Hi all,
I have a major problem.  My 5 yr old male, Wriggley, is in apparent
kidney failure.  He started last Wed night exhibiting lameness in his
right hind leg.  I took him to the vet on Thurs and she did an exam of
the leg and it was ok, no apparent abnormalities.  Xray indicated the
same.  She put him on pediapred, .5cc/day.  On Friday there was no
improvement.  By Sat morning he was weak in the rear.  He didn't rise up
on his legs to walk, rather pulled with front and pushed with the rear
legs.  I called the vet and she said to bring him in for blood work asap
which was Monday.  Sunday evening I called eiier emergency number, to ask
about fasting blood glucose and the like for him.  After she found out
how he was she advised bringing him in that evening.  She drew blood,
gave subq, 100cc and some duck soup as he hadn't been eating on his own,
at least since Sat night, I was force feeding chicken baby food and
pediatlite.  He was drinking on his own.  She called with the blood
results Mon, BUN, creatinine and phosphorus were elevated (how much I
don't know) as was his white count.  Glucose was ok as were other values.
She took him off the pred and put him on Clamovox in the chance that he
had a kidney infection because of the white count.  He is still basically
doing the GI crawl to get around, very lethargic, but fights the
feedings.  Still pooping, peeing and drinking ok, poops loose, pee has
yellow to it albeit not dark.  I asked about doing IV fluids on him as
this worked to bring my cat out of failure when she was 3, 8 yrs ago.
She didn't think this had an advantage over sub qs which I am to do at
home, 50cc, 2Xweek.  Am I looking at a bad outcome here?  I really think
that I am.  Any ideas.  I will do anything within my power to make him
better, but need to know when I also need to let him go.  Sorry so long,
need all the advice, assistance, encouragement I can get.
 
Thanks in advance.
Ann and Wriggs
[Posted in FML issue 3881]