W. V. Cats Forum

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

Galen had his 6 month blood work done to check on his CRF (chronic renal failure), and he has not changed hardly since the last time. We had not been giving him fluids in 6 months, except once or twice. At those times, he wouldn't take more than 25ml, so there was no point in giving that small amount.

His bun this time was 40. In September, it was 46.

His creatinine this time was 3.5, in Sept. it was 3.1.

Normal BUN is between 16-36 (on the VetTest scale)
Normal Creatine is 0.8- 2.4 ( ")

While Galen's numbers are above normal, they are not in the worrisome range, expecially since they have stayed rather stable. They are certainly lower than when Galen was at his worst!

It still is strange to me that with no treatment now, he is holding steady. It just has to be then, that his remaining kidney cells (nephrons) did expand to take over more work to compensate for the dead/damaged nephrons. And he must not have a highly significant number of dead nephrons. Hopefully, no more will die or get damaged.

By the way, for the past 6 months we have been feeding:

Dry: Nutro Max cat, Iams, Natural Balance and some Purina One (not much of that). It was mostly Nutro Max Cat.

Canned: Mostly Fancy Feast grilled style (shredded meat in gravy), some Friskies Chunks in Gravy.

Cats with serious CRF might not do well with the above, but they all were fine for Galen.

We have now upgraded to Fromm's shredded chicken in gravy, but that is very expensive so we will be alternating it with Fancy Feast. However, with the FF, there are leftovers even after a few hours. The Fromm's all gets eaten. So maybe it will be winding up around the same, instead of my throwing out some FF that the cats didn't eat. They do eat all of the new Fancy Feast Medley's, so I guess we will get that instead of regular FF.

For dry, we now have Wellness, Solid Gold Katz n Flocken, Prarie Nature's Variety and Pinnacle. I wanted to just use foods that are in no way associated with Menu Foods, after the recall scare, and foods with no wheat gluten.

I didn't open the Pinnacle yet. Of the other's currently, Wellness is preferred by all the cats. Solid Gold, second place. Nature's Variety- a dud. But, they liked it before I opened the Wellness. Apparently, Wellness tastes better to my cats.

We'll see in another 6 months how Galen's blood is doing. We are so happy he is holding steady in a good place. Very Happy

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

kb2zct · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:47 pm Post subject:

Hi Margaret:

This is great news!

I wonder if there were any colds / virus, etc. or other temporary problems that could have caused the kidney issues?

Mark

alishanayomie · Frisky Feline Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 257

Thanks for the update! I am so glad to hear this about Galen. I remember back when things weren't so great so this is really special news. I always enjoy hearing about your kitty household.

animalangel1 · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:48 am Post subject:

That's great news about Galen, Margaret! I hope he continues to do well for you too.

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Michelle

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

kb2zct wrote:

Hi Margaret:

This is great news!

I wonder if there were any colds / virus, etc. or other temporary problems that could have caused the kidney issues?

Mark

I'm thinking there must have been something along those lines, as Galen is not being like the typical cat with chronic renal failure as I understand it.

Galen first starting out with loosing weight around April of 2005.

Now, we did have Sparky a few months in 2004. He went to Michelle October 2004. Sparky was sick when he was here. First I heard him sneezing. Next, had very deep, though infrequent, cough. Upon exam, he was found to have a sore throat, enlarged lymph glands, and the vet could hear wheezing in his lungs. But no fever. He was diagnosed with a general upper respiratory illness and given the antibiotic Baytril. He seemed to be better after a few days, with no more coughing, but he continued to pant from active play.

Sumner started sneezing and developed a high fever a month after Sparky arrived. He was examined, some congestion heard in his lungs, and diagnosed with an upper respiratory illness. He was given a course of antibiotics. After a few days, he was acting like his former, energetic self. I think he did catch the virus from Sparky.

Sparky continued to pant at Michelle's and had a deep red color at his gum line. Her vet tested him, diagnosing him with Bartonella (Cat Scratch Fever).

Galen didn't get sick that we could tell while Sparky was here , but there was a virus in my household. Maybe that did result in causing Galen's problems. Or, maybe not. But is something to wonder about. Maybe there is more to Bartonella than seems to be usually considered.

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

Maria · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject:

Margaret,

What a nice surprise to come home to - news that Galen is doing so well. I'm so glad for him........and for you and Jim.

Your post was a reminder to me that next week I need to try to get some Fromm's to try. Molly isn't eating the Fancy Feast anymore.......I might give her some Nutro Gourmet Max for the time being - at least until I can try better foods with no wheat gluten.

Way to go Galen!

Maria

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

Thanks, Maria. Do try the Fromm's. Again, when I served it tonight, it all got eaten. However, the cat that I wanted to eat a lot of it, underweight Jolie, did not, of course. Confused

I have the Fromm's shredded chicken. But, one can might be too much for only two cats at one serving. They are 6 oz. cans. I split that between my 7 cats per meal. Most of my cats don't eat more than one ounce at a time.

Try the Fancy Feast Medleys. They are a bit higher quality from the regular FF, and the cats like it much better.

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

Maria · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:05 pm Post subject:

Galensgranny wrote:

Thanks, Maria. Do try the Fromm's. Again, when I served it tonight, it all got eaten. However, the cat that I wanted to eat a lot of it, underweight Jolie, did not, of course. Confused

I have the Fromm's shredded chicken. But, one can might be too much for only two cats at one serving. They are 6 oz. cans. I split that between my 7 cats per meal. Most of my cats don't eat more than one ounce at a time.

Try the Fancy Feast Medleys. They are a bit higher quality from the regular FF, and the cats like it much better.

Margaret,

Does the Fromm's have a lot of gravy? Is the consistency/chunks thick or on the thin side like FF grill? They love the gravy. Some of the Nutro cans have more gravy than others.....and they will eat all of it. Adding water doesn't help, they know it - and they won't eat it. They both like the gravy in FF grill......but for some reason Molly won't eat it anymore.

They won't eat the FF Medleys......tried that option. They don't normally like shredded......but will eat it if it's got enough gravy. They are both sooooooooo picky. I've spent a fortune trying different foods when I thought Jeremy was allergic to so many things.

Also - they normally won't eat leftovers.......these cats KNOW when this can was opened this morning......and it's supper! I've tried heating it, mashing it, leaving it whole.......they will not eat leftover food.

Maria

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

The Fromms shredded chicken is sort of like the FF grilled, but longer strips. They all are rather uniform in size. It seems they got pressed through something like a spaghetti making type machine, but they are flat. It does not have a lot of gravy, but does have some. I add some water to it and mix it up. It is orange colored! They added tomato sauce, I guess to add some color, as well as flavor and maybe vitamins.

Yeah, cats don't seem to care for leftover's. I haven't seen Fromm's in 3oz. cans. I don't know if they make a 3oz. can, but they should.

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

animalangel1 · Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:32 am Post subject:

Maria - you might want to check again before you go out and buy Nutro Max Gourmet CANNED food.... I believe that was recalled. At least one flavor was.... check though first. Ok? I know Nutro Max was on that list somewhere......

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Michelle