Sorry this might be abit garbled and long but the longer i think on it, the worse it gets!
in the continuing saga of Neko, hes been managing very well on metacam for a year after dislocating both kneecaps last easter but ive moved over an hours drive south and so ive had to change vets. because of his history i wanted him on the records and seen by the vets while he was in good health, which is fortunate as the vets were horrified at a 3year old cat on metacam and needed to see his previous records and see him twice before talking to me about his continuing treatment. clearly i come across as a crazy owner. i dont know where they think i was getting metacam from but i think they thought id put him on it rather than the previous vet??
so after 2 vet consultations and records transferred, The new vet thinks surgery is the best option. Mmy previous vet didnt agree when i asked as she didnt believe neko would be with us long enough. she was dismissive of surgery as an option at all. The new Vet thinks neko is in good health and cant see any reason that he wouldnt have a standard lifespan. which is very good news and we were looking into surgical options (didnt want to rush into anything) but in the meantime Neko had a routine blood test in april ( on metacam for a year, i want to keep an eye on his kidney function) and results came back high on protein so vet requested a urine test, that was also high so urine infection diagnosed. retest after antibiotics showed no change so vet took sterile samples to rule out diabeties or contamination. the end result is neko has a condition called phankony syndrome( pronouced like that, might not be correct spelling) basically his kidney tubules dont work as they should and leak glucose into the urine. its rare in dogs and almost unheard of in cats apparently (which is sods law for neko) generally it just means theyre more prone to urine infections but the vet has contacted a specialist that thinks as his kidneys arent functioning perfectly, metacam is an unneccesary risk long term(although they dont know). Neko is on a low dose anyway and weve reduced it to every other day which seems to be sufficient with seraquin daily.
the Vet wants neko to be referred to a specialist for possible scans of his kidneys and for surgery on his kneecaps (so no metacam neccesary) We are just in the pre-authorisation process to check his insurance will cover it. the vet said that luxating patella are not linked to Nekos curved spine and actually said that his spine may not be medically curved and cannot be confirmed until x-rayed. only Neko! his hayfever is better in leicester and he very mobile- hes even managed to get up on the kitchen sides so mixed news for Neko. im glad that if there is a potential danger, its much better to have caught it early enough to act on it but its so much information and one thing after another with Neko.
Has anyone heard of this before- Phankony syndrome( leaky kidney syndrome) in dogs or cats or tbh any experience of kidneys that are functioning but not perfectly. internet searches jut bring back to PKD and CRF which isnt on the cards (yet).
Until recently neko was on a diet of Bozita wet and the odd bit of applaws dry. zooplus delivery issues mean im looking into alternative supplier/delivery so hes been on classic cat tins and the odd bit of applaws dry.
are there any other good high protein ( reasonable cost) wet foods? ive read in passing that high protein, low cereal diets are good for kidney?