Help!!! My cat is dying of kidney failure!!!

Hi,

I took my 4 year old cat Magic to the vet today because he has pretty
much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. He was diagnosed with
Chonic Renal Failure with secondary anemia. Since Magic was not happy
at the vet (they had to sedate him in order to examin him because he
was very angry, scared, and started attacking everyone once we got into
the exam room). The vet also put "Cat is very difficult to work with
and may not be able to give SQ Fluids at home" on the diagosis.

So the vet pretty much gave Magic the death sentence. He said Magic
only has a few weeks left, and other people in similar situations
usually come back two days later to put the cat to sleep. He gave me
some canned food, and asked me to let him know when I'm ready.

Aside from not eating and losing weight, Magic seems somewhat normal.
He's still walking around and sometimes jumps up and down. He now
weighs only 8.06 lbs (from 14 last June) and is pretty much all bones.

The blood test showed high level of toxins. The vet urged me to get a
second opinion, but he said numbers don't lie.

The test results read:
ALP 53 10-90
ALT 36 20-100
BUN 170* 10-30
CRE 11.3* 0.3-2.1
GLU 136 70-150
TP 7.7 5.4-8.2
QC OK
HEM 1+, LIP 0, ICT 0

According to the vet, the BUN and CRE levels are fatally high and the
cat simply can't survive. Does anyone if there's any way I can save my
cat? He's my first pet ever and I am just not ready to let him go yet.
I thought he was just having teeth problems and that's why he wasn't
eating. I was totally not prepared to hear that he was going to die and
that I only had a week or two left with him.

Please, someone, if you know anything about kidney failures, or CRF
(Chronic Renal Failure), please share with me. If you know of an online
forum where there are more knowledgeable people on cats, please share
with me too. I'm so sad right now I don't know what I am typing.

Thanks!

in article ,
lydiainflorida at wrote on 2/10/05 6:19 PM:

Hi,

I took my 4 year old cat Magic to the vet today because he has pretty
much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. He was diagnosed with
Chonic Renal Failure with secondary anemia. Since Magic was not happy
at the vet (they had to sedate him in order to examin him because he
was very angry, scared, and started attacking everyone once we got into
the exam room). The vet also put "Cat is very difficult to work with
and may not be able to give SQ Fluids at home" on the diagosis.

So the vet pretty much gave Magic the death sentence. He said Magic
only has a few weeks left, and other people in similar situations
usually come back two days later to put the cat to sleep. He gave me
some canned food, and asked me to let him know when I'm ready.

Aside from not eating and losing weight, Magic seems somewhat normal.
He's still walking around and sometimes jumps up and down. He now
weighs only 8.06 lbs (from 14 last June) and is pretty much all bones.

The blood test showed high level of toxins. The vet urged me to get a
second opinion, but he said numbers don't lie.

The test results read:
ALP 53 10-90
ALT 36 20-100
BUN 170* 10-30
CRE 11.3* 0.3-2.1
GLU 136 70-150
TP 7.7 5.4-8.2
QC OK
HEM 1+, LIP 0, ICT 0

According to the vet, the BUN and CRE levels are fatally high and the
cat simply can't survive. Does anyone if there's any way I can save my
cat? He's my first pet ever and I am just not ready to let him go yet.
I thought he was just having teeth problems and that's why he wasn't
eating. I was totally not prepared to hear that he was going to die and
that I only had a week or two left with him.

Please, someone, if you know anything about kidney failures, or CRF
(Chronic Renal Failure), please share with me. If you know of an online
forum where there are more knowledgeable people on cats, please share
with me too. I'm so sad right now I don't know what I am typing.

Thanks!

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about this. Many people have suggested:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/

Here's a website that has a ton of useful info about CRF - all of the
stages, which I hope will help you out:
http://www.felinecrf.org/

Cathy

"lydiainflorida" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I took my 4 year old cat Magic to the vet today because he has pretty
much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. He was diagnosed with
Chonic Renal Failure with secondary anemia. Since Magic was not happy
at the vet (they had to sedate him in order to examin him because he
was very angry, scared, and started attacking everyone once we got into
the exam room). The vet also put "Cat is very difficult to work with
and may not be able to give SQ Fluids at home" on the diagosis.

So the vet pretty much gave Magic the death sentence. He said Magic
only has a few weeks left, and other people in similar situations
usually come back two days later to put the cat to sleep. He gave me
some canned food, and asked me to let him know when I'm ready.

Aside from not eating and losing weight, Magic seems somewhat normal.
He's still walking around and sometimes jumps up and down. He now
weighs only 8.06 lbs (from 14 last June) and is pretty much all bones.

The blood test showed high level of toxins. The vet urged me to get a
second opinion, but he said numbers don't lie.

The test results read:
ALP 53 10-90
ALT 36 20-100
BUN 170* 10-30
CRE 11.3* 0.3-2.1
GLU 136 70-150
TP 7.7 5.4-8.2
QC OK
HEM 1+, LIP 0, ICT 0

According to the vet, the BUN and CRE levels are fatally high and the
cat simply can't survive. Does anyone if there's any way I can save my
cat? He's my first pet ever and I am just not ready to let him go yet.
I thought he was just having teeth problems and that's why he wasn't
eating. I was totally not prepared to hear that he was going to die and
that I only had a week or two left with him.

Please, someone, if you know anything about kidney failures, or CRF
(Chronic Renal Failure), please share with me. If you know of an online
forum where there are more knowledgeable people on cats, please share
with me too. I'm so sad right now I don't know what I am typing.

Thanks!

Thank you guys so much! I'm checking it out right now!

"lydiainflorida" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you guys so much! I'm checking it out right now!

You're welcome. That website really is extremely helpful, & the group that
Karen posted has also proved to be very supportive to many people.

It just dawned on me that you said that your cat is only 4 - that's very
unusual for CRF, which is usually an older cat's disease. Simply from the
kidneys' functioning wearing out to the point where not enough function is
left (~30% or less) to sustain the cat's health.

At any rate, if treatment helps him - & within that scope, hopefully you'll
be able to get sub-Q's into him, great. If OTOH it truly is the end of his
road, then (IMO) reading up on the whole deal will still be helpful to you.

Cathy

Also, it might be useful to get all the sub-Q gear to *try* giving
Magic the fluids at home. Some cats can be quite different in their
own environment, and the procedure isn't really that nasty for them;
they just have to get used to what you're doing, and you would probably
need someone he knows to help you keep him still. Or, can the vet or a
vet nurse do a home visit and try the subQs with you there?

Just a thought,
Cath

wrote in message
ups.com...
Also, it might be useful to get all the sub-Q gear to *try* giving
Magic the fluids at home. Some cats can be quite different in their
own environment, and the procedure isn't really that nasty for them;

Yes, I was thinking along this line, too.


they just have to get used to what you're doing, and you would probably
need someone he knows to help you keep him still. Or, can the vet or a
vet nurse do a home visit and try the subQs with you there?

Esp. this latter, IMO, is a possibility to investigate.

Cathy

Just a thought,
Cath

"lydiainflorida" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I took my 4 year old cat Magic to the vet today because he has pretty
much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. He was diagnosed with
Chonic Renal Failure with secondary anemia. Since Magic was not happy
at the vet (they had to sedate him in order to examin him because he
was very angry, scared, and started attacking everyone once we got into
the exam room). The vet also put "Cat is very difficult to work with
and may not be able to give SQ Fluids at home" on the diagosis.

So the vet pretty much gave Magic the death sentence. He said Magic
only has a few weeks left, and other people in similar situations
usually come back two days later to put the cat to sleep. He gave me
some canned food, and asked me to let him know when I'm ready.

Aside from not eating and losing weight, Magic seems somewhat normal.
He's still walking around and sometimes jumps up and down. He now
weighs only 8.06 lbs (from 14 last June) and is pretty much all bones.

The blood test showed high level of toxins. The vet urged me to get a
second opinion, but he said numbers don't lie.

The test results read:
ALP 53 10-90
ALT 36 20-100
BUN 170* 10-30
CRE 11.3* 0.3-2.1
GLU 136 70-150
TP 7.7 5.4-8.2
QC OK
HEM 1+, LIP 0, ICT 0

According to the vet, the BUN and CRE levels are fatally high and the
cat simply can't survive. Does anyone if there's any way I can save my
cat? He's my first pet ever and I am just not ready to let him go yet.
I thought he was just having teeth problems and that's why he wasn't
eating. I was totally not prepared to hear that he was going to die and
that I only had a week or two left with him.

Please, someone, if you know anything about kidney failures, or CRF
(Chronic Renal Failure), please share with me. If you know of an online
forum where there are more knowledgeable people on cats, please share
with me too. I'm so sad right now I don't know what I am typing.

Thanks!



Don't give up, especially at that young age. My cat Amber was also
diagnosed with CRF, and she also had IBD. In her case, the problem was
first noticed in routine blood work done as part of her annual exam when she
was age 13. Up until that time, she had appeared to be completely healthy.
Three months later, her readings were dramatically worse and she had lost
weight. I was told that she probably would not live more than a few
weeks -- "three months at the most." I did not have the problem you
described concerning Magic's reaction to the vet (Amber would basically
meatloaf on the examining table), but other parts of your description sound
very similar. We had to try a variety of canned foods because almost
everything caused vomiting and extreme diarrhea. We finally found one of
the prescription canned foods that worked well, but it was not the one that
most vets first start with for CRF. It has been a number of years, and I no
longer remember which one "did the trick," but it took a period of
experimentation. That worked well for quite some time, although chronic
diarrhea remained a problem. We found that Imodium AD was an excellent
treatment for that -- pills were easier to administer than liquids, and the
vet showed me how to trim the tablet down to a BB-size for her small weight.
For awhile, she was also treated with Prednisone. As I recall, we first
gradually increased the dosage, then a plateau, then gradually reduced.
Eventually, we had to use it on a more consistent basis. As time
progressed, there were times when she seemed unable to eat. She would come
to her food, sit there with her head over the bowl, then leave without
eating. My mother (who grew up on a farm) told me what her father used to
do in those instances, and it worked very well for Amber. That is, I took
chicken pieces (*include* the skin and bones, for nourishment) and boiled
them for a *very* long time. The point was, I wasn't trying to get the
actual chicken; I needed to boil until I could reduce the liquid and use
that. Then I would refrigerate the liquid. After refrigeration, it would
be a gel (if not, it wasn't boiled long enough or too much water was used in
the beginning) and skim off the fat. Several times a day, I would microwave
a tablespoon of that just enough to melt it and get it slightly warm (*not*
hot) and would a needleless syringe provided by the vet to get some down her
throat. Be careful doing that -- I aimed for the side of her throat, not
the center to avoid choking, and was careful not to use too much. After a
couple of days, this would stimulate her appetite to the point where she
returned to her normal eating pattern and I could discontinue that part of
her treatment (although I would continue to pour a small amount on her food
for a couple of days, then discard the rest).

The end result of all this is: Amber lived another 3 years, not just 3
months, and they were very good years. My vet was amazed that she lived for
so long and seemed so happy. She needed continuous treatment such as I
described, but she remained a happy, loving (and dearly loved!) cat. She
did continue to gradually lose weight, despite all our precautions, and she
periodically needed Ringer's lactate to prevent dehydration. You need to
watch carefully for that -- and act promptly -- especially if your cat has
diarrhea because a cat can quickly become dehydrated. My vet gave me the
names of specialists at 3 different colleges of veterinary medicine, and I
called them for telephone consultation. Remarkably, all 3 gave me a lot of
time and did not charge anything for the "long-distance consultations."
Given Amber's age and condition, they confirmed what I was doing and thought
it would be best not to subject her to the travel needed to get to a
veterinary college. If I were you, I would strongly consider getting to the
closest veterinary school for additional diagnostic work because your cat is
*very* young for this diagnosis. It is important to act fast because a cat
can decline very quickly under these circumstances. You may need to ask
your vet to call the veterinary school and give them a referral plus fax a
copy of Magic's records to them.

Good luck with all this, and please keep us informed.

MaryL

I'm so sorry to hear about Magic. My cat us very young too and has CRF.

Don't give up. Get a second opinion from another vet. My cat had high
creatine and urea readings 6 months ago before diagnosis. Following a
special diet and daily medication these readings have come down enormously.
The urea is now normal and the creatine has dropped by 200 points.

It IS so hard to know what to do when they stop eating altogether and when
my cat did it - in desperation I gave her what I knew she liked just to get
her eating again - then swiftly switched her back to the diet food.

My cat has had 2 recent crises in 3 weeks which, it seems, may be a
potassium problem linked to CRF and from which she's still recovering - but
is much better.

I know exactly how you are feeling. There is a very fine line between
plugging away and not giving up and admitting defeat and not putting the cat
through further invasive and stressful procedures.

You really do need to visit the websites others have suggested - but I would
suggest take it one step at a time. I found it hard to come to terms with
the CRF diagnosis and found the websites suggested - scary and a bit too
much in one go. But nevertheless, they are very informative.

CRF is a life change for you as well as your cat. No more holidays, a real
emotional rollercoaster, and the constant worry when you're at work.
Insurance can be a thing of the past too as can the cat being allowed out.

Nevertheless - when a CRF cat is stabilised I understand they can live happy
and content lives for many years.

good luck

sarah

On 10 Feb 2005 16:19:11 -0800, "lydiainflorida"
wrote:

Hi,

I took my 4 year old cat Magic to the vet today because he has pretty
much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. He was diagnosed with
Chonic Renal Failure with secondary anemia. Since Magic was not happy
at the vet (they had to sedate him in order to examin him because he
was very angry, scared, and started attacking everyone once we got into
the exam room). The vet also put "Cat is very difficult to work with
and may not be able to give SQ Fluids at home" on the diagosis.

So the vet pretty much gave Magic the death sentence. He said Magic
only has a few weeks left, and other people in similar situations
usually come back two days later to put the cat to sleep. He gave me
some canned food, and asked me to let him know when I'm ready.

Aside from not eating and losing weight, Magic seems somewhat normal.
He's still walking around and sometimes jumps up and down. He now
weighs only 8.06 lbs (from 14 last June) and is pretty much all bones.

The blood test showed high level of toxins. The vet urged me to get a
second opinion, but he said numbers don't lie.

The test results read:
ALP 53 10-90
ALT 36 20-100
BUN 170* 10-30
CRE 11.3* 0.3-2.1
GLU 136 70-150
TP 7.7 5.4-8.2
QC OK
HEM 1+, LIP 0, ICT 0

According to the vet, the BUN and CRE levels are fatally high and the
cat simply can't survive. Does anyone if there's any way I can save my
cat? He's my first pet ever and I am just not ready to let him go yet.
I thought he was just having teeth problems and that's why he wasn't
eating. I was totally not prepared to hear that he was going to die and
that I only had a week or two left with him.

Please, someone, if you know anything about kidney failures, or CRF
(Chronic Renal Failure), please share with me. If you know of an online
forum where there are more knowledgeable people on cats, please share
with me too. I'm so sad right now I don't know what I am typing.

Thanks!

I'm so sorry to hear about this, but don't give up just yet.

Others have already recommended a couple of excellent sites to help
you. All I can add is my sympathies, and to give you hope by telling
you I have a CRF cat who was diagnosed nearly five years ago, so you
never know.

Best of luck to you.

Blessings,

Ginger-lyn