My Lucky, the adoptive "uncle" of the little guys in my avatar, was diagnosed with renal failure this past Tuesday. He threw up once last Friday, and over the weekend just declined. Wouldn't take his pill pocket with his thyroid meds, and wasn't eating a whole lot. He was very lethargic, and became the biggest grump. He's been a grump with his "nephews" a lot, but then he growled at me on Sunday. Something just wasn't right. Anyway, took him to the vet on Monday and and 8:30am on Tuesday, got the call from my vet.
They did a couple x-rays on Monday which showed one small kidney (so already had one kidney not working) and one large one. The vet's hope was it might be just compensating, but the results showed his creatinine (sp) levels at 8. They lose their appetite at around 5, he said.
So, with his age (he's 16-1/2 years old), the prognosis was not good, I was told. I of course broke down and had an emotional last few days, finally starting to get past the overwhelming part. Learned how to give fluids, they reduced his thyroid meds to one pill a day, have a 1/4 appetite stimulant pill (every other day), and some liquid antibiotic. The vet's stumped at how profoundly bad it got in the last month and a half since the last tests. So, ruling out infection. Oh, and 5mg of Pepcid a day.
Have given the fluids twice and home. Got all his meds into him the last few days, but today couldn't get him to take his appetite pill. I even crushed it up and put it in tuna juice (TUNA JUICE!! cats love that stuff). Nope, he wasn't having it. I tried to use a syringe, and got bit. That is, tooth through the thumb. Not fun. I can honestly say his jaws have not been affected by this. Not at all.
Vet thinks he had some degree of chronic renal failure, but this was definitely not chronic with how bad it got so fast. I'm just heartbroken beyond belief. Lucky was my savior. The way we got him was pretty horrible - someone had tied him to a car when he was a kitten, and my father saw the car at a stoplight (guy didn't realize he was there), and low and behold, we had another cat. Albeit, a bit torn up, but he didn't really remember it. Thankfully. But, I was at the lowest point in my life, and he gave me something to live for.
I'm having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that he will be leaving a lot sooner than I was really expecting. A week ago, I would have said he may even have a couple good years left. Now, it could just be months / weeks / days. You would think I would have started coming to terms with it a few years back, but no. This was just a lot more sudden than I was expecting. But, I also want to do right by him. And I don't know when the time is right. Trying to deal with the emotions is just getting to me more than I thought it would. Grief, (temporary) relief, guilt, all wrapped into a neat little ball.
Sorry for the long post. It's been a really long week.
They did a couple x-rays on Monday which showed one small kidney (so already had one kidney not working) and one large one. The vet's hope was it might be just compensating, but the results showed his creatinine (sp) levels at 8. They lose their appetite at around 5, he said.
So, with his age (he's 16-1/2 years old), the prognosis was not good, I was told. I of course broke down and had an emotional last few days, finally starting to get past the overwhelming part. Learned how to give fluids, they reduced his thyroid meds to one pill a day, have a 1/4 appetite stimulant pill (every other day), and some liquid antibiotic. The vet's stumped at how profoundly bad it got in the last month and a half since the last tests. So, ruling out infection. Oh, and 5mg of Pepcid a day.
Have given the fluids twice and home. Got all his meds into him the last few days, but today couldn't get him to take his appetite pill. I even crushed it up and put it in tuna juice (TUNA JUICE!! cats love that stuff). Nope, he wasn't having it. I tried to use a syringe, and got bit. That is, tooth through the thumb. Not fun. I can honestly say his jaws have not been affected by this. Not at all.
Vet thinks he had some degree of chronic renal failure, but this was definitely not chronic with how bad it got so fast. I'm just heartbroken beyond belief. Lucky was my savior. The way we got him was pretty horrible - someone had tied him to a car when he was a kitten, and my father saw the car at a stoplight (guy didn't realize he was there), and low and behold, we had another cat. Albeit, a bit torn up, but he didn't really remember it. Thankfully. But, I was at the lowest point in my life, and he gave me something to live for.
I'm having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that he will be leaving a lot sooner than I was really expecting. A week ago, I would have said he may even have a couple good years left. Now, it could just be months / weeks / days. You would think I would have started coming to terms with it a few years back, but no. This was just a lot more sudden than I was expecting. But, I also want to do right by him. And I don't know when the time is right. Trying to deal with the emotions is just getting to me more than I thought it would. Grief, (temporary) relief, guilt, all wrapped into a neat little ball.
Sorry for the long post. It's been a really long week.