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

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.

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.

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 again sorry about the kittys troubles

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!