Tig Has PKD

[greenkitty]

Been an awful week, having had his third bout of cystitis since June we were at the vets again this week and the vet felt one of Tig's kidneys was enlarged so he had an ultrasound done and it showed he has PKD (polycystic kidney disease), it's a genetic disease and there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. Unfortunately there's no good outcome, the cysts will get so large his kidneys will fail, because he presented so young they don't think he's going to make it past a year or so. He's only 4

He's been through so much in his little life seems so unfair that he beat the epilepsy and now he has this to deal with.

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Oh Julia, your poor little boy. I am so sorry. Hugs to you and kisses to little Tig. My thoughts are with you. Xxx

[Crewella]

Oh Julia, I'm so sorry - I'm just catching up. You've had such a rotten year with your gang, I really feel for you. Some cats really do seem to get the short straw when it comes to their health. Wish I could say something helpful. (((hugs)))

Give the little soldier a fuss from me. xx

[meriad]

It's just so heartbreaking and unfair. I am so very very sorry

Give your boy a gentle fuss from me xxx

[Crewella]

I was just thinking, Tig (and Hector before him) might have been unlucky with their health, but did at least find themselves a mum who would do her very best for them. It's tough on you, but you took exemplary care of Hector and I know you will do the same for Tig. (((hugs)))

[booktigger]

So sorry to hear this - I thought medication was better than diet with PKD? So sad with everything the poor thing has already been through, I hope he can prove them wrong and have a lot of quality time left

[greenkitty]

From what I understand from the vet we manage with diet until he goes into renal failure and at that point we start on medication, pleased to hear differently if anyone knows anything. There's nothing they can do to make the cysts go away, if they drain them they'll just refill again. Already you couldn't make out the shape of his kidneys on the ultrasound because the cysts are pretty large.

I've just sent a request to join Tanya's group too, hoping I might get some tips and help there too.

[Crewella]

Tanya's pages have helped me enormously over the years, though I've not experienced PKD specifically, hopefully the group will be helpful too.

I'm sure you've found this yourself, but just in case not this site seemed to have some useful info on it too:

http://www.ufaw.org.uk/POLYCYSTICKIDNEY ... ERSIAN.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Suze]

Hi Julia,

So sorry to hear about Tig. Poor lad has been through so much. My vet found Polly's in exactly the same way.

Do you mind me asking how big the cysts were? Polly's largest was 2cm on the ultrasound and I couldn't feel them by stroking her. I think the scan was only about 6-8 weeks ago & now I'm sure I can feel something just stroking her side. It's very worrying. I've booked her in for a rescan on Friday. One of my vets did say if any of the cysts are painful, he can drain them, but like your vet said too, they will just recur.

How is Tig doing with the renal food? Polly isn't at all keen on the Hills k/d. I have ordered some kattovit, beapher, integrated protect & royal canin from Zooplus. Not sure whether she'll like them or not. Is Tig having dry? I'm nervous about giving Polly dry.

[greenkitty]

Hi Suze, I didn't think to ask about the size of the cysts, they did say they would just keep growing until they overcome the kidneys. His left kidney is the worst with the right a little way behind. They're still functioning at 100%, the vet said they have to lose 70% function before they go into renal failure so I'm hoping that's a way off yet. We will go on blood and urine tests going forward he said their wasn't much point scanning again. I can't feel anything but I'm not really feeling for it and wouldn't be sure what I was looking for!

Tig likes the dry food and is reluctantly eating the wet (RC) because I mix it with the dry! I'm not sure whether to try him on other brands or not if he's eating this without much too much trouble! I questioned the vet about the dry (we probably think similarly that does it do any good when it makes them more thirsty) but the vet said it was just important to keep him eating and it wouldn't make that much difference.

Is Polly a pedigree? Are you managing the cystitis ok?

It's good to have someone at a similar stage, I hope we can support each other going forward.

[meriad]

Julia, did the vet give you any form of binder (Renalzine or Ipakitine [sp?]) to be added to his wet food? Having that would hopefully give him a broader range of foods to eat?

Best of luck to both you and Suze - we're all behind you every step of the way x

[Suze]

Hi Julia - sorry for the delay replying. I don't get the chance to get on cc very often.

It sounds like things are under control for Tig so that's good. Things aren't so good for Polly so I'm going to do a separate post, see if anybody has some advice. Polly isn't a pedigree either, just a very petite little moggie.

Thanks for the good wishes too Ria. x

[Crewella]

I just posted this on Polly's thread, but thought I'd post it here too in case you found it useful, Julia. There seemed to be good info there, and I find it all helps to build up a picture of what I'm dealing with when one of mine is poorly.

http://my.erinet.com/~lebordo/PKD/pkdfaq.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How's Tig doing? xx

[greenkitty]

Thanks Helen, I'll take a look at that.

Tig is doing ok thanks, I'm going to try a different food as he's going off this one and I want to see if I can get him eating a bit better than he is. He's been sick a few times too, just fur or bile but I know this is to be expected. He's his normal mischievous self otherwise!

[Crewella]

I never did have much luck with my lot and renal wet food, but I did get more down them when I kept changing brands to keep them guessing. I used to mix in some of the jelly or gravy from whatever the others were having sometines too. Glad Tig's OK, give him a fuss from me. xx