Acute renal failure any survival chance?

[Rachel170396]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I have a very sick boy. On Friday night my cat, Horatio he is 13, was acting his normal self eating and had a cuddle with me. The next morning however I found him throwing up some white froth and he seemed to be acting different, at first we didn't think much of it as he has thrown up before however he threw up two more times and just laid in it. This is when I knew something was seriously wrong, he couldn't walk straight either so we packed him up and took him to our local vet. Our vet said it could be a spider bite but as it was a long weekend didn't perform any test saying if he got worse they would test three days later for kidney problems. She gave him an meta am injection and Betamax and sent him home. Anyway he seemed a little better he ate a bit not as much as usual later we found he had thrown this up and seemed to respond. Anyway the next day he took a turn for the worse, he stopped responding at all, had no appetite and couldn't walk straight, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. Initially he seemed to think it was some sort of infection and wasn't going to run any test however we insisted and the test came back his levels were extremely high, I don't remember much but his potassium was extremely high, his creantine was 1100 and was dehydrated. They put him on the Iv drip and a catheter and said it could take three days to see any improvement. Anyway at 8 hours in he was barely producing any urine so the vet was worried, however just at the 24 hour mark he started producing the amount they want to see and his potassium levels were dropping, he still wasn't eating. Though promising the vet said it probably wasn't going to make a difference as his other levels were so high so we should consider euthanasia then and there. I visited him at this point and although scared he was cuddling me and purring and I knew I couldn't give up on him. Anyway this morning roughly 40 hours he has started eating again and he has a new vet monitoring him who said to us that the test at 24 hours wasn't a good indicator as he was so dehydrated and barely weeing so the toxins weren't flushing out, she said she wants to retest him at 48 hours with hopes they will see some drop and if not again at 72 hours and if there is no drop there is nothing more that can be done. She told us he had chronic kidney failure but this was an episode of acute which shocked me as he was completely fine up until Friday. I feel so stressed and scared for him, is there any hope he can recover from his acute failure do the signs look promising? Also we have a second cat from the same litter is it worth having her tested to see if she has crf as well? I feel confused by the two vets one saying put him down immediately and the other saying wait for 72 hours, I just want to do the right thing by my boy.

Thanks for any advice

[Antonio]

In my opinion and from my point of view you should wait at least the 72 hours.
Cats have recovery abilities beyond imagination and he could surprise you and the vets.
You wrote that "creantine" was at 1100. Were you meaning "creatinine"? And if so, are you sure of the value? Because it's really impossible it was that high!
Values above 15-20 are incompatible with life. High level of potassium (how high?) could affect heart function.
If this is an acute failure they should investigate on the causes, it could be an infection, from bacteria (then an antibiotic is needed) or viral (what virus?).
Since this is an acute disease, not chronic, it could make little sense testing his sister, unless this infection hasn't the chance to spread from one cat to another.
I'm so sorry about Horatio! But trust your second ER vet, and wait one more day. It takes time to recover from a dehydration and levels of minerals and electrolytes in the blood need time to restore. Keep an eye on what the vets are doing and keep us updated!

[booktigger]

I'm sorry to hear your cat is so poorly - acute is the worst kind unfortunately, prognosis depends on the cause. If the vet said he already had chronic kidney issues, then that could be the cause. I'd give him the time on the IV in the hope it can help enough to figure out the cause, although if this is a flare up of chronic, you could only be buying him weeks or months.

Chronic kidney issues are an age related thing, it wouldn't hurt to check his sisters kidney function but hopefully she will be fine.

[bobbys girl]

We once found a very sick, underweight cat. Turned out she had enteritis. We were given the option of PTS, but as she seemed to be a battler we thought we would give her a chance. She was put on IV fluids and it took 48 hours for her to turn the corner. She went on to be a happy, healthy, loving little cat.

BUT she was a young cat and enteritis is not a chronic disease.

If your vet says there is a chance, then I'd give Horatio another wee while (no pun intented). I agree with booktigger. From experience with Tommy, often you are only buying a little time. Fusses to Horatio.

[Didi]

My Bilbo had acute kidney problems at the beginning of the year in his case it was a blocked bladder that was the root cause and I don't think his levels were as high but he was on a drip for 3 days and didn't urinate for 24 hours after his bladder was unblocked despite being flushed through with fluids it did take the 3 days to get him on the right road. Now 3 months later he has regained some of the weight his kidneys are working fine and we are getting his eating back to normal. It has been a very long 3 months and his appetite is still not back but we were at the vets on Monday and he has been discharged after putting another 5grams on

I think you need to give at least the 3 days and see what happens Bilbo started getting better after about 36 hours and after that seemed to do well really quickly. I know it's a different situation but acute kidney problems can be reversed fingers crossed your little boy is as lucky as my Bilbo just take one day at a time

[risotto]

Sorry to hear about Horatio - this must have been such a shock for you. Can I ask how is he now?