Luckily I decided to take Indy to the vet’s today even though he didn’t present with any particular symptoms.
Indy has chronic kidney degeneration and it is at Stage 3. Indy is 15 years old 4 months. He was rescued from the drain in May 2008.
His blood test last year, in October 2022, was still normal and good.
Today, his creatinine level is at an astronomical 573 (last year it was just 196) and his urea reading is 36.8. SDMA is 35! I have never had a cat with such high readings before. I was shocked.
His blood PCV is 28% which is slightly anaemic, most likely due to the kidney degeneration.
An ultrasound was also done to extract some urine from his bladder for testing. So at the same time, the vet looked at his kidneys. True enough, both kidneys show structural degeneration (the “flower petals” cannot be seen clearly).
The urine analysis show no proteinurea (0.3) which is borderline and the urine SG is 1.013 (normal should be 1.035-1.06). His urine colour is also colourless, which isn’t good. But the vet says the SG isn’t that bad yet. The urine was checked and there was no presence of bacteria, which means there is no infection. Sometimes, UTI can also cause elevated creatinine. So, this concludes that Indy has chronic kidney disease. From the creatinine level and the SDMA being at 35, it is already at Stage 3 now.
It’s actually been 11 months since his last blood test which showed that everything was still normal. All this changed in the span of just 11 months.
I’m really shocked that Indy went into kidney degeneration so “suddenly”. And yet, this can happen with geriatric cats. The vet said she has seen cat-patients who come in with no symptoms but the creatinine reading is already off the charts above 1000.
Cats are too resilient for their own good. Indy is still so active, jumping up the platforms, guarding Bunny’s Place.
The vet also discovered a lump on his arm, but he wasn’t limping at all. So, some fluids was drawn out to the checked and thankfully, there is no presence of any cancerous cells. Only old blood. No abscess too. So this was probably due to some bump somewhere. I wouldn’t even have known this had I now brought him today.
Indy’s weight is 4.5kg today. In January, it was 5.5kg. So he has been gradually losing weight.
Way back in 2019, Indy was diagnosed with kidney problems too, but after 8 months of twice-weekly subcut, he was in the clear. That was when he was younger. The creatinine level normalised again. I don’t know how that happened but it did.
Prescriptive treatment for Indy today: CKD stage 3. Start Renal-N 1.5 scoops 2x daily and 250ml subcut every other day. On renal food only. To recheck in 10 days.
Our warrior
I suppose the only indication was that he wasn’t really interested in eating anymore. But then again, Indy IS a very choosy eater too, so I didn’t think it was a sign of kidney degeneration.
Indy has escaped death numerous times in the past. He would have the weirdest symptoms which no vet could identify, tests and tests would be conducted and nothing would be conclusive. Then, somehow, he would bounce back.
He’s our medical mystery.
But this time, his creatinine level is really off the charts. I’m shocked.
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