CKD - what to expect?

[Allofaflumble]

Would anyone share how the disease progressed in their cats. I realise it may be very distressing to recall so I hope I'm not being insensitive?

My cat (male) is now at end stage 2 of kidney disease. We had a scare with him recently but it turned out he was fighting an infection. With prompt treatment he has bounced back.

He has become more finicky about food, drinks a lot and sleeps masses. He seems content though and still likes to nose out of the front door and see what's going on. He takes a short stroll at the back but is often frightened off by younger cats.

I know its not easy to answer but can cats with CKD go on for years or is it normally a year or so?

My old female cat had this. It started when she was 16 and she lived to be 19. Her quality of life was generally good, enjoyed her food and a bit of a potter outside.

The kidney failure gradually got worse until she was so sick I had her put to sleep, it was only the last month of her life though that she went really downhill. She was also old for a cat and had other health issues. Her symptoms didn't seem over bad, excessive drinking and weeing, and vomiting in the last couple of weeks. She also became withdrawn and stopped grooming herself. Cats are good at hiding things though, so I don't know if she had pain or anything.

It will obviously differ from cat to cat, but I think they can go on a while with medications.

Oh thank you for that. He was diagnosed about a year ago so we may have much more time yet.

Huge variation some cats go on for years and die of something unrelated others deteriorate very quickly.