Tylan Urgently Needs Purrs and Prayers

 

I'm giving Tylan a hug good night before I leave him in good hands at the hospital.

As many of you know, Tylan has been really strugging since the beginning of December, 2024. At that time, his labs confirmed that he was having an acute bout of pancreatitis (he has chronic pancreatitis that flares every little bit). We also found out at that time that he had gone from stage 2 kidney disease (where he’d been stable for 3 years) to mid stage 3 kidney disease.

At the end of December, 2024, Tylan continued to struggle with his pancreatitis, and his labs showed that he had moved into late stage 3 kidney disease. Given that there were only 3 weeks between his two sets of labs, I was disturbed by the increase in his kidney values. But the veterinarians at his clinic didn’t seem too concerned about it. At that time, we decided to put him on subcutaneous fluids every other day and to get him through his acute bout of pancreatitis and start him on a renal diet once he felt better.

On December 30, 2024, Tylan was feeling so crummy that in lieu of acupuncture, his vet took blood work and an x-ray (to see if he was constipated as I hadn’t seen him poop lately). Tylan WAS, in fact, pretty constipated. Long story short, he ended up going back to the vet on January 2 to have an enema because the lactulose and miralax weren’t relieving the constipation.

Tylan had been eating less at the end of December as well. We all hoped that the constipation was the key – relieve the constipation and he might want to eat more.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

This past weekend, Tylan started acting a bit odd. Anyone who has ever been around us or talked to me on the phone or Zoom knows that Tylan is a bit of a chatter. His chatter usually means, “Feed me! I’m hungry!” But whenever I offered him food, he refused to eat it. I could tell he was pretty nauseous – all he wanted was water. He’d take one sniff of his food and walk away. Sometimes he’d humor me by taking a few bites before he walked away. He was eating kibble better than canned food, so I started giving him more kibble. It isn’t ideal, but he needs to eat.

His vocalizing increased tremendously over the weekend. He’d meow at random times. He seemed inconsolable. He didn’t want food. Sometimes pets would ease his anxiousness, sometimes they wouldn’t. He wasn’t letting me get more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a time.

We were back at his primary vet on Monday (Jan. 13) for his regular acupuncture appointment. She even noticed that he was fussier and needier than usual. She also noticed he was in a lot of discomfort. This wasn’t too surprising to me – if he goes more than 3 weeks without acupuncture, his arthritis bothers him, and it had been 5 weeks since his last acupuncture (since we skipped the time before for an exam, blood work, and an x-ray).

She told me to put him back on buprenorphine for his pain now that he isn’t constipated, so I did.

I had noticed that Tylan was urinating a LOT more than usual. I brought this to his vet’s attention, but she wasn’t too concerned. She said that’s what happens with kidney disease. That didn’t sit quite right with me, and in hindsight, I should have pushed the issue. Tylan is my third cat with CKD, and NOBODY has EVER urinated THIS MUCH! Not even Jewel who was in end stage renal failure.

I also told his vet that he is still nauseous, but she didn’t seem concerned about it. To be fair, she probably thought the two anti-nausea meds we have him on (cerenia and Zofran) were enough.

She switched his appetite stimulant from mirtazapine to cyproheptadine since the mirtaz seemed to make him edgy (he was pacing around and couldn’t seem to settle).

As the week progressed, Tylan ate less and less. It was clear that the bupe made him more comfortable, but he was still miserable. He had an appointment to see his primary vet next Tuesday, but Tylan was eating so little and he was so miserable that I couldn’t wait that long.

Tylan at the hospital.

I took him in to see another vet at his primary clinic yesterday (his primary vet only works Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays). So we saw someone who has never seen him before today.

She decided to do an x-ray to see if Tylan was constipated again, do in-house blood work, and give him subcutaneous fluids (he was a bit dehydrated).

So, they got the x-ray. He is NOT constipated, so we think he’s just not pooping because he isn’t eating enough.

His blood work came back and that’s where my world blew up.

On December 31, his labs showed the following:
Creatinine: 3.8
BUN: 49
Phosphorus: 5.8
Platelets: 313
Chloride: 117
Calcium: 10.1

Yesterday (Jan 16), his results were as follows:

Creatinine: 9
BUN: 109
Phosphorus: 9.8
Platelets: 92
Chloride: 109
Calcium: <1.0

The vet recommended that Tylan be admitted to a hospital for aggressive fluid therapy and medications.

So, I immediately got a Lyft to VRCC and had Tylan admitted. Nearly all of my cats have seen specialists or been to the ER at VRCC so I know they provide quality care.

The vet did a cursory exam and came out to talk to me. I asked him point blank if he thinks they can actually help Tylan or if it’s time to let him go. He told me he believes Tylan has a chance and it’s worth trying to treat him but to also mentally prepare for having to let him go.

After paying an exorbitant deposit, they took me back to see my baby. I gave him a hug and told him how much I love him, that they’ll take good care of him, that I’ll visit him tomorrow, and that he’ll be home before he knows it (God, I hope I’m right about that last one). I cried over him, and all he did was purr and hug me. He is such a sweet boy.

I talked to the vet caring for him last night.

He said Tylan’s creatinine is now 12.1 and BUN is 140. His calcium has come up, though.

He also said they took x-rays of Tylan’s back legs (which have been swollen for about 2 weeks now). He said the radiologist says there’s fluid in his ankle joints – much more in the right than in the left. They don’t know the cause of this yet.

The vet said he MAY have a system-wide infection. This would make sense. A vet at his primary clinic suggested we start antibiotics after his enema because she was afraid he might have a kidney infection, which would explain his increased kidney values. He just finished his round of Zeniquin, and clearly that didn’t help.

So, they are trying him on an IV antibiotic. If it doesn’t help, the vet said they may try a different one. They also collected urine and sent it off to culture.

Tylan will have an abdominal ultrasound tomorrow to look at his pancreas and kidneys. I can only prepare myself for tough news there – he has a lot of issues with both organs.

Because Tylan isn’t eating much at all, they may need to give him a feeding tube. But due to the horrid state of his kidneys, putting him under anesthesia is risky. The vet also talked about taking a sample of the fluid in his ankle joints, but he said we likely won’t go that route due to the risk of anesthesia. He says we will likely guess at the cause of the ankle issue and trial treat.

They anticipate Tylan needing to be hospitalized for at least 2-4 days, but it may be longer.

The HOPE is that the fluids and medications will help his kidney values come down some. The vet who is caring for him said we likely won’t get him back down to 3.8. So he’ll likely be in end stage CKD if/when he gets better. They are trying to pinpoint the underlying cause of all of this. This has really happened very fast, and it scares me that I have never heard of a cat with as high kidney values as Tylan has right now.

We should know in 24-48 hours if his kidneys are failing due to kidney disease or not. Obviously, if his kidneys have crapped out due to CKD, there’s nothing we can do.

Best case scenario – he has an infection that can be treated. Worst case scenario – his kidneys have crapped out in a hurry and we will have to let him go.

I will not allow him to suffer. If it looks like kidney disease is responsible, I will bring him home and get an in-home euthanasia done. Yes, I know it’s MUCH more expensive than having it done at the vet. But he deserves to have a peaceful transition if at all possible. He has been through far too much in his short life not to give him that gift.

Any purrs, prayers, healing thoughts, reiki, healing energy……anything positive or healing you want to send Tylan’s way is much appreciated. I’m still reeling from all this. It has happened so, so fast. I feel so lost without him here; taking care of him is practically a full-time job (and I don’t mind – he’s totally worth it). I just want him to be okay, to be happy, to be able to have more time for me (and Giovanni) to love him.