Posted on 03/12/2005 12:26:36 PM PST by DCBryan1
Need Vet advice on sick freeper kitty.
Vet sees her today at 5pm cst...
Regarding putting her down, we are debating that. She is not in pain that we know of, just tired and exhausted. She does not strain or struggle to do anything, just doesnt do anything fast or quick. I am will have trouble justifying for her as well as me to keep force feeding her if she doesnt start eating on her own within the next week or so.
We will see how it goes, it looks like today is a B- day. Some improvement to go.
Thanks for the prayers.
Chris
Chris,
You need to know what the liver and kidneys are doing. Based on those results, she may need to be hydrated constantly on an IV. It is good that she urinated.
Depending on the liver and kidney results, you may need to consider either your veterinarian or an emergency clinic or combination thereof -- wherever she can get ongoing critical care.
It would be helpful if you posted the results of liver enzyme levels and the creatinine and BUN (blood urea nitrogen) numbers, the breakdown of the CBC (red cell count, white cell count and differential count - how many neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils, etc) (along with the normals for the lab -- you see, numbers are not helpful with out normals for the lab that ran the data).
I don't, nor do any of the vets here, want to step in and diagnose your kitty (nor should we), but it would be helpful to know some of these parameters.
Hang in there. -- E
I don't know what your blood values are for liver and kidney but please don't put her down at this point.
Just caught up on the thread -- glad the liver enzymes are coming down -- the liver is quite regenerative.
The kidneys are the real problem. She really needs diuresis - constant influx of IV fluids. Don't be discouraged that she doesn't want to eat. That's part of the high renal values. At least she isn't vomiting. You might want to check her mouth occasionally looking for renal ulcers -- these look like those nasty old lip ulcres people sometimes get, only inside the mouth on the inside top of the mouth, on the tongue, etc.
I'd try to get some nutrical down her but don't know that I'd stress her with trying to get the cat food down her. Talk to your vet about that.
Let us know what BUN and Creatinine results you get from your vet this evening. Since you are a medic, you are the perfect person to be giving the IV fluids - glad the vet put in an IV catheter for you to do so.
Quite honestly, if she were in my clinic (which I don't have since I'm retired -- and should say that none of this is a diagnosis or consultation or anything else than worth what you paid for it, which is nothing) I'd have her on a constant I.V., be monitoring her EKG, her urine output, her BUN and Creatinine, her electrolytes (Na, Ca, P, K) and several other parameters. That's perhaps not feasible for you, but I'm telling you what would be part of the ideal. I'd be listening to her lungs to make sure I didn't overhydrate her (so that there was an inadvertent build-up of fluid in her longs), I might be giving her a diuretic to help her pee, etc.
All of this aside, if she's still hanging in there, then go ahead and hang in there with her. You may need to do more - constant IV fluids, etc. She's hanging on. I will pray for you and your kitty. -- E
Just caught up on the thread -- glad the liver enzymes are coming down -- the liver is quite regenerative.
The kidneys are the real problem. She really needs diuresis - constant influx of IV fluids. Don't be discouraged that she doesn't want to eat. That's part of the high renal values. At least she isn't vomiting. You might want to check her mouth occasionally looking for renal ulcers -- these look like those nasty old lip ulcres people sometimes get, only inside the mouth on the inside top of the mouth, on the tongue, etc.
I'd try to get some nutrical down her but don't know that I'd stress her with trying to get the cat food down her. Talk to your vet about that.
Let us know what BUN and Creatinine results you get from your vet this evening. Since you are a medic, you are the perfect person to be giving the IV fluids - glad the vet put in an IV catheter for you to do so.
Quite honestly, if she were in my clinic (which I don't have since I'm retired -- and should say that none of this is a diagnosis or consultation or anything else than worth what you paid for it, which is nothing) I'd have her on a constant I.V., be monitoring her EKG, her urine output, her BUN and Creatinine, her electrolytes (Na, Ca, P, K) and several other parameters. That's perhaps not feasible for you, but I'm telling you what would be part of the ideal. I'd be listening to her lungs to make sure I didn't overhydrate her (so that there was an inadvertent build-up of fluid in her longs), I might be giving her a diuretic to help her pee, etc.
All of this aside, if she's still hanging in there, then go ahead and hang in there with her. You may need to do more - constant IV fluids, etc. She's hanging on. I will pray for you and your kitty. -- E
Sorry about the misspellings - I typed this in a hurry.
I just lost my eight year old Persian to kidney failure...sorry to hear about your kitty. How was she before you brought her in for her vaccinations? And...did she have a history of drinking a lot of water? Kidney disease is usually linked to that.
So, you never brought them in for annual vaccinations and you feed them carrots...this is very interesting...what is the reasoning behind these two practices? I'm very curious, I have two kitties besides the one that just passed away from CRF...my oldest is 12 and youngest is 5.
Is there any way the cat could have bitten a tree frog in the hours before going to the vet?
I once had a cat that encountered one. It was several hours before the effect hit – with the symptoms you describe. I didn’t rush him to a vet but gave him TLC including water via eyedropper. He recovered.
Not to suggest that you should do these things yourself, but:
I'm a firm believer that too much medicine is much of all problems.............. natural foods make all things healthy. The carrots (steamed-10/20% of the volume of food intake) ARE the answer.
I'll write you again for sure, I have to go now.
God, I am very, very sorry to hear about your kitty. I die a little bit every time I lose a kitty. Please keep your chin up.
I lost a 22 year old kitty last summer. She was a black Angora named, Stormy. I couldn't get out of bed for a week after that. I cannot forget my old friends.
PLEASE, be well, and remember every day gets better.
Love from a kitty loving stranger.
Continued prayers for all of you! Standing by for updates :) (You're stuck Chris. We're all invested in Casey now! he he)
Just got back from Vet...vet could see improvement in her reactions/eyes.
Here are her numbers:
These are her numbers each time we went to the vet:
FRIDAY, 12 MAR 05
BUN> 130, ALT 530, CREA 3.89, GLU 180, ALKP 65, RR=66, TBIC 1.65
MONDAY 14 MAR 05
BUN= >130, CREA=2.99, ALT = 320
WEDNESDAY 16 MAR 05
BUN=124, CREA-2.93, ALT=172
On the issue of blood in stools= confirmed constipation, just a little irritated.
On the lethargy, just part of getting over anaphylatic shock
She looked a little better, still not eating.
Will give her 100ml of dexitrol (sp) into her catheter (sp) tonight and later 30 CC of k/d cat food wetted down (force fed).
She is to see the vet in another 48 hours. He said that he wants to see her every 48 hours until those numbers come down.
THANKS VETVETDOUG for the suggestion of a T-4. He said it was probably unnecessary, but with her heart murmer, it is probably good to go ahead and look at the thyroid. As far as the calcium/phosphorus ratio, he said to NOT do it right now because the numbers will tell him what we already know, that it will be high.
Luckily she was a little bit more perky this PM and it showed. I just hate force feeding. The IV in the catheter in her arm vein is easier than sub-Q so we have the hydration going. Her stools were normal, and she was observed urinating today (whew!). She purred twice today as I was washing her mouth after force feeding.
On the issue of putting her down: Vet said that she has made fairly good progress on the numbers coming down, pretty good progress on activity, and would not advice putting her down unless she "crashes". It looks like she is on a very slow, long, process of recovery, and could take a turn for the worse at any time. He is still hopeful she will pull out of this, but warned me not to get to optimistic and hopes up. It is easy to get excited about a fair or good day, and have a "crash" the next.
Thanks again for the advice and the concerns. I know that a good vet and prayers, and alot of TLC are what every pet needs!
Chris
She was fine before the vaccinations. She probably had a severe anaphalatic shock to the vaccine(s).
No tree frogs that I know of, we still 99 percent sure it was either a bad batch of vaccine(s), or a bad reaction to vaccines that resulted in anaphalatic shock.
Wow! Freepers never cease to amaze me! Thanks to you and everyone!
At least the BUN and Creatinine levels are going in the right direction. You are doing a great job. Hang in there. Thanks for sharing the test results.
One day more and a little better. That's good news. Every day, a little better still. One small baby step at a time! Yea!
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