Hi there,
I joined this site because of an old post I read about Tiger from a couple of years ago and then found this updated post. I’m so happy to hear that he is still alive. Good for you for going through so many ups and downs to save your baby. I really admire what you’ve done for your boy.
I wanted to ask a few questions as my cat Oliver who had CRF, just had his first flare-up of his pancreatitis and he didn’t survive. I’m completely devastated and am now wondering if I should have waited it out like you. Oliver was a young cat of only 8 years 10 months. He was diagnosed with CRF in March (3 months earlier) when he got bloodwork done which he hadn’t had done since he was a kitten. He always drank a ton of water since he was young so I wasn’t actually too surprised that he had CRF. Canadian values. Creatinine=316 Urea (BUN)=22.8 SDMA=21 RBC was a little low at 6.9. So I changed his food and he seemed to tick along for a few months. Then suddenly he got really lethargic and wasn’t eating much and had lost some weight. So I took him to the vet last week and he got full blood work done again. His Kidney numbers (Creatinine=718, Urea(BUN)=74.8 and SDMA=66) had sky rocketed and were all very abnormal Stage 4 or 5 Kidney failure. His phosphorus levels, Calcium, Potassium among other things were all off. It was discovered that he had pancreatitis because his Spec fPLwas 50. His urine analysis was mostly normal with a trace of protein. I had to transfer him to emergency so he could get 24 hour monitoring and he was given IV fluids for 5 days straight. They said by Monday that I should be able to take him home as he was showing improvement by moving around the cage and eating a little bit. They also said he was starting to get feisty. His Creatinine BUN etc. had come down a lot, but still not to the level of where he was in March. They said that would be his ‘new normal’ which was still quite high. Creatinine=460 BUN=36.5 They told me his pee was lacking concentration and he was peeing everything out and keeping little water. They told me to give him subcutaneous fluids daily and sent me home with antibiotics and painkillers.
I knew when I got home that Oliver just wasn’t right but followed the new regiment of medications. He didn’t seem to be sleeping much and was sitting like a hen sits on her eggs and not lying down or sleeping as much as I expected him to sleep. And just sat in the dining room chair and seemed reluctant to come upstairs and sleep in my bed. He was barely eating and drinking and only moved to use the litter box which was two rooms away. I had to keep the food right beside him on the dining room table along with his water. I was so worried about him as he seemed kind of weak and lethargic. I called the vet at Emergency on Tuesday and she said to take him back for more blood work on Wednesday. The blood work came back on Thursday and the vet said Oliver is digressing. His pancreatitis was still there with his Spec fPL at 50 and his kidney numbers were going back up Creatinine =562, SDMA=35 Urea(BUN)=45.2. His liver numbers were all abnormal now too. Oliver was fighting an infection as his RBC was down and WBC was up. He was showing signs of anemia as well. He also had a cold.
The 2 vets told me there was nothing left to do unless I wanted to get him a kidney transplant or dialysis which doesn’t have the greatest success rates and costs $1000s. So I decided to put him down. It was heartbreaking as I now wonder, what if they were wrong. What if Oliver just needed more times to get through his pancreatic flare-up as that is what originally seemed to be causing all this stress on his body. They said that he likely had other things going on e.g. cancer or a bad infection. I could have paid another $2000+ to get an ultrasound/x-ray, but they told me it likely wasn’t worth it as he didn’t appear to be getting better based on his blood work and the ultrasound would just confirm what we already know and that is, that he can’t be saved. It would offer us some answers if I was willing to pay the $2000+ for more analysis. Oliver didn’t seem right to me, so I just let him go, rather than put him through more poking and prodding. The vet told me after I made my decision that I made the right decision for him and she would’ve done the same if it were her pet.
It was a very stressful time for me as my dog (greyhound) had to get major eye surgery (conjunctiva graft) because she got poked in the eye while playing outside. That cost me close to $4000 for the operation, weekly follow-up visits with the eye-doctor, eye-drops etc. She had to wear a cone for 8 weeks 24/7 and had to get a variety of eye-drops. It was all in the name of saving her eye and it was worth it. Just as she was getting better, Oliver took a turn for the worse and I was back to spending lots of time at the vet and emergency. So I was completely overwhelmed and not thinking clearly.
If spending more money could have saved him, I would have done it. However, I wasn’t sure if it was going to work and didn’t want him to suddenly start suffering terribly because I was waiting it out.
Now that it’s over (he was euthanized last Thursday), I am having regrets. I just miss him so much and now wonder if he could have pulled through this.
It sounds like Tiger pulled through after a lot of ups and downs and I wonder if Oliver could have done the same(?) Oliver was always a very bright-eyed energetic cat and I’d never seen him like this.
How long did Tiger’s pancreatic flare-ups last? Were his kidney numbers stable or did they continue to go up and down by large amounts regularly? For Oliver, he was a pretty healthy cat all his life, but drank a ton of water from day one. I’ve had him since he was 4 weeks old. His water drinking makes me think he always had kidney disease. I hadn’t had his blood tested regularly as he was a really hard cat to wrestle into a cage and take to the vet. It became sadly very east to take him to the vet once he got really sick though. I feel incredibly guilty.
Marissa
I joined this site because of an old post I read about Tiger from a couple of years ago and then found this updated post. I’m so happy to hear that he is still alive. Good for you for going through so many ups and downs to save your baby. I really admire what you’ve done for your boy.
I wanted to ask a few questions as my cat Oliver who had CRF, just had his first flare-up of his pancreatitis and he didn’t survive. I’m completely devastated and am now wondering if I should have waited it out like you. Oliver was a young cat of only 8 years 10 months. He was diagnosed with CRF in March (3 months earlier) when he got bloodwork done which he hadn’t had done since he was a kitten. He always drank a ton of water since he was young so I wasn’t actually too surprised that he had CRF. Canadian values. Creatinine=316 Urea (BUN)=22.8 SDMA=21 RBC was a little low at 6.9. So I changed his food and he seemed to tick along for a few months. Then suddenly he got really lethargic and wasn’t eating much and had lost some weight. So I took him to the vet last week and he got full blood work done again. His Kidney numbers (Creatinine=718, Urea(BUN)=74.8 and SDMA=66) had sky rocketed and were all very abnormal Stage 4 or 5 Kidney failure. His phosphorus levels, Calcium, Potassium among other things were all off. It was discovered that he had pancreatitis because his Spec fPLwas 50. His urine analysis was mostly normal with a trace of protein. I had to transfer him to emergency so he could get 24 hour monitoring and he was given IV fluids for 5 days straight. They said by Monday that I should be able to take him home as he was showing improvement by moving around the cage and eating a little bit. They also said he was starting to get feisty. His Creatinine BUN etc. had come down a lot, but still not to the level of where he was in March. They said that would be his ‘new normal’ which was still quite high. Creatinine=460 BUN=36.5 They told me his pee was lacking concentration and he was peeing everything out and keeping little water. They told me to give him subcutaneous fluids daily and sent me home with antibiotics and painkillers.
I knew when I got home that Oliver just wasn’t right but followed the new regiment of medications. He didn’t seem to be sleeping much and was sitting like a hen sits on her eggs and not lying down or sleeping as much as I expected him to sleep. And just sat in the dining room chair and seemed reluctant to come upstairs and sleep in my bed. He was barely eating and drinking and only moved to use the litter box which was two rooms away. I had to keep the food right beside him on the dining room table along with his water. I was so worried about him as he seemed kind of weak and lethargic. I called the vet at Emergency on Tuesday and she said to take him back for more blood work on Wednesday. The blood work came back on Thursday and the vet said Oliver is digressing. His pancreatitis was still there with his Spec fPL at 50 and his kidney numbers were going back up Creatinine =562, SDMA=35 Urea(BUN)=45.2. His liver numbers were all abnormal now too. Oliver was fighting an infection as his RBC was down and WBC was up. He was showing signs of anemia as well. He also had a cold.
The 2 vets told me there was nothing left to do unless I wanted to get him a kidney transplant or dialysis which doesn’t have the greatest success rates and costs $1000s. So I decided to put him down. It was heartbreaking as I now wonder, what if they were wrong. What if Oliver just needed more times to get through his pancreatic flare-up as that is what originally seemed to be causing all this stress on his body. They said that he likely had other things going on e.g. cancer or a bad infection. I could have paid another $2000+ to get an ultrasound/x-ray, but they told me it likely wasn’t worth it as he didn’t appear to be getting better based on his blood work and the ultrasound would just confirm what we already know and that is, that he can’t be saved. It would offer us some answers if I was willing to pay the $2000+ for more analysis. Oliver didn’t seem right to me, so I just let him go, rather than put him through more poking and prodding. The vet told me after I made my decision that I made the right decision for him and she would’ve done the same if it were her pet.
It was a very stressful time for me as my dog (greyhound) had to get major eye surgery (conjunctiva graft) because she got poked in the eye while playing outside. That cost me close to $4000 for the operation, weekly follow-up visits with the eye-doctor, eye-drops etc. She had to wear a cone for 8 weeks 24/7 and had to get a variety of eye-drops. It was all in the name of saving her eye and it was worth it. Just as she was getting better, Oliver took a turn for the worse and I was back to spending lots of time at the vet and emergency. So I was completely overwhelmed and not thinking clearly.
If spending more money could have saved him, I would have done it. However, I wasn’t sure if it was going to work and didn’t want him to suddenly start suffering terribly because I was waiting it out.
Now that it’s over (he was euthanized last Thursday), I am having regrets. I just miss him so much and now wonder if he could have pulled through this.
It sounds like Tiger pulled through after a lot of ups and downs and I wonder if Oliver could have done the same(?) Oliver was always a very bright-eyed energetic cat and I’d never seen him like this.
How long did Tiger’s pancreatic flare-ups last? Were his kidney numbers stable or did they continue to go up and down by large amounts regularly? For Oliver, he was a pretty healthy cat all his life, but drank a ton of water from day one. I’ve had him since he was 4 weeks old. His water drinking makes me think he always had kidney disease. I hadn’t had his blood tested regularly as he was a really hard cat to wrestle into a cage and take to the vet. It became sadly very east to take him to the vet once he got really sick though. I feel incredibly guilty.
Marissa