recovery from acute renal failure?

[mandyb771]

Hi,

Last Thursday, after he had been vomiting for five days, they finally did bloodwork on Henry, who is 6 years old, and discovered he was in acute renal failure. He was admitted to the hospital and given intensive IV treatment. By Saturday afternoon, his BUN and phosphorous levels had (miraculously) dropped to normal. I am thrilled, but I'm now worried about the potential for lasting kidney damage. They still can't determine the reason for the kidney "insult." We go back Friday to recheck his levels, but I want to make sure he's doing OK this week. He's not vomiting, but since I brought him home yesterday, he's been very lethargic and sleeping constantly, which is very unlike him. I would have thought, after being in a cage and sleeping for four days, getting IV fluids constantly, that he'd be full of energy when he got home. Should I be concerned?

[sugarcatmom]

Having a serious medical issue like renal failure is a huge stress on a cat's entire system, so it's perfectly normal that he needs to sleep right now. Is he eating/drinking/eliminating okay?

As for what might have caused it, is he an indoor kitty or does he also go outside? Could he have eaten a toxic plant, or gotten into some kind of chemical (antifreeze comes to mind)? I think it would be hard to say what kind of long-term damage might have been done to his kidneys, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on. that he makes a full recovery.

[mandyb771]

Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. He is eating and drinking, but I've not seen him go potty (both) since this morning. He is only indoor, though, and I couldn't think of anything he might have eaten. They also did a urinalysis, which came back negative, so the failure was probably not due to infection.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Glad to hear Henry is doing much better. What food are you feeding?

ARF could be caused by injury, underlying medical condition, toxic poisoning through food, plants, household/garage chemicals & cleaners

The prognosis is fair/good if the cause of the disease is identified early and there hasn't been too much damage to the kidneys, you should have blood & urine test done every 3-6 months for atleast the next year or two to keep an eye on the levels and see if there is any progression to CRF.

Acute Kidney Failure WSAVA conference

from http://www.thedca.org/kd-working.html This is written for dogs but the same basic principles apply for cats

Prognosis for acute renal failure largely depends on the severity of injury to the kidneys. Short-term survival depends on whether the dog can live through the worst part of the acute episode. Expert, mainly supportive, medical care will allow some animals that would otherwise die to survive the worst of their illness. Long-term prognosis for these dogs is fair to good for those that survive the critical stage and begin to show signs of recovery.

No test can determine how long your dog will live with chronic renal failure. Some animals tolerate kidney failure amazingly well, while others with the same degree of kidney failure are very sick. Information from the physical examination, response to treatments, general history of well being, and laboratory data should provide the needed information to provide the best care for your dog.

[mandyb771]

I'm feeding him K/D wet food (he won't go near the dry version). It's weird--after he eats now, he seems to feel pretty bad. he'll go and lie down and won't move for hours, but at least he's not vomiting....

[growler~GateKeeper]

Good for him staying away from the dry smart kitty

The prescription diets really are not formulated for cats biological need for protein. Yes they are low in phos & protein but also taste and nutrition.

Try Wellness grain free Turkey, Wellness grain free Chicken and Wellness grain free Beef & Chicken those are the 3 flavours lowest in phos but still with high quality protein from proper meat sources. If you feed high quality protein the amount of phosohorus is lower than a corn or rice based protein source.

Would you consider feeding a raw meat diet?

Has he visited the litterbox yet?

[Jenjen1410]

Hi Just wondering how Henry is doing - I hope he's going fine. We are going thru the same with our little Ruby. She drank water from a bucket with flowers,among were lily's - extremely toxic to cats so we found out. She had all week on IV fluids at the vets and came home very tired 40 hours ago. She has been eating, drinking and urunating well as far as I can tell. She has vomited once, around 32 hours ago so I am worried about her future. Thanks Jen

[mandyb771]

Henry is doing GREAT, and I'm so sorry to hear about yours! I know what you're going through; I don't think I ate or slept normally for the week he was sick. I thought he would be much worse than he is now, which seems perfectly normal. They're still having us come in every week or two to check his BUN, creatnine, and phosphorus levels, and so far they've been normal each time. I'm still hoping it's not going to be a chronic issue, and so far it seems like it's not. He's still eating the Hill's K/D (kidney issues) food, and that seems to be helping him keep his levels normal on his own. I would definitely recommend a regulated food like that for your kitty. Just make sure you are also taking her in to the vet regularly to get her levels checked, but from what I hear, making it through the first actue renal "insult" is the hardest part for them. She's done well so far!

[ShadowPixit]

Thank you for the uplifting news. Twilight is only one year old and is still in the hospital for renal failure. Hopefully, he comes home tomorrow!

I lost a handsome Black-smoke Persian a little over a year ago to abdominal cancer. Shadow was a part of our family for 15 years and we still miss him. Twilight's illness is setting us all on edge. I agree with the not sleeping. While he was home and vomiting, I was up checking on him. Now he's in the hospital, I haunt the phone waiting for a phone call.

He's licking baby food off of the vet's hand today.

Again - thank you for the encouragement! We need it!

[growler~GateKeeper]

Hi ShadowPixit I'm sorry Twilight is in hosp

Does the vet have any ideas what caused the ARF?

speedy healing for Twilight & he can come home soon

[ShadowPixit]

Right now, we are clueless. I'm taking a can of food with me today to see if any of the ingredients are suspect.

We hope he can come home this afternoon.

This sounds crazy - our neighbors have a miniature doberman pincher that hangs out in their privacy fenced back yard. Twilight loves to go out in our privacy fenced back yard and the two communicate through the fence. The baby-sitter came over today and asked about Twilight since Sophie is going nuts looking for her friend.

Amazing how our pets can touch each other.