Feline kidney disease
 

My sweet 15 yr old kitty, Picabo, has been having kidney problems for about a year now. We just had shots and a check-up, and she's lost weight despite the fact that I leave food out for her all the time. She doesn't wash herself much, and sleeps all the time. Now she's begging for food but vomits up almost everything we've given her.

The vet says there are several treatment options, ranging from least agressive of sub-Q fluids on up through hospitalization and IVs. She would probably require oral meds for the rest of her life, and definitely sub-Q fluids about every other day, although I could do the fluid injections at home.

Has anyone had experience with a cat with kidney disease? If I had all the money (and time and energy) in the world, there would be no question - I would have her treated as necessary. But here in the real world, what am I supposed to do? I've cried and cried as I try to work out the best options for all involved. I swore when I took our golden retriever to be put down that I wasn't going to be the one to do it next time! I'm still traumatized, 7 yrs later, after having to put my horse down.

Say I start her on the sub-Q fluids and it helps. She might live a few more months, or a year, and she would be more comfortable. But I would have to stick a needle in her every other day (you know how cats just LOVE that) and I have to consider the cost of the solution and supplies. Plus, the fluid will only solve some of her problems. In order to treat all her ills she would need several other meds as well. ($$) And who would I be doing it for, me or her? Am I just being selfish to try to keep her here, or is it more selfish not to?

I'm sorry if I'm a little incoherent. I'm really upset about this right now. Any advice would be much appreciated.

:hug: I don't envy you right now.....what a hard decision to have to make.

I'd ask the vet exactly what the sub-Q fluids would do for her and if she would be in any pain. That would be my main concern. I totally understand the desire to keep a pet with you as long as possible......but if their existence isn't pleasant for them it's not fair to them. They depend on us for these sort of decisions and you're a wonderful pet-Mom to take everything into consideration. I wish everyone did.

I think what would make the decision easier for me to make would be knowing that I was sparing them months or years of pain and medical treatment that wouldn't really enhance their quality of life.....only prolong it so I could have them with me for a longer time.

You and Picabo are in my prayers. :hug:

The sub Q fluids will keep her hydrated, that's a good thing. Will it cure her? No. It will make her more comfortable. I did sub Q on all my cats that have passed. It is the least expensive way to keep them home and let them live a little longer. I also fed them when they wouldn't eat. We used prescription food I fed through a syringe. NOW, that is a nightmare at times because cats really hate that. None of my cats hated the sub Q fluids because it was virtually painless to them.

You have to do what's good for you. If your cat is still eating, maybe try the softer cat food and only give a little bit at a time to see how she holds it down. More than likely she's vomiting from dehydration as well as kidney failure. Is she happy? Is she still purring? I hate to say it but they will do that until the end. You know her better than we do. I could tell when it was time with all my past fur babies. :hug:

It's a tough call and you have to look at what you can afford and the time you have to do such a venture. One of my cats never recovered and sub Q was only getting him by. As soon as I stopped he went back down. The vet suspected cancer so we put him to sleep. The other two lived several years and had some good and bad times. No one knows the right answer in this type of situation. Go with your gut. :hug:

point one...... dont buy the fluids from your vets office. most vets run the standard mark up and a simple 100ml bag of LRS fluids can run upward of 50$. granted your probably only going to give about 100 - 200mls at a time,that can add up quick. see if you can go through MEDVET (shopmedvet.com)the exact same bag is 2$. the lines are 75cents.you may have to get the needles from your vet though. point two, ask about putting your cat on either royal canan S/O or hills science K/D both are for kidney health.
but thats the easy part. the hard part is deciding when you cat has reached a quality of life issue

That is really tough. My feelings are with you and your kitty.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but my son brought this
to my attention:

Feline vaccinations linked to kidney failure/disease:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...=show&item=003

We only get rabies for our cats. I don't trust feline vaccines anymore.
Our middle cat who is 15 had a severe reaction to the rabies in Spring 2008 and almost died. This was her second reaction and previously we had the vet give Benadryl before the vaccine. Now she is blacklisted from ALL. I passed on rabies for Sheba who is almost 22 now. The only one we get the rabies for is Oreo who is 8 and outside alot.

If you Google feline vaccinations there are more horrifying articles on vaccination sarcoma...as well. I think there is very little regulation/control on pet vaccines...worse than for humans!

hello Ms Arkie am sorry to hear of your trouble, I had one who passed from it, we tried the treatment that was available back then ( an injection) and I can say if the hair gets a matty and stiff feeling, you may want to think this through, thats not a good sign with the feline illness, I can not say for fact what treatments are out there now perhaps someone more recently has had this experience with their cat:hug: again sorry about the kittys troubles

Both of my cats eat Royal Canin Urinary SO and love it. I started buying it when Tigger had a kidney infection and they discovered crystals in his kidneys. Since being on the food he hasn't had a problem. It's not cheap.....$20 for a 5 lb. bag but it lasts a long time.

We've had Picabo on the Hill K/D for over a year. She doesn't like it much. We even bought some of the soft canned kind. She ate that for a while, but not anymore. We've given her tuna fish and canned chicken (human food) the last couple of days, and she eats it right up, but an hour or two later ---- hack, hack, hack, HACK, GAGGG! She still looks bright-eyed and comes and hops on my lap looking for love after the kids go to bed, but she's so thin.

I'm afraid I won't be a very reliable caretaker as far as the fluids are concerned. Right now my son has strep and I can't even remember to give him his antibiotic. I forget to give myself shots. I'm very bad about cleaning the poor kitties' litterbox anymore. I know what I WANT to do, I just don't know if I would be able to do it. I hate trying to play God!

Have you tried baby food? I have a friend who has an older cat and she has resorted to feeding him baby food chicken. He throws up alot, too, but she said that this seems to stay down most of the time. You might want to ask your vet about it before doing it....but it's just a thought.

Do what's in your heart. If you think it may be too much on you it may be, in the long run, best to go ahead and let her go. I feel for you. I know how hard this is. :hug:

I'm sorry that you and your cat are going through this. I feel your pain and my heart just aches for you. :Sob:

I lost my two last cats to kidney disease. The first passed at home, the second we took to the vet because I couldn't let him go through what the other cat had.

I wish I could say something nice to help you through this, but unfortunately I don't have the words you want to hear. I'm so sorry. :hug:

If you feel you need more input msarkie, we do have a pet forum at :
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum62.html

Praying you get the help you need to make the decision you must. :hug:

I would try giving the food in small portions. Many cats gag and
throw up when they eat too fast or too much. The hairball problem is everpresent with them. So with a sick kitty it would be hard to separate out that effect.

For the short term human foods are okay, but they don't have taurine in them which cats have to have. If you choose baby food or tuna and feed for any length of time you'll need to add taurine to it. (ask the vet for doses). This is cheap and you can buy it in health food stores.

It is really tough choosing when to put a pet to sleep. We've done it 3 times and it never gets easier. :hug:

Try giving smaller portions of food. It may stay down better.
Mix in alot of water with it too.

My son has a cat with malformed kidneys. He adopted her as an adult. He has taken her to about 7 vets in his college town and all had different advice. He had an ultrasound to diagnose it.
She is living on one small malformed kidney(they think the other is not working)! He found that using regular food for her was better than the restricted kidney type. She is much happier on regular. If you read the link I gave it sort of echoes that.

msarkie:hug: I am so sad to hear of your kitty being ill

I see Koala gave you the link to our pet forum...here itis again....many caring helpful members there http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum62.html

I also wanted to mention a catfood mix that saved our Shadow's life..... it is recommended as therapeutic by many vets and where Shadow would throw up most anything we fed him, and used to have severe seizures, now he is doing great.
Initially I was sceptical and not sure about adding the raw food, but honestly it has been miraculous! We had been warned by the vet that Shadow would likely die soon and he is now a robust healthy cat, ever since the food change!

Not sure if small amounts of this would help your precious Picabo.

I use chicken breasts that my meat market single grind for me and use 1/4 cup of the powder mix to 2 lbs chicken as that is what my vet recommended (the company suggests 1/2 cup per 2LB)
The mix may seem pricy at $49 a bag (the also do smaller $12 bags so you could get some and do a trial run) but it lasts long and I calculated it to be much cheaper than the regular petfood purchase over the same period

the THERAPEUTIC mix for sick animals is the Instincts PLUS one (in the gold bag) *not* the InstinctsTC one (in the black bag)

http://felineinstincts.ca/

they also have an article on kidney disease feeding
http://felineinstincts.ca/?p=1505

praying for you and your kitty:hug:

Everyone has given excellent advice. Cannot add much to it.

We did give our cat the Sub-Q fluids at the end of her life. As long as she was able to get up to greet me (she did not need to walk to me), I was going to keep her comfortable.

I have had many cat/dog loves. I think you will know when the animal tells you to let them have peace.

Makes me cry even as I type this. But the tears are full of great memories.

:hug: :sorry: :hug:

Well, after going through all the options in my head all weekend, I decided to start out with a blood test to see where we stand. So I took Picabo to the vet this morning and had bloodwork done. She definitely has chronic renal failure, but her numbers weren't too dreadful, although she had lost weight just since last week when we went for shots. The vet said if she were his cat he would want to try and treat her.

So they gave her 100ccs of fluid sub-q and showed me how it's done. I'm supposed to do it myself tomorrow. Wish me luck with that! She actually got loose even with the vet and assistant holding her and pulled the needle out and they had to re-stick her. There's some life in the old girl yet! She seems a little livlier than usual this afternoon, but boy is she annoyed with me. After the vet was done with her, while we were talking, she jumped down from the exam table, stalked off, and went into her cat carrier. She sat with her back to me all the way home.

I hope I can post a picture of Peek - so far I haven't been able to get any of my photos to post for some reason. She is a very dignified and ladylike cat who can walk across a crowded nightstand without knocking anything off. DH compares her to Grace Kelly.

Thanks to all of you for your support - it was a long, hard weekend. I think deciding what course to take was the hardest part. Once the decision is made, the burden is lightened a great deal.

I would love to see a picture!

Me too! :hug:

I'm so sorry that you and your kitty are having to go through this. :hug:

My little fur baby was in kidney failure and the vet. suggested we put her to sleep as she was only expected to make it a week or 2. My heart was breaking and I just couldn't do it. She (my kitty Friday) came to me when I was going through a terrible divorce and had become a guardian angel of sorts to me. With the help of my mom we did the IV fluid every day, put her on a special diet and prayed for what would be best for her.

I am happy to say that was almost 5 years ago and the vet is amazed everytime she sees her. There is no sign of failure or disease of any kind. From 6 pounds and barely able to move to an 11 pound of energy she is in constant motion playing with the other cat!

Here is a picture of Friday.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...TN052Small.jpg

You are in my thoughts and prayers....just trust that whatever you do is the best for your fur baby.

Cats can surprise you!

We have a cat Sheba (all black) that is almost 22 yrs old.
Back when she was 16 the vet said she didn't have long.
2 yrs ago, I was told she had severe cardiomyopathy, but she is still here! Sleeps with me every night for a while (I have pet stairs so she can get up and down from the bed). This weekend she went out into the yard to enjoy the 90 degree weather and a sun pool for a while. She takes no meds.

Her only "therapy" is one food treat a day--- she begs for and demands one shrimp at around 4pm.
I believe this "treat" has enabled her to live longer. Since we started, she has lost about 4 lbs, and now her skin hangs. She is still BIG, but not fat like before. There must be something in the shrimp..some nutrient she is craving (I buy frozen size 50-60 and get them when the buy one get one sale is on at Kroger's etc). Our other cats won't touch them. Taking them on vacation where we go in the boonies is quite an effort, BUT what we do for our felines! Our Vet is truly amazed! Sheba's blood work is always good, but she limps pretty badly and enjoys massages for her aching. If she gets really bad pain...I have prednisolone for those days. Usually only 5 days every other day is enough for her.

I have a picture of each of our cats in my photo album on my profile. Sheba is shown on the dock with my husband,on a sunny morning.

Friday looks regal and great, suzy!

I would definitely try subq fluids and give it some time for both of you to get used to the routine. Most cats are very tolerant of this procedure. You should see a real improvement in how she feels if she remains hydrated. I've known many that lived a couple of years, good years, despite failing kidneys. Wishing you the best. Hugs, Jules

I also have a 22 year old cat. We adopted her when she was about a year old, and was a frat house cat that got abandoned on the vets door, because she was incredibly ill, and no one in the frat house could pay for her tx. She had cardiomyopathy, infected ears, eyes, sinus, heinie sac and so on. it was touch and go for a 3 year period with her. She was best buddies with my old man cat. He died at 19 y/o and I thought she was gonna die with him. She grieved, and hid under beds, and refused to eat. I gave her sub q fluids, and got her through the week. We have since added 2 baby cats to the house, and she decided to momma them. Its been 3 years since we lost the old man cat, and the old lady is chasing babies, and having a grand old time. Not bad for a cat we expected to just give a graceful ending to, more than than 20 years ago. I have no illusions. I know at some point she will lay down, but till then, she is living the high life.

its so hard! I have walked a fair mile or two in those shoes. :hug:

We're still trying to work out the best way to do the fluids. Picabo is NOT cooperating. Last night was the worst - she really tried to get away while I had the needle in and was hissing and growling. We only managed about 50ccs.

The first night I had to stick her about 4 times before I got the hang of it. The next time I got the needle in pretty easily but I thought the fluids weren't warm enough. Last night I know the fluid was warm, and the needle went in fine, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Maybe I just didn't have it in quite the right spot.

I may try putting her up on the counter with some food while we do the fluids, but I'll have to get an IV pole (or make DH stand holding the bag up high!). I found some really good websites with photo illustrations and personal stories, so that I feel a little bit more like I know what I'm doing.

Picabo does seem to be feeling better with the additional fluids and has stopped vomiting.