I've lost 2 cats over the years to renal failure. In fact, DD adopted a kitty at the beginning of July and while we were filling out the paperwork the subject of the renal failure came up. The technician said they are seeing more and more of it in our area. The vets at that particular practice think it is something environmental in our area. We live in Mid Atlantic. Also, I was never given the option of during the subq fluids as a treatment. The vet just said there was no hope?? Do you do the subq fluid at home? I wish I was given that option since the two I lost were only 5 and 8 years old.

There is a wonderful group on Yahoo that is all about Feline CRF. They were real angels to me when we went thru this with our 18 y.o. baby for the last year of her life. I no longer have the link but I'm sure you can do a search within the Yahoo Groups pages. Good Luck to you.

Labmomma,

It's a shame your vet did not discuss subq's with you, and you r babies were so young! Yes I believe had you a different ver your babies would still be alive. May of us are told our cats will not live long, and they have lived years beyond. There is a lot of hope with CRF cats. Some have lived to be 23, I'm sorry you did you lost your babies. Do you have anymore furbabies? Like Lynn said there is a great group on yahoo where lots of us (over 7,000 I think) that have cats with CRF, and there is a lot of great advice. If you have anymore cats, even if they don't have CRF it is good to get on the list ad learn, that way if it ever happens again ou will be prepared.

The vet tech showed me at the office how to give Jaz her subq's and after a few hard starts I don't even have to restrain her, we heat the fluids and my partner holds the bag while I sit on the floor (Jaz on her heated blanket) then quickly I put the needle in. We got with a smaller one, less pain and while it takes a little longer it is well worth it for our baby. I'm sorry for your loss!

Hi Lynn,

I am on the group, it's a great place, very helpful!

Kendall, yes we have 3 male neutered cats. One of the three, Oliver has had the urinary blockage in the past. He takes Cosequin in his wet food to prevent a recurrence. The others are a grey and white fatty, Handsome and a tuxedo teen kitten, Louis. Thanks for the info and I will be better prepared if this occurs again in the future.

Our Furby developed kidney stones when he was 4. Diagnosed as CRF a year later, when he blocked again. That's when we learned about fluid therapy and other meds to help him. (Needs Pepcid and a potassium supplement, and Cardizem for a related heart condition.) He's been great since then, and he's 8 now. He gets bloodwork and an ultrasound to check for stones and look at his heart every 6 months.

There are options for CRF kitties, but sadly, some vets don't realize this. Lots of people think we're nuts for doing what we do for Furby. Meds 3x/day and fluids every other day. But he's worth it. And gelcaps are wonderful things. ;-)

Labmomma, we lived in central VA when Furby formed the stones. Our vet mentioned that he (yes, the vet himself) gets kidney stones as well, and he was told or read that the highest incidence of human kidney stones in the country was in the Mid-Atlantic area. After we heard that, we put Furby on distilled water. Unfortunately, that didn't work, because he didn't like the distilled water and didn't drink as much and formed stones again. After his second blockage, we put him back on tap water, but by that time, we were in Ohio on well water. He drinks much more now (he loves to drink from the bathtub faucet), and the sub-q fluids no doubt help a lot as well. Yes, we do it at home, but we prefer not to use the dripline and to just use a big syringe and inject it. Furby is waaay too active to hold still for a few minutes for his fluids, and the injection takes under a minute. We do warm the fluid first, as that seems to make things much more comfortable for him. (Makes sense!) And he grumps about it a little, but it's really pretty easy to do.

Kendal, that's awesome about Jaz! Glad to hear she's doing so well.

The Yahoo group is wonderful. Here is the addy:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/

Another site with lots of great info is: http://www.felinecrf.com/

Diana & Furby

Thanks Diana! I just keep my hopes up that she remains stabilized. She still has some off days, but I try not to dwell too much on how much time she has left and just enjoy her a day at a time.

Have you tried Furby on filtered water? We drink it, and it tastes much better. also the vet told us it was best for Jaz to drink filtered water. The taste is good, and she loves it. It's not too expensive and worth it if your Furby drinks it.

Kendal & Jaz

Kendal,

I have a cat named Jazz with CRF too!! Only he's a boy.
The first vet I took him to said he would "last" about a year, well, it's been over 5 years and he's doing great!! Of course I have a different vet now. She's great. He gets 100 ml sub q's every three days, Petinic vitamin 2 times a day, eats IVD modified food,and drinks distilled water. I also have another CRF cat, Rex, who is also hyperthyroid as well. Same regime, plus Tapazole twice a day. He is about three years since dx. and is doing great as well!!
I think that a lot of cats that people think are just old are really CRF, and they could be helped. I had a cat growing up that, looking back, had all the symptoms of CRF, of course we didn't know it, and she just eventually died. She was 19 though.

Thanks for starting this thread!!

Rita

Something you might want to consider is asking your veterinarian about Captopril. If your cat has high blood pressure (definitely a problem with hyperthyroidism), then the high BP should be managed, and Captopril is one of the best choices in this case. If your cat is diabetic, and has blood pressure high enough to justify treatment, again, Captopril should be considered. Your vet will probably have to order the "people" version and calculate the appropriate dose.

Okay--WHY Captopril? Because studies have shown that it protects the kidneys. If I found that I had Type II diabetes or any kidney problems, I'd insist my doc switch me from my calcium channel blocker to Captopril pronto.

None of this means that you should skip all the other things, especially the sub-q fluids, but it's one more thing that could make kitty's life better longer. That is, if the kittymonster will tolerate a daily pill (I have one hellkitty who believes the appropriate response to ANY oral medication is to foam at the mouth and howl).

Lisa

Hi Rita,

Jaz is short for Jasmin, Jaz is a great nick though (o: Wow, to have 2 cats with the disease, it's hard enough making sure Jaz gets her meds and fluids. I hate having to poke her everyday, but it is quick and how it helped makes it worth it. No she has been vomiting off and on, yesterday right after having a bowel movement. There were two big round ones, and while not really hard they were big enough to cause her a problem. I have her on a stool softener, and it's hard to find the balance of how much to give, sometimes the dose the vet prescribed is enough, and other times I have to add a little in the middle of the day. Thanks for writing and I'm glad your Jazz is doing great. Are you on the yahoo e-mail list for CRF felines? It is a great help, a lot of mail but worth it to be able to talk to people who are going through the same thing as we are.

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the tip, and yes it is hard to give pills, I've got 3 so far, a BP med, pepcid, and the appetite stimlulant, then I have th powered stool softener. It's a challenge to make sure she gets them all. I use baby food, chicken is her favorite and grind the pills in there. It works most of the time, and makes it easy that way. What a trip, a foaming at themouth howling kitty, now that would be a site to see!!

Hi Kendal,

My Jazz is short for Jazzpurr. He's a big beautiful all black boy!! Ha Ha. How about your Jaz? I remember the first few times we gave fluids to him, I cried. It does get better though. They pick up on your reactions, so if you are calm, it helps them be calm. At least that's what I try to do for myself!!! I think the throwing up thing just kind of comes with disease, I know I have to deal with it occasionally. My Rex tends to get constipated, so that's a lot of fun too. My vet said to try canned pumpkin............of course he hates it, but Jazz and Gizmo (yes, a third..I am a bit of that crazy cat lady!! Ha Ha) LOVE it!!. Only they don't need it.
I am a member on yahoo, have been for quite a few years. I don't go on there much anymore, it seems like it used to be better. I don't know. Maybe just me. I will have to check it out again.
Hope your little Jaz is feeling better!!!

Talk to you soon
Rita

re: Dehydration. I have had cats in the past with all kinds of urinary issues.

Now with this cat, I bought this new automatic watering 'fountain' thing. It has a charcoal filter, and drizzles water like a fountain automatically. My cat drinks very well and stays very hydrated. I credit it for hairball prevention as we have not had a problem so far, and she's 3 years old.

Rita,

Jaz is a mix Egyptian Mau/tabby/Savannah, she is quite the beauty, and pretty big, she was 16 lbs, but because of CRF she now weights just a little over 9 lbs. She looked more like an Savannah/Egyptian when she was younger, but as she grew older more of the tabby came out. She stills has the spots, and rings around her tail like a serval/Savannah,and like many cats with a more "exotic" mix in them her hind les are longer then her front. She is special to me no doubt about it!

My cat doesn't have renal failure but she had bladder crystals and repeated infections. I changed her food to a special urinary tract dry food. I divide her food into three servings and soak it with 1/3 cup of water each time. So she gets a total of a cup a day, she's 15lbs. The correct water amount is calculated by dividing the number of ounces the cat weighs in half. Her urine is no longer overly acidic and no new infections since we started the forced water.
I did loose another cat recently to an unknown mass, outside of his loungs and his kindneys suddenly started shutting down. He stopped eating, the SUB Q fluids didn't help. Unfortunalty it was all so sudden that we couldn't even operate to find out what the mass was. I was even force feeding him with a tube for several weeks. Just sharing this to say I know what you all are going through with the sick kitties. I've had more than my share over the years. The one thing people can't say is that I don't spend enough money on my pets at the vet!! I think I paid for his second vacation home!