10 year old cat in kidney failure

[ChefWifeLife]

My ever sassy 10 year old moggie had lost some weight over the summer but seemed to perk up. Then about 3 days ago she just all of a sudden looked very frail and thin and was throwing up, not eating and diarrhoea.

She’s no longer trying to escape the kids energetic stroking nor venturing outside where she spends most of her time.

I took her to the vets this evening and they called back within an hour saying that she’s in kidney failure and her blood results are not good. Ironically she had wolfed down the pouch of prescribed food when we had gotten home.

We have just admitted her for an overnight stay for fluids and to see how she gets on.

I’ve read some previous posts about kidney disease in cats and long term management sounds tricky.

I wondered what questions I should have for the vets when they call and how do I know whether to keep treating/investigating?

I had my cat PTS when her kidneys failed. She also had severe heart disease. So it was the only thing to do. I didn't realise how I'll she was until I saw her After a holiday and she'd lost 500g in 10 days. She was clearly feeling awful but hid it well.

@Toddlerteaplease thank you for your message and sorry to hear about your cat. So Poppy has been an inpatient since Friday night. They thought it could be a kidney infection and not kidney failure. Vets were surprised that she was doing so well, eating, flirting and generally happy. But her bloods today are unchanged. We’re giving her another 48 hours to wait for urine cultures to come back and longer on antibiotics and review the bloods. If the bloods are unchanged then I think it will have to make the decision to pts. I feel so much sadder today as it went from being worst case scenario to dramatically doing a u-turn and now back to bad news

Sorry to hear that. It's horrible. I know exactly how it feels.

My cat lived for another four years after being diagnosed, and the decision was only made to PTS because she got cancer. The kidney disease was well managed. She was happy and active, not suffering in any way.

Your update sounds quite positive so wait and see how she does over the next day or two, and see what the vet advises.

My cat never needed medication, just the special renal food. Lots of cats with kidney disease live happy lives for years after being diagnosed, hopefully that will be possible for yours too.

Thanks @Sakura7 for your reply and glad you got a few more years with your puss.

The thing they’re most concerned about is the bloods are really really bad. I’m hoping that a bit longer on the antibiotics and they may improve.

I just don’t want to be faced with the decision of bringing her home and watching her get poorly again. I guess only time will tell.

Just posting for some final traffic and advice.

The vets were very happy and optimistic and I thought I would be bringing her home on Monday. Turns out her bloods are only a tiny bit bitter. They are waiting for the urine culture to see if there is anything that may be resistant to the antibiotics they have given her but they were not that hopefully and now I have to decide what to do.

I just don’t understand how she can be having her kidneys flushed with fluids yet her urea and creatinine are unchanged. Can anyone explain this or offer any advice??

We have been through this fairly recently with our 6yr old boy. His levels were 1200 when they should have been 200 and we were told
Kidney failure. He was put on fluids immediately and antibiotics and 2 days later his blood results came right down. They think he had a stone stuck between his kidney and bladder. Touch wood he seems to be fine again now. It was sheer agony thinking we were going to loose him so I hope very much that your cat pulls through.

Has your cat been scanned? 🎉 x

Oh @anotherdaynotanotherdollar so sorry but glad your cat pulled through. So she was scanned and they couldn’t see anything. Funnily enough they are going to do another scan to check there is not a block as how she appears and her bloods don’t tally up. Also her bloods are getting worse despite being flushed with fluids! Her creatinine is at 450 which is the extreme end of the scale.

It just doesn’t all add up 🤷‍♀️

I'm so sorry that your cat, you and your family are going through this. You and your cat's veterinary team are doing the best you/they possibly can to make her comfortable.
Six months ago, my twelve-year-old rescue cat suddenly went off her legs and became distant in mood.
Immediately took her to my vets, who diagnosed kidney failure. They recommended that she be put to sleep. I agreed and held her as she peacefully drifted drifted away.
An easeful departure is the last kind thing we can do for our beloved companions.
Sending love and strength to you all.

@Astrak I’m sorry to hear about your cat.

It’s just so hard to make a decision when they haven’t come up with a definitive diagnosis.

@ChefWifeLife

Oh *@anotherdaynotanotherdollar* so sorry but glad your cat pulled through. So she was scanned and they couldn’t see anything. Funnily enough they are going to do another scan to check there is not a block as how she appears and her bloods don’t tally up. Also her bloods are getting worse despite being flushed with fluids! Her creatinine is at 450 which is the extreme end of the scale.

It just doesn’t all add up 🤷‍♀️

Ah @ChefWifeLife I feel so much for you.

If it is a stone stuck then there is a chance that it will pass from the fluids but if not we were told there is an op that can be done where they place a stent between the bladder and kidney. We were quoted 5k. We were so lucky we didn't need to look at that route as the insurance wouldn't cover that amount and we don't have 5k spare.

We had exactly the same in terms of him looking much better than he should have. His creatine was 1200+ and uriea (?) was 60 when it should have been 13. As I said previously they did come down quite quickly and they said they thought the stone must have dislodged.

We had a specialist scan Dc. He was scanned on the first day at our usual vets but was transferred to a much bigger vets that night, and the following day a specialist scanned him. First scan they saw nothing, second scan they saw something, but it was so tiny it took the specialist to spot it.

Is she weeing still?

I'm guessing if there is a blockage that is why her numbers are going up. I'm no vet though.

I am crossing everything for you. Please do let me know how you get on.

@anotherdaynotanotherdollar thanks for such a detailed reply. She is actually at the main vet hospital of the group as she needed to be admitted on a Friday night after hours. I think the cost is around £2000 at the moment and her cap for insurance is £4000. We’re the same in we wouldn’t have spare to go above this.

Wow just re-read this and your cats creatinine was way off the scale wasn’t it. She’s weeing absolutely fine which is why it’s confusing.

Part of me is tempted to bring her home and see what the lab culture says. They did say her calcium and phosphate had gone up too.

So I’ve just spoken to the vets and now they’re saying that she has a fairly large (3mm) kidney stone! They are going to discuss with the medical
Team tomorrow and maybe do a more detailed plan. Still not sure what the other kidney wouldn’t be compensating more.

@ChefWifeLife please let me know what they say today, I'm invested in your little girl now!

I've had quite a few cats with kidney disease including newly adopted 11 year old cat.
I start them on the kidney diet straight away and I'm very strict with it - no more dreamies.
However, when they get to the point of filling the litter tray with urine, needing drips and injections to rehydrate them then it's really game over and its time to think about having them PTS , they can only be rehydrated a few times before passing away.
However if they start a prescription diet as soon as possible that will often keep them going for a few years.

Thank everyone for your messages. I’m a bit annoyed that the vets haven’t called which effectively means poppy is in for another night as my husband and I are both putting a child each to bed. They’ve done this a few times now when they say they will call and then leave it so so late. I just think they must be really busy so I’ve just left it.

Quick update from me.

Ended up having a conversation with the practice manager as the communication and treatment plan just hadn’t been great.

Finally have a named vet who is keeping me updated. Poppy has had another more detailed scan. Summary is she’s definitely had chronic kidney failure for a while but the kidneys aren’t horrific. There is a large stone on one side and some stones on the other side but not blocking anything. There is a nasty infection which they have now swapped to iv and more aggressive antibiotics. They think that the one with the infection is normally the one that compensates for the other and now it’s struggling to do so hence the bloods.

Plan is to re-do her bloods today then bring her home. Then we’ve done everything we can inpatient wise and it will just be diet and a matter of time to see how she gets on.

Don't give up! My girl had appalling bloods when first admitted and diagnosed and she kept going for 2 years. Treat the cat, not the numbers. On a scan, it became clear that one kidney was tiny (and assuredly always had been) and the other one was struggling to cope.

An invaluable resource for us was "Tanya's CKD" www.felinecrf.org/

Good luck. Its heartbreaking when they're ill. I miss my girl terribly, but I'm so glad we fought it.

Thanks @Evvyjb for your message and the resources. She seems to be doing pretty well overall. She has always been a very small cat and is probably 2/3 smaller than her brother so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s always had a slightly dodgy kidney. She’s a bit tired and not wanting to venture outside but is so much better than this time last week x

Yep, mine was teeny tiny. She was a trooper though. 2 years of fluids and meds, the vets were absolutely amazed by her!