Hi - I am just looking for peace of mind.


I have an amazing vet, with endless patience and commitment, but I really don't want to trouble her any more. She says she just doesn't know - and I believe her - this is my neurosis/grief talking...

My 10 year old male neutered tabby cat was put down on 7 October. The chronology is as follows:


Day 1 - Thursday - vomited "sausage" like emission - lots of water.

Day 2 - Friday - Fine - normal behaviour and appetite

Day 3 - Saturday day - normal - Saturday night - 2 x frothy vomit - lethargic and off food - licking lips

Day 4 - Sunday am - 1 x vomit - white frothy - took to vets

Day 4 - Sunday pm - Creatine levels off the internal vet scale - check on toxins (anti-freeze/lilys) - no exposure

Day 5 (Monday) - 9 (Friday) - Severe deterioration - creatine 1700. Some blood in urine, but white cell count normal - Scan revealed one kidney shrunken (long-term) - other kidney enlarged to compensate. Good response to fluid (and every other type of) therapy - Creatine down to stage 3. Some eating, copious urine (but no concenatration) - No evidence of infection. Scan/ultrasound for stones - negative

Day 10 (Saturday) - Home after being weaned off fluids slowly. Mid afternoon - no urine production. Not eating or drinking. Harrowing deterioration. Couldn't administer medicines.

Day 11 - Further deterioration - overwhelming ammonia smell, sunken eyes, poor leg control, no food/toilet, no grooming - euthanasia at 1630.


My questions are:

1 Why would one kidney fail in the first place, so long ago?
2 What caused the previosuly undiagnosed chronic kidney disease to become acute?
3 Was I right to euthanise then - the lack of urine production was the "killer" feature for my vet - and wishes all owners acted so quickly.


I went from healthy beloved cat, to dead one in a week.
How?

Please help.

Many thanks,
Ruth

Hi Ruth,

I cannot give you any easy answers either but I can sympathise and say how sorry I am. It's rare but in my experience I too have sometimes seen cats of various ages, not just old aged, with serious kidney failure. Sadly its possible even in a much younger cat than yours was and when it happens it always comes as a massive shock to everyone. Your vet would have been pretty dismayed too in having tried everything and yet it failed to work.

The symptoms for your cat were severe and the values indicating kidney failure were extremely high. Kidney function can gradually be impaired over time in various ways. Sometimes it starts earlier in life with infections, sometimes its from the cat's immune system laying down substances in the kidney tissues that reduces the function gradually but permanently. Toxins can also cause permanent damage and kidney failure.

Because kidneys have spare capacity (we know that people and pets can manage with only one kidney), the crisis of acute kidney failure can come only after the last bit of function is completely lost from kidneys that were already chronically damaged. Sounds like for your cat there must have been a previous problem affecting the small shrunken kidney then something happened to impair the other kidney that led to the acute failure. Treatment with fluid therapy and drugs sometimes works in some patients but its always a challenge to achieve a good response.

The lack of urine production certainly indicated that the kidneys had completely failed despite therapy tried, so sadly I would have made the same recommendation to you for your cat in these circumstances.

I do hope that this information helps you.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]