Not sure if any of you guys can help but feeling at a total loss after the last 36 hours.

Tuesday am when I got up I noticed my cat had been sick overnight, I didn't give herbreakfast but by 5 pm she had been sick another 4 times. At 5.30 she drank what was for her excessive amounts of water then went off and hid herself. 10 mins later she was drinking again then also off to hide behind the sofa (not normal for her as she is a social sleep on the sofa cat). I came back from the horse at 8pm and boiled her some fish, not inteested and went to drink again and also fell asleep in her water bowl. My vets have an out of hours referral to another vets so I took her straight there. By the time we got there she was lifeless and I had to hold her head up. They phoned my at 1am this mornign to tell me she had Chronic Renal Failure and the outlook didn;t look good.

I collected her at 8am this morning and took her to my vets and seemed slightly more optimistic. She has been on IV all day and has got up and had a drink and also had a wee (vet thinks she knew she was going to insert a catheta sp? to collect a urine sample so emptied the bladder before she could get to her) She is in overnight again and I am going out of my mind with worry.

She is a Domestic longhaired and actually my sons cat (he is on a school skiing trip until Sunday) We got her from the Cats protection league 2 weeks after losing our 4 yr old siamese through cancer. My son picked her and she has slept with him ever since. She is only 8 yrs old and one vet told me CRF is rare in a cat of her age but has anyone else got any experince of this. I am preparing myself for the worst and feel so useless, I want her home again nicking the dogs beds (she has one with her) and keeping the unruly pack in order, but I know she is in the right place.

Has anyone else had to cope with a cat with CRF and what can I expect?

Hi Lisa,
Well, we don't know much about CRF in cats...but we want you to know our thoughts are with you just now.. My daughter is here from Aberdeen and has three cats and would be out of her mind with worry just now if she was in the same position as you..It's so frustrating when all you can do is 'wait'..Hoping all will turn out well for your cat..Positive thoughts and fingers crossed (Karma,Aslan,Yoda..have paws crossed for a good recovery...) :)

Love Sandy and Joanna x x x

I don't have a clue but like Sandy just thought I'd add my support. I've got a 4 yesr old Tom cat who was ran over a few years ago - and pulled through- so I can imagine how you must be feeling;)

Stacey x x x

(((((Hugs)))))

So sorry to hear this Sis, know nothing about renal failure, but if you want to talk give me a call, always there with a shoulder to cry on.

Love

your Big Sis
xxxx

Aww, poor kitty. I'm sorry about your (sons) cat, Lisa :(
I know nothing about CRF, either. All the cats I've had have either been long lived or pts because of cancer. I just wanted to say I'll be praying that she improves with the care received at the vet's, and hope that she's there to welcome your son home and sleep with him for many years longer (((hugs)))

Well it is slightly good news. We have now been told if we hadn't rushed her to the vets Tues 9pm she would not of lived the night. She was taken back to my own vets weds am and the latest update I posted on here last night. Well this morning at 8am she was looking brighter and the fact she had drank and had a wee was a good sign although she had still not eaten. They took more blood this morning to test.

They phoned tonight with the results and her blood is almost normal. I know *** all about blood test however part of the test urea? was level 35 on Tues night, yesterday it was 29 and today 13, still high but going in the right direction. One section was over 200 on tuesday and is now normal. Only snag now is the madam still wont eat. She has licked off a finger today but is still on IV and they are going to keep trying her with food through the night.

This cat is on a level with the dogs so whilst it is not a dog I know most of you understand how I am feeling. If it comes to the choice then she will come home to spend her last days here with us and her gang (besides that Tig wants his bed back as it is in the vets with her) However she seems to be holding her own, so god willing she can make it. The thought of losing her before Chris gets back terrifies me as it will destroy him. I know he is adult enough to make the right choice for her and he is at an age where I know feel he should choose. Her quality comes first and as since we have had her she will get quality in whatever decision we are forced to make. However the selfish side of me wants her back for years to come.

The one good thing to come out of all of this is thank god for insurance. The horses treatment so far has cost over £500 yet Doops had cost £500 in vets fee's within the first 24 hours so who knows what the fee is now however the insurance company have been brill.

I have to phone the vets again in the morning so I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for all your wishes and please keep your fingers crossed for her.

Hope the improvement continues, Lisa. Fingers crossed. xxx

Hope Doops is OK Lisa

(((((((((hugs)))))))))

Love Sara xx

U at crufts at all Thursday Lisa ? If so let me know

Hi Lisa,
My Whippet Alfie went into ACUTE renal failure over the Xmas period after stealing Ibuprofen tablets from my handbag (smart move!).
Like your cat, he was immediately put on a drip and they didn't hold out much hope for him. However, he made a dramatically quick recovery after he had been rehydrated and had his kidneys flushed through, and it looks to me from the figures you quoted that your cat has recovered quickly too. When first put on the drip, his urea was 44 and creatinine was 450!
I wonder if your cat could have been in ACUTE renal failure as opposed to CHRONIC renal failure, since if it was chronic, I would have thought the levels would not recover to near normal at all, let alone so quickly. Animals don't actually recover from chronic renal failure, it can be improved for a time, but gradually gets worse, eventually leading to kidney shut-down. So I suppose acute renal failure is the better of the two, if you can catch it in time!
Cats can go into acute renal failure apparently if they don't eat or are sick for any length of time, for whatever reason- they dehydrate quickly and the kidneys suffer.
So, hope this helps, and fingers crossed that your cat continues to improve and you will soon have her home.
Liz

Thanks for that Liz I think you may be right (hoping) the emergency vet put her on a drip staright away and when he called us told us she was in Chronic Renal Failure, he also suggested we needed to think about how long we wanted to keep her going for. I wanted my own vet to see her as they are one of the best vets in the Mids so the next morning we collected her and took her to mine. They were puzzled as she was not anemic and had she got CRF she would of been so they suggested possible ARF as oppposed to CRF. However she was still very ill. They suggested she might of got hold of rat poisen or anitfreeze but all those have been ruled out. So maybe it was the vomitting that brough it on.

I am starting to have more hope that she will pull through ( I always thought she'd be the cat that went on forever as she is so laid back) but starting to also feel a bit angry that it could of gone the other way had we listened to the first vet. However the main thing is she is still with us and holding her own.

Well I called this morning and her blood was back to normal. They let me pick her up and bring her home as she was still refusing to eat. As far as we are aware she has not eaten since Monday am. I boiled some fish and she had a couple of mouthfuls off my hand which is a start however did not seem that interested.

She is sleeping now so I am going to buy some chicken for her to see if that will tempt her to eat. It has to be very bland as we do not want to risk unsettling her stomach again by anything too rich. If she hasn't eaten by tom am then she is back in again to go on IV so wish me luck.

Hope she starts eating soon Lisa.
Good luck.

Just found your thread Lisa. I hope she continues to improve. Fingers crossed for ya :-)

Your Geordie Pal :D
xx

Lisa

Sorry to hear about your poor pusscat - at least (s)he will be at home when your son comes home from his trip. If he hasn't started eating yet, try pilchards in tomato sauce - the little tins - just mash the pilchards in the sauce. I've never yet met a cat, however sick, that can resist the (urghhhh|!) smell!

HTH

Margot

Ask the vet if there is any chance it could be F.I.P. They usually test for Felv (leukemia)and FIV(feline HIV) whenever as cat has a mystery illness as these are quite common, but it may not occur to them to test for FIP. It can be caught in multiple cat situations, so if the cat came via the CPL it may've been housed with other cats. They can't confirm it's FIP until post-mortem, but there is a blood test that will give them some answers.
Did you get the cat vaccinated recently? If so, do you think this may be a reaction? If her appetite has gone,ask for some steriods. This will make her hungry and may just give her the extra strength she needs to recoupperate.
Do a search for the Feline Advisory Bureau, their vets are fantastic and may be able to advise you.
Good luck,
Julie :)

Well she has selpt most of the afternoon, we got some chicken but didn't offer her anything to eat. We fed the dogs about 5 mins ago and guess who jumped down off the sofa and starting pacing in the hallway. She always gets fed at the same time as the dogs and think it kickstarted her. She has just scoffed down a small portion of chicken and would probably have some more but with have to feed her little and often.

She did come the CPL however that was 4 years ago, the vet has done tests for both of those and they came back clear. Something has casued her kidneys to fail but we are baffled as to what it was. Her jabs aren't due for another 3 months and life had been normal up until Tueday am. Fingers crossed she keeps the chicken down :)

I'm so glad that she's finally eaten! It's difficult not to just keep packing food into them when they finally start eating again isn't it?
It may be a good idea to give her only moist foods for a while, to help keep her hydrated, and plenty of fluids. Whiskas cat milk is tempting to most cats, and it's got vitamins and stuff in it as well.
Please keep us posted on her progress.
Liz x

Well I am gobsmacked. She is as I type asleep on the dogs bed, on the sofa like there had been nothing wrong. She is a bit thin and sleeping a lot (she always liked her sleep) but almost as if there had been nothing wrong with her. So much so when Son came back from skiing this afternoon as she was on the sofa he didn't realise there was anything wrong. Only when she got up and he saw all the shaved legs and neck did he twig.

She is still only eating cooked chicken, small meals throughout the day however she has used her litter for wees and poos and is drinking normally. The vet is amazed as they were convinced we would be back in there on Friday PM. All her blood counts are back to normal and she even sat in the porch this morning surverying the front garden.

Don't know how long this will last or even if whatever she had has gone but there is a big bunch of flowers going to the vets in the morning and also a millions thanks to everyone on here who offered support ideas etc. Thanks guys it really helped knowing we were not alone.

Lisa & Doops

Lisa that's wonderful!!:) What a relief for you, and your son. Long may it last! :)

I agree, long may it last! That's great news, Lisa :)

Give Doops a gentle stroke from me, and tell her not to scare us all like that again ;)

I am so pleased for you and your cat Lisa!
My dog has recovered completely from acute renal failure, with absolutely no lasting effects, and he was desperately ill when first diagnosed, so hopefully your cat will be the same.

I can stop worrying about your cat now, and worry about my own Birman, who has been missing since yesterday afternoon. I've phoned local vets, and put 'missing' notes through every door, but I think someone may have taken her. She NEVER goes further than my front garden, so I'm sure she hasn't just wandered off.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me.
Liz

Hi Liz,

I'm sorry to hear about your cat :(. When our cat (who never strayed) went missing she turned up having been shut in somebody's garage for 2 days. We had got to the stage of re-asking all the neighbours if they had seen her and one of them heard her in there. We had another one who got shut in a greenhouse aswell ( I must pick adventurous yet stupid cats!!) :)
I hope she shows up
Nicola xx

Thankfully, Olive turned up at 7am this morning, yelling at the back door to be let in! Someone must have checked their shed this morning after seeing my note, and let her out! She is none the worse after her adventure, but hasn't set a foot outside the door all day!
Liz

Thats great news Liz, that will teach her to go off wandering. Glad she is none the worse for her adventures but bet she is a bit hungry. Fortunately Doops does not wander at all in fact she refuses to go out during winter months.

So sorry to hear about your cat ..
Good news ......2 yrs ago in the November , my 14 yr old cat Damian had exact same symptoms as your little puss and was diagnosed as having Chronic Renal Failure , and I was advised we only had weeks left.So Xmas holiday back in Scotland was scrapped and I waited....My vet put her on WHISKAS /VETINARY DIET/LOW PHOSPHORUS/LOW PROTEIN x2 flavours( A wee bit expensive as in 75p a quarter tin) However with x2 other cats and a dog in the house it was a lot easier feeding her that than preparing the fresh food diet my vet had suggested as all the other animals got the hump she was getting lifted away and spoilt. Also I found that prior to feeding her this special mix she would still have a scoff out the other animals bowls , which obviously had repercussions on her health. She still got daily fresh fish treats same as other cats.
I dont want to depress you . however some days you can look at your cat and think there is nothing wrong , especially when it is bouncing all over your face in the morning , but you have to remember it does have a condition and you cannot waiver from the diet.
As I found out one day in the following February I noticed a massive deterioration from leaving in the morning till lunchtime , and when I took her to the vet she had full kidney failure so I had to put her to sleep.
I did say at beginning good news due to the fact that Damian was what was classed as an elderly cat and as in humans the older you are the less resistance you have...Obviously I still have x2 remaining cats and have asked the vet how I can prevent similar happening to them, I have been advised it is similar to renal failure/cancer in humans as in the genes are always present.
I like to feel that the diet I put her on helped prolong a happy life for her and I have friends who have young cats like yourself that have been diagnosed with Kidney problems , they have them on this WHISKAS food and yes break the diet with treats but at present the pussies are thriving.
Wishing you all the best

Karyn