8/24 Scully AMPS=351 +6=178 & Mulder (CKD)

[Tara and Scully]

Previous condo (8/18/14):
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=123763

Friday night Scully's PMPS was a cool blue 170. DH and I went out to a movie, and what a surprise when we returned to a reading of 38 at +4.5! Scully was fine, no signs of hypo, and she responded well to 1 tsp of FF Gravy Lovers chicken. The next morning we reduced her dose from 1 U to .75 U. No green so far, but she's a bouncy girl, so we'll see.

We've had a rough week with Scully's brother, Mulder (a civvie.) In 2012 he was diagnosed with pancreatitis and x-rays taken at that time showed he was born with one kidney smaller than the other. Beginning this past Monday, Mulder stopped eating. FYI: the cats free-feed canned food, which we leave out all the time, so when we're not home, we can't be sure who's eating what and how much, but offers of breakfast and dinner were declined and during the time we were home and able to monitor, he wouldn't eat. I have a few tablets of cyproheptadine (from April when he went a few days without eating) and gave him 1/2 a tab Tuesday night. He ate a little that night, but threw up Wednesday morning. Wednesday night I attempted to give him another 1/2 tab, but I only succeeded in making him throw up again. Friday morning we took him to the vet who did a complete blood panel and gave him a vitamin B-12 shot to help his appetite. Saturday they called to say everything is normal except for his creatinine level, which is 2.8. As many of you know, normal range is .7 - 1.8, so he is at the latter stage of Stage 2 chronic kidney disease (CKD.) Damn.

DH stopped by the vet and picked up the prescription food they recommended and said he probably wouldn't eat. He licked the canned food for about 5 - 10 seconds, and ate about 4 bits of the dry kibble (I am desperate to get ANYTHING into him.) The shot may have started to kick in yesterday because he ate some of the normal FF food twice. The vet recommended I continue to give the cypro tabs, 1/2 tab BID. Again last night it made him throw up. After that he didn't eat anymore food, but did eat about 5 crunchy treats.

Today has been better. Although I have not given him the cypro, he has eaten 3 times so far today. By the way, Mulder is a grazer, not a hoover. When he eats, he normally eats about 1/4 - 1/3 of a FF can at a time, which I know is not alot. I haven't decided if I'm going to give him the cypro. If I do, I was thinking of dissolving the 1/2 tab in some water and/or gravy to give it to him by syringe. Then maybe he'll keep it down. But if he continues to eat, maybe I should just leave well enough alone. One thing that has worked twice the last two days in getting him to eat -- letting him outside first. We play a bit outside for 20 minutes, then he comes in and not long after, makes his way to some food.

One additional thing... at his annual check-up last November, Mulder tipped the scales at 20 lbs. My vet said a little extra weight on an older cat was not something he was concerned about because they tend to lose weight and get too skinny, but Mulder was not to gain anymore weight. At the time, we were still free feeding both Mulder and Scully all dry food. We started cutting back portions, and when we took Mulder in April (for not eating), he weighed 17.6 lbs. At the time, we patted ourselves on the back. After Scully's FD diagnosis in March, we transitioned both cats to an all canned food diet, and have continued to see Mulder drop weight. Friday he weighed 14.2 lbs. My vet says he's not concerned about the weight loss yet, but I am.

My priority right now is getting him to eat regularly again. Then we'll transition him to a low-phosphorous, low carb food that Scully can eat, too. I picked up a can of Friskies Special Diet Turkey & Giblets (thanks, Julie, for the recommendation a while back) and he has eaten some of that today in addition to his normal Fancy Feast.

Hopefully, we'll have a better week than this last one has been. Hope everyone is having a good Sunday! Hugs and healing vines to our sugar kitties and their beans who need them! And lots of appy vines!! LET'S EAT!!

Tara & Scully

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

well I'm not well versed in CKD (yet) but I am wondering about something.

most everyone here will give ondansetron a half hour before giving a cipro....
it's to address any possible nausea.... you don't want to be forced to have an appetite if you are feeling nauseous.
I'm wondering if it would help Mulder.
does he look at his food and sorta smack his lips, then turn away....that 's a sign.

you probably already have this website memorized but here it is again..... for someone....
http://www.felinecrf.org/

There are things you can do.....
I'll go flag someone who knows far more than I.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Hi Tara

Rhiannon flagged me.

I don't think you can look at one number and call out CKD. Especially because it could be acute kidney disease or it could be a kidney infection. Usually you would expect to see elevations in other numbers as well altho, in all things, ECID. Do you have the other lab results and did they do a urinalysis? How old is Mulder?

I'd be happy to take a look at his labs. If you PM me, I'll give you my email address as that is usually the best way to get me the labs.

 

[Tara and Scully]

Mulder is 10. I was only given the info over the phone. Urinalysis was not done. Just bw to discover why he isn't eating. Vet didn't come out and say CKD, but that his kidney levels were slightly high, he wasn't too concerned, but recommended a switch in food.

I was never told about giving the other med before cypro. I do have metroclopromide on hand. It's a liquid antinausea med we used to give once a day since 2012. I stopped giving it 7/1/14 because it started to make him throw up once or twice a week.

 

[Tara and Scully]

I have been researching causes of elevated levels of creatinine, and I was surprised to learn there are several reasons why it could be high, such as kidney infection, pancreatitis and dehydration. He has pancreatitis and surely he was at least a little dehydrated, although my vet didn't think fluids were needed at that point. I will call my vet tomorrow to request a copy of the entire results. On the phone, they said everything else was normal. Does that include BUN? We'll see. I remain optimistic.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Let's hope it's something else and his creatinine will come back down. Happy to help if you'd like me to.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I too wouldn't jump to conclusions based on one creatinine test. You definitely need a urinalysis to see if there is an infection and what the USG, urine specific gravity is. If it is normal something else is likely the cause. I too would not give an appetite stimulant to a nauseous cat as it can cause food aversions. Also 1/2 of a cyproheptadine is too much for most cats. It's the dose most vets suggest but lots of us find a smaller amount actually works better. Just an FYI in case you need to use it for awhile that it's good to experiment with dosing of cypro. Tiffany who by the way did get CKD at the age of almost 10, got 1/4 a cypro and Max only needs 1/8. You do need to treat the nausea before giving cypro. Since Mulder is vomiting I personally would want to use cerenia for that as it works well when a cat is vomiting. I am a big fan of ondansetron but use it more for nausea without vomiting. I'm glad Marje is going to look at the blood work. I sure hope there is another reason for the elevated creatinine and that it isn't CKD. If it is, I would also question using prescription food at the early stages as the more modern approach is not to start so early. CKD is manageable if that is what you are dealing with though. Vines to Mulder.