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Question

I have recently lost three young oriental cats to kidney failure - one in December 2008, one in January 2009 and the other on Friday. The autopsy reports on the first two cases were inconclusive - and did not point to any known toxicity or pathology. Melamine was ruled out. All three cats came from the same breeder at the same time, but they are not closely related. I also have two Siamese from a different breeder, and they are fine. Any ideas as to the cause of this renal failure? All three were under 6 years of age. They are entirely indoor cats.

Submitted: 48 days and 20 hours ago via PetPlace.
Category: Cat
Value: $15
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

Type of Animal: Oriental shorthair cat

Accepted Answer

You may need to go back to the breeder of these cats and look at pedigrees in depth. Sometimes one ancestor passes along a specific gene that suddenly shows up down the generations. You could find that each of these cats, though seemingly not closely related, had the same ancestor(s) back a ways on both sides of their pedigrees. For an example I've seen descendents of a single litter bred out to other lines but down the generations someone uses those offspring for a litter not knowing that the cats way back all came from the same litter or a repeat breeding.

You might also want to make sure that the food that breeder fed the queens and kittens was not one with any melamine issues.

If you feed primarily dry it could be these cats just were not as good at drinking fluids as your siamese were. Cats being desert animals often don't drink much and when they eat dry food they may not have enough fluids to keep the body going right.

I'm sure you have been totally wracking your brain with all these dreadful losses but were there treats or toys these cats liked the siamese did not, did they sleep in areas not enjoyed by the siamese, did they chew house plants at all and so on. See if you can thing of anything that was different between the siamese and the orientals for daily habits etc.

If the orientals were more prone to dental disease the bacteria from that can impact the kidneys. I've been suspicous of shared water bowls possibly passing oral bacteria around too. Some cats are hit harder by that than others.

I hope this helps you and my deepest sympathies on your losses.

 

 

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Expert: NancyH
Pos. Feedback: 99.4 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/5/2009

Cat Health, Behavior, Care Expert

30+ years cat owner, rescue, breeding, study of behavior & health care

48 days and 19 hours ago.

Reply

Thank you for your response. Yes, at the time when this first became evident, the Siamese and the Orientals were segregated (Siamese upstairs, Orientals downstairs) as Logan was aggressive towards the Siamese. I thought this could possibly be a factor. Now that the Siamese are going downstairs as well I am having them checked for kidney function regularly, but so far they have been fine. It may have been a temporary exposure, and who knows when it started. We know that Logan had compromised kidney function for at leat 8 months before he showed any symptoms. I had him tested after the second cat died, and sure enough, his BUN and creatinine were high. That was in April, again in July. He didn't show any ill effects until Friday. I will also check out their pedigrees a bit further. There may have been some underlying susceptability that became activated due to stress. When the first two cats got sick I had had to go back to New Zealand unexpectedly for a couple of weeks, and when Logan got sick, I had been away for a week. This could have had an affect on them as they were all very "velcro" cats.

Posted by NancyH 48 days and 19 hours ago.

Answer

Stress is always a factor in health and that could contribute.

If any of the orientals had bad teeth and they didn't share water with the siamese then dental bacteria is a possibility.

It may be the orientals got some exposure to a toxin.

If you live where radon is a possibility in cellar areas (and downstairs is a cellar or partly below ground) this info may be useful

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/radionuc.html

48 days and 19 hours ago.

Reply

Logan had really really bad teeth. That would well be a causality there. Can you direct me to more literature on this relationship? Thank you again.

Accepted Answer

Dental infection is mentioned here as a top contributor to renal failure

http://www.pets911.com/health/vet-corner/chronic-renal-failure-in-cats/

more here

http://www.felinecrf.org/related_diseases.htm#dental_problems

My personal observation is that there appears to be potential for the dental bacteria to be spread pet to pet. I've seen several companies come out with a water additive to help reduce dental bacteria issues.

http://www.oxyfresh.com/pet/petoralhygiene.asp

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Expert: NancyH
Pos. Feedback: 99.4 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/5/2009

Cat Health, Behavior, Care Expert

30+ years cat owner, rescue, breeding, study of behavior & health care

48 days and 12 hours ago.

Reply

Hey NancyH - do you think the bacteria could be spred by the cats licking each other? They seemed to do that a lot.

Accepted Answer

Maybe if they wash mouths but bacteria usually likes moisture which is why I look closely at water dishes - you know that scum you can get on the bottom of a dish? - that is bacteira.

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Expert: NancyH
Pos. Feedback: 99.4 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/5/2009

Cat Health, Behavior, Care Expert

30+ years cat owner, rescue, breeding, study of behavior & health care

48 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

Oh - so the penny drops with a resounding clatter. I have two of those drinkwell fountains. They are supposed to filter out the bacteria but they don't, and the filters probably harbor them, allowing them to breed and pour off their toxins into the water. Out they go tomorrow.

Posted by NancyH 48 days and 8 hours ago.

Answer

You might just need to disinfect them. Or use an oxyfresh type product or something - they do work well to get cats to drink - such a dilemma!

I'll close the question after this reply to hopefully limit site emails. You can reply on it any time even so!

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