"Has Anyone Had To Go Through A Cat With Chronic Renal Failure? "
Yes, I have. While kidney failure is generally a downhill slope, there have been many advances made to not only make your kitty more comfortable but in some cases, lengthen a cat's life. There have also been some miracles and seeming complete recoveries from feline chronic renal failure but they are extremely rare especially in older cats.
Some cats can live up to 25 years, I personally know of one cat who was 25 years old when she passed away. Your cat could rally and I hope she does. :)
Following your getting your cat accurately diagnosed by a competent Vet, and if your cat actually has chronic renal failure, KD cat food is a good start. They have changed the formula over the years and the taste is now something most cats love, especially the canned KD cat food flavored with chicken.
Recent research shows that onions and onion powder can cause renal failure in cats. Do not ever give your cat any food which contains onions; nor food which has even been cooked with onions such as baked, boiled or fried chicken; nor anything which has onion powder or any type onion flavoring in it. Unfortunately that means don't share any human food leftovers.
However, don't worry if you already have - CRF is very common in older cats and the onion warning only came out in recent years.
Eating is a sign of health. Your cat should eat a good amount every day, preferably twice a day. If she skips a meal, write it down. Then if that trend continues for one more day, take her to the Vet right away. They have all sorts of inexpensive non-harmful medicines which will stimulate her appetite.
Also always have several jars on hand of strained turkey baby food with nothing added to it for the occasional times where your cat won't eat. Again she should eat every day.
You can entice most sick cats to eat again with turkey baby food. She will want to lick it off your hands then you can give it to her in teaspoonfuls then when she improves she'll go through a jar a feeding and often several a times a day.
However, no matter how much turkey baby food she eats, still you should take your cat to the Vet whenever her appetite decreases.
Appetite or not, right now your Vet will want to assess your kitty's current condition by taking blood and urine samples to see how her kidneys and liver are functioning.
Your cat might have an infection rather than renal failure or she might have an infection combined with the failing kidneys.
If you feel your kitty is too frail right now to undergo a blood test, then the Vet will still most likely insist upon a urine test if your cat has not had one in awhile.
They only withdraw a small sample of blood, but for whatever reason, my CRF cats always went into a serious decline following a blood draw. That decline included appetite, pep, hydration levels and lasted a week. That's a dangerous decline for any cat who is already on the down slope of health with CRF.
I finally found a Vet who listened. He said that all Vets should listen to Pet owners because no Vet can follow you home and observe how your cat is doing following a Vet clinic visit. An attentive and caring owner's input is crucial in assessing a Pet's health.
Also the sad fact is that most times, once a cat has been diagnosed as having CRF, that diagnosis doesn't change, only the prognosis changes and that's basically good or bad. Prognosis can be accurately assessed from a thorough physical exam, if the Vet is willing to trust his or her impressions from that physical exam and finally is willing to listen carefully to an owner's observations.
In my opinion, Vets who are insecure about their diagnostic skills will always prefer to rely solely upon numbers to diagnose and in this case, to assess the rate of kidney decline.
Again my opinion, but those type of insecure Vets will label diagnosis by exam and history taking as "guess work" while more secure yet old fashioned Vets call it simply “good diagnosis.”
For the urine sample, that's something you can easily get and again, only my opinion, probably should at least try, rather than add any stress to your kitty by allowing the Vet or his assistants to withdraw the urine sample. If you feel that your kitty is too frail, your Vet should accept your help in obtaining a sample from home.
It is simple if you don't mind watching carefully where your kitty prefers going. Just place an unused and clean freezer strength clear ziplock bag in her favorite spot to go and then wait until she goes on the bag and pour the sample into either a sterile glass jar, or even another clean unused ziplock bag.
Refrigerate the sample until you can take it in to the Vet. They should culture the sample, because if she has an infection, they need to prescribe the right antibiotic.
However, if you are willing the Vet might make a good first guess on which type bacteria is involved in a bladder/kidney infection, and prescribe the right antibiotic on the first try without the added expense and time delay of a cultured specimen.
They can centrifuge a urine sample in the Vet clinic which again, will only indicate there is an infection and it will not pinpoint the type of bacteria.
If your cat does not tolerate a prescribed oral antibiotic, for example if they give her something which she fights taking, if she throws it up, if she foams at the mouth whenever you prepare to give it to her, and please do give it an honest try, then go immediately back to the vet and ask, then demand if necessary another antibiotic which she will tolerate and take.
They have antibiotics in pill form and liquid. They have good tasting antibiotics for the most picky and sickest cats. If she has a kidney/bladder infection, she will need to keep the antibiotics down. She also cannot afford becoming more dehydrated from vomiting.
If your Vet blocks your attempts to collect urine samples, if your Vet ignores or discounts your observations, or input, if your Vet refuses to help you learn how to make your cat more comfortable and prolong her life as much as possible, then start calling around your area to find another Vet. A good Vet will gladly listen to a long term owner's personal observations of a geriatric cat and in most cases, will help you make your cat more comfortable.
After getting assessing your cat's current condition, your Vet might recommend regular, frequent and possibly daily sub-cutaneous injections of lactated Ringers solution.
That's something else a good Vet clinic should be able to help you learn how to do yourself rather than transporting your kitty back and forth to the clinic.
It's very simple for even the most squeamish pet owner to learn. Vet clinics usually start out selling you a bag of lactated Ringers, the set-up and then they will often throw the needles in for free. They should show you how to set-up the bag, then demonstrate how they give your cat one injection from the set-up Ringers bag, letting you try it also while you're still there.
If after a few weeks of you giving your cat regular or even daily lactated Ringers injections, and if you have finished the first bag of fluids, and depending upon your cat's weight, size and condition, the bag will have lasted a few weeks or more.
If your kitty has improved at all, if she has even a little of her spunk back, if she improves as much as they usually do, you'll still need to continue the frequent or daily sub-cutaneous lactated Ringers injections indefinitely.
Vet clinics range widely on how much they charge for a bag of lactated Ringers and set-ups. Where I live, they charge anywhere from $25-35 per bag which cost should include a set-up.
Costco Pharmacy online will accept a valid Veterinarian’s prescription for lactated Ringers and also set-ups. The prescriptions can be faxed directly to Costco's Online Pharamcy by the Vet clinic.
I have forgotten the exact costs but an entire case of Lactated Ringers plus the box of set-ups, all totaled together, were only a couple dollars more than what the Vet Clinic charged me for just one bag, that was the first bag of lactated Ringers plus the one set-up which they first sold me.
Unopened unused bags of Lactated Ringers keep well in any home environment as long as they're kept in the original shipping box, and not subject to heat or freezing temperatures.
This might all sound very complicated, but it's a lot simpler doing it rather than explaining.
You sound like you love your cat and have taken good care of her so it's critical for you to find a Vet who will support you in your efforts to make her as comfortable as possible in the remaining years you have with her. Not all Vets have equal compassion but the ones who do I believe make up for the others.
Once a geriatric cat has been officially diagnosed as having chronic renal failure then continual assessments especially blood tests, in my opinion are more about the vet racking up a bill than about good Veterinarian medical practice. Keep good records, ask for exact results on all blood and urine tests. You are also entitled to keep any x-ray films they take.
Then if you relocate or switch vets, the new vet will have “proof” that your cat's condition is what you say it is. Even some of the best vets get antsy about taking the word of an owner yet they will gladly accept good records and requested lab values.
My preference in Vets especially when dealing with geriatric cats has been the Vet who can first take an adequate history from an owner, then after a physical exam, can make a good initial diagnosis, followed by a recommended course of treatment, and next give a prognosis and last of all, use lab values simply to verify all of the above.
Unfortunately many Vets these days insist upon lab work immediately after giving only a cursory physical exam of the Pet. In many cases, if the owner is willing, the vet will then suggest x-rays, ultra-sounds and anything they think you'll pay for. The sky or your bank account unfortunately becomes the limit.
One Vet talked me into getting x-rays for one of my cats who had CRF and then once he got the x-rays, claimed he wasn't sure what he was looking at and then told me he needed to refer the x-rays out to a radiologist friend of his.
That hurt on many levels, the most important being trust. That Vet took my concern for my cat and started playing a particularly nasty form of building a bill. The game starts with guilt-tripping an owner into unnecessary procedures and the game ends when either the Pet dies, or when the costs go beyond the owner's ability to pay.
Repeating tests in a geriatric cat who has been diagnosed with a chronic debilitating illness such as chronic renal failure, often has nothing to do with helping the Pet get better. Unfortunately sometimes it's all about the Vet earning a few more dollars.
It was years ago that I fell for it by allowing him to x-ray my cat, but I stopped that game when he claimed he needed to refer the x-rays out to his radiologist friend for another reading of the films.Because I no longer trusted him, I then began second guessing everything he had recommended and I stopped taking my cat in to him which is also not good.
Pet owners need Vets they can trust and those Vets should be worthy of trust.
Ask around. If you have local Pet Food Stores, especially the independently owned Pet Food Stores, go ask the clerks if they have a favorite Vet. Hang out in the Cat food aisle and ask other customers. There's always a way to find a good Vet.
The best Vet Clinics I have found were not part of a large nationwide or statewide chain but were solely owned and operated by one Vet or a small group of Vets.
Occasionally the large chains will hire good Vets but then those good Vets always seem to leave in favor of smaller less centrally controlled Clinics and in rare cases, they will buy a retiring Vet's clinic.
Another idea is to attend a cat show in your area and ask several cat breeders which Vet they could recommend.
Good luck!
Excellent idea. I will stop in my local pet store and ask them. I don’t trust the vets I have now and I do need to get to her one ASAP.
Thanks for your great advice!