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Old June 24th, 2010, 07:20 PM
OtisIsMyCat OtisIsMyCat is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 8
Thanks sugarcatmom!

Here's what I know of Marshall's initial diagnosis. I only obtained his BUN and creatinine. That first 48 hours were such a blur I never thought to get anymore results further than those two.

Upon diagnosis his BUN was at 70, creatinine was at 1500. After 24 hours of IV those figures went down to 55 and 1100 respectively. After 48 hours of IV they were down to 33 and 690.

It was a shock for me because I thought I was bringing Marshall in for a mouth infection as his breath smelled like a rotting carcass and he had strings of bloody drool dangling off his lips. Those symptoms came on in about 24 hours. I guess I figured bad breath + blood = Gingivitis? Broken tooth and infection? He hadn't lost any weight, still purred, cuddled, talked to me.

Turns out nearly his entire mouth was in ulceration as a result of the high levels of toxins that had built up in his body from his deteriorating kidneys.

Even the vet was surprised because she told me that when a cat comes in with levels that high (I believe she said his kidney function was 5-7%) they are emaciated, in muscular atrophy, and half-dead. But then there was Marshall, prancing round and demanding attention and cuddles.

He's strong, my boy. ha.

The cat food I'm referring to is "Felidae" Chicken & Rice. The exact product is HERE. If you scroll a bit you'll see the guaranteed analysis as well.

I only bought two cans of Felidae but haven't opened them yet because I have several K/D wets left. I also didn't want to feed him anything different until those with more knowledge on the subject can advise me. I don't think I can approach my vet because I highly doubt she'd endorse this brand as opposed to K/D.

Another option I found was HALO brand - the one supported by Ellen Degeneres. Their protein levels for wet can be as low as 4.2% depending on the flavour. There is no phosphorus level indicated though and I have emailed them but no response, yet.

It's been exactly a week since I brought Marsh home from his 48 hour stay at the vet. He appears to be doing incredibly well but I hesitate because that's how he seemed last time! He has no traces of bad breath though, has a fantastic appetite and drinking water all the time on his own (I've got fresh bowls in all his hang-outs around my apt.) + the sub-q therapy I've been doing every 2nd day.

Next Wed I bring him in for his follow-up checkup and blood analysis.

Thanks again for getting back to me! This has been quite the ordeal, in fact, I think I'm still recovering from it!
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