Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just saw the post you made whie I was posting. Inquire at your vet if they have any techs who pet sit on the side, or would be interested in doing so. I've heard of people, either here on the cat forum or on the dog forum, using techs as sitters before.
Oof. That's the news from the vet today. Maybe not that surprising in hindsight since it explains perhaps some of the things I've witnessed over the last several weeks to couple months. I just couldn't put it together into this until having the values and seeing the last couple nights after we got back from the vet. She's definitely suffering from more than just "I can't believe what you did to me yesterday".
Not looking forward to trying to give the injections. We'll see. Trying to call vet back to go in and have him show us how to do it.
Is this kidney disease? My cat's creatinine levels were borderline high when he was 12 and I gave my cat Kidney glandulars "Kidney Cytotrophin"by Enzyme Process to ward off Kidney disease and I gave him a home prepared bones and raw food diet with pumpkin and butter mixed in to reduce the protein and it worked to reverse the oncoming Kidney Disease the vet was sure he would soon have. 2 years later I had bloodwork done again and he was in the low normal range. You may very well be able to reverse this like I was able to. That was the grand diagnosis. Little did he know his lungs were filling up with fluid.
My cat lived another 6 years and when he died at 18 he had no kidney disease, no cancer, no heart disease no nothing (except a bacterial lung infection). He even had "great teeth" for an 18 year old cat. If I'd found a better vet he'd probably have had the lung infection diagnosed so I could have helped him get rid of it in time but 4 days before his death, the vet thought his breathing was typical of a nervous cat being examined.
I only have some Dr's Dream Treats right now, which she does eat. (These are chicken. Pheasant regular Dream Treats were out last time I ordered from Wysong so decided to try these.) I mixed a little in some dry food that she normally eats, and she will eat some of that. That is just for now to get her eating something; obviously with CKD in play I want to get more wet intake if possible, frustrating as that may turn out to be. Other favorite treat is Zuke's Natural Purrz. Actually she still loves the pill pockets too; just that for last few months she'll find the pill every time! Which makes them too expensive as a treat. She has nibbled at the dry bowl today and now has eaten a couple times from the plate of plain tuna that I left out (has extra water added). She's getting some intake at least. I'll feel a bit calmer tomorrow after we get the first fluid treatment and see if that stabilizes her interest in food or not. Drinks a ton but I know ultimately that is not enough.
The worse problem on the horizon actually is this event in a couple months that I can hardly figure on getting out of. Have to go away for 5-6 days and thus will need to find a sitter, now will need to be one who can give sub-q fluids.
A cat will love the taste of the Kidney glandular. All it is is dried concentrated organ meat. For all the while I was giving it to my cat I was crushing it and sprinkling it on his food but it turned out it wasn't necessary. One day I just give it to him whole (1/2) a human dose (half a pill) and he gobbled it up. He got that twice a day.
I just saw the post you made whie I was posting. Inquire at your vet if they have any techs who pet sit on the side, or would be interested in doing so. I've heard of people, either here on the cat forum or on the dog forum, using techs as sitters before.
Yes the techs are an option, as long as it's not too far from their home or whatever (I think there are two possible techs). So we'll see. Just nerve wracking is all.
So we got our demonstration from the vet (squeezed in between other visits, but didn't cost much) and Amber got her first dose of fluid. She's starting at 200ml every other day. So that means our first try alone will be Monday. I didn't get a copy of all the numbers yet because too many things were going on today, but next time we have to get supplies I'll see if I can get it. The supplies for sub-q is one thing they do stock.
I think she's starting to feel a little better. It's been about 10 hours since the fluid.
That webpage helped me tremendously when I fist gave sub-qs. I found the lactated ringers bags cheaper at my local hopsital, and bought the needles and iV tubing sets online.
That webpage helped me tremendously when I fist gave sub-qs. I found the lactated ringers bags cheaper at my local hopsital, and bought the needles and iV tubing sets online.
Thank you so much, we'll definitely give that a look! We've been meaning to search for some stuff online but hadn't gotten to it yet. Tomorrow is the day. Main worry I think is that once up on the stainless vet table she stays put pretty easily whereas here at home that is not likely to be the case.
So sorry to hear about your kitty. I've been sub-q'ing (is that a word?) my 17 year-old cat for a month now. He's in "moderate" (according to the vet) kidney failure. I taco him in a towel and pet him constantly and he is pretty good about sitting still. He's on 150 ml twice per week, and is really good until about the 100 ml mark. That seems to be the limit of his patience. But I've been able to hold/cajole him for the last 50ml.
Anyway, best of luck. Malachi seems to get a small burst of energy after having fluids -- he has not been too interested in jumping up on things in general recently, but after having fluids he's made a bit of mess of my desk getting up there a couple of times. Hope it helps your kitty feel a bit better.
So sorry to hear about your kitty. I've been sub-q'ing (is that a word?) my 17 year-old cat for a month now. He's in "moderate" (according to the vet) kidney failure. I taco him in a towel and pet him constantly and he is pretty good about sitting still. He's on 150 ml twice per week, and is really good until about the 100 ml mark. That seems to be the limit of his patience. But I've been able to hold/cajole him for the last 50ml.
Anyway, best of luck. Malachi seems to get a small burst of energy after having fluids -- he has not been too interested in jumping up on things in general recently, but after having fluids he's made a bit of mess of my desk getting up there a couple of times. Hope it helps your kitty feel a bit better.
You doing that alone? The vet suggests it's generally a 2-person job, and I'm sure it will be with this one.
That is, if we get to that point. My vet is in surgery right now, waiting for him to call back. I don't think we're down to every hour being critical here (else I would just go to ER vet, although I have an aversion to them because of previous bad experience) but it is making me a little nervous. She did get a dose of fluids on saturday but there's been zero perk up. I don't know her levels by numbers but the vet had said it was early. So I'm not sure what's wrong with her but she refuses everything now, even her very favorite treats that she would still meow about just a couple days ago.
Hope you have continued good luck with Malachi. Many cats will live for additional months or a few years with the sub-q unless you haven't caught the CKD until close to the end (sounds like you got it reasonably early). Progression can vary but we'll keep our paws crossed.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
She has nibbled at the dry bowl today and now has eaten a couple times from the plate of plain tuna that I left out (has extra water added). She's getting some intake at least. I'll feel a bit calmer tomorrow after we get the first fluid treatment and see if that stabilizes her interest in food or not. Drinks a ton but I know ultimately that is not enough.
