Help Finn Overcome Kidney Failure

Hi, this is Finn. He has shared a home with Jake, Anna, his doggie brother(not by choice) Max, and his mother who we, unoriginally, just call Mama's.

Finn has been a young healthy cat since he was born 4 years ago. No health concerns beyond the fact he has always been a little chunkier. He is primarily an indoor cat. With the occasional visit in the backyard where he likes to sunbathe.

Unfortunately, recently (on Anna's birthday none-the-less) we started noticing changes in his behavior, more tired, less social. Day 2 it continued, only this time he ate his breakfast but wouldn't eat dinner;this was also the day we made his vet appointment, which earliest availability would be on Day 4 of our timeline. (Important to note that the vet told us if he started having diarrhea or blood in his urine/feces to take him to an emergency vet immediately. Which thankfully he never did) Day 3, he was refusing water only licking his lips when we wet his cheeks, refusing food and was vomiting bile every 5 hours. Day 4, his vet appointment first thing in the morning drop off. Vet called us within 40 minutes and told us we need to come back to the clinic asap and she would talk to us in person about whats going on with Finn. We start thinking the worst of the worst. We were told his bloodwork showed he has high creatine, BUN, and phosphate. All indicating he is in acute kidney failure. On the positive side the vet told us she is very hopeful for his recovery stating that "you wouldn't even be able to tell by looking at him that his kidneys were begining to fail." He's young, he has both of his kidneys the chances of him being able to retain kidney function looked promising but there was no way of officially knowing the amount of damage done until he got better which would mean we put him on diauralysis stat. Doing so would include hospitalizing him for 3 days 24 hours, putting him on a catheter, as well as IV fluids,ultrsound,xrays. And most importantly so, trying to figure out why or how this once healthy cat was finding himself closer to kidney failure .

So how did this happen? This is what we know. On Anna's birthday she recieved a Hypoestes phyllostachya, or more commonly known as a polka dot plant. Because we try our best to be the most responsible pet parents we can be, before even taking it home, obvious research needed to be done, "was this toxic to dogs or cats?" considering we have both.

Look it up yourself and you'll find that no, polka dot plants are not toxic to dogs or cats but may cause an upset stomach if ingested. Finn is very food motivated and curious but has never really shown interest in house plants. We did find him munching on our new polka dot plant soon after we got home though. Obviously we moved it to a place where he wouldn't reach it anymore. We called and did confirm will animal poison control hotline that this plant was a polka dot plant and they did confirm with us that it is not toxic enough to cause kidney failure. We haven't been able to trace him getting into anything else toxic. The only toxic thing we have in our home would be ibuprofen but we keep it in a cabinet way out of reach and it did not show that it had been tampered with or even opened in a few weeks.

The vet is not ruling out the polka dot plant because of the timing of everything. Especially since 4 weeks earlier on 1/19 Finn had his yearly check up at the vet. Where he got his yearly bloodwork done, and nothing showed out of normal. The vet also stated that it could be lymphoma. Possibly a urinary blockage. I know she stated other things but I forget off the top of my head of all the possibilities of kidney failure in cats.

Right now, it is Saturday 2/22, still in the 4th day and Finn is in the hospital. We are asking for 5,800.00 to help pay for his hospital stay, x-rays, the diauralysis for the 3 days, an ultrasound(which he can't even get until monday because the ultrasound team aren't there on the weekends) , multiple bloodwork panels getting drawn to see if his creatine, BUN, and phosphate are improving, additional tests that I dont recall the names of, but to figure out the cause of his kidneys failing. As well as the base vet fees.

Not going to lie, we've been awake for the last 30 hours straight to make sure to note if anything changed or new symptoms emerged, we both feel very loopy. I apologize for any misspellings or for using layman's terminalogy, or just any confusion. If anyone has any questions we are more than happy to answer. My head is killing me. My sinuses are sore from sobbing non stop after talking to the vet, just because I've always heard kidney failure is one of the top causes of death in cats, but even through the tears of this knowledge we're trying to stay as positive as possible for Finn.

One of the most sweetest and most loving cats we've ever have the honoring of loving! A perfect model for all of our pictures. Mischievous and kind! Playful and so so cuddly ! Calm but loud! Loud enough to feature him in one of our bands songs, when we accidentally caught him meowing while we were recording and of course we're going to keep it in the song?

Not only is he our little artist but he is our first cat. The love of our lives. We know anyone who has a pet can relate to that sentiment so we know that doesn’t necessarily make us special . But we will do anything to keep our sweet boy alive, even if it means begging strangers on the internet and to those whose lives Finn has touched in anyway.

Any donations are beyond appreciated!

Any advice is appreciated!

Any love or prayers for Finn are even appreciated!

We will do anything to get our sweet boy home! We will continue to post updates as they come.

Thank you for your time and donations!

-Jake and Anna