Silk the Cat, Update 4

Still Need Those Prayers!

Well, the news is good and not so good.

The good: She is still eating on her own. Good also that her BUN and creatinine levels are finally lowering [related to kidney disease or CRF (chronic renal failure)... she is only 5, so this may not be a permanent thing].

• BUN (blood urea nitrogen) BUN is a waste product excreted through the kidneys. BUN is more reflective of dietary impacts than creatinine. An increase in BUN can also be due to dehydration (a symptom of CRF, or chronic renal failure, and many other diseases and syndromes). (so lower levels are better!)
  
• Creatinine is a waste product excreted through the kidneys. It is indicative of overall declining kidney function (so lower levels are better!)
  

The origin of this may be pancreatitis (which often occurs when starvation sets in. This can begin after about 24 hours in some cats, later in others) which can then cause the onset of kidney failure. This can cause intestinal lesions or intestinal ulcers that bleed. She is being treated with antibiotics, is being given fluids (down from 2x/day to once every two days now which suggests her kidneys are functioning better along with dropping BUN and creatinine levels), and also is being given pepsids for her intestines. When cats don't feel well, they don't eat. That makes them more dehydrated and which makes them want to eat even less which then pushes them into starvation mode, which causes then an array of other things, as you can see above. A real Catch-22.

So, the bottom line is that she still has a long way to go after being treated, now, for 28 days. Silks future is still quite uncertain.

We would sure appreciate your continuing prayers for little Silk. She is really giving this a fight and we would sure like to back her up in every way possible.

Thanks, everyone.