Alex's Story

Pet's Name: Alex
Breed: Domestic Shorthair
Location: Not Given
Pet's Story:

I am having a difficult time composing myself enough to write you and let you know that Alex had eaten some tainted food and went into acute kidney failure. He was put to sleep yesterday.

On 3-13 he did not eat his normal amount of food and went into dark corners and hid from everyone. On 3-12 he was his usual happy, loving self sitting on my lap and eating everything he could, he weighed 17 pounds. He did not drink a lot of water or have excessive urination.

On 3-14 I had to borrow the funds to take him to the Vet. He did not drink or urinate more than usual. He did not eat as much and his personality changed drastically. The Vet did blood work and his liver and creatine were high. Everything
else was completely normal with the exception of some of his urinalysis values. His bun was low so the vet said he did not have kidney disease period and refused to listen to me about the recalled food. On 3-17 he went back to the Vet and the vet did x-rays to see if he was obstructed...nothing He had lost 2 pounds and was not any better. They hydrated him and assumed he must have an inner ear infection and prescribed antibiotics. He acted better for a day or two and I thought the antibiotics were working. I realize now it was most likely the hydration they gave him. I kept repeating the recalled food, the poison possibility and the vet just brushed me off.

Since his tests (according to the vet) showed no kidney disease I did not hydrate him. They put him on prednisone to increase his appetite and at that point he began drinking copious amounts of fluid and urinating a lot. His appetite increased for two days after the hydration then quit except for water. A full 6 days later on a Sunday the vet called to see how he was doing. I was told that in spite of his drinking I had better hydrate him anyhow and bring him back for creatine and bun blood work. Six days of dehydrating and damaging the kidneys more.

I am telling you this in case you have a pet that has the symptoms Alex had and the vet does not interpret the blood work properly. Look for these things and INSIST the vet listen to you.

When I took him to another vet he looked at the first blood results and said he was in acute kidney failure. The bun does not have to be elevated, it can fluctuate according to if the animal is eating or not and the creatine is the best indicator. His second blood work showed the kidneys had deteriorated beyond the point of any hope of recovery.

If Alex had gone on IV's at his first visit he might have been able to pull through this. He weighed 12 pounds when he was euthanized.

There was no long drawn out illness or downhill slide, this happened overnight and was one day white and the next day black. I knew something was serious. The liver elevation was poison from the food and he was in kidney failure without both of the values being high. There were other values in the urinalysis that should have alerted the vet.

This was so unnecessary. I am so sad and angry. I took Alex home from the harbor(rescued). He was never sick once until this. He was a very special cat!