Warning Sign of CRF?

Everyone, you are very kind to me in reference to the recent passing of Bear, and I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I have one question. It is hard for me to not feel that there were not warning signs that could have made me get her to the vet quicker. I am reevaluating everything I have done with her care. It is a terrible feeling.

Can I ask your opinion on something?

On 4/29/10, she had a dental extraction and blood work. She was taken to the ER vet on 5/27/10 with blood sugar through the roof and DKA. (The timing of the dental work in reference ER visit is coincidental to me). She crossed over the rainbow bridge on 5/29/10---vet said she was in renal failure.

On 4/29/10 during the dental work, these numbers were flagged: AMY (1433), BUN (34), TP (9.0) and GLU of 408, fructosomine in the 200s. Everything else was normal, including CREA which was 1.3 (it was in the 7s in her final hours). The vet, who is not the ER vet but was my regular vet, said she seemed dehydrated but pretty much dismissed the numbers as nothing to be of concern. She said because of the fructosomine reading that we needed to increase the insulin by one unit. Bear always urinated/vomited/defecated in the car on the way to the vet, so there was a stress element in the equation whenever she had bloodwork, and I know that can impact numbers. That is why the GLU of 408 was not a huge red flag. I'm pretty sure this bloodwork was taken before the surgery or anesthesia. Question: Should there have been exploration on those numbers? Do you think these were warning signs? It sounded like the numbers are not always dispositive of CRF without considering other factors... I just wonder if my vet should have explored this issue at that time. Thank you!

Cami

 

Hi, Cami,

I'm sorry that you lost Bear. That's always difficult, but maybe even more so when it seems to happen unexpectedly.

I don't have any answers to your questions, since I'm not such an expert in how to read the bloodwork. Maybe some of the techs here can help out more. If you still can't find the answers you need, maybe you could make an appointment with a veterinary internist for a consultation to go over Bear's case and help you understand what might have happened. If they give you any problems, you might explain that you're trying to learn from Bear's experience so you can catch similar problems with any other cats in the future.

Best of luck in finding what you need - I know what you're going through, as I still have agonizing questions like this about Angel.

Heather

 

((((((((((((((((((((((CAMI)))))))))))))))))))))))))

I am so very sorry for your loss of Bear. Kidney cats can and do have dentals, just more care needs to be taken, however the numbers you listed (depending on ref ranges) do not seem to have any redflags to me, except for the glucose.

I believe that cats in DKA can have some pretty wild readings tho, that come down when treated. I do not know if your vet thought she truly was having an acute kidney crisis or if your vet did anything to treat the DKA. Some cats can get ketones due to infections, and an acute kidney crisis can be brought on by a kidney infection. so did the ketones come because of a kidney infection or did the ketones cause the kidney problem? I am not a vet and I dont know.

I do know that you are a great mombean and I dont think any of that was predictable. Cats need dentals. Sometimes bad teeth can cause infections too.

Sending many cyber hugs.

 

Bear also received xrays during the dental extraction and a convenia vaccine. I was not asked about the convenia before the fact, only told after the fact. I don't know if xrays could do something negative to diabetes.

Cami