The vet just called. Creamsicle is perkier than yesterday, but… Severe kidney injury. The good news is that she’s young (this is something seen in older cats) and she doesn’t have a couple of the usual symptoms. Heart and lungs are strong. The bad news is that her blood work came back ‘horrible’. We’re going to go in at 2:00 to pick her up. She’ll have to be an indoor cat, and we’ll have to give her subcutaneous fluids and feed her with a syringe until she recovers. If she recovers. 
Thinking positive thoughts.
I’m so sorry. However, my friends has had cats with kidney problems and they lived long lives. Good luck to you and Creamsicle.
Oh no. I’m sorry to hear that. The fluids should help a lot. Is the liquid food just to get her nutrition or is there another reason?
The liquid food is for while she recovers.
I’m at a loss as to how this happened so suddenly. Wednesday, or perhaps even Friday morning (but I think Wednesday), she was very frisky, running around the back yard and climbing up trees. By Friday afternoon/evening, she was lethargic.
Kidney injury? Could have been trauma from a fall or something else. No other obvious signs of injury?
I say ‘injury’ because it came on too suddenly for me to call it ‘disease’. ‘Kidney failure’ might fit, because that’s what appears to have happened, but in my mind ‘kidney failure’ is caused by ‘kidney disease’.
No signs of trauma.
[del]Any speculation on whether the kidney thing was trauma vs. disease/toxicity?[/del] And just as a data point, did Creamsicle smell off? Like kinda sour?
My fuzzbeast spent a couple days in the hospital last month because he was way lethargic and ragdolly (he’s usually pretty high strung). All manner of tests and worry for a diagnosis of “fever of unknown origin.” Vet sent him home and told me: Never mind your cat is acting like he just chugged a bottle of Prestone, he’s fine. Just take him home and ignore him for a few days and he’ll be alright. And he is. Just when you think you know how the little monsters work they do something weird like come down with general malaise, then they get bored of that and go back to terrorizing the dogs.
There are two kinds of kidney failure in cats (and maybe humans, but my experience is with cats so I’m not making any human claims). Chronic kidney failure is usually seen in older cats and is when the kidneys gradually lose their ability to function. Acute kidney failure comes on suddenly and the cat becomes very sick. Usually, it happens when the kitty has eaten something they shouldn’t. “Injury” could mean physical trauma or ingesting something that injures the kidneys. It sounds to me like Creamsicle has the acute form, and with the supportive care you’re giving, I bet she recovers fairly quickly. Good luck!
It will be good for Creamsickle to be home with Tonga, you, and Mrs. LA. Please keep us posted, I’m hoping for a full recovery.
Our cat had the “fever of unknown origin” a while back and after spending about $1000 she is fine. Still don’t know what was wrong. Good Luck.
I will keep up the prayer for Creamsicle when I mention my own pets Mauser and Atilla. I really hope the kitty recovers.
Two of my cats were diagnosed with kidney disease about a year ago. One died last month at the age of 20.5 and the other, same age, is still alive. I was told the life expectancy is 2 weeks to 3 months but they made it much longer with veterinary kidney-health food, a water fountain and by doubling the dosage of their meds over the prescribed amount. I realize that the latter does carry a risk but likely not as much as kidney disease itself as shown by the fact that one made it a year and the other is still alive while being the equivalent of 98 years old. I hope she makes it.
Sending kitty healing thoughts and prayers Creamsicle’s way.
We just picked her up. She’s lying on the floor looking lethargic. We have a bag of fluid, some tubing, and some 18 ga needles to keep her hydrated, and a little syringe for feeding her.
The vet gives her about a 45% chance of recovering.
Meds? My currently living cat also got lethargic quickly until he was given meds then he quickly got better.
No meds (I asked). The vet said that the best thing to do is to give her the sub-q fluids, a familiar, safe environment, and love.
Mrs. L.A. is an RN, so I think she will be handling the fluids.
There is a vet school in Washington, and I think there is a campus in Vancouver.* If she’s not recovering, you might consider asking them to take a look at her.
*The brochure on their website mentions the location, but it’s hard to get specifics about what is there. Sometimes website designers suck.
That’s on the other end of the state.
She’s not looking perky now. She looks worse. Mrs. L.A. said, ‘I agree with Chris. I don’t think she’s going to make it.’ We’ll give her fluids, and syringe some food into her mouth. That’s all we can do.