I just found out my 15 yr old kitten has kidney disease.

He has BUN of 88 and creatine (?) of 6.

My vet is putting him on special Kidney Disease food. I searched on line a bit today and read about 1) fluid therapy 2) potassium and 3) ACE inhibitors and I'm going to talk with my vet about these possibilities. She said he could have a few months or a few years, hard to tell. He seems so normal, except for drastically increased drink/urine and weight loss, it's hard to believe that he is dying! (dying??) (my baby?)

You guys were so helpful with my foster babies, I want to ask if anyone can tell me anything that I MUST know now. Anything you wish you'd known when you first learned of this in your kitty?

Thank you.

Hope all your little ones are well tonight!

Both lived several years with the disease. The key was to keep them on the special low protein diet which is easier on their kidneys. Toward the end of my Maggie's life (she had congestive heart failure as well as kidney failure), I gave her subcutaneous fluid to help flush out her kidneys. I wish you and your kitty the best.

juggle three cats all eating different foods!!!!!!!!!! Ugh. Would be fairly easy but the kitten needs to have access to food constantly.

Thank you for your encouraging words. I'm hoping my Goofy will live for years rather than months. I'm just so glad that I know, this way I can give him all the attention in the world between now and then.

Anyway, thank you.

Okay, so it's not patented and it doesn't have to be a box. I took a Xerox box and cut a small hole in the end so the kitty could get in but not the cat. Food goes in box, lid with tape and voila'

Alternative - babygate that kitty can get under but big cats cannot.

It works while kitty is small enough to need constant access to food. :)

ago and he laughed at me. I'm doing it anyway! Thanks.:hi:

animals.

Poor kitty.

When she was first diagnosed, the vet said maybe a year or two. She ended up living almost five. But she was also a young dog and her kidney failure was chronic due to a birth defect, not from old age.

We fed her special food, gave her subcutaneous fluids, and gave her medication for an upset stomach. At the very end, she also got some very expensive medication for the anemia.

You can purchase sub Q's wholesale for much less than your vet will sell it for. Also, if your vet prescribes human medication (as ours did for the anemia), you can often get it cheaper through a regular pharmacy.

And finally, and sadly, we were able to donate the left over medication to another family in the same vet practice with the same diagnosis who was too strapped to afford it after my sweet girl passed. :cry:

Good luck!

hung in there so long for you - no doubt because she was very well loved and cared for with you!

I will keep the medicine info in mind. My cat vomits almost every night (only at night) I think he might need that med as well.

Thank you.

for her stomach upset. Be sure to check with your vet to be certain it is ok for cats and dosage info.

was diagnosed at 5 months of age. He is now almost three and a half years old. His renal profile has been at the upper end of normal for the past two years. I keep him on a very strict diet, watch his stress and activity levels as they seem to affect his kidney function, and I encourage him to drink lots of water. My vet also gave me recipes that are renal friendly to cook for my dog. Gives him some variety and makes him feel special. My dog initially saw two vets and they were reluctant to give me a long term prognosis - though one was clearly more pessimistic than the other. There is a Yahoo discussion board dealing with canine renal disease that is quite helpful - not sure if there is one for cats or not.

Best to you and your furbaby.

for a long time to come. You're doing a really great job.

and being that kidney health is so related to consuming liquid I purchased one of these Drinkwell fountains. I put filtered water in the fountain and the motor circulates and keeps the water clean all day. Cats really love clean filtered water. When Charley was just outdoors and wouldn't come close I gave him a bowl of dry food and a bowl of filtered water every day. I actually think the first time I ever saw him "smile" was when he was drinking the clean filtered water.

If you can afford one, please get a drinkwell fountain. All three of my cats love it. You might reverse some of the damage with the larger amount of water consumed as well.

Picture from the Foster and Smith catalog:

has. He'll only drink out of ceramic (not metal or plastic) and he has (all three cats have) bowls everywhere! There's one in each bathroom, one in the kitchen and one outside on the lanai (screened porch), all of these are large dog bowls, and the water is changed at least once a day. When I'm in the bathroom he jumps on the sink and "asks" for water so I take the bowl, dump it, and give fresh water...this happens many times a day. He drinks a lot. I see him using all of the bowls.

Thank you though. I know some cats will only drink running water.

www.therightremedy.com. You have to select "Pet Health Articles" on the left and then "Chronic Renal Failure" out of the list that comes up on the right (there's no direct link). Wish I'd known this when my Sesame was in renal failure. Fortunately, we caught Satchmo's in time.

Good luck with your kitty. I hope you find all the right answers. :hug:

the raw food diet for animals. It makes me nervous - I hate raw meat and clean the counters like crazy if raw meat has been out at all. I have to get over this I guess.

Do you follow his recipe exactly? Where can I get bone meal? Your kitty's doing well on it?

Just saw your reply today (ONLY 10 days later!).

He stabilized after I put him on the special food, and I never had to give him the subcutaneous fluid. I hope you are as lucky.

better, with more energy and no sign of nausea. He's losing muscle mass though (I feel ribs for the first time in about 8 years!) and I worry that the low protein content will make this worse.

Thank you!!

and she lived until she was 22! We fed her the low-protein diet and gave her potassium.

So, sorry to hear about the diagnosis, but there is hope that your kitty will hang in a good while longer.

One thing that took us awhile to get right was the potassium. The daily squirt in the mouth was becoming so tramatic, it was making her run from us when she saw us! :cry: What I ended up doing was getting tablets instead of gel. Then I ground them up into fine powder with a morter and pestle and mixed it into her food. She never knew the difference. (They don't have much taste.) So we never had to cram a pill or gel down her throat after that.

When my kitty was first diagnosed with renal failure, she could hardly walk because of potassium deficiency and the potassium worked wonders. I wish you well with your kitty and hope you still have some good years left yet.

Just in case my vet isn't in agreement: what is the dose you gave your cat? is it the same potassium I would take only smaller dose?

but sorry, I can't remember the dosage. It came in tablets from the vet. She was supposed to have two a day and I just ground them up. I didn't know how much it was.

allllllllllllllllllllllllll my animals went like that they live a long time mine do so it is what happens i have one right now that is having a problem i hate to say it but hey we allllllll have to go you are doing the right thing but dialysis is no good wont work
i will pray for you and yours good luck
robin

Apparently it is really early in the disease, doesn't even show any abnormal results on the bloodwork, but it is scary. He has lost weight and just doesn't seem right. A month ago he seemed fine. I am devastated and am under so much stress already with getting ready to move.

:hug:

Don't know if this will help, but, since you caught this in the really early stages, your kitty may live many more years. And, if this thought helps, perhaps the stress can lift a little as I think that our furbabies pick up our stress.