Cat with kidney disease?

Rockiemalt

Hello,
One of my 2 cats has been back forth to the vet since before Christmas and has got kidney problems according to blood tests & urine sample. She’s very young to have this problem at 8 years old. We’ve been giving her tablets which she hates but I was back at the vet with her again as she decided she didn’t want to eat, anything at all for the last few days. Vet gave her more appetite enhancers.

I’m just looking for anyone else that might have experience of a cat with kidney disease? did you find
something they’ll eat? I think i’ve gone through every cat food in the shop, whiskas cat milk, sausages, special dried icelandic cod that stinks..

loveisdivine

I don't have much experience myself but I just wanted to say if you go onto facebook and look for the page 'Feline Chronic Kidney Disease' you'll get tonnes of info.

Alun

Our cat is a good bit older than yours at 15, and is in the early stages of CKD. She also has arthritis in her hips and is prone to stress-related cystitis, so she's on a number of different medications and supplements at the moment.

What we do is to not feed her overnight, so she's really hungry in the mornings. We give her a tiny amount of food, with one of the medications in it, wait until she's eaten that and then give her the other medication, again in a tiny bit of food. She also has two supplements (Cystaid and Arthriaid) that she doesn't seem to mind at all so she gets those in a normal portion of food after that. It's a bit of a faff, but after many attempts to get her to take the medication by other means, it's what we've settled on as the best solution.

She's the classical cat from hell if you try to give her pills normally, even our vet had to admit defeat after getting her wrist slashed the other day, plus it stresses her out excessively which isn't what we want either because of the cystitis amongst other things.

Occasionally she gets into a strop and won't eat what you've given her, but you just have to be patient and ignore all the doleful looks asking "Can't you give me something nicer?" and she'll eventually eat everything up.

Another thing that happens in cats with CKD is that they can suffer from excessive stomach acid production which can cause them to vomit after eating. After that they're usually not keen on eating for a bit, but usually recover by themselves, but in extreme cases they may need treatment at the vet. Unfortunately this involves another pill, one which is a PITA to give orally, doesn't crush well to put into food, and appears to give the food a nasty taste/smell too, so we try and avoid if possible.

tk123

My cat had it - he was 6. He was off his food and throwing up all of a sudden and unfortunately it was too far advanced when it was diagnosed. It was a wed/thurs when we took him in initially and he was gone on the Monday afternoon. It just didn't seem fair to him so we made the decision to let him go

twomonkeys

It’s vitally important that a cat with CKD gets enough fluids to flush toxins out of the kidneys. Is your cat drinking plenty of water?
Unfortunately it can be a bit of a vicious circle with CKD. The disease makes the cat nauseous and lethargic which puts them off their food, which in turn makes the CKD worse.
Keep trying anything, wet pouches are best if shes not drinking much. Has the vet suggested admitting her on a drip for a day or two to get her kidney values down quickly, might kick start her appetite??

Alun

Yes, I was going to say about the fluid intake too. Luckily our cat was never one for dry food, so she's been on wet pouches for a while. Occasionally if she's just a bit off her food, one of those expensive foil trays usually does the trick.

She's never really drunk a lot of water, but seems to be drinking more of late, but not excessively.

We've had one episode recently where she was sick enough to almost stop eating anything, and the vet gave her a "fluid backpack" where fluids are injected directly under the skin plus an anti nausea injection. The minute we got her home she tucked into her food straight away, a very rapid response.

Rockiemalt

Thanks for all the advice. The one thing she is good at is drinking! Turn on a tap and she’ll happily stick her head under and drink until she’s happy. She has always been a fussy eater, doesn’t eat wet food at all, just cat nuts of varying sorts. Sometimes she’ll eat a sausage, or a ‘dreamy’ cat treat or really stinky dried icelandic fish but she’s still not eating today
She was in the vets in January and on a drip for a few days and that did perk her up.
Hopefully the appetite injection will start to work soon.
Got her a new cat cave yesterday too

twomonkeys

Oh bless her! I have a female tabby too. She’s currently got very severe heart disease so she’s literally down to her final days/weeks, but still in good form at the minute.
My last cat had CKD, I found myself practically begging my cat to eat at one stage, literally trying everything from tinned tuna to tiny bits of boiled chicken. Just keep trying, they can slowly start to improve. We brought ours back from the brink and she survived happily for another 10 months. My biggest regret is that I didnt feed her a renal diet after the first episode, perhaps she would’ve lived much longer if I had.

Alun

Our vet has suggested a renal food as well. My only concern is that she's a fussy eater at the best of time, so restricting what I can feed her even more might be a problem. I've seen Hills do a renal wet pouch food in 3 flavours, are there any others readily available?

Also, what do they actually do?

twomonkeys

Alun wrote: »

Our vet has suggested a renal food as well. My only concern is that she's a fussy eater at the best of time, so restricting what I can feed her even more might be a problem. I've seen Hills do a renal wet pouch food in 3 flavours, are there any others readily available?

Also, what do they actually do?

A specific renal food is very low in phosphorus. Phosphorus is a problem for cats with CKD, their kidneys cant filter it out and it builds to toxic levels which will eventually become fatal. If you can get her to eat the renal food it can lower the toxins in her system and actually increase her appetite. You can get both wet pouches and dry food.

My cat is on a renal diet at the minute, as all the meds shes on for her heart has affected her kidneys. She eats Royal Canin renal pouches, but only the chicken variety. She’ll sometimes pick at the dry variety if I mix some of her old nuts in with it. At this stage it’s her heart that will kill her, not her kidneys so I’m giving her whatever she wants.

Rockiemalt

At this stage if she eats anything at all i’m happy! Tortilla chips have pleased her before so it might be back to those again! If she perks up I’ll try renal food but I think it might just end up with her hungry giant big bro eating it!

Rockiemalt

Poor furry friend had enough and has gone to the big cat heaven in the sky

Nody

Rockiemalt wrote: »

Poor furry friend had enough and has gone to the big cat heaven in the sky

Sorry to hear that

Alun

Rockiemalt wrote: »

Poor furry friend had enough and has gone to the big cat heaven in the sky

Oh dear, so sorry to hear that. Very sad to lose a cat at such a young age, but you did all you could to help and that's the important thing.

twomonkeys

Rockiemalt wrote: »

Poor furry friend had enough and has gone to the big cat heaven in the sky

Ah no, so sorry. Once they stop eating for days its a struggle to get them back well again. Take care. Xx