- Joined
- Mar 14, 2016
- Messages
- 10
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Hi everyone, I'm new on the forum and looking for some advice.
My cat Kiara is 15 years old, she's been my furry little friend since I was 7 and since she was a kitten (along with her sister who was sadly knocked down on the road about 6 years ago). She has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure- first diagnosed around a year ago. We had her on a special kidney diet and a medicine called semintra, which seemed to do the trick until around 2 weeks ago, when she started eating a lot less and drinking a lot more. She also lost around 20% of her body weight, and has lost more by now, and she was a very small cat to begin with- when the vet weighed her last week she was 2.9kg, and I suspect she is even lighter now, she is very bony
When we initially brought her to the vet 2 weeks ago they were very concerned that it was her kidney disease playing up and hospitalised her for 2 and a half days to administer IV fluids and to run tests. Tests confirmed our fears and the vet basically said that things weren't looking good and that her levels were high and that the fluids did not seem to help the levels. They gave a very poor prognosis. When we got her home she was so tired and lethargic and just wanted to sleep all the time, she was a lot worse than before she was hospitalised. I know this may be due to her being stressed in the unfamiliar environment and not getting much sleep whilst she was there, but I think maybe she just didn't respond to the treatment. She did eat more that she had been in the days after her treatment but I think only because we were feeding her wet canned food which was a treat compared to her usual dry food.
Basically, since the initial trip to the vet, she has just kept going downhill. At times I had hope that she felt better as she was eating well, using the litter tray and seeking out comfy spots and purring a lot, but today has been a bad day. She is very, very weak and wobbles a lot when she walks. She even fell over which broke my heart. She wet the bed last night and is drinking an awful lot. She didn't or maybe can't get out of bed much. She barely ate anything yesterday or today, today she only ate a morsel of tuna, 1/2 a prawn and a little bit of yoghurt. Her gaze is different too, she may not be able to see very well but it's hard to know. She is still purring when I pet her but she just doesn't seem to feel well at all and basically, I want to know if it is time to let her go? In the past few days I have read a lot online about sub-q fluids but my vet said something to the effect of "some people give fluids at home but I wouldn't recommend doing anything further as it is just going to slightly prolong the inevitable at this stage" and basically said that after trying the IV fluids and them not having much effect that there's not much that can be done for her, other than putting her to sleep. Another vet at the same practice said something along the same lines. I definitely want to trust my vet(s) and I know they know best, I guess I just want to be 100% sure.
Do you think it's too late? Should I have pushed harder about the sub-q's when they mentioned them instead of just accepting that there wasn't anything more we could do? I don't think I fancy the idea of pricking her with needles or giving her pills when she is in such a poorly state. I just don't know what to do. Please help. I feel like although I knew she had kidney disease this came on so suddenly and I just wish that I could have done something more for her.
As I type this I think I already know the answer to my question, but I'm agonising over this and I don't want to make the wrong decision and just wanted to ask some advice. I love Kiara to bits and don't want her to suffer unnecessarily, I just want to know what is best for her.
Many thanks in advance to any one who answers, and sorry if this was very rambly and long.
My cat Kiara is 15 years old, she's been my furry little friend since I was 7 and since she was a kitten (along with her sister who was sadly knocked down on the road about 6 years ago). She has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure- first diagnosed around a year ago. We had her on a special kidney diet and a medicine called semintra, which seemed to do the trick until around 2 weeks ago, when she started eating a lot less and drinking a lot more. She also lost around 20% of her body weight, and has lost more by now, and she was a very small cat to begin with- when the vet weighed her last week she was 2.9kg, and I suspect she is even lighter now, she is very bony
When we initially brought her to the vet 2 weeks ago they were very concerned that it was her kidney disease playing up and hospitalised her for 2 and a half days to administer IV fluids and to run tests. Tests confirmed our fears and the vet basically said that things weren't looking good and that her levels were high and that the fluids did not seem to help the levels. They gave a very poor prognosis. When we got her home she was so tired and lethargic and just wanted to sleep all the time, she was a lot worse than before she was hospitalised. I know this may be due to her being stressed in the unfamiliar environment and not getting much sleep whilst she was there, but I think maybe she just didn't respond to the treatment. She did eat more that she had been in the days after her treatment but I think only because we were feeding her wet canned food which was a treat compared to her usual dry food.
Basically, since the initial trip to the vet, she has just kept going downhill. At times I had hope that she felt better as she was eating well, using the litter tray and seeking out comfy spots and purring a lot, but today has been a bad day. She is very, very weak and wobbles a lot when she walks. She even fell over which broke my heart. She wet the bed last night and is drinking an awful lot. She didn't or maybe can't get out of bed much. She barely ate anything yesterday or today, today she only ate a morsel of tuna, 1/2 a prawn and a little bit of yoghurt. Her gaze is different too, she may not be able to see very well but it's hard to know. She is still purring when I pet her but she just doesn't seem to feel well at all and basically, I want to know if it is time to let her go? In the past few days I have read a lot online about sub-q fluids but my vet said something to the effect of "some people give fluids at home but I wouldn't recommend doing anything further as it is just going to slightly prolong the inevitable at this stage" and basically said that after trying the IV fluids and them not having much effect that there's not much that can be done for her, other than putting her to sleep. Another vet at the same practice said something along the same lines. I definitely want to trust my vet(s) and I know they know best, I guess I just want to be 100% sure.
Do you think it's too late? Should I have pushed harder about the sub-q's when they mentioned them instead of just accepting that there wasn't anything more we could do? I don't think I fancy the idea of pricking her with needles or giving her pills when she is in such a poorly state. I just don't know what to do. Please help. I feel like although I knew she had kidney disease this came on so suddenly and I just wish that I could have done something more for her.
As I type this I think I already know the answer to my question, but I'm agonising over this and I don't want to make the wrong decision and just wanted to ask some advice. I love Kiara to bits and don't want her to suffer unnecessarily, I just want to know what is best for her.
Many thanks in advance to any one who answers, and sorry if this was very rambly and long.