Cleo's check-up (there is proteinuria)

Just as I was about to catch Cleo to put her into the carrier for this afternoon’s check-up, she went to the garden to urinate. Wow! I couldn’t believe my luck! So I quickly dashed into the room, got the urine bottle and managed to collect the tail end of the urine, just in the nick of time.

Then, off we went to the vet’s.

There’s the precious urine! The stars must be aligned OR Cleo understood what I needed. Collecting her urine is so much better than the vet sticking a needle in to extract some. If Cleo doesn’t keep still and moves during the procedure, it could lacerate the bladder. Hence, the transdermal Gabapentin, which I applied an hour before the trip.

A car tip, Cleo. Hang tight!

The urinalysis was done and sadly, there is proteinuria already. This means there is glomerular damage in the kidneys (the holes in the kidney filters are bigger), so protein leaks into the urine. This is not surprising since Cleo has had CKD for more than four years now, so it is expected. To address the proteinuria, the vet prescribed Semintra. We will start on this today itself.

How Semintra works: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/overview/semintra-epar-summary-public_en.pdf

Meanwhile, I still need to get Astro’s protein supplement. There is currently no stock of it.

Cleo’s urine SG (specific gravity) is 1.010, which is also expected. Her kidneys aren’t concentrating urine well anymore. That is why the colour of her urine is faintly straw and almost colourless. But there is also infection present in her urine which is good.

An ultrasound was done to check Cleo’s kidneys. Again, as expected, there is structural loss in both kidneys, more on the right side. The kidneys have shrunk a bit too. The vet said there may be some stones in the kidneys too. But her gallbladder and bladder are all normal.

With the urinalysis and ultrasound, it is confirmed that Cleo is at Stage 3 of CKD.

The next visit is in one month’s time, together with Indy.

We went home armed with the Semintra. And I’ve already given it to her but it was a real challenge as it’s a liquid and I had to give it to her using a syringe. The vet says it is palatable, but Cleo is a highly suspicious cat, so there’s no way she will lick it up. There was resistance from her as she absolutely hates having her mouth opened, but I managed to give it to her from the side of her mouth. She opened her mouth to yell, so I pumped it in. In hindsight, I really would have to find a less stressful way of pumping the Semintra into her mouth. Will think of something.

One day at a time, Cleo. We are in this together. Always.