I’m joining this community to ask for some honest advice/opinions :)
So, my little girl Kira, who’s only three and a half, hasn’t been herself these last two days. She was eating less, hiding away in the flat, and most of all, she’d stopped playing (even though she usually wakes me up in the middle of the night when she's playing).
So I went to the vet, feeling quite hopeful, thinking she was probably just a bit run down.
Well, I came away with a diagnosis of Stage 3 or even Stage 4 CKD (kidney failure)!
They put her on a drip for 48 hours; her urea (60 mg/dl) and creatinine levels have come down, and I was able to bring her home today.
But what about her future? She’s got tablets to take every day and specific 'renal' dry food.
Should I expect to only have a few more days with her? A few weeks? A few months? I don’t even dare hope for years.
Does anyone know why it’s happened so fast (because I keep thinking there must have been Stages 1, 2, and 3 before Stage 4) and if I should have spotted it? Isn’t this usually a disease for cats over 10 years old?
Thank you for your replies...
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That’s pretty much my approach – doing everything I can for her, but if it starts to feel like I'm just prolonging things unnecessarily, I’ll be there for her and guide her gently to the end.
I’ve actually got a vet appointment on Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll keep you all posted.
The lovely thing about Kira is that she isn’t skittish at all, she doesn't go off hiding everywhere. After her first bit of medicine this morning (the one that's really easy to give as it’s just like a tiny piece of dry food), she was coming up to me for cuddles without me even asking.
I’m going to try your method of using a syringe to give her a little bit of water. I’ve also read that you can dampen the capsule slightly so it slides down more easily when she takes it.
Regarding the second opinion: good on you for doing that for her. Not giving up doesn't have to mean going as far as over-treatment. Will you keep us posted?
About giving medicine: putting it in their food often puts cats off and makes them stop eating altogether. Besides, many medications lose their effectiveness if they're broken or crushed into a powder. That leaves only giving it directly by mouth. There are several techniques—they're not much fun, but they work. I always warn my cat by saying "med-icine" so she doesn't think I'm coming for a cuddle, and then I keep cuddles and medicine time separate. The easiest way is to have the cat sitting with their back against you, open the mouth from the side with your index finger, and pop the pill in.
Then, use a syringe to give them a bit of water, very slowly to avoid it going down the wrong way, just like you would with a baby.
Mine really isn't a fan, but she stays very calm when I do the "Russian doll" or "sushi" wrap (the cat burrito): I sit with my legs out, drape a large tea towel or bath towel over my legs, and place the cat between my legs with her back to me. I wrap one side of the towel over, then the other, making sure the shoulders are tucked in so she can't move her front paws. That leaves both my hands free—one to open the mouth and the other to pop the tablet in. It’s very quick, about 5 seconds. I give her some water and praise her in a sing-song voice. Then I give her a stroke, and she forgets all about it instantly.
I always warn her first. Obviously, I do it with the doors closed in a room where there are no hiding places, as you don't want to be chasing the cat around and causing them stress.
Yeah, that’s true, so I do feel a bit guilty sometimes for not spotting the problem sooner...
Anyway! The hardest bit at the moment is giving her the potassium; I don't know what the company was thinking making this medication as a hard capsule... Even for us humans, you’d need a big glass of water to get it down, and even when I break the capsule open and mix the powder into her food, she won't touch it. I’ve seen some tips in videos about mixing the powder with a bit of butter or some treat paste, so I’ll give that a go tomorrow.
First thing tomorrow morning, I’m going to book an appointment for a second opinion...
Yes, it's true that the financial side of things has to be taken into account, but that was all part of the deal when I committed to getting a pet.
I'm going to book an appointment at a large, well-regarded vet clinic and I'll keep you all updated.
It's also really unsettling because she's acting as if everything is perfectly fine right now... even though she's poisoning herself from the inside...
I was the same; my first vet in London was the one I trusted implicitly. Vet. Medicine.
He wrote my cat off as a lost cause in early May 2015. He didn't try any rehab at all... I left with my little panther who was supposedly going to die before the summer, and he even offered to come and put him to sleep at home within five weeks at most.
I went elsewhere.
I understood the protocol then.
I’ll never just be a "yes-man" again, not even with the vet who "saved" my cat.
In fact, he just followed a standard protocol. With proper testing. My cat is still here, two years later. Still going strong.
Critical thinking, whether in human or animal medicine, is something you have to learn.
You also need to have the funds for three days on an IV drip and everything else.
I’ve actually just tried that but this ‘little monkey’ doesn’t like wet food, she prefers salad haha!
Being a chemist, I’m going to use some needle-free syringes to mix the powder from the meds with water and syringe it into her directly; it’ll be much easier!
Since I’m in a big city, I might go and see another vet for a second opinion, at least then I’ll know I’ve done everything I can...
Yeah, well, I’m not really supposed to know about these things as I’m not from a medical background at all, and I always hope I can just trust the experts to know what they're doing... 😔
She’s been on a drip for over 48 hours now and the vet assured me there was no point in keeping her in any longer. I think he could tell how upset I was by the whole situation and that if it were necessary to carry on, he would have done—at least I hope so anyway...
The thing is, after only two days, you don't know how much further it might have actually come down since the vet stopped the treatment. Usually, it’s 2 days (and if they respond well like yours did) + 3 days. It’s a shame.
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I actually asked the vet yesterday when I picked her up whether her levels would drop to a more reasonable range if she stayed on a drip for a week. He told me that at this stage it just isn't possible; the levels eventually hit a plateau and won't go any lower.
I think I’m going to make the most of my time with her and keep a close eye on things now that I know what’s going on. At the first sign of any trouble, I’ll head straight to the vet...
