Dialysis

[Toomuchgoingon]

Hi. We have an elderly cat (about 20 years old) who has a UTI. She's just seen the vet and had a 2 week antibiotics jab. The vet says that has kidneys may be beginning to fail which is hardly a surprise bearing in mind her age.

Anyway, the vet said that if the drugs don't work then next stage is blood tests/urine tests . Again fair enough. She then said that they could then give her dialysis for 24 hours which would be a temporary fix.

Has anyone had a cat who has had dialysis?. We aren't sure she'd cope with it as she's quite insecure (never even been in a a cattery) due to being a rescue cat. We obviously know what the alternative would be.

Thanks for any insights you can give us

Given that she's 20, I wouldn't put her through that. I had to have my 8 year old girl PTS as she had kidney failure and I knew she wasn't happy. (She also had really bad heart disease as well)

How temporary? How invasive/stressful is the treatment?
Unfortunately there are sometimes things we can do for our pets that aren’t in their best interest.
I watch (far too many) vet programmes. I remember the Supervet saying that the length of their life is the gift they give to us. The quality of their life is the gift we give to them.
I’m waffling. If the “temporary” is a happy year and not too intrusive then I would. If it’s a weekly treatment that the cat would find distressing and stressful? Then no.
It’s an awful decision to make but sometimes we have to put their best interests above our wishes and desire to avoid grief.

Hi. The vet didn't say how long it would be effective for. I just can't imagine having to walk away from the vets leaving her there having the treatment. We are amazed she is still with us bearing in mind she had a tough start (we are her third owners). She's losing weight again and is really bony now. Happy though and has been on my lap for the past hour . She used to hate laps and getting too close, so it's lovely.

So bearing in mind that she's 20, we aren't sure how long she'll have anyway, even if she does have it. We just don't want to put her through any more than we have to...

A picture of our old girl

Better a day early than a day late. Every single time

I can’t see your pic!
It’s such a dilemma. You want to keep them well and with you as long as possible. But at the same time you don’t want them undergoing any painful or stressful procedures.
I would ask what do they have to do exactly? How long would she be in? What’s the likely improvement? (Do some cats do better than others on it?) How temporary a fix is it?
For me it’s about ensuring they can live as long as they are happy and comfortable but also my vet mentioned dignity. My old girl was ok on medication. Then suddenly she wasn’t. But when I thought back she hadnt chased butterflies or demanded catnip for months and months.
I wish they could talk. Just sometimes.

I knew my girl was not well because I kept finding her curled up
In corners. That was enough for me to know that although she wasn't suffering, she wasn't my Fatty anymore. The vets talked about managing it with diet. But I knew she'd gone past that. And in her heart was in very bad shape anyway so I knew it had to be done. It was 100% the right decision. I keep getting photos of her coming up on Timehop and I can't believe how awful she looked in the last few weeks.

I think the very idea of cat dialysis is cruel. They can’t possibly understand, they can’t be cured and it would be unpleasant to continue their life in this way.

I assume that she would have to have the treatment at the vets - that would be enough for me to decide against it for an elderly cat. Any of mine would be very stressed at the cat carrier, a car ride and unfamiliar smells. Your cat may cope better than mine but don't beat yourself up if you decide not to do this.

I'm sorry, but I wouldn't put a very elderly cat through treatment like that. I think you have to put the best interests of the animal first and putting her through invasive treatment to keep her alive for a bit longer just isn't fair on her.

Thanks everyone. We have come to the conclusion that we wouldn't be able to put her through it either. It's reassuring to see that others largely think the same. Hopefully the antibiotics will sort out the UTI first before we need to get to that point. At the moment she seems ok in herself but we are obviously keeping an eye on it.

I’m sorry you are facing this decision but I think you’re doing the right thing. Putting her first. Wishing you and her well.

I think you're doing the right thing by her. If it was a one off thing then I would consider it but obviously dialysis isn't. Twenty is a wonderful age for a cat.
I would see how she is day by day and take if from there. It is the worst and hardest part of having pets.

Make sure you understand what the vet actually means by dialysis. I strongly suspect they actually mean putting her on an IV drip for 24 hours to rehydrate her. It would give a short term life extension as it will allow the kidneys to flush out her body, but if she has chronic renal failure (highly likely at her grand old age) then it will only be a temporary fix. I am not a fan of this kind of therapy as it gets owner's hopes up only to watch their pet deteriorate again within days and they end up on weekly fluids. For a very old cat who is stressed by being away from home, I am really not convinced it would be in her best interests.

Massive hugs, it is so hard when they get to that stage where you are constantly second guessing the right thing to do.

Blood tests maybe fair enough. But this does not sound like a cat who is going to find frequent trips to the vet tolerable, and definitely not overnight stays.

If the cat has kidney failure, it is not going away so a one off dialysis is going to do v little, as is a one off drip. You need some honesty from the vet about where you are - bloods may help with this and just you saying what you want for your cat will also help.

I find not every vet is that good at this, and some have an expectation that you will want to go on and on, or they need complete certainty. If you are clear that your priority for your cat is happiness and minimal time away from home, they should get the message.

If she is losing weight, there may be things diet wise you can do to help - my old lady was losing weight and I did a lot of googling, changed her diet and she has picked up again. This is where knowing about how bad her kidneys are and whether it is worth still trying or not would be helpful.

I'll try to find the info I had about diet and older cats.

Thanks. She has lost half a kilo since the summer. She isn't eating the amount that she used to but is still happy enough to see what she can steal from us at dinner time.

Little and often seems to be her preferred option. She tries to trip us up every time we go into the kitchen to see what treat she can have....(and gets). She's spoiled rotten.

We are going away at Xmas and have a cat sitter to keep her company. Just hoping she doesn't do anything dramatic whilst we are away. We had thought she would be long gone when we booked it 2 years ago. Poor old pussy cat.

I found this which I read when old lady was losing weight.

vetmed.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/26.-Skinny-Old-Cats-Word-File.pdf

She had her bloods done and nothing was found - no hyperthyroid, kidney disease, diabetes. So I assumed it was what was described in the article, her being less good at digesting fat and protein and needing higher quality and quantity protein. I was also really interested in the study at the end which showed supplements with anti-oxidants, omega 3 and 6, and prebiotics helped weight gain and prolonged life.

So I spent hours and hours analysing all the foods on Zooplus and eventually settled on Sanabelle Senior for a dry food and Schesir Senior (which Zooplus don't sell anymore) for a complementary wet food.

Change in old lady was remarkable. She has put weight back on, her skinny back legs filled out and she can jump on the sofa again. And she lurves the food - the Schesir in particular was licked clean from the bowl so it looked like it didn't need washing!

My main intention was to spoil old lady rotten if she didn't have long and I certainly achieved that. Giving her an extra boost of health has been even better

I did find a load of useful info about renal cat diets but I don't seem to be able to find it again, just in case that is your cat's issue.

Thanks for that. We shall have a look

Really sorry to hear about your cat.
For a 20 year old, I wouldn't put them through the upheaval of a drip at the vets - I probably wouldn't even get the blood tests done - I had a very elderly cat and it was fairly obvious her kidneys were starting to pack up. We decided that even if it shortened her life we wouldn't do any of the blood tests, urine tests, renal diet etc as she was happiest staying at home eating whatever cat food took her fancy. I think after about 6 months she was obviously very poorly and we had to have her put to sleep but I'm not sure that tests/interventions would have gained us very much more time with her. The end stage was very sad to see - looking back at the photos she looked a complete state, very skinny & bedraggled, a shadow of her former self, but we just didn't fully see it at the time