My cat's creatinine dropped with early kidney disease. Is this normal?

His SDMA is normal which is a more reliable marker for kidney function. He may have been mildly dehydrated which can cause creatinine to elevate. Your vet could run a urinalysis to check his urine specific gravity and then recheck his BUN and Creatinine in 3 months to monitor for any increases.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Creatinine level of 3.3mg/dL does suggest CRF. If Patch was on iv fluids treatment recently (between these two blood tests), it is possible for CREA level to go down to normal. However, if Patch did not receive any iv fluids, I would suspect one of the reading was incorrect and should be repeated. High BUN suggest kidney disease as well, but it could also be due to dehydration, gastrointestinal bleed, recent feeding and more. Elevated TBIL is also a concern as it could be a sign of liver / gall bladder / bile duct disease. Less commonly, it is due to hemolytic anemia (in that case Patch would have evidence of anemia). Please, get in touch with your local vets as ideally, the blood test should be repeated and should include hematology.

I don’t think this shows renal disease. His creatine is normal with a slightly elevated BUN. To me this is more an indication of mild dehydration than kidney disease. He is slightly anemic also which is not uncommon in senior animals but may indicate a chronic medical problem. The eosinophils are slightly elevated which can be due to allergies or intestinal parasites. Basically for a thirteen year old cat there is nothing here that is overly concerning. Bloodwork is just a moment in time though so if you’re concerned I would repeat it again in a month or two so you can see if there is a trend indicating progression of a medical problem or kidney disease. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Beau.

The elevated creatinine on it's own does not indicate kidney disease. Remember, this blood was taken at one second in time, he may have recently eaten or been a bit dehydrated at the time which caused the CREA to be a bit elevated. You can not determine kidney disease with just this one test. If you are concerned this should be repeated when he is fasted and a urine test should be done at the same time. If you want to give him a kidney supplement that will help to support kidney function you can use this: https://worldtails.securevetsource.com/itemView/view/198944_HomeDelivery.pml?productId=132504

Every lab has different reference ranges, so according to the lab that your cats blood was run in, the BUN and CREA are considered to be mildly elevated. However, unless your cat has a low specific gravity (concentrating ability of the kidneys), we have to assume that the BUN and CREA levels are not indicating any kind of kidney failure. In other words, if the kidneys are concentrating normally, and the pet is asymptomatic, then the BUN and CREA levels should simply be rechecked at a later date or another more sensitive test called the SDMA test should be done to clarify what is really going on with your pets kidneys. So based on the information you have provided we cannot say if Frodo has true kidney disease, but if his urine test was negative for bacteria then no infection is present. Ask your vet about Frodo's specific gravity and if that was normal or not. If it was normal, then go forward with the SDMA test to confirm that the kidneys are ok. If you need further help regarding your pet Frodo's case, since this can be a bit complicated to explain on the forum, please feel free to request a private consultation with either myself or another expert here and we will be more than happy to assist you further. I hope that this helps and best wishes with your pet Frodo moving forward! Take care: )

It can be quite variable and depends a little on the stage of disease (which takes in to account creatinine value, any protein in the urine, and blood pressure), and how affected the cat is when it is detected. There are also other disease processes that can exacerbate kidney blood value elevation (creatinone) so these should be ruled out if not already (such as a kidney infection, high blood pressure). Some cats were early stage kidney disease can live years potentially. A diet change may be recommended to slow progression and if hydration is an issue an owner can learn how to give fluids at home. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This level of creatinine is still within relatively normal range (according to most diagnostic laboratories and analyzers). Such a small increase can be incidental, Mav may have had a recent meal, or have been less hydrated than he was at his previous appointment. It is unlikely that this is related to the protein content in his diet. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!