- Joined
- Jun 10, 2018
- Messages
- 11
- Purraise
- 4
I live somewhere really hot and yesterday my house cat (who I've had since she was a kitten, for 4 years with no problems) got outside because I left the door to the roof open, and she was lost for a day.
When I found her and took her to the vet, he ran a test and said her kidneys were in awful shape, probably from dehydration and/or drinking something toxic. The reading (I forget the unit) should be around thirty and hers was 90 something. He said he will keep giving her fluids for three days and then 'we will need to make a decision'. He seemed very sceptical about the chances, but did say the damage might be 'reversible'.
Does anyone have any experience of anything similar? Did your cat recover, and if they did to what extent, and what long term problems and treatments were there? What I worry about most is the vet will tell me she is in better shape, but can only recover with treatment I can't afford, or that she is in better shape but she will be in shitty health with constant crises for the rest of her life. Presumably if her kidneys are messed up then any toxic stuff she may have eaten can't be flushed out with vitamin K and will sit there doing damage?
I feel really sad and ashamed about it. It seems surreal and frightening that for four years I was so conscientious about doors and windows and then suddenly I left a door open like that and forgot about it. I had a few unexpected crisis happen in quick succession plus a health problem, and I was really tired and stressed and forgetting all sorts of obvious and important things. It's horrible how things like that can make you irresponsible and unreliable, like you're not yourself anymore, but a completely different person who can't be trusted to take care of themselves, let alone anyone else. The last 24 hours must have been really confusing and miserable and painful for her....
When I found her and took her to the vet, he ran a test and said her kidneys were in awful shape, probably from dehydration and/or drinking something toxic. The reading (I forget the unit) should be around thirty and hers was 90 something. He said he will keep giving her fluids for three days and then 'we will need to make a decision'. He seemed very sceptical about the chances, but did say the damage might be 'reversible'.
Does anyone have any experience of anything similar? Did your cat recover, and if they did to what extent, and what long term problems and treatments were there? What I worry about most is the vet will tell me she is in better shape, but can only recover with treatment I can't afford, or that she is in better shape but she will be in shitty health with constant crises for the rest of her life. Presumably if her kidneys are messed up then any toxic stuff she may have eaten can't be flushed out with vitamin K and will sit there doing damage?
I feel really sad and ashamed about it. It seems surreal and frightening that for four years I was so conscientious about doors and windows and then suddenly I left a door open like that and forgot about it. I had a few unexpected crisis happen in quick succession plus a health problem, and I was really tired and stressed and forgetting all sorts of obvious and important things. It's horrible how things like that can make you irresponsible and unreliable, like you're not yourself anymore, but a completely different person who can't be trusted to take care of themselves, let alone anyone else. The last 24 hours must have been really confusing and miserable and painful for her....
. Now, it's hard to answer your questions without knowing what exactly caused this issue. If it was a toxin like lillies or antifreeze, her chances aren't too good, honestly. But it could be caused from something else entirely...could even be from a kidney infection and have nothing to do with her being outdoors. Some cats can return to full kidney function and some cats end up with chronic kidney disease, and some in between. So I think you may just need to wait and see what happens in the next few days, how she responds to the treatment and whether or not they can determine the cause. I, personally, have had three kidney cats (chronic kidney disease) , and each of them have lived for three years after diagnosis. None of them were diagnosed until their kidneys were already shot 
(95% gone I think).
Please keep us posted.
and hugs.
. It's really quite easy. We used to hang the fluids from our dining room light, although many people do it in the bathroom and hang the fluids from the shower rod. If you get to that point, we can give you you many tips on that, including where to purchase supplies via the internet (hopefully, depending on your location) But you're getting ahead of yourself as you don't know yet what is going to happen. If this is an infection she may make a complete recovery. Also, I think Stephanie's kidney cat never even ate a low phosphorus diet and lived for several years without ANY intervention at all. I know she did not do sub-q fluids. Every cat is different. First though, you've got to get your little one through this crisis 
. I wasn't faulting you for no fluids. My hubby and I have had many discussions about this, and with the two cats we have now, one would want us to do fluids on him, and the other (we feel), wouldn't. It's as simple as that. Everyone knows their cats best and what they will tolerate and whether or not they would WANT to go through that extra mile or not...know what I mean? And we've got one who prances around with his tail held high all the time, just a happy go lucky guy, and the other who kind of mopes around all the time. With OUR Callie, she developed liver issues when she had the kidney disease, and we chose NOT to do an ultrasound on her liver, because, honestly, WHY? What could come of it? We just didn't want to put her through anything else. 
!