Cats with renal failure - experiences?

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tigger01

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My 17 year old tabby moggie has renal failure and I cant get him to eat anything. He's a bag of bones and I feel really cruel keeping him going. He seems happy enough in himself, altho sleeps a lot and will nibble at the odd bit of food. Obviously its enough to keep him going but I wondered if anyone had any experiences of cats with renal failure. Am I doing the right thing keeping him here or am I being purely selfish?
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Renal failure is sadly very common in older cats. Has your vet tried ace inhibitors? They can make a huge difference to the cat's quality of life and buy some extra time.

At the end of the day you have to consider the cat's quality of life. If there isn't any then I think the only option is to have him pts.
 
Agree with Jendie, its one of the most common problems. I would def talk to your vet about medication to help. Sorry to hear, poor cat, poor you
 
If your cat is happy and still enjoying life then I'd definitely look at medication. But as long as he /is/ happy then don't worry too much about an aged animal looking less chunky than a youngster either.

If you now, or later, decide to have him pts and can afford it I'd recommend having the vet come out to your home. After all we make this decision to prevent suffering and most cats hate traveling, especially to the vets. I've been with a similar cat being pts at home after she became uninterested in life (we kept her going while she was still enjoying sitting out in the sun and purring even though she was unwell). It was two injections, one to sedate and then one to pts once she was already unconscious. It was very calm and peaceful with all the family around stroking and only took a few moments. If you think you'll be upset enough yourself to stress the cat then you may wish to leave the room but if your moggy is social (the one I was with was /incredibly/ good with people, even children pushing her around in a pram!) and you can be brave for him then that may be nicest if the time comes.

Best of luck to both of you
xx
 
My cat lived for 7 months with renal failure. She was started on Fortekor this time last year. She also had Omeprazole for gastritis. Renal failure can cause gastritis resulting in sickness and lack of appetite. Your moggie may have this.

You could try feeding Moggie fish/chicken and food at room temperature. Always have fresh water available at all times too.

If this does not work, get moggie to the vets asap.

My cat went very thin and was extremely dehydrated and weed a lot with renal disease. She had an unquenishable thirst too.

She was pts on 23rd June this year as she had had enough, she was in pain, could not walk far and was incontinent. I had no doubts, that this was the right decision, even though it was so sad and painful for me.

I carried her into the garden, she laid purring in the sun as I stroked her. Our other moggie joined us and we said our goodbyes before she went to the vet.

I found some good advice by googling feline renal failure.

Unfortunately, renal failure in cats is very common as they are totally carniverous with a diet high in protein.

I really hope your mog's condition improves and have my fingers crossed for you both.

Please let us know how moggie gets on. x
 
You can get special food and as others have said, powder to put on the food to help. Vet can give medication.

Mog - 18, lived for about 8 weeks after being diagnoised with failure - some do go longer and others sooner. Lottie - 15, after spending £700 on tests died 10 days later. Gobby, lived 18 months until the grand age of 27.

At the risk of sound very horrible - and I have had so many ancient cats and now have learnt the hard way - have basic tests done but don't spent hundreds - you end up broke and heart broken.

I now say if my old cats - over 16 suddenly drop weight - £100 max blood test for kidney/liver/thyroid failure and that is it, no other test and then medication if shown to be worth it.

My last vet, said, basic tests and if they came up very bad, to keep her comfortable but not to extend on drugs as Poo was 19. Luckily they were negative and 2 years on the old crab is still hissing and ruling the roost.
 
My 5 year cat old was put to sleep in February this year - it's extremely rare in a cat of that age and he was likely to have been born with duff kidneys. He was diagnosed in October the previous year.
He was also put onto Fortekor, and a relatively new protein binder in powder form which in the beginning was very effective.
At times I found it heart breaking to try and get him to eat, and we had every kind of cat food, chicken and fish you can imagine. The worst time was offering him fresh warm chicken that he really wanted to eat but the smell made him vomit.
In the end I had him put to sleep at home whilst he was still relatively well and had had a good week and was a good weight -we'd had some very up and down periods in the new year.
I would try the fortekor etc as it may give you a few more months, and your vet will be able to test how much kidney function is left. Theres also a lot of web sites with suggested diets.
I wish you and your kitty cat all the best as I know how upsetting renal failure can be.
 
Really sad for you it is heartbreaking. I have not been without a Burmese Cat for nearly 30 years - we lost our last three weeks ago aged 16.

Fortekor kept him alive for nearly three years together with medication to reduce the urea levels which you can get as powder or solution.

It is difficult to medicate your cat once it stops eating. We did keep our boy alive for four months after one relapse and he had good quality of life.

Sometimes you have to make the decisiion to let them go. My thoughts are with you.
 
We too lost a cat (age 16)with renal failure. Didn't realise what it was, just thought he slept a lot as he was getting old, but when we took him to the vet for a check up, as he was getting very thin, he was diagnosed with RF & the vet said that a cats way of dealing with pain was to sleep, so he was uncomfortable all the time, & we didn't realise. Had him PTS quite soon after being diagnosed, sorry
 
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