Meowllo Evewypawdy hope yous havin’ a good week so faw. As you know meez joined up wiff da Bloggin’ A to Z challenge fur Apwil. Mommy and Lexi and me ‘cided we wuz gunna cover da purrocess of how sis Lexi wuz diagnosed wiff Kidney disease and what shuld have happened and what weez duin’ now. Cuz what did happen and what shulda happened awe 2 vewy diffewent fings. Now yous not wequired to follow a theme, and we hadn’t weally planned on duin’ dat, cuz weez not fink it’ll take all mumff and all da letters of da alfabet to tell ow stowry, but based on da comments and emails fwum yesfurday, we ‘cided today dat we wuld post as long as it took. And cuz so many peeps be pawsibly visitin’, after ow intwo da wemainder of da posty wuld be in hooman speak. We wuld also like to add dat in ow wesearch we found dat there awe certain bweeds of cats dat be purredisposed to kidney disease. As there is no cure fur this de=isease ifin yous have one of these bweeds it might pay to keep an eye on yous kitty fwuout their lives. They awe: Maine Coon, Abyssinian, Persian, Siamese, Burmese and Russian Blue. So today is da letter B’s day.

 

Our furst B is fur Blood tests, as they awe a definite must when it comes to diagnosing Kidney disease. So yesterday we told you that a common urinalysis can be a great tool in diagnosing illnesses in your cat. And that if Albumin is present in the urine more tests are needed to determine the actual reason/illness. That’s where the ERD comes in and we will be telling you more about that test in a few days. For now we will say that not all vets use this test and so after a urinalysis typically blood work is the next logical test. And we don’t mean a prick. We mean a full CBC, Super Chemistry and T4. Now if your anything like us or you’ve not had a sick pet then you just read that last line and said…what the cat?!! And by the way me would like to say that in our research we found a lot of the same conditions, symptoms, and testing apply for cats, dogs, and humans when it comes to diagnosing kidney disease. Anyways, if Albumin is present in the urine please get a full blood panel and that T4 that’ll diagnose Thyroid disease.  

 

Although we stated that the presence of Albumin in the urine can certainly mean kidney disease, it could also mean a lot of other things. Even after performing the ERD if your doctor runs that, you still need a blood test to confirm the diagnoses and determine a proper course of treatment. The numbers most looked at are the BUN and Creatinine. Next is the Phosphorous, Potassium and Sodium. BUN or blood urea nitrogen rises when the kidneys aren’t functioning well enough to remove all the waste product from the blood. By determining the level of Creatinine in the blood your doctor can tell how well the kidneys are working and the stage of kidney disease. High Creatinine numbers mean kidney disease.

 

Most kidney diets awe low in Phosphorous and Protein. High Phosphorous levels can make Kidney disease progress much faster. So knowing these numbers can be very helpful in determining treatment. The first thing mommy did was try to switch Lexi to a low Phosphorous food. Once we got the blood tests we learned sis Lexi’s Phoso. numbers were really low and she didn’t need a food with low Phosphorous. That could be as dangerous as high numbers. Newer studies have found that lowering the Phosphorous in the diet and providing high quality protein are more important than the lower protein in managing Kidney disease. After all cats are obligate carnivores and require meat protein to survive and thrive. So the importance of today’s post is that blood work is a necessity in helping to determine if your pet indeed has Kidney disease and to help formulate a plan of action for treatments. Although all the numbers are important, the BUN and Creatinine are the ones your doctor is going to rely on most in his/her diagnosis. And always, always, always get a copy of the tests. You paid for them, they are yours. We actually recommend getting and keeping a complete copy of your pets records at all times. No matter how much you like your Vet, you never know what the future holds. Join us tomorrow for the letter C.  

Approximate Normal Ranges for Common Tested Blood Values

 

BUN    14 – 36 MG/DL

Creatinine   .6 – 2.4 MG/DL

Calcium (Ca)   8.2 – 10.8 MG/DL

Phosphorus (P)   2.4 – 8.2 MG/DL

Potassium (K)   3.4 – 5.6 MEQ/L

Sodium (Na)   145 – 158 MEQ/L

Packed Cell Volume (PCV)   29% – 48%

Well we do hope weez shed a little mowe light on da subject of blood test and kidney disease. And we hope weez made weadin’ blood test wesults a little less scawy. Da list above is in no way complete and da nowmal levels may vawy slightly fwum lab to lab. Andyways, meez gunna go now mommy’s purromised a stwoll in da sun.

 

So till da next time………………………………Be Blest!!!

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses  

Dezi and Lexi

 

 

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/08/06/kidney-disease-in-cats.aspx

http://www.vetinfo.com/renal-failure-cats.html

http://www.felinecrf.com/tests0.htm