Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 7/11/2005

Question
The other two cat veterinarians are maxed out, so I'll give you a try. I'll understand if you don't want to answer it, or are unable to.

Our cat Jack, a 3-year-old European shorthair (from Austria), had bloodwork recently at the vet while trying to donate blood. They found an irregularity: mildly elevated levels of the following kidney enzymes: creatine (should be 1.7, was 1.9), and B.U.N. (should be 36, was 39).

The vet recommended repeated bloodwork in 4-6 weeks, so we made another appointment for August 7. They said there was a possibility of kidney disease--i.e., progressive loss of kidney function.

Since nobody I know knows anything about this, I went to allexperts.com, where I once was an expert on travel to Ecuador. If you can spare the time and energy, please let me know your take on the situation, or perhaps a website to read more about it.

Thanks much,

Nathan

Answer
There is an old addage in medicine "Never make a diagnosis from one test."  This applies here.  Those values are not high enough to call it kidney disease.  The cat may have been a little dehydrated to cause those values. Another blood panel including a serum phosphorous will help to see if there is really any problem or not. Also, a urinalysis will tell if there is actually kidney disease because the urine will not concentrate when the kidney is damaged.