doing great on 1/30.
I am trying to not grieve in advance, but it is tough. They said her condition is not without hope.
We bumped foreheads and she purred and looked me in the eyes when I left her at the hospital last night.
She could not be more loved and she knows it.

This is fairly common with a kidney crash that's due to an infection. And 6 creatinine is lower than the 7-12 numbers that I've seen. PS: many of those cats recovered. If this is due to CKD, it's still possible to help her thru. Visiting her might be important - they need us when they're in hospital.
How is her rbc (red blood cell count) ?
Prayers and good energy coming to both of you.

:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Well, the prayers may be working!!! Thank you!!!
The critical care vet just called.
The ultrasound confirmed infection of one kidney and her ureter.
They have her on 2 antibiotics.
Her creatinine has come down from around 6 to 4.5.
They are very hopeful they will get her back to about where she was.
There may be some intestinal thickening which wasn't there last spring, but we'll worry about that later.
I will go in and see her later and give them her cabergoline to start that back up again.
:cat::cat::cat:
This is the news I was hoping to hear. If all goes as they feel it will, you'll have her home soon.
 
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This is fairly common with a kidney crash that's due to an infection. And 6 creatinine is lower than the 7-12 numbers that I've seen. PS: many of those cats recovered. If this is due to CKD, it's still possible to help her thru. Visiting her might be important - they need us when they're in hospital.
How is her rbc (red blood cell count) ?
Prayers and good energy coming to both of you.

:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
Her hematocrit was down to 23 on Wednesday (from 28).
 
Creatinine coming down a good bit already? 3.7 from 6? :woot: Phos coming down too already?

I'm sorry she is having diarrhea, are they giving a different antibiotic other than convenia right now?

How is she feeling otherwise? Does she seemed to have perked up any since all the fluids and such?

:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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Her creatinine was down to 3.7 this morning from 4.5 yesterday morning. Her phosphorus is just down to 13, but they haven't restarted the phosphorus binders yet.
She has diarrhea. I thought this would happen from the Cabergoline or the antibiotics. I took in S. boulardii yesterday and pureed pumpkin today.
They've dropped her insulin to .5u, since they don't want it to go below 100.
She was stable enough today that they took her out of the cage and let me hold her in an appointment room. She squirmed of course but bliss for me.
They want to keep her until Monday. I may have to do subq fluids for a while. Whatever it takes.
I pray her creatinine drops further. She was 1.7 on 1/30, but drinking 19 oz of water a day.
Thank you everyone for your support.
 
Sounds like she is doing better and going in the right direction! And she gets to be home for her birthday :) Continued praying for you and Yum!
 
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Creatinine coming down a good bit already? 3.7 from 6? :woot: Phos coming down too already?

I'm sorry she is having diarrhea, are they giving a different antibiotic other than convenia right now?

How is she feeling otherwise? Does she seemed to have perked up any since all the fluids and such?

:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
She was already perked up yesterday morning. No more droopy eyes. Big round eyes. Playing with the IV tubes, until they put a collar on her.
She is on 2 antibiotics, the names of which I didn't catch on the phone. Maybe amphocyllin and raxophin. (That's what I "heard'; haven't googled them.)
Stacy, I have to thank you so much for bringing up the kidney infection, before my regular vets thought of it. They even resisted it as an atypical story. They were thinking her kidneys had just given up the ghost. I remember posting how horrified I was when it took an ultrasound to diagnose Asia's kidney infection. Then poof---Yum and I wound up in the same place!
There is so much knowledge on this forum!!!
 
She was already perked up yesterday morning. No more droopy eyes. Big round eyes. Playing with the IV tubes, until they put a collar on her.
She is on 2 antibiotics, the names of which I didn't catch on the phone. Maybe amphocyllin and raxophin. (That's what I "heard'; haven't googled them.)
Stacy, I have to thank you so much for bringing up the kidney infection, before my regular vets thought of it. They even resisted it as an atypical story. They were thinking her kidneys had just given up the ghost. I remember posting how horrified I was when it took an ultrasound to diagnose Asia's kidney infection. Then poof---Yum and I wound up in the same place!
There is so much knowledge on this forum!!!

So glad she's perked up! That is the best news and trumps any of the numbers IMO! :)

You're so welcome, I'm glad our experience could help, it was perfect timing since we just went through all this. I'm very glad you're vet didn't ignore you when you mentioned it. Asia had some UTIs and then symptoms of a UTI where nothing cultured from it, I suspected a kidney infection months ago and it was brushed aside, even after her numbers started to dramatically climb because the labs didn't show any evidence. @Marje and Gracie was the one that told me the ultrasound could diagnose the kidney infection and that's when I made it a priority and got it done and found a new vet that was on top of everything.

It is crazy that sometimes that's the only way to find it, but it's not all that common either, given the diabetes, CKD with sudden rising numbers and UTI histories, it makes sense to look for it even if the labs didn't show anything. The other part is it usually takes 6-8 weeks of antibiotics to clear, which Marje also pointed out to me. Some vets think 2 weeks will suffice and Tanya's says otherwise (and has studies to back it up).

So excited the soon to be birthday girl is on the mend! :cat:
 
There may be some intestinal thickening which wasn't there last spring, but we'll worry about that later.
Unfortunately, not uncommon with acros. :( Diarrhea can be a symptom too. Neko had constipation instead, depends where the thickening is. She took budesonide for it, and it started helping within a couple of days. Pred is usually prescribed, but Neko couldn't have it due to her heart.
No more droopy eyes. Big round eyes. Playing with the IV tubes,
Awesome news! :joyful::joyful:
 
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Well, she had a seizure or stroke overnight. She was unconscious with tremors for maybe 30 seconds.
Her BG was 178 at the time.
Her blood pressure has been normal.
They have no explanation.
They have stopped her insulin (BG currently 137) and put a bell on her collar.
She is alert and actively supervising the critical care unit.
Her creatinine is only down to 3.3. Still, that's another more than 10% drop. Her phosphorus is down to 12.3 from 13.5.
Could the pituitary tumor cause seizures?
Any words of advice on this development?
 
I don't know about the seizure. :bighug::bighug::bighug:

It can take time for antibiotics to start working and creatinine to come back down, Asia had 4 weeks of antibiotics before we got the numbers we did, its impressive it's come down that much already though.

Glad to hear she is alert and her BG is pretty great without insulin so far. More healing vines for Yum and hugs for her awesome bean. :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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I don't have answers, either. Trix did have an unexplained seizure once, too - she wasn't acro, but did have CKD, so maybe related to the kidney issues?? It never happened again. Prayers that this is an isolated incident for Yum.....it sounds like she is improving and doing very well otherwise. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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