I know that I mentioned in a previous post that I was planning some time to post, but life got in the way.  Last weekend, we were watching a movie on the couch, when I noticed one of our kitties squatting in the corner.  Uh oh.  I picked her up and dropped her into her litter box, but she came out and squatted again.

I thought she might be a little plugged up, so we gave her some lactulose and put a litter box upstairs for her.  She is 16.5 years old, perhaps she just didn’t want to climb the stairs.  I know I don’t some days.

Yes, I was on poop watch for the next couple of days. Once she’d had a dose of lactulose, she seemed to settle down, and we didn’t think she needed a 1am on a Saturday visit to the emergency vet.  Sunday was mostly normal, but I kept her quarantined, to make sure she was OK.   Make no mistake.  All of our animals love quarantine.  It’s the day locked in the bedroom with all the food you can eat, water and your own litter box.  Plus, mom’s undivided attention.   She seemed fine, but still no present in the littlebox.

Monday morning rolled around, and she started squatting again.  Ah Crap.  I called the vet and took her in an hour later.

That’s not a visit I ever want to repeat!  Turns out there was no stoppage… of the brown sort.  Her anal glands were stopped up.   When the vet expressed those the only thing worse than the smell was the scream she let out.  I almost passed out.

While we were there, she had a blood test, but the slim little lady wasn’t giving it up easily, so I had to leave her there.  She was supposed to get a urinalysis at the same time too but that wasn’t to be.  So, I took her home, and was on litter box watch again.  Eventually, she went, and I took that sample back to the vet.

Her current diagnosis is:

• Bladder infection (treated with Convenia – more on this below)
• The “A” glands were taken care of
• Thyroid (T4) borderline high
• Creatinine way high. (She didn’t appear to be dehydrated, based on gums and skin tests or lab results)

Normally, I’d say CKD (or CRF), but something doesn’t add up.  The creatinine level indicates stage 3 CKD.

The thing is Stormi eats, or did until last week, Orijen food.  It has a very high meat content, and as a result, more phosphorus than a lot of other foods. With no binders in her diet, her phosphorus level was on the low side of normal.  Her urea was high normal.

Can you tell this isn’t my first dance with feline kidney disease?  Gizmo, our first kitty, had CRF, amongst other things.

Looking at Tanya’s site, it’s possible that the bladder infection was the cause of the high reading.  I will know on Monday, when she has an appointment with the Holistic vet in Edmonton.

During the past 10 days, I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck.  See, I’d heard of this “injectable antibiotic” that might not throw her off her food.  It was never about not having to pill her.  If I had to, I had to. I did it with Gizmo, and survived with all of my fingers intact.  But the diarrhea and the anorexia (no appetite, and weight loss) was so hard with her, I wanted to avoid that with Stormi, if possible.

I asked the vet about it, she said it was a good choice.  I took Stormi back for the shot.  The shot that was given to her is “Convenia”.  24 hours later, she was nauseous, and a little lethargic.  I googled to see if this was “normal” with Convenia.   Worst thing I’ve ever googled.

I learned that there was a chance I’d just killed my cat.  The time between then and now, I’ve been watching her, some might say obsessively, for any sort of sign that -anything- has gone wrong.

There are several reasons that Convenia was the wrong antibiotic for her:

• It’s meant for skin conditions, but is used off label as a broad spectrum antibiotic.  A bladder infection is not a skin condition.
• Stormi’s never been on any sort of antibiotic.  We don’t know what she would do with any antibiotic.   I believe a lot of the really bad reports that you find online are allergic reactions.
• Her kidneys are already potentially compromised, something relatively benign would have been “safer”.
• There’s no way to get the Convenia out of her body if she rejects it.

We shall see what her labs look like on Monday, and I will be sure to add “No Convenia” to her chart, along with the “No Metacam/Meloxicam” warnings.

In the meantime; however, I’m pleased to report that she’s her regular domineering neurotic self.  Chasing food and everything.  So far, as far as the Convenia is concerned, It looks like we got lucky.