Cats will convince you that having eaten fifteen minutes ago means they're starving. I'm very concerned about the enlarged kidney-maybe meghane will weigh in on that. Wheezing is abnormal too, I don't know if obesity contributes to wheezing in cats. Get the dry food out of the house altogether. That veterinary Iams is as bad as Science Diet. They're both loaded with grains which cats lack the ability to metabolise so these foods can end up making them more obese. They can also contribute to chronic disease, such as diabetes, renal failure, and heaven knows what else. I turned my cats over from dry food entirely until they were all at a proper weight. It's much easier to get cats to proper weight with species-appropriate feeding. They're cats, not cows. Leave the grains out of their diet. Cats are obligate carnivores, so need to be fed primarily meat. To make the transition easier, start by watering the kibbles that you currently feed. Then place the dishes within reach for 15-20 minutes. Pick up the dishes and clean them after that time, then NO MORE FOOD until the next meal. You're best feeding four times a day if you can, but twice isn't going to kill them. They WILL try to convince you that they're going to go skinny and die before tea if you don't go back to their kibble-on-demand schedule. Don't give in. Over time start adding grain-free, low-carbohydrate wet food to the moistened kibble, while reducing the amount of kibble offered. The cats will put up a stubbornness but please persist. Try offering a piece of plain meat as a treat too. Cat treats are usually made of wheat which should be avoided. Plain meat contains nutrients in a form that cats can metabolise, so it makes a far better treat food. My cats get real meat as the primary food source, augmented with commercial grain-free, low-carbohydrate tinned food. I admit that I do keep kibble on hand, but it's a grain-free variety that is ONLY offered as treats no more than once daily. A tiny sack of the kibble lasts for weeks and weeks with SEVEN cats. Incidentally, I had two cats who would go overweight very easily, two others who had interstitial cystitis with crystals, one with tentatively diagnosed IBD, one with patchy fur and itchy skin problems. Guess what? These problems no longer bother my cats. Although there is no way to claim that diet alone healed the problems, it certainly helped. The heavyweights are within the middle of their healthy weights, the cystitis cats have shown no symptoms of discomfort urinating nor crystals in lab tests, the itchy patchy cat is not itchy and the patches have grown in again, and the IBD cat is eating well and only throws the very occasional hairball. Our vets are peeved that I did this without the very expensive "prescription" diets (that the cats didn't like anyway). They keep trying to find something wrong with my cats so they can justify their position that the toxic 'prescription' diets are the only way to have healthy cats. ONE vet in the practice is completely supportive of my position on proper cat nutrition and only looks for signs of malnutrition so that we can supplement appropriately. One other is 50-50 about it, the last one is adamantly against my feeding non-"prescription" foods. Good luck with your kitties!

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

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your kitty. I know that is a very stressful time. I have had several CRF cats over the years and some foods that we tried were Hill's a/d (high calorie which is great for those with waning appetites), Hills k/d (renal diet), Gerber turkey or chicken baby food (great treat for picky eaters), and certain flavors of Organix and Weruva (low phosphorus canned food). In the end, I believe that it is important that your cat eat anything. I tried to give my current CRF cat the best low phosphorus and low protein foods on the list, but he got bored of them. He began losing even more weight and my vet said just to give him whatever he wants to eat now because keeping his weight up is the main priority. We supplement his food with a phosphate binder (aluminum hydroxide powder). I also give my CRF cat 150ml LRS subcutaneously every night. Do you warm up the bag before you administer it? I noticed that it made a difference because my cat used to be squirmish until I did it. Just place the bag in a tub of warm water and let it sit for a while. Make sure you also run the line too in order to remove the cold solution. My CRF cat is also on Calcitriol and Azodyl. Has your vet mentioned those medications to you? I recommend them both..look into them, especially the Azodyl, because I have noticed an improvement in my cat's bloodwork ever since he started it. If you have any questions, feel free to message me. I have a lot of experience with managing CRF, especially right now because of my current CRF kitty. I wish you all the best!

How old is your dog? Canned chicken has a HUGE amount of sodium in it, this can negatively impact a dogs health over a long period of time, your dog isn't getting all the vitamins and nutrients of a balanced diet dogs are omnivores, eating almost anything, stop feeding your dog canned chicken, if you dog is experiencing kidney failure, you need to stick to a low protein diet, which your dog might hate. More veggies, some meat without all the sodium