I hate to be the wet blanket, but this isn't necessarily a kind thing. Euthanasia isn't the worst thing that can happen to a pet. Have you met this woman? Have you seen the "farm"? What happens when your cat gets another urinary tract infection? Is she actually a client of your vet, or did she just give him her phone number? So many times people who "take in" cats are just replacing barn cats that don't last long due to predators or untreated health problems. I once repossessed a kitten, actually called the vet & told her she better get my kitten back, because I found out the true circumstances about the 'good home in the country'. Maybe this situation really is good, & I hope it is, but if it were my cat, I'd check.

I haven't posted on any forum on GW for a long time, but this one really got to me. Not in a bad way... it just did. My cat has peed for forever...off and on. Let's see. Got him in 1995 (my roommate got his sibling). Pee'ed everywhere (beds, chairs, carpet). Moved out in 1996. Pee'ed everywhere (cats outside the window). 1997-2000. Lived in a place with no cats outside. No peeing anywhere but the box. 2000-2003. Another place with no cats. No peeing. 2003-2004- Moved to a place with cats outside. He started to pee again. Husband threatened to kill one of us! LOL. Actually not so funny. I cried almost everyday. 2004-Saw the vet, linked the history, and my cat is on prozac as of about 2 years ago. No problems since. My problem (not MY problem...my cats problem...LOL) was territoriality. Don't discount the drugs in certain situations. It's best to be open-minded. It worked for my cat. I was considering giving him away or euthanasia...didn't want to do either. This problem had seriously affected my home life, which is why I was thinking about serious solutions. I'm glad I still have my cat. I adopted him, so he became my responsibility, and I don't take that lightly. Talk to your vet. And good luck from someone who sympathizes.

JJ, Renal failure is extremely common in elderly cats (and often in not-so-elderly cats). Unfortunately, it is as variable a disease as are the number of cats who endure it. There really are no "norms" where renal failure is concerned. There are cats who live for years after diagnosis, and there are cats who fail very quickly. The only thing you can "expect" with renal failure is the inevitable end. It is a terminal diagnosis. As lf mentioned, many of the symptoms of CRF are manageable. The keys to management of CRF are education and vigilant caretaking. You have already been given the URL to one CRF website, but the website which I consider to be the "CRF Bible" is linked below. If you spend as much time as possible reading through these sites, you will learn a tremendous amount about this disease, its associated ailments, and its management. There is nothing more important you can do for your cat right now than to educate yourself about CRF. To answer your questions, at-home subQ fluid administration is a critically important skill to acquire and practice. Your vet can and should teach you how to do the fluid administration, and the websites offer pictorial tutorials to reinforce the procedure and offer helpful tips that your vet might not mention. You'll probably find it a bit nerve-wracking at first, but you'll get the hang of it, and your cat will become more and more cooperative as you become more proficient. It really is a life-saving procedure that provides considerable health benefits to the CRF cat with negligible (if any) discomfort. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of CRF is that a cat's condition can change from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. A cat who is critically ill one day may rally to relative health the next ... or not. We CRF caretakers tend to hold out for the next rally because it's so difficult to tell when a bad day will turn around or when it really does mark the end. If your cat does require hospitalization at some point, you will just need to trust your instincts and your knowledge of your own cat to help you decide whether to give him a chance to rally or to let him go. I, too, have a cat who is in the early stages of CRF with slightly elevated BUN and CREA values. He's my fourth CRF cat, and I know that he could become critical at any moment, or he could live in reasonable health for years. I've been down this road before, so I know what to watch for. I'll be having bloodwork run on him every 3 mos or more frequently if he becomes symptomatic. When his brother developed renal failure a year ago, I couldn't get his condition stabilized and was having to run bloodwork every couple of weeks to keep up with his changing blood values and symptoms. Unfortunately, I lost Bitsy just 3 mos after diagnosis. My first CRF cat, though, lived quite happily for 4 yrs after diagnosis. That's how variable this disease can be. I know you must be feeling overwhelmed right now, and you'll probably feel even moreso once you start reading the CRF websites. Don't let all the info make you crazy. I had to read the same info many, many times before it sank in and stuck. Just remember that the more you know about this disease, the better you'll be able to manage your boy and keep him comfortable and reasonably healthy for as long as possible. I wish you and your cat the best, Laurie Here is a link that might be useful: Tanya's CRF Information website

I could have written your post myself. Roy appeared at my house, chubby and neutered. During a 12" snowstorm he found his way into my basement via a cat door and just started living here. I fell in love immediately at his friendliness and thankfulness in having a home during the winter. Vet also estimated Roy's age as 2. My cats were smaller ex-ferals, and he stalked them mercilessly. I, too, live way back in the woods, my drive is about 1/8 mile long to the road, so I use a cat door. My other kitties also used to be carefree trouble-makers. loved being outdoors, especially when I was outside, too. They also now live under my bed, and haven't slept on the bed with me since Roy arrived, nor do they hardly ever go outside anymore. I, too, tried all the things that you did, even putting him in a cat carrier in my dark garage for almost an entire day. I tried the shock collar also. I tried it on myself first just to see how bad the shock was, and it was almost nothing - just enough to startle him. But you can't leave it on for more than 8 hours, so many of the times it was useless. Plus, he would run out the cat door when I did have it on him and he misbehaved, but the behavior would stop for just that particular moment in time, he would be right back to his old ways within hours. I keep the collar in a bowl, and when he hears me pick it up, he runs for the cat door, then comes back inside in about an hour and starts his torture. But as I mentioned earlier, the crate time-out has been the most successful thing I've done, it will usually cause him to behave for weeks at a time after I've put him in isolation for a long period. He eventually will misbehave, but I just yell CRATE and he knows what's coming. Because it hasn't completely solved my problem yet, my other cats are still just as fearful and wary of him, I don't know if they will ever return to their happy lives pre-Roy. But I will mention one other thing you might try. My sister recently died, and her a**h*** husband was just going to put her cats down (2 female ex-ferals). I had them flown here and I've taken them in. I know a woman who has MANY rescued cats, and she swears by the Feliway diffuser. I knew I was just asking for more trouble by taking in my sister's cats, so decided to buy and try the diffuser. All I can say is that he has shown virtually no interest in the new cats whatsoever, he certainly has not harassed them at all. So you might also try that and see if it makes a difference. I know exactly where you're coming from, and it's a horrible place to be - having once had carefree, loving cats who have been turned into fearful, hiding, isolated and miserable kitties. And I'm approaching 5 years of this. Good luck to you, and let me know how things evolve for you.