Mogi’s appetite was poor, she was restless, cried in the night and looked in a rather sorry state. First laboratory results (blood and urine) came back looking good. Everything was normal, only the pH-value was high (7) but that could have been from stress.
A few days later I was summoned to the vet and told that her SDMA was too high 1.22 µmol/L (reference value < 0.75).
The vet tried to explain to me the implications, stressing that it could be an indication of the start of chronic kidney failure but it could also be a result of a kidney being damaged from birth, in which case it would not necessarily get any worse. Mogi is 13 years old.
Treatment for the moment is to simply keep her eating and drinking and to give her urinary kibble as treats and, if she will eat it, a paste to improve the pH value of her urine and some carbon powder (?) (Porus One) on her food.
Secondly, to monitor her weight once a week and give her subcutaneous fluids if I think she is dehydrated.
It sounds simple enough – but Mogi is not a cat who allows herself to be handled. If I had to weigh her just once a month, I would put her in her carrier and weigh her on my scales (or use a hanging luggage scale). But, catching her and forcing her into a carrier once a week to be weighed is not a good proposition. I am thinking about buying some scales, with a large, flat platform, on which I can feed her and, once a week weigh her. I use kitchen scales for kittens and have seen that some of you use baby scales for cats. These are cheap enough to buy second-hand, but, for a cat like Mogi, the curved dish would be far too unstable and frightening.
Regarding subqs, we have successfully given fluids to three different cats (twice over many years because of chronic kidney disease and once after a road accident). In all cases the cats were either easy to manage and happy to sit still or were so weak that they accepted their fate. Mogi is still fit and ready for a fight! I am covered in scratches from the last visit to the vet! So, I am determined to get as much water into her as possible without subqs!
I have a water fountain in the kitchen which she ignores (but, at least two of the other cats do drink from it so it will stay there). There is a bowl of water in the hall, next to some kibble and cat grass. But Mogi prefers to follow me into the bathroom and drink from a tap. I have now ordered a second fountain (Swan) where the water flow closely resembles water coming from a tap, in the hope that she will accept it. I’m not sure where I can put it. Ideally it should be in the hall but there is no convenient socket – either it would be in the way and someone would always be kicking it or, worse still, tripping over it, or I would have to fix the cable to go up the wall, across the ceiling and down the other side. (When will someone design a reasonably priced battery-operated fountain?). The bathrooms are out of the question as all sockets are in cupboards. So, the fountain will have to go on carpeted floors in a bedroom or office – I can hardly put it near the litter boxes!
Or can I put it in the living room surrounded by (cat-friendly) plants as a centre of attraction, near the open fireplace? It’s a tiled floor, so perhaps I’ll do just that!
So, I seem to have solved one problem just by writing about it! Just need to sort out the scales and perhaps read more information on SDMA and its consequences.
Has anyone experience giving subqs to very difficult cats? My vet seems to have more faith in my abilities than I have! Thank you for reading.
A few days later I was summoned to the vet and told that her SDMA was too high 1.22 µmol/L (reference value < 0.75).
The vet tried to explain to me the implications, stressing that it could be an indication of the start of chronic kidney failure but it could also be a result of a kidney being damaged from birth, in which case it would not necessarily get any worse. Mogi is 13 years old.
Treatment for the moment is to simply keep her eating and drinking and to give her urinary kibble as treats and, if she will eat it, a paste to improve the pH value of her urine and some carbon powder (?) (Porus One) on her food.
Secondly, to monitor her weight once a week and give her subcutaneous fluids if I think she is dehydrated.
It sounds simple enough – but Mogi is not a cat who allows herself to be handled. If I had to weigh her just once a month, I would put her in her carrier and weigh her on my scales (or use a hanging luggage scale). But, catching her and forcing her into a carrier once a week to be weighed is not a good proposition. I am thinking about buying some scales, with a large, flat platform, on which I can feed her and, once a week weigh her. I use kitchen scales for kittens and have seen that some of you use baby scales for cats. These are cheap enough to buy second-hand, but, for a cat like Mogi, the curved dish would be far too unstable and frightening.
Regarding subqs, we have successfully given fluids to three different cats (twice over many years because of chronic kidney disease and once after a road accident). In all cases the cats were either easy to manage and happy to sit still or were so weak that they accepted their fate. Mogi is still fit and ready for a fight! I am covered in scratches from the last visit to the vet! So, I am determined to get as much water into her as possible without subqs!
I have a water fountain in the kitchen which she ignores (but, at least two of the other cats do drink from it so it will stay there). There is a bowl of water in the hall, next to some kibble and cat grass. But Mogi prefers to follow me into the bathroom and drink from a tap. I have now ordered a second fountain (Swan) where the water flow closely resembles water coming from a tap, in the hope that she will accept it. I’m not sure where I can put it. Ideally it should be in the hall but there is no convenient socket – either it would be in the way and someone would always be kicking it or, worse still, tripping over it, or I would have to fix the cable to go up the wall, across the ceiling and down the other side. (When will someone design a reasonably priced battery-operated fountain?). The bathrooms are out of the question as all sockets are in cupboards. So, the fountain will have to go on carpeted floors in a bedroom or office – I can hardly put it near the litter boxes!
Or can I put it in the living room surrounded by (cat-friendly) plants as a centre of attraction, near the open fireplace? It’s a tiled floor, so perhaps I’ll do just that!
So, I seem to have solved one problem just by writing about it! Just need to sort out the scales and perhaps read more information on SDMA and its consequences.
Has anyone experience giving subqs to very difficult cats? My vet seems to have more faith in my abilities than I have! Thank you for reading.