My old guy was just diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. Has anyone else dealt with this and can give me some info on dealing with it day to day? Kitty also has something going on in his mouth that makes it hard to eat, but because he’s 18 the vet won’t sedate him to look. So any liquid diet suggestions? He’s a grumpy old man, but I want to make him as comfortable as possible.
This site has tons of great info: http://www.felinecrf.org
And here is a very good recipe for a “liver shake” that I personally have had great luck giving to sick cats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30432
Best of luck with your kitty!
Special diet will help minimize further kidney damage. We just lost our 18 year old kitty to kidney failure but she lived quite a while after the initial diagnosis. I’d try to work something out to get his mouth checked out if you could. Maybe a tranquilizer?
if you are going to go ahead with treating for this condition - you need to be fully committed to the care or you are just wasting time generally the treatment will progress to SQ doses large volumes of fluids every 3 days or so. so you need to have a back up plan for when you might not be home to do the treatment I was the back up plan for our Barn Managers cat whenever she was away I would stop by and dose the kitty We kept her going for another 18 months or so and then she just faded away - - a very sick kitty in the end, but at least the end was quick
First, all prescription kidney diets are way too restricted in protein. Your cat will eat up his own muscle mass on Kd or NF. Second, canned food only. Third, what was his phosphorous? Without boring biochemical detail, twice a week calcitriol will greatly benefit all CKD cats but the phosphorous has to be below 6.0. Calcitriol should only come from 1 or 2 pharmacies in the US and your vet will have to call it in. Another great site is catinfo.org
The vet prescribed a phosphorous binder, I don’t remember the name off the top of my head. It’s in an orange and white bottle. I believe his phosphorous was 7.5, if I’m thinking of the right thing. Is that the one where the normal range is up to 7? She gave us several kidney diet cans of food, which he won’t or can’t eat. He’s going tomorrow to get fluids and an antibiotic for elevated red blood cell levels in his urine. Hopefully that will clear up whatever is going on in his mouth. He’s very picky, and right now is living off of milk and tuna water simply because that’s all he will eat. He turns up his nose at/ can’t chew the prescription food so we’re just trying to keep something in his belly at this point. What kinds of food would you suggest he should be eating, jkc313?
I got very familiar with giving subcutaneous fluid, lactose ringer. My cat stopped wanting to eat.
Sorry you are both going through this.
Yes, what Chall said. Try fancy feast canned food - that usually tastes good to them and isn’t really bad for them. SubQ fluids will help, but with both of my guys that died from chronic kidney failure, I ended up giving it once a day at the end. Sorry you are going through this as well.
I’m sorry your guy has CKD.
It all depends on how bad the numbers are and how aggressive you want to be. Hopefully the antibiotics will help the mouth ulcers but definitely ask the vet if there is something else that would help with those.
There is so much good information at the website LucasB gave you, http://www.felinecrf.org/, check it out. They also have a yahoo group and it’s great. So many knowledgeable people!
One of my cats has CKD and has been getting daily sub-q fluids since September of last year. He still comes willingly to get them when he sees me get the iv bag out, so I believe they make him feel better.
He’s not fond of the prescription food either so I give what he will eat. He will eat the rx canned sometimes so I keep offering it and if he eats it great, if not, he gets something else.
Hill’s AD is high calorie and sometimes cats will eat it when they won’t eat anything else. The consistency is smooth enough to be syringe fed also.
His phosphorus is pretty high - he should feel better once it comes down.
Good luck! I hope your guy feels better soon and ask your vet about the ulcers - he probably hurts too bad to eat right now.
so, so sorry you are dealing with this with your kitty!
Having been down that road, these are things that helped my guys and girl!
SubQ fluids for sure! Started weekly, then every few days, then daily. Easy to administer, and actually my cats were not at all bad about it. The vet will show you how but it truly is no big deal
an anti nausea drug - with all the toxins building up, their appetite can just disappear. Cerenia was what I used and it was very helpful
an appetite enhancer - several out there. This also helps quite a bit
For a few of my cats I did do the KD kidney diet adn I think it helped. Of course at the end they ate whatever - liver, tuna juice, whatever they would eat. My girl would never eat the KD so she got fancy feast and did fine on it(as well as she could and seemed happy)
The care is not really a big deal! You know that it will not be curable so its just about keeping them comfortable and happy and with a good quality of life. I certainly knew when we were “there” and they were done.
Jingles for you and your boy and hope you get some wonderful time with him!
Well, he spent 2 days at the vet’s getting fluids, and he came home a much happier kitty! His levels are down to the high normal range, and he’s eating the best he can. He doesn’t particularly like the KD food, so he’s eating mostly fancy feast but has to occasional can of KD he’ll eat. Hopefully this can last for a long time!
We kept both of our old cats going for years with SubQ lactated ringers. One died at 21 and the other 18 (of a non-related issue). My best tip is get a script for the ringers. Our vet at the time was charging us something crazy like $20/bag. At the time (about 5 years ago) you could get them by the case for $3-4 a bag.
