My wife and I were going to get a kitten to go with our new adopted two-year old cat Murray, but we had a hard time picking just one, and we figured a brother and sister could play together, and. . . I'm sure you can guess the rest. We're now a three-cat family.
Henry's autopsy results came back today, and I thought you cat people might benefit from what we learned. (The vets were so puzzled by his case that they footed the bill to send his kidneys off to Hopkins.) Turns out the acute kidney failure, as well as a couple of previous illnesses, was brought on by a long-term, low level kidney infection called pyelonephritis. He'd had a lower unrinary tract infection months ago, and we beat it with antibiotics, but apparently the bacteria stuck around and made its way up into his kidneys. Most of the time, he didn't appear sick. He was throwing up and running fever once in August, and the vet chalked it up to hairballs giving rise to an opportunistic infection. We treated him with antibiotics again, and he got well, or so we thought.
Just over two months later, Thursday before last, the same symptoms reappeared suddenly-- one minute, he was playing, and the next, he was throwing up-- and although he was still drinking water and seemed alert and all, when we saw he didn't get much better in 48 hours, we took him to the emergency vet. That guy said he didn't see any outward signs of disease, and that sometimes a cat eats something that makes it queasy for a few days, and that basically this was a healthy cat. He wasn't even dehydrated or feverish. The vet was very noncommital about doing blood work and recommended that Henry see his regular vet on Monday. So we did, and by that time-- 36 hours later-- the cat was about three-fourths dead.
He'd been seen by several vets, one a cat specialist, over the past 6 months and even had bloodwork done. Back in August, his vet had detected a slight heart murmur and said that eventually Henry should have a cardiac workup. (A cardiac workup! Even I've never gotten a cardiac workup!) Nothing about the kidneys. Turns out that blood work at that time might have saved him. If we'd got him into the vet that previous Thursday, or if the Saturday vet had had any brains, we might have saved Henry-- maybe. Although this disease can be very hard to detect before it does major damage, it is treatable with an aggressive course of antibiotics.
This is unusual. Healthy kidneys are very resistant to bacterial infection. But it can happen. So if your cat is throwing up, take him to the vet right away. And it can't hurt to check his blood chemistry while you're at it (although even that might not have caught it).
I already knew that a UTI can result in blockage and death very quickly. I also know about the dangers of fever and dehydration and was watching Henry closely for signs. I did not know about acute renal failure from chronic infection. Where I come from, animals get sick and barf sometimes, and you don't call in to work and rush them off to the hospital every time it happens. I figured you watch them for a while, and if they get really bad, or don't improve, it's off to the vet. Well, you can bet your ass that this changed my mind.