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I have an older cat that’s recently been diagnosed with kidney disease & I was wondering if anyone here might have some experience &/or advice.
Gracie is about 13yo I've only had her 4.5 years. She was a older rescue from the SPCA & the best thing that's ever happened to me. (I know how nuts that sounds) I work from home & she's constantly by my side...either curled up on my desk sleeping, sitting in the kitchen watching me cook, sitting on the toilet waiting for me to get out of the shower, or curled up beside me at night while we sleep....& always excited to see me when I come home. We found out in Dec. that she had hyperthyroidism & high blood pressure (this is in addition to an irregular heartbeat & a heart murmur that she's had since I got her). So, she was prescribed Felimazole for her hyper thyroid & amlodipine for her high blood pressure. She seemed to be doing better & her levels were checked in Jan and the Vet said she was doing great & things were looking good for her.
Suddenly, last week she stopped eating & wasn't as social as normal. So, after a trip to the vet we find out she has kidney disease. We've been going every other day for fluids & she's currently on Cyproheptadine to help with her appetite & Cerenia to help with nausea. Nothing seems to be working. She's getting weaker & weaker by the day & it even seems as though dementia is setting in. She just wonders around like she's lost. She's not like this all this time...she has moments where she's her old self and comes looking for attention & to cuddle… & then a few minutes later she's "checked out" again. She doesn't appear to be in pain or uncomfortable, at least as far as I can tell. She's still barely eating on her own even though she will lick a little off my fingers if I try and feed her every hour or two. She'll drink some water but she seems to be having trouble doing that...it’s as though she has trouble “seeing” the bowl & figuring out how to lap from it. She just sort of gurgles in the water. She's mostly able to get around although she's a little unsteady on her feet.
I've spent close to $1000 in the past week & she's not really any better. The vet has suggested that if we can stabilize her I could begin giving her fluids at home and we could switch her to a prescription kidney diet & she may last a few more months, or in rare cases, maybe a year or more. But I don't know if I want that for her. If she's not going to get better (& I I know she won’t ever get over this, but I’m open to it if she can at least be comfortable for a while longer), I'd rather have her go now with some dignity & be able to say goodbye while she’s still herself…not in a few weeks or months when it's way worse than it is now.
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? I've had animals my whole life & I've never had to make this decision. It's ripping me apart inside. I can’t sleep, barely eat, I’m just a wreck. Help?
My old kitty was diagnosed with CRF. He too has very little appetite when he eats and it is a monthly struggle to find a brand that he likes. We finally settled on Fancy Feast canned, which he seems to eat with more gusto than all the brands that I have tried, from prescription to cheap to expensive high quality food. I also leave him a bowl of dry Merrick food which he seems to enjoy as well.
What you have has no cure. That is a sad but a fact one must accept when this is the diagnosis you get. No cure. Don't fall for any internet false promises advertising products that will cure your cat or even reverse the damage. The damage is permanent and ongoing.
With that said, all you can do at this point is stabilize her and get on conservative treatment - treating for symptoms, make her comfortable, and slow down the disease if possible with prescription food. Personally, when my cat ate the prescription food, the blood test show that there was an improvement. However, the thing with kidney disease cats is every cat is different - some goes down quickly while others are not.
Her dementia is common in older cats. Mine does the same thing too. That can be easily managed. Your cat may also start to forget where the litterbox is but it's nothing you can't handle.
If your cat has seen the vet, continue to show no improvement in doing what she normally enjoy, for at least 3 days, it's time. At least, that's what I would do for my cat if she deteriorated that quickly.
Like Cheesenugget said, the key is to stabilize her, and hopefully she will come back to you and you can have the relationship that you had - although I have found that the cat-human bond increases when treating a long-term chronic illness so you will probably have an even better one.
the question though is can you stabilize her? only time will tell. Hopefully so. Sometimes getting a second opinion can help clarify your situation.
If not, or if you think she is suffering too much to be able to handle the treatment that it takes to stabilize her, it is not unkind to euthanize her. Cats do not hold the same feelings of death that we do and live very much in the moment. It is a kinder option to let her go a week or a month 'too early' than a moment too late.
My heart goes out to you both, and I hope you are able to bring her back from this and you have some time left together.
I dealt with that with my Brandy. First it was thyroid and we were giving her meds that kept changing to try to get it right. Then the kidney issue set in. We were taking her to get fluids every week. I don't know how long we did that for. She just got weaker and weaker. My husband thinks that we let it go on for too long but I was trying very hard to avoid making THE decision. (Been there, done that and I didn't want to do it again.) Finally at the ripe old age of 18, my Brandy crossed the Rainbow Bridge and joined her sister & brothers-the last of my VERY special 4!
You've gotten some thoughtful advice already. While I haven't had to deal with kidney disease (yet), I well know the anguish of watching a loved cat whose health is failing, knowing you can't do much to help. You know her best. I remember when our Tucker "told" us it was time. Your kitty will do the same.
Daisy was the first. She crashed bad at first. I really didn't think she'd make it. Well she did....and her initial numbers were off the charts.
Took about a month to get her stabilized. Subq's 3x a week, she was only allowed wet food because of her chronic panceatitis.. vet said.. keep her eating as long as it is wet food. I'd heat it up a little to bring out the aroma.
She ate fine, she'd even just sit in front of me, tilt her head back and let me administer the med du jour without a fuss.
Her BP started increasing (she did have a murmur) so she went on Norvasc (sp?). That helped a little with her kitty dementia.
When the end came about 2 years later, it wasn't her kidneys. She had a heart attack at home. She was 17-1/2.
Elsa never crashed. She just started to deteriorate as elderly cats would. She got subq's 2x a week... but it was more for comfort than anything else. She was dying of old age. When respiratory distress kicked in, it was time to say goodbye. She was 20.
If you're on Facebook, join the Chronic Kidney Failure and the Chronic Kidney Disease groups. You'll find the people on very helpful, and get lots of information. I'm surprised that the vet didn't put her on Azodyl. It's expensive, but it works. Join the two Facebook groups for CRF and CKD, and you'll get lots of helpful advice. Snickers gets two Azodyl capsules in the morning, and one in evening. I mix it into a teaspoonful of cat food, so that he eats it. I'm not about to try to put capsules down his throat.
I also went through about $75 worth of cat food for him to try, because the vet didn't want him to eat Fancy Feast any more. He now eats Science Diet and Soulistic (Petco Brand). These foods are low phosphorus/low protein, and are on Tanya's list of approved foods.
I wanted to check in & say thanks to everyone that offered advice. She actually went downhill pretty fast today & by the time I got her to the vet she was in cardiac arrest & we had to put her to sleep. It's been an awful week & a really awful day. At least I know she's no longer suffering.
Our eldest kitty has kidney disease. She is stablized right now on a combo of meds (she's 19), but the subcutaneous fluids (with added porassium) and Renal K powder on her food are her main kidney meds.
She's also taking amlodipine for her BP, along with benazepril.
What has helped majorly with lost appetite for her the few times she's had it was mirtazapine. That stuff gives her the munchies.
Our kitty does drink a lot of water, though. And, she's quite alert for an elderly cat. The vet says she's just stubborn.
Who knows?
I wish you the best. It's a tough disease to manage.
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