Kitty Has Kidney Failure. Questions About Average Timeframe I Can Expect, Fluids, Etc.

[Jem]

Have you thought of making him a litter tray instead of a box? Maybe he would be more comfortable going in something low sided. With mine, he could not get out of the box easily so I kept the litter within an inch from the top so he would not trip his hind legs coming out. Then eventually we had to transition to a tray, as he then started having a hard time climbing in as well.

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

Discouraged again. The fluids are out of his system. He just struggled to drop one tiny dry stool. Then he came in, took a drink, and tan back out. He strained for a few, gave up and came in. As soon as he came in he puked up all the food he'd just eaten. (Routine is food, water, food, pee. No exceptions by his choice.(

I don't know what to do! I'm honestly wondering if putting him down would be best for him. I still owe the vet $90, and it will be another $200 for a new vet trip. I don't know if that's money I should put into him, or say it's been a good run and let him rest. I feel like I'm tossing money at a bottomless pit. I know things will look better in the morning. Tonight I'm just Uber sad again.

 

[kittyluv387]

I'm so sorry, hang in there.

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

Well, the snot went and did it. He recovered. I started poking hairball stuff down him. I forget what it's called, but it's well known. He was very uncomfortable for a day and then dropped a sticky but dry poo. Which is good. We just had to put my husband's childhood cat of 12 years down this morning. I couldn't handle another death on top.
His stool is still dry, and small, but it's passing. I think what's also helped is I've put him in my room at night. He's a bit of a foodie, and knows I keep the 'junk' food in my room for Rue. I just replaced her food with his overnight. He went to the food dish at least four times that he woke me up for. Every time he eats he HAS to drink as well, so that probably helped with liquids.
His stool now has a reddish color which I HOPE is from the hairball treatment. He's also not peeing, so I'm working with him. It seems like he can't get both plumbing bits working at the same time.
The bad news to all this is he's somehow retrained himself! He's really not all there in the head, and gets confused easily. Because I had to watch to see if he passed stool I came with him outside to litterbox. He now thinks he has to ask me and take me along before he can go. I was busy earlier so I just let him outside. He sat there staring for ten minutes before I came to see what was up. As soon as I showed up he seemed to realize he needed to go and passed a stool. He now REFUSES to go unless I babysit him. Which is... Good I guess? At least I can monitor him? But it takes me 20 minutes to 'walk' the cat. I don't always have that time.

Make up your mind, Clyde. This is about the 6th time I've really thought he was going to die. This time I was SURE of it. He's still going downhill fast, but it looks like he'll see another Christmas.

We're bonding again. He refuses to sleep upstairs at night. He seems to think he belongs on my bed. Specifically my pillows. While I'm using them. He's also fond of sitting on my face. Let me tell you, waking up to a 14 pound cat going "splat" on your face at 3am is a very odd sensation. And my neck hurts from my lack of pillows. But hey, he's happy! Worth it.

 

[Jem]

We're bonding again. He refuses to sleep upstairs at night. He seems to think he belongs on my bed. Specifically my pillows. While I'm using them. He's also fond of sitting on my face. Let me tell you, waking up to a 14 pound cat going "splat" on your face at 3am is a very odd sensation. And my neck hurts from my lack of pillows. But hey, he's happy! Worth it.

Maybe you can also "retrain him" to knead your neck to massage it! lol!

Glad to hear he's pooping again, hopefully the not peeing resolves very quickly with just some extra fluids. I still think the subq fluids will make a HUGE difference with him.

Make up your mind, Clyde. This is about the 6th time I've really thought he was going to die. This time I was SURE of it. He's still going downhill fast, but it looks like he'll see another Christmas

I can completely empathize with the roller coaster that is a palliative cat. We also "thought" or "knew" it was the end for ours a good 6-7 times, but he always bounced back. It's very emotional and draining to prepare for a loss so many times over. You want them to recover, but then you don't want them to suffer, but because they bounce back, you give them the time to bounce back, and feel guilty because they may be suffering, but you don't want to put them down, because what if it wasn't their time, so then you feel guilty about thinking you'll put them down, then you're happy when they bounce back, but you know the next time might be the end, and it starts all over again and all the while (at least for me) I was praying that he would simply have a heart attack or stroke and pass peacefully in his sleep, and of course you feel guilty about that too!

We just had to put my husband's childhood cat of 12 years down this morning.

My heartfelt condolences about your husbands cat. Please tell him that he is in my thoughts as well.

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

Update:

He's still not on fluids yet. I wish the vet would put him on some. Mostly because he still struggles to pass stool sometimes. He has his lucid days and his not so lucid days. I'm pretty sure it's from lack of water flowing. He has another vet appointment soon for a followup. If things don't improve I'll press the issue. For now when he gets stocked up I can give him hairball treatment and it helps. His poor eyes are sunken in again. I'm not sure what's keeping him going at this point! Still no signs of pain. His deformed paw shutters when he puts weight on it while he's sitting, but doesn't seem to be in pain.


He's also more active. We're shocked that he's managing the winter months okay. He comes down the stairs to snuggle every night still. I think he's feeling better. Last night he was doing his own weird version of humping my blanket. He can't stand on the bed so he just sits by it, bites it and pulls. Then looks very surprised when I call his name.


I'm still watching him like a hawk. It seems that if he eats canned food it doesn't go straight through him, so I've changed it over for the most part. He threw up once the other day so that's another thing I'm watching for.

Currently our daily routine involves me bringing him up the stairs at exactly 11:09 every day to put in HIS sunbeam. Then at 12 sharp I move the bed over into the new sunbeam since it's moved. Around 1:45 I move him to the proper part of the sunbeam because it's now large. He stays there until about 4 when the beam leaves, then steals HIS chair for the day. He eats when he gets up to move, pees, and sleeps until about 8 when the eating/peeing cycle repeats. Then it's downstairs to my room until the next morning.

If we break his routine AT ALL he gets confused and grumpy for the rest of the day. I have to kind of guess what part of his routine he's up to so I can help with the confusion. Sometimes he forgets where his food dish is, sometimes he asks if it's time to pee. He doesn't do much unless I tell him what time it is. Which is very hard when he needs to pee and it's not "that time" yet.

I'll tell you one thing, when I finally have a baby of my own I'll be an expert at it. He's like my own giant baby. He even gets carried on my hip.

 

[Kflowers]

prayers