Advanced kidney disease

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Back from the vet with my old badcat. We had been noticing some behaviour changes (weeing in inappropriate places, howling), bad breath and weight loss.

I suspected it might be her kidneys but didnt think it would be as bad as it appears so I'm writing this sobbing. The vet turned around the blood work within an hour (lovely man). Creatinine and urea are both very high. We need to get him a urine sample, which we will do for Monday so he can see if there is any point in trying any medication to help perfuse the kidneys.

I've been looking at Tanya's CKD site and am going to talk to the vet about whether slippery elm might help badcats tummy - she is occasionally sick and I hadn't connected it all together. I hadn't realised her funny tiny twitches were a symptom either.

I was wondering if anyone who's been through it has any advice. Please be really gentle as I'm finding it really hard to face up to and if anyone is brave enough to hand hold I'd very much appreciate it.

That is really helpful :-) thank you.

Last year she went missing for a week in very hot weather (the only hot weather we had) and her blood screening when we found her showed a very slight change in kidney function but we werent told anything about this being the beginning of things and came away with the impression (hope?) that it was probably just that she had got very dehydrated. If we had known....

in saying that, I guess we've done well to come this far afterwards.

She weighs 3.5kg now - so shes a bit of a skinny minny.

Hi, just to let you know that my beautiful old girl was put to sleep this morning, the vet was really good and told me to come down with her straight away. It was very very quick & peaceful - I think she was so weak and tired it didn't take much of the syringe to put her to sleep. She will be cremated & I'll get her ashes next week. I'm not sure what we'll do with them, I'm not 100% sure that I want a casket of ashes sitting around in the house but I'd rather have it & decide in my own time, than say no and regret it later. I also took a few clippings of her fur, which DH thought was quite weird, but again I'd rather have them than regret not doing it later.

Last night was a bit strange as you'd expect but it reinforced my thoughts that she had had enough - she refused all food including her favourite cat treats, she wouldn't stay on my bed (she usually came to bed with me and lay at the side of me for a stroke) and she was in the bathroom miaowing loudly which she never usually did.

I am sad and quite tearful but have a huge sense of relief as well, I don't have to worry about her any more and she is not confused or in pain. The children have dealt with it very logically as small children do, and DH is entirely practical about it, so I'm on my own a bit with the tears etc but she was always more my cat, and meant the most to me anyway.

I'm really really glad the results were good for your cat OhYou - the vet's plan sounds hopeful and I'd be interested to know how things go with the Semintra. My cat was very skinny at the end - 4.2kg but a very large & long cat who was probably nearer 5.5kg at her natural weight.

Sorry for the essay!

I've been thinking about you through the day Timtam. It really does sound as if she was ready to go and you were really brave and kind to help her. No more suffering for her now.

{{{hugs}}}

Thank you so much and good luck to you and your cat for her treatment

It may sound a bit strange but it has been lovely to have some online support & sympathy from you and everyone else on the thread as it has been a very tough weekend and I felt quite alone at times in real life

I have put a photo of my beautiful old girl on my profile, it is from last summer when she was very fit & well

Take care x

How beautiful :)

Thank you too. I've really appreciated the support this weekend while I get my head round things

Lovely girl, timtam. Very wise looking.

Lonecat. Will the renal diet cause my middle aged Very Bad Cat any issues? Of course she made a bee line straight for Bad Cats food. The vet said it wouldn't harm our other elderly cat but I didn't think to ask about VBC.

Also caught one of the neighbours cat repeatedly coming in to have a good munch. Grrrrr. They must have all heard about how expensive it is and have decided its gourmet food.

Microchip cat flap I think, Oh.

i didn't know they existed! How fabulous! I've seen the collar ones but only VBC wears a collar. I've registered my interest in one that allows selective exit as well as entry which would make life so easy.

Have a look at Sureflap, Oh. They're a bit more expensive than ordinary cat flaps (about £70 on line - more or less) but are totally controlled by chip. I think that's the brand most posters here choose.

Theyve got one coming out soon that allows selective exit as well as entry. We will find that really useful so we are going to wait for that one and then purchase it. Got to work out if we can just swap out our cat mate flap with it.

grrrrr at VBC this morning. Shes being a massive bully to Bad cat, just as I was inwardly cheering that Bad Cat was eating a mix of new and old diet happily VBC came and shoved her out of the way.