High creatinine in cats is usually diagnosed when our cat already has symptoms of more or less severe kidney disease because it is not reabsorbed after its filtration in the kidney, as well as other problems such as perfusion disorders of the kidney due to impaired blood flow or inadequate elimination due to obstruction of urine flow. Different causes can cause your cat's creatinine to increase, the only one that is not pathological, a high muscle mass because it is a product of muscle degradation, the rest of the causes require early diagnosis and veterinary treatment.
If you want to know the causes of high creatinine in cats, its symptoms and causes, in addition to diagnosis and treatment, continue reading this article of our site.
What is high creatinine?
Creatinine is a compound formed from the breakdown of creatine, which is a very important nutrientin the skeletal muscle , being a waste product created in their normal metabolism produced at a constant rate, always depending on the muscle mass of the feline.
That is, the more skeletal muscle mass a cat has, the higher its normal creatinine concentration is going to be. Creatinine is also filtered in the renal glomerulus but cannot be reabsorbed afterwards, so it is secreted directly into the urine.
If you wonder what is the normal value of creatinine in cats, say that it is set between 0.6 and 2.4 mg/dland one of the most important causes of high creatinine is acute kidney failure in cats, but below we list the causes of high creatinine in cats.
Discover more about kidney failure in cats, its symptoms, causes and treatments in this other post that we suggest.
Causes of high creatinine in cats
A high creatinine in a cat's blood can indicate two things:
- That the cat is very muscular: since the metabolism of his muscles releases a lot of creatinine.
- That the cat has a glomerular filtration problem: that is, it is suffering from kidney failure or disease and that creatinine it is not filtered and is eliminated, leaving this toxin in the blood of our little feline, with the risks that it entails at the level of its he alth.
High creatinine in kidney disease is often seen associated with increased urea, which is a small molecule produced in the final stage of protein metabolism in the urea cycle produced in the liver and also filtered by the kidney. Whether or not both are increased, when one of them is already increased, the cat is said to have azotemia.
Types of increased creatinine in cats
Azotemia or increased creatinine can be of three types:
- Increased prerenal creatinine: the reduction in glomerular filtration and the consequent increase in creatinine occurs when renal perfusion decreases due to alteration of its blood flow due to different causes such as dehydration, altered cardiac output, hypovolemia or significant vasodilation. Creatinine in this case increases at a slower rate than urea, since it is not subsequently reabsorbed.
- Increased renal creatinine: occurs when damage to the kidney caused by an alteration, damage or disease of the kidney produces a loss of its function and consequently, of its filtration rate, increasing creatinine. The damage in this case can be acute after poisoning, hypophosphatemia, hypercalcemia, infarction, thrombosis, infection, polycythemia, pyelonephritis or glomerulonephritis or chronic when the rate is progressively reduced due to a chronic cause of acute kidney disease, urinary tract infections, after use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hypertension or hypovolemia.
- Increased post-renal creatinine: in this case the increase in creatinine is not due to a deficient glomerular filtration rate but to creatinine cannot leave the cat's body because the flow of urine is blocked for various reasons such as obstruction of the urethra or ureters, ligation of the ureter, leaks or ruptures of the urinary bladder. Do not hesitate to take a look at this other article on Urinary problems in cats.
We leave you this other post about Azotemia in cats, the types, symptoms and treatment so you can learn more about the subject.
Symptoms of High Creatinine in Cats
The increase in creatinine in the cat may not produce symptoms if it is due to the high musculature of the feline or, however, cause symptoms that may be very striking or serious.
For example, if creatinine is increased secondary to a renal perfusion disorder it is common for cats to have symptoms resulting from reduced blood flow such as the following:
- Anemia.
- Low hematocrit.
- Weak pulse.
- Dry and pale mucous membranes.
- Increased skinfold due to dehydration.
- Lowering blood pressure.
- Alterations in heart rate and breaths per minute.
In the case of damage to the glomerular filtration due to kidney disease signs of kidney disease may appear such as:
- Oliguria (reduced urine volume) or anuria (not urinating) in acute cases.
- Polyuria (increased urine volume) and polydipsia (increased thirst) in chronic cases.
- Oral ulcers.
- Bad breath.
- Kidneys enlarged in acute disease or reduced in size in chronic disease.
- Arrhythmias.
- Anorexia and weight loss.
- Vomiting.
When creatinine increases as it cannot be eliminated signs of feline lower urinary tract disease occur, as some of these diseases it is made up of the cause, such as the following:
- Strangury (painful urination).
- Dysuria (painful urination).
- Hematuria (blood in urine).
- Frequency (urination in small amounts several times a day).
- Lick the urogenital area.
- Hyperkalemia (increased potassium).
- Urinates outside the litter box.
Diagnosis of high creatinine in cats
The diagnosis of increased creatinine in cats is made by a hematology or blood test after the extraction of a sample and the checking the muscular state of the cat by means of a physical examination.
If you notice that the cat is not particularly muscular to see the correlation with the increase in creatinine, a prerenal, renal or postrenal cause may be considered after a thorough history taking with the caretaker asking about clinical signs and previous diseases among many other questions that your veterinarian will ask you in order to determine the cause of this increase in creatinine in your cat.
For example, if you suspect that the cause is dehydration, you will assess your degree of hydration with tests such as the skinfold, the assessment of whether or not the eyeball has collapsed or the dryness of the mucous membranes, among other things, as well as an analytical and physical investigation in search of causes that explain a reduction in kidney perfusion.
You should also perform a urinalysis or urinalysis to assess possible changes and measure urine density, which may serve as a guide to your veterinarian to determine the location of the azotemia.
It should be noted that for the blood test to show high creatinine there must have been 75% damage to the kidney, so it is a late indicator of kidney disease unlike SDMA, a parameter that increases with only 25% damage and is not influenced by the amount of muscle in your cat, being able to act much sooner against this disease so common in cats over 7 years old
The ultrasound will make it possible to assess kidney size and observe possible alterations or injuries, as well as being able to find out any cause of feline urinary tract disease or a bladder leak or rupture that is blocking the flow of urine and causing creatinine to rise.
Treatment of high creatinine in cats
How to lower high creatinine in cats? At this point in the article you may be wondering what treatments exist. Well, to reduce creatinine, you must first try to resolve the cause that is producing it or treat the kidney disease that is causing it.
- In cases of increased creatinine due to impaired renal flow: the cat should be rehydrated by fluid therapy or transfusions in some cases.
- If the cat has treatable kidney disease: the problem must be addressed specifically, as well as any other associated disease and support the kidney with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to reduce protein excretion in the urine, treat hypertension using drugs such as amlodipine, reduce hyperphosphatemia with renal feed, and if necessary use a chelator phosphorus, use appetite stimulants such as mirtazapine and antiemetics in case of vomiting. If there is infection, the specific antibiotics established by the antibiogram should be used.
- In case of feline obstructive lower urinary tract disease: the feline should be unblocked and in case there are stones that the diet can be removed such as struvite, a urinary diet should be used. In cases where the stones are calcium oxalate, the only solution is surgery, as well as in cases of bladder rupture.
