My wife and I received our kittens from Val back in 2009, and would be thrilled with them for the next five years. These cats truly are low allergen and my mother in law, who is severely allergic would tolerate them without difficulty. They are fun, full of energy, smart, each having a unique personality. However, there is a hereditary time-bomb lurking.
Two years ago we returned home to find Sasha very sick, hiding, breathing rapidly, with vomit everywhere. We made some very difficult decisions very quickly that managed to get him the help that he needed to stay alive. The problem was that he was producing kidney stones. I learned a great deal about the situation from the many vet visits that would follow. The stones were obstructing his ureters, which connect the kidneys to the bladder, and creating back pressure on the kidneys. Unfortunately, if the kidneys are not allowed to drain properly, the back pressure causes progressive and irreversible tissue damage inside the kidney. It simultaneously prevents the elimination of the waste products that the kidneys produce, specifically creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). These waste products accumulate in the blood, causing nausea, vomiting, and neurological issues. We rushed him to urgent care, where they were able to diagnose him and refer us to a specialist. Since he was presenting with symptoms, both kidneys were completely blocked, which was confirmed via imaging. The vet informed us that one kidney likely backed up some time ago and was basically dead, with the remaining good kidney doing all the work until it too was recently blocked. He underwent a successful surgery to place two stents, one in each ureter, to create a newly unobstructed path. After being discharged from the ICU, we spent the next several months helping him recuperate, requiring feeding him 4-6 times a day, via a syringe and feeding tube, cleaning his litter 20x a day, and keeping him separated from his sister. Apparently a cat returning from the hospital smelling like antiseptic and surgery is not going to be familiar, regardless of the previous 5 years together. I'd like to say that Sasha bounced back 100%, but he will never be the same. He has lost a significant amount of kidney function which will forever impair his quality of life. His personality is still there, and he is happy to be around, but his energy level is chronically low and struggles to maintain his weight. He is currently on a daily cocktail of pills to manage his symptoms. This chapter isn't about Sasha though, it's about his sister (littermate), Yoshimi. After the ordeal with Sasha, considering the emotional and financial toll, we've been left with doubts if we'd made the right decision. Sure, he's happy to be alive, but his quality of life will never be the same and it came at a great expense
By contrast, Yoshimi has always been a pinnacle of health, with a gregarious personality, full of energy, and demanding attention. When she wasn't asleep, she would insist on playing tag, or pull all of her toys out of her toy bin, or generally reassure us of how amazing she was at being a cat, which no one will dispute. When she would simmer down, she'd sit on my lap demanding attention, purring up a storm, but only on her terms. She never liked being held, ever. So it was very odd when her behavior changed overnight, she withdrew, stopped eating, stopped drinking, and started puking. I took her to the vet the next day thinking maybe she just caught a bug and some antibiotics or whatever would get her back on track. Even as the vet had difficulty and was unable to get a urine sample, I didn't think much of it since Yohsimi is our little diva. It was on the next day, after being provided with adequate fluids, and still not being able to produce any urine that the horrifying truth started to set in. The bloodwork came back confirming her BUN and creatinine were bad, very bad. The vet was optimistic about a treatment plan which was great because the situation felt a little too familiar. He called me less than an hour later indicating that the treatment plan wasn't going to work because Yoshimi wasn't producing any urine, and he wasn't confident that she would make it through the night. She already had a catheter placed in her left arm, which he left in to provide us further options, and I brought her home. Weighing the options of emergency medical intervention, which likely wouldn't work given the damage to her kidneys, her future quality of life which would surely be impaired, the emotional and financial expense that we currently can't afford, and her imminent decline, we decided to have her put to sleep in our home that night. At least she already had that catheter in place. She was seven years old. She was coincidentally on the same prescription k/d diet as Sasha, since they shared food, and yet it didn't make any difference. It would have been nice to know upfront from the breeder regarding these hereditary issues. read more
