>From:    Kymberlie Becker <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Ricky update--need more info
>She believes that it is very possible that all of his walking problems
>could be related to this kidney problem. ... So, if *anyone* out there has
>any information about kidney failure/problems, and especially how it could
>be related to his hind-end weakness...
 
Hi Kymberlie.  I'm glad Ricky's hind end weakness is better.  I had a kit
who came from a litter affected with neural tube disorder.  His name was
Squeek (and he was an incredible, wonderful baby).  He also had one
incredibly large kidney and one that was so tiny that it was hard to see on
an x-ray.  He got sick one day and we felt a lump and thought he had a
blockage, but it was the big kidney we learned.  I knew his background
because I saw him born, and the whole litter was affected.  I'm mentioning
this because the strange gait, and the deformed kidneys for Squeek were
symptoms related to Squeek's neural tube disorder, which caused the strange
walk.
 
Do you know your Ricky's background?
 
Dr. Bruce Williams is acquainted with the other symptoms of neural tube.
One is bacterial infections, and they can be dangerous if the neural tube is
indeed malformed.  I wish someone told me to go to any length to protect my
Squeekers against bacterial or viral infections.
 
I'm sorry I'm not acquainted with the details of Ricky's illness.  Did he
walk normally to begin with?  Squeek always had an off-tilt gait, though his
spirit more than made up for it (and I know his sweet gait didn't keep him
from giving a characteristic squeakel and flying across that Rainbow Bridge).
 
Give Ricky a little hug and write if you want any more information.
 
Lynn
 
PS: It turned out that Squeek's large kidney was just a sack of fluid.  If
I'd known this (and Dr. Williams told me about it later; he said the big
kidney was probably just a sack of water) I would have made sure his kidney
function was monitored.  The other one was so tiny a vet couldn't believe it
ever functioned, but Squeek had a complete blood panel the first time he got
sick (lethargy and couldn't walk) and it was functioning fine.  A vet
mentioned a simple urine test to check the kidney function, sort of a litmus
paper test that would make it easy and inexpensive to make sure the kidneys
were still functioning, but we had no reason at the time to suspect the big
kidney wasn't functioning.
 
Don't forget that little hug for Ricky...
 
LMc
[Posted in FML issue 1926]