(This is Makenzee helping me work on my blog, isn't he precious..)He has been acting a little older lately and I convinced myself it was just part of getting older. Over the last couple of weeks, I had noticed a slight limp and I just chalked that up to arthritis. We already discovered last year that he has arthritis so I started giving him the medicine that the doctor had given me. On Sunday as I was browsing through Entrecard, I ran across a blog about some poor woman who had lost her cat to Kidney Disease. She described some of the symptoms that cats exhibit when they have developed this disease and unfortunately alot of the symptoms that she described were things that Makenzee does on a regular basis. As a precaution I decided to call the vet on Monday morning to see about making an appointment for the Wellness Exam. The clinic was all booked up for appointments but the lady told me that I could come in and have his blood taken and then the doctor could call me back with the results. I took Makenzee in on Tuesday morning and then brought him back to my house shortly thereafter. On Wednesday I was supposed to receive the results of the blood test, but due to emergency calls the doctor was unable to call me back. All night last night Makenzee was a little lethargic and just seemed to want to lay around. I didn't think anything about it, but it last night around 1:00 I was abruptly awakened by him as he jumped on my bed and let a terrible cry. He seriously sounded like he was in pain, so I got out of bed and sat him on the floor to see what was wrong. I immediately noticed that his limping was worse and he didn't seem to want to put any pressure on his back legs. I came in the living room and sat with him on the couch and we finally fell back asleep around 3:00am. When I woke up this morning I had already made up my mind that I was going to call the vet and let them know that something was definitely wrong. I called them when they opened and they told me that they were booked solid, but if I brought him in they would do some x-rays and try to figure out what the problem was. When I went to pick him up around 4:30, they showed me his x-rays and you could see that he had two different sets of arthritis on his spine. He also appeared to be heavily constipated and his bladder was full. After reviewing the x-rays, the doctor went over his blood test with me. My fears were realized when he told me that his blood tests were showing high levels of blood urea nitrogen, creatnine, and several other things that were usually indicators of kidney disease. He suggested that I leave Makenzee there for the night and he would do an enigma to hopefully get things moving and he would get a urine sample to double check the problem with the kidneys. Needless to say, I AM A WRECK. This is my first night in my new house without Makenzee here and I feel like I am lost. As I was eating my dinner, I dropped something and immediately went to pick it up because I was afraid that Makenzee would get it. I then realized, "Hey dummy, he's not even here."
(Enjoying the new house)The doctor told me that there are several things that we can do to treat both of the problems, but I am so afraid. I am sick with worry about what is to come. I only hope that I have caught it in time, and we can make the changes and he can continue to live a long and happy life.
If you have a cat that is over 8 years old, I strongly urge you to get annual Wellness Exams and looks for any of the following symptoms. The earlier this disease is caught, the better the prognosis.
Symptoms of feline kidney disease include: loss of weight, energy and appetite, depression, altered thirst and urination, poor coat, vomiting, diarrhea, bad breath, elevated blood pressure and anemia.
Get Well Soon baby, Mommy loves you!
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